Week 2 - Theology of Presence

Ezra and Hannah, our hosts and Thailand's permanent Word Made Flesh (WMF) staff, are really Tim and Amy. In a moment of hyper-caution, I gave them aliases, not realizing it would take only the smallest amount of investigation on the Word Made Flesh site to assertain their real names. Still, I thought it prudent to get their permission, which they gave, before sending them to the world wide interweb.

I wrote the following several days ago after visiting a too-nice espresso shop closer to downtown:

He was from Miami. A pressed, Hawaiian shirt, untucked. Stylish, square, black-framed glasses. He was oldish, the other side of fifty, and spoke in loud, embarassing billows to his Asian date. A divorced traveller, he was out on a dysfunctional journey for youth. I saw myself at fifty five, caught in a chronic land rush where the lot could always be better and I never find a home. Hell. And then I can't read my Luther anymore.

Left in a hurry and walked back home. Listened to Seven Swans the whole way and Bangkok, in its shame, was filled with pathetic beauty. Sufjan is like the Patmos exile he loosely quotes, pulling holy mysteries from between the air. They are there in nature and in Word for any Christian prospector.

My Thai is improving in very small increments. I can now confidently ask a street vendor how to say "pineapple" and then politely ask for one portion of it. I did exactly this, but promptly forgot the word for "pineapple" upon paying. It is interesting to note that, despite our primary mission to the poor, some of our first relationships, out of practicality, have been made with the local food vendors with whome we have daily relationships. Bethany and I both have a respective "coffee guy/girl" who begin making our standard order as they see us walk up.

We taught for a second week at both the university Christian club on Wednesday and at the Khlong Toei kids center on Saturday. We were more well-prepared for both and, consequently, they both went better than before. The students know more English than we first thought, so the challenge now is making lessons more difficult, but still useful. One of the Khlong Toei kids--I'll call him Jacob--did cause quite a bit of trouble yesterday, managing to disrupt the older class, leave, and begin disrupting the younger class as well.

I admitted my anxiety to Tim about the street ministry that we will begin on September 14, given my limited Thai. Tim wanted to encourage me with a story from his short time at the Home for the Dying in Kolkata, which Mother Theresa opened in 1952. While there, Tim primarily worked with a old man who was blind and spoke only Bengali. Tim was drawn to the man by the humorous "yip!" he would shout at the other patients in an effort to get them to stop moaning.

Tim, who spoke almost no Bengali, would help the man stretch every day, conversing with him in English wile he replied in Bengali. Perceivably, no useful communciation resulted. Tim would tell the man when he was leaving every day and this the man understood, replying that he would see Tim tomorrow.

On Tim's final day, following their routine of stretching and confused dialogue, Tim said he was leaving. The man replied that he would see Tim the next day. Tim tried, and finally succeeded, in communicating the fact that it was his last day in India and that the man would not see him tomorrow. Tears crept out of the man's useless eyes. He laid down, rolled his back toward Tim and motioned with his hand for Tim to go.

Heartbreaking as it is, Tim's experience illustrates that relationship is not dependent upon verbosity, but rather presence. In spite of all their lost words, the man and Tim formed a true relationship that affected them both. Inasmuch as I am a temple of the Holy Spirit, the risen Christ can likwise build relationships with those I meet on the street, linguistic deficiencies notwithstanding.

We are reading a book called Companion to the Poor, by Viv Grigg. I'm a cheapo, so I bought a used copy online. In it, someone scrawled this: "It's not that hard. All you have to do is be willing to go, and the Spirit of God will move the people." Lord, move my feet, let them become Christ's feet, so that even the going will be yours.

Prayer Requests:

--Two people whose names and situations I cannot divulge. They both need a lot of prayer though.

--Pray for Jacob. It is true that he becomes a distraction for the other students who want to learn English, and must be removed when he does, but I suspect he has felt love by neither Creator nor created. I want him to leave, but I also desperately want him to stay. Pray for wisdom and his soul.

--Continue to pray for Thai lessons. I feel like I am falling behind and it's very important that I both learn the language and have the confidence to use it more.