Leaving Jaipur -- already!

I haven’t written in a couple of weeks because I’ve been very busy finishing up my Hindi language program. Wednesday our final papers were due, Wednesday night was our cultural program, Thursday we gave our final presentations, and today we had a little award ceremony and said our goodbyes. I won the award for best daily journal and tied for best final presentation.

Award Ceremony

Me and one of my teachers, Mamta Jain

My paper and final presentation were about Christians in Jaipur. In the end, I visited 8 different churches.

Calvary Bible Church

St. Andrew’s Church (Church of North India, similar to Anglicans)

New Life Fellowship

St. Xavier’s Church (Roman Catholic)

The Pentecostal Mission

Mar Thoma Church

Seventh Day Adventist Church

Cornerstone Assemblies of God Church

Quite a diverse array of worship styles and beliefs! I’ve already written about the first three. I’ll share some brief remarks about the others below.

St. Xavier's Church

St. Xavier’s Church was an urban, English-speaking, Roman Catholic congregation. I went with a classmate who had never attended a Christian church in India before. It was fascinating to hear her observations: for example, she wondered whether by removing their sandals before entering the sanctuary, Christians had gone too far and adopted a Hindu religious practice. I would consider that more of a practical consideration: do you really want somebody who has just stepped in a cow pie on the street tracking that around inside your church? In retrospect, I could have pointed to Moses and the burning bush: “Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.”

The Pentecostal Mission

The Pentecostal Mission (TPM) is a denomination founded in Sri Lanka, and most of the worship attendees spoke Tamil or Malayalam (South Indian languages). People wore all white and sat on the floor. There was a time for testimony and a lot of shouting “Praise the Lord.” The service was in Hindi, but everything was translated into English. The main theme of the prayers and sermon seemed to be holiness and the need for purity to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Mar Thomas Church

The Mar Thoma Church is a South Indian denomination that traces their ancestry to St. Thomas the Apostle, who they believe arrived on the coast of South India in 52 CE. Historical records exist that show this community of St. Thomas Christians existed at least by 325 CE. The Mar Thoma Church has a very Orthodox feel about it (incense, fancy robes, chanting), but underwent a Reformation in the mid-1800s and is now considered a Protestant denomination. The vast majority of its members speak Malayalam (the language of the southern state of Kerala), and so the 2.5 hour worship service was all in Malayalam. Afterward, the youth (“youth” usually means anybody who’s not yet married, so I’m still considered a youth) invited me and my classmate Isaac who had come with me to attend their youth meeting. They sang some songs in English (on our behalf) and discussed the parable of the prodigal son.

I was incredibly impressed by the level of their discourse. They focused on relationships: envy, forgiveness, God’s mercy and grace. “We don’t follow God; God follows us and is always there to welcome us into his arms, no matter how much we’ve sinned.” And there was also a social consciousness to their conversation, emphasizing that Christ’s mission was to the sinners, the prostitutes, the outcastes. Jesus told this story to the Pharisees, who were like the older son. “It’s a good reminder that we should be glad when someone comes to Christ, not jealous that they are receiving mercy after sinning.”

Seventh Day Adventist Church

The Seventh Day Adventist Church was very interesting because it was my first time ever worshipping with this denomination. Afterward the former pastor, Umesh (who is now the national mission director for the denomination), and his wife invited me over for lunch. He proceeded to talk to me for over 3 hours. Most of the time I didn’t mind what he said. I’m always curious to see how people present their beliefs to others. But the topics of the Sabbath and infant baptism got to the point of really pushing my buttons. I felt more passionate about the theology behind infant baptism than ever before: [and…Elsa’s theological reflections commence…] baptism is about God’s activity in our lives, not our beliefs or experiences. Umesh was so adamant that his daughter can’t accept God yet, she doesn’t even know what death is yet, how can she decide to die and rise with Christ? But baptism isn’t about our decision: it’s about God’s. It’s a promise that God makes to us. I think that confirmation serves the function that baptism does for him. Confirmation recognizes something that we’ve done, something that we’ve accepted, a commitment that we’ve made. It’s about our beliefs. It doesn’t change our status before God’s eyes. But baptism is all God’s activity: radical grace. Parents make promises on behalf of their baby to bring the child up in the faith. But those promises aren’t what make the baptism valid: it’s God’s grace.

Pastor Umesh and his wife

As for the Sabbath… I don’t care what day people celebrate the Sabbath on. I just think it’s a good thing to do. How we number and name the days is a cultural construction. I don’t think it matters to God whether it’s Saturday or Sunday! I think the bigger issue here is about Jewish-Christian relations and the horrible history there, since the switch to worshipping on Sunday instead of Saturday was probably primarily about Christians distinguishing themselves from Jews. I’m more interested in the social, political, and economic factors underlying such changes. I definitely don’t think it’s Satan trying to lead us astray…

Umesh also spoke at length about how proud he is to be a Protestant, because it means we’re against something. That was the first time I’ve ever heard that! Usually Protestants want to stress what they’re FOR instead of what they’re against. But he’s worried that there’s no difference between Protestants and Catholics anymore (there was a LOT of Catholic bashing): celebrating the Sabbath on the wrong day, infant baptism, idol worship…

Cornerstone Assemblies of God

The Cornerstone Assemblies of God Church wasn’t very different from the independent evangelical churches I’ve been to in India. The main difference was that this church seemed wealthier and more westernized. I guess the pastor did sort of speak in tongues at one point, but there wasn’t much emphasis put on that. Instead, it was mostly about God making this worship service an experience that would transform our lives.

What's Next?

Now that the language program is over, I will be heading to Tamil Nadu to visit my friends Malathy and Vanitha, and then I’ll spend a few weeks in Ranchi for preliminary dissertation research. The Hindi language program has been excellent and I’m going to miss all of my new friends.