Pastor Seth Now from Then
"In the recent past white faces came with black Bibles bearing the Good News. Now black faces come with white Bibles doing the same" (Galatians 3:28). These were the words that began our international church service spoken by a visiting Arab pastor. As I looked around and I listened to English, the borrowed lingua franca, I quickly saw the point of his morning message. In the Kingdom of God loneliness is only for the making because brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers surround us everywhere (Matthew 12:48-50). This day Morrocans, Syrians, Egyptians, Iraqs, and Algerians lead worship. In front of me were Nigerians and Indonesians. To my right were Chinese and to my left Dutch and Germans. Well yes, I looked for another American amidst the 150 or more people and found two others. We sang of 'Harayana Yessu'(Jesus released me-Arabic), 'tis so sweet to trust in Jesus', heard testimonies of where Jesus met devote Muslims feeling so distant from God yet seeking God's closeness, soon found a breaking in of his mercy and assuring love. Tears did stream over my cheeks as this once small church now much larger continued to exude the glimpse of 'living symbol for the boundariless praise disclosed in Revelation 5:9. How I long for that day...pax et bonum...jerome
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