My body and the clock on my computer screen say the time is 3:51am. The hustle and bustle at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and the big clock on the wall tell me it’s 10:51am Monday, March 4. In less than one hour, I’ll board my next flight, another 8-9 hour ride in a metal tube five miles above the earth’s surface at more than 600mph. When I land, the clocks in Mumbai, India, will tell me it’s the early morning of Tuesday, March 5. After a layover of 6 hours, my last flight will deliver me to Hyderabad where I will meet Solomon Raju, our longtime mission partner to the villages surrounding the bustling metropolis that is home to 10 million people.
In the last decade, India became the world’s largest nation by population. Just shy of 1.5 billion people, India’s numbers are four times greater than the United States. Its major cities are massive. 34 million inhabit greater Delhi. 22 million reside in Mumbai, 16 million live in Kolkata while another 14 million occupy the streets of Bangalore. Hyderabad is the sixth largest city with a population of 11 million. That means everywhere you go there are people and lots of them. You will stand in long lines, get stuck in backed up traffic, be pushed out of the way by those trying to get in front of you, and inadvertently bumped, touched, and shouldered as you make your way through airport terminals and down grocery store aisles.
Astonishingly, India has 641,000 inhabited villages and 72.2 percent of the total population reside in these rural areas (Wikipedia). Of them there are 3,961 villages that have a population of 10,000 persons or more. 130,000 villages have population size of 1000–1999. 145,000 villages have population size of 500–999 persons, and 128,000 villages have population size of 200–499. Most people live in villages smaller than Cannon Falls, MN whose population is 4,179. After the work at the Bible college and its graduation ceremony, most of my preaching will be in these small villages. I wish you could experience this with me in person.
By the time we arrive, church members will have been singing for some time. In one sense, they aren’t our songs. I don’t recognize the tune and cannot sing the text sung in Telegu. Sometimes, I will grab a rhythm instrument and join in with the rest of the musicians. We will sing and play for a long time. The music will be cultural (you can tell it’s Indian), joyful, corporate, and enthusiastic. In another sense, these are our songs. They tell of one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one church. They wouldn’t know our songs if they joined us on a Lord’s Day any more than I know theirs, but their songs are our songs and our songs are their songs. Here or there, we direct our musical praise, groanings, testimony, petitions, and commitment to the only wise God who is blessed forevermore.
Later today, I will preach at a church anniversary service. Over the next 10 days, I will preach to multiple congregations who are dedicating new buildings for the work of the gospel, preach at local churches called together by their pastors to hear the Word of God from a guest in their pulpits, preach multiple times to the college students and faculty, preach 3 or 4 times this coming Lord’s Day, and close out my visit by preaching at the graduation ceremony for Shiloh Baptist Bible College, next Thursday, March 14. That ceremony will be an open-air event on the college campus which shares a property line with a large Hindu temple. Please pray for me in all these occasions.
I could write pages to you about India, the churches, the opportunities, the challenges, the food, the smells, the sights, and the sounds. Maybe we can have lunch together when I get home, and you can ask me all the questions that come to mind.
This is my third visit to this country and to our missionaries in Hyderabad. Thank you for sending me. They send their thanks for your many gifts which I delivered to them, all of which made it through customs without any problems. Thank you for your care for each other in my absence.
Until we see each other again, God’s best to you and my love.
P.S. I arrived in Hyderabad at 7:55am local time, Tuesday, March 5. By the time you read this it will be the overnight hours of Wednesday, March 6 here in India.
As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.