World Communion & Columbia

Dr. Mike Browder, Pastor

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Today is World Communion Sunday. This is one of my favorite Sundays during the year. On this day, we celebrate our relationship with Christians all over the world. We do this by celebrating communion on the same day. In theory, every church in the world should be receiving communion today. Of course, the Catholics and the Orthodox, and even the Episcopal and Christian denominations, have communion every Sunday. But today, all churches make sure to have the Lord’s Supper, so that each of us can feel a part of the one body of Christ, receiving the bread and cup in every corner of the world.

When I come to this service, I think about my dear friends in Christ who live in other parts of the world. I think about my roommate from Harvard, Sunday Mbang, who is now the head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria. (He actually calls himself a patriarch.) When I was a guest speaker for his pastors in Nigeria, in 2004, they adopted me as a priest in that church. They gave me the official garment that their pastors wear. And that is the robe that I am wearing today. (The Methodist pastors in Nigeria dress a lot like the Catholic priests in this country, don’t they?)

One of the interesting books I have read in recent years is titled The World is Flat. It talks about how people in every corner of the world are now linked by economics and communication. The phrase, “the other side of the world,” now means very little. I thought about this book when we were able to call home on a cell phone while we were stuck in the mud in the most obscure part of Columbia. There are people in our church here in Hopewell who do business with people in China as if they were just down the street. It takes us less time to get to China from here than it took George Washington to get to Williamsburg from Mt. Vernon. We are truly closer to people around the world and linked to them in so many ways.

Today I am also thinking about the preachers that I teach in Belize. They don’t have a seminary there, and they are so hungry to learn. I pray that God is blessing them to use the things that they have learned in their studies.

Today we pray for our covenant missionary in Cambodia, where our church has been supporting missions in recent years. Also, I pray for the Methodist church in Sri Lanka. Less than a year ago I was there training pastors. They still haven’t rebuilt from the tsunami, and now they are ravaged again by civil war. I pray for the orphan boys I met in Sri Lanka. They touched my heart when I saw how they led worship services three times every day.

Today I am praying for all the Christians I have met who are living in Islamic countries under repressive governments. I pray for the church in Lebanon, for the Bible College in Bethlehem, for the Copts in Egypt, and especially for the Christians in Iran. And it is in agony that I pray for the followers of Christ in Iraq and Sudan. In these lands, they are being put to death for their faith.

I lift up a prayer for the Christians I met this past winter in Quito, Ecuador. There volunteers from the church were providing a soup kitchen for the poorest people of the city, including the homeless children who live on the streets.

Finally, I know that Billy Williamson joins me in asking you to pray for our fellow Methodists in Columbia. Their story started with their bishop, Juan Alberto Cardona. He wasn’t always a bishop. There was a time that he was a businessman. And he will tell you that he was lost in sin. One day, weighed down by feelings of anxiety being lost in life, he wandered into a Pentecostal church and gave his heart and his life to Christ.

After being saved, he felt God calling him to be a pastor. So he started attending the Baptist Seminary, which is the only theological seminary they have.

While he was in seminary, he read about John Wesley and the Methodist movement. Juan was so impressed that he started reading everything John Wesley wrote. As a result of this reading, Juan realized that he was a Methodist, and he started a Methodist church.

Can you imagine this? No missionary converted him. He had never met a Methodist from Columbia or anywhere else. He simply discovered what John Wesley had preached, and he said: “God has used this man, Wesley. The things Wesley says touch my heart.” And so the Methodist Church of Columbia, the Iglesia Columbiana Metodista, was born.

Eventually, Juan Cardona and his church were discovered by a native Methodist evangelist from Brazil. (Oh! The church in Brazil is really growing, and on fire for Christ.) This Brazilian evangelist showed Juan how to organize the Columbia church in the Methodist way. He introduced them to the “connexion” that we have with Methodists all over the world. Finally, he helped them to grow into a national Methodist church, and he asked them to elect their own leader. Naturally, the leader who was elected was Juan Cardona, the first bishop of the Methodist Church in Columbia.

This church continues to grow. But that is not what I love the most about it. The thing that really impresses me is that the bishop, all of his pastors, and every one of his church leaders – whenever they talk about Christ, they never mention God or faith or the Bible unless they also say, “And God calls us to help the poor and those who are in need.”

Is it any surprise that this Methodist Church is growing fastest in the poorest regions and neighborhoods? (I wish we could do that in this country. About 100 years ago, the Methodist church stopped being effective in reaching poor people in America – and we have been losing members ever since!)

As you heard, the villages where Billy and I worked this past week are in the poorest part of Columbia. In addition, these people were once ravaged by living under the armies of drug lords. But, even during those times, the bishop insisted on going through the guerilla lines to visit his people. The rebels threatened him. (Other religious leaders had been killed.) But he persisted, and God watched over him and protected him.

Now the drug lords are gone. And the rebel armies have been thrown out. The people are rejoicing. They have hope again. Bishop Cardona says it’s hard for him to believe they can be so happy after all they have been through, after all of the local people who lost their lives.

By the Grace of God, it is a new day in Columbia. There is new freedom! There is new faith in Jesus Christ! People are coming to the Lord as never before. They have been made new spiritually. And by the grace of God and through our mission work, we hope to see them made new economically.

United Methodist volunteers are building and repairing churches. We are preparing to build a medical center. We are planning to send Christmas presents. (More about that later.) But much of the mission work focuses on water.

During the times of struggle, the water systems became defunct. In the village of Brisas del Mar, all the water for the village was being toted from two wells. As you heard, in another village that Billy visited, there is no well at all for the whole village!

We were the second United Methodist Volunteers in Mission team to go to Columbia. (And Robert Rabb, who led our team, is doing such a good job with this work. You wouldn’t believe how much of his own money he is putting into it.)

The first Mission Team to Columbia fixed the water pipes in Brisas. Just imagine the scene: All the people had been watching and helping these Americans work. Actually, they don’t want us to do all the work. Billy will tell you that they want us to teach them, so that they can do it themselves.

Finally, all the water repair work was finished. Everyone in the village gathered around the pipe: Barefoot children, pregnant women, and old men with beards. Everyone watching. Suddenly, unexpectedly as if out of nowhere, a drop falls out of the pipe. Then another. And another. Then a steady stream. Then everyone lets out a shout. People start dancing and jumping up and down!

As I hear this story, my mind goes back to the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

“Every one who is thirsty, come to the waters! Drink deeply! Have all you want!

And it won’t cost you a thing.” I thought to myself: Today, this scripture has come true in Brisas del Mar, Columbia.”

Oh, but Isaiah was not just talking about Brisas del Mar. And he was not just talking about physical water. Isaiah was talking to you and me. And he was talking about spiritual things.

Jesus said, “In me, there are rivers of living water. And whoever drinks from this water, will never be thirsty again.”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness!” says the Lord.

Are you thirsting for the love and hope of Jesus Christ? Come! And drink deeply. When Christ fills you up, you will never be thirsty again.”

Isaiah asks, “Why do you waste your time on things that do not satisfy? Drink deeply of Christ. And you will never be thirsty again!”

When we come to the Lord’s Table, we eat the bread and drink from the cup. This reminds us how thoroughly Christ fills us with his grace. We come hungering and thirsting for the holy presence of God. But we leave saying, “God has touched me!” And, “My cup overflows!”

You who are thirsty: Come to the waters! And drink! Drink!