Community

(Written by Brent)

I’ve been in India for10 days now. I’ve done my best to immerse myself in the culture, exploring the town in rickshaws, hanging out with the locals, and eating as much Indian food as my stomach can handle. The one thing that has stood out to me above all things so far has been the sense of community that exists in the India. It’s striking when I compare their culture with mine. True I’ve entered back into a month long period of bachelorhood which changes the equation quite a bit. Nonetheless the Indian’s that I’ve met have display hospitality in a way that I’ve seldom seen in America.

            Point in case, a few months back a close friend, Taha, from India came to Richmond for 6 weeks. During his entire stay I saw him maybe 5 times, 3 of which were hanging out at work. Contrast that with my 10 days in India so far, Taha met me at the airport (even though we already had a cab waiting for us), has driven me all over town, and has taken me out to dinner at least half a dozen times. It’s actually embarrassing when I think about how much more hospitality Taha has shown me than I showed him.

            I’ve also made some really great friends at the church I’ve attended the last two weeks. They’ve really taken me in as one of their own, showing as much hospitality to me as Taha. One of the visitors at the church this week, who happened to be from out of the country, made a comment about how much it meant to her to be able be half-way around the world and still be able to fellowship with members of Christ’s family She’s dead right and I couldn’t agree with her more.

The other thing about community here is that the people seem to genuinely enjoy putting themselves last. This too is foreign to me. Often at home I almost feel like I deserve a deep sense of gratitude anytime I remotely put myself out. In fact I can find myself frustrated or even angry if someone fails to thank me for an act of selflessness. This is totally contrary to what Christ instructs us to do. In Luke 6 Jesus tells his disciples to lend expecting nothing in return because He is gracious to the ungrateful. I am so appreciative of the hospitality and community that has been shown to me and hope that I can learn to live according to the way I’ve been called.