welcome and wapsi

About this time yesterday there was a tear in the eye. Barby and I were returning home after a 40 hour visit to Vizakhapatnam – or Vizag, for short. In expressing my gratitude to the couple who had welcomed us into their home, I became a bit misty. Here we were – so very different in so many ways which the world measures (age, ethnicity, income, education etc) and yet in a matter of hours we experienced such a bond together. I found myself going back into their home, after the prayers and goodbyes, to express this to them, in my own stumbling, fumbling way.

Two factors. One is the love we share for Jesus. There is this joy of salvation – and also the joy of service together. It creates such tight bonds among people who have so little in common – and it does so quickly. The other factor is hospitality. Barby and I experienced some of the sweetest hospitality known to humankind. It flooded into our lives. With so little to give (to our Kiwi eyes) in their little flat tucked behind and above their little church, they just gave and gave and gave.

My mind went to all those missional conversations back home. They need to be refreshed to recognise that this is family, this is home. Have we lived enough with the implications of what it means for the church to be ‘the household of God’?

But here is the irony. This experience took place against the backdrop of a raging debate in the media here – every day, in every newspaper – over ghar wapsi. [NB: it is not wise for me to be too explicit about this in a public blog]. Literally, the phrase means something like ‘home return’. My friend, Benji, helped me see that it is a bit like the story of the Prodigal Son – but in this case ‘the far country’ and the ‘eating with pigs’ is being a Christian and so we are talking about people returning home, or ‘reconverting’, back to the faith they once believed. It quickly becomes a fascinating discussion (with plenty going on behind the scenes which I’ll leave to your own imagination – and internet research!).

My hunch is that one response lies in ensuring that this sweetest of hospitalities is being practised. One that breaks down the factors that keep people apart because it lives the gospel of reconciliation. One that breaks through the idolatry of the nuclear family, wherever it may be worshipped, because it lives to include those who are excluded. One that embraces the household of God, locally and globally, as family and as home.

nice chatting

Paul

PS… We loved Vizag. As a little boy with my love of maps, I was fascinated by this city on India’s east coast with the long name that stretched out into the Bay of Bengal. This was my first visit. I was kinda excited. On 12 October 2014 Vizag was viciously attacked by Cyclone HudHud, as our visit to the fishing harbour made clear.

Archive

Receive new posts to your inbox

I’d love to keep you updated with my latest news and posts.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

About Me

paul06.16

the art of unpacking

After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.

1 Comment

  1. blogger on November 13, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

true, but not true enough

February 5, 2025

“What is a Christian?” A ‘follower of Jesus’ is the standard response. And it is true, but it is not true enough. Let’s think about this for a minute. So I have this encounter with Jesus. Maybe at a camp of some kind. In the singing and the speaking he becomes so real. It is…

yay! it’s you

January 27, 2025

We had been on holiday in Queenstown. Barby had to come back early to go to work. I stayed on for a couple more days with our daughter, Alyssa, and her family. When I did fly back, Barby had the car and so the easiest thing for me was to get an Uber home—and so…

expect an exception

January 24, 2025

I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but I am not really a flag-in-church kinda guy. All those years ago, as a student in the USA, it was a shock to see the flag up there in the same neighbourhood as the pulpit, the Lord’s Table and the baptistry. “What is going on?” “Have I…

transforming friendship

January 15, 2025

Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…

handa leads the way

December 29, 2024

Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…

elchristo, elmina—and beyond

December 19, 2024

Today is Day 56—and on Day 57 we board a flight for home. There has been so much to absorb as Barby and I have encountered the people of God in different places. el-christo, in bolivia A few days before we left NZ, I discovered that I had five sessions to give in Pakistan. Yikes.…

cadeca art

November 20, 2024

The little chapel at Cadeca Casa del Catequista, a retreat centre on the fringes of Cochabamba (Bolivia), caught my eye on an earlier visit in 2017. Lots of photos… I was thrilled to learn that there would be a return visit, this time with Barby—and with lots of video. Enjoy. A 360 view Some Old…

the emus

October 19, 2024

Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…