Worship

Most churches suffer from 'the grass is greener on the other side' feeling.

When you meet in a very very small group like we do - you get that feeling a lot.  The motely crew that we look at most Sundays can make you wish for another place - and that too fast!

But that's what family is about.  You don't choose your relatives.  They are given to you. Like it or lump it.  And how blessed it is to be nudged into liking them.

Today was the first Sunday of the month.  And our two house fellowships met together for a day of service.  We started our worship at 10 AM.  Enoch on the keyboard for a few songs - Asha on violin.  Rishav on bongos and yours truly on guitar.  A joyful noise.

As we moved to the Lord's Supper - ably led by bro Jolly - I couldn't help noticing something blessedly unusual.  We were packed.  The house was bursting at its seams as family after family came in.  We must have had almost 50 people there today.

Bro Rolly shared the word - focussing on Jesus' telling us that blessed are those who suffer because of persecution - and I was deeply touched by the account of Stephen the martyr's death - his face looking like that of an angel and the statement that in the midst of his stoning 'he fell asleep.'

After the message it was sharing time.  Since we were overflowing with kids I decided to take the children's session while the adults told each other what God is teaching them, and how they are experiencing God.  I had 6 boys and 4 girls upstairs with me - a super time with songs and a re-enactment of Paul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.  One of the take-home messages being Paul's willingness to obey.  He had left for Damascus on his horse - but entered being led by the hand.  A blind man, but obeying the voice he heard.

Then it was time for a love-feast.  A great chicken biryani was enjoyed by all - with lots of mingling and talking and kids darting in between.

A prayer time in the early afternoon and then we broke up into small groups for visiting people in their homes.  Then a gospel meeting at the Lok Hospital building and home.

Despite a very long day - we end it with grace and peace.  Night has fallen and all are asleep.  Except for yours truly.

One amazing thought from earlier in the day.  As we were worshipping God, I counted the people in the room who were HIV positive.  6 adults. 1 child.   Then I counted people who were linked with family members who had AIDS.  2 adults had lost their parents.  1 adult had lost her cousin. 1 of the children is adopted - the child's mother is an HIV positive lady who gave the child up at birth.  Another child is about to be put up for adoption by her mother.

The grass is not greener on the other side.  This is our church.  This is where we belong.

10 years ago there was no one.  Not a single person who had HIV in our church.  We were meeting in the same room.  We still have warts.  Lots of them.  But, we have come a long way.

All glory to God.

2 kids

Two little girls came to meet Sheba today.  They were with their grandmother - and a local lady who is helping them out.

Priya and Roshini - as we will call them - are 9 and 11 years old.  They both have HIV.  They are both orphans.

When we met them a year ago it seemed all so hopeless.  Their grandmother was trying to look after them - but she works cleaning houses and so leaves at 8 in the morning and is out most of the day till late at night.  She has a son who lives in a good flat, but he does not want anything to do with her and his orphaned nieces.

We despaired when we met this 'family' of 3.  It seemed all so hopeless.  The girls CD4 levels were disastrously low.  One of the had 127.  One had only 27.  Current medical opinion calls a person with HIV as being in the AIDS stage if their CD4 is lower than 200.  To have only 27 means that there is hardly any scrap left of God's beautiful gift of a self-regulating body-defense-force!

But even more. Who would look after these kids?  An orphanage?  A foster home?

Amazingly a beautiful relationship opened up.  A local couple - and their teenaged kids - opened up their lives.  We will call them Ben and Daisy.  Daisy talked with her husband and kids and they agreed to start helping Priya and Roshini.  And help they did.  Regular visits to their home.  Help with food rations.  Paying for educational expenses.  Taking them to see Sheba and helping start them on ART medications.  Bringing the kids to their home during the holidays.  Taking them to church with the family. And on and on.  The kindness and love of this couple is amazing.  They have quietly been caring for Priya and Roshini and their grandmother with such love.

Today Daisy brought the two and their grandmother to see Sheba.

Sheba could tell something was up.  The normally bouncy kids were not making eye-contact.  They were answering in mono-syllables.

Sheba asked the grandmother what had happened.  The story tumbled out.  They had been told to vacate their room by the owner.  And as they were shfiting the single bed they have, the grandmother found something behind it.  A veritable mound of medicines.  The kids have been secretly throwing their ART pills behind the bed because they do not want to take them.

The grand mother is horrified.  Daisy is shocked.  How can this happen?

Well, though Sheba was sad to hear this, she was not shocked.

We know only too well how difficult it is for anyone to take medications.  Let alone life-long.  Let alone if you are a kid of 7 or of 9.

And that too when you are also taking medication for TB.  As Priya (the older one) is.

So Sheba started to talk with Priya.

Why did you throw the medicines?  Sheba asked gently.

Because I was 'kantal.'

We think this means something like 'fed-up'

As the conversation continued, Sheba probed gently about how much this girl knows about her condition.  Priya is bright and usually tops her class at school.

'What sicknesses have you heard of?' asked Sheba.

'Malaria.  Diarrhea.  Chicken Pox.  Measles.'  came the reply.

'Good' said Sheba.  'What about Tuberculosis?'

'No.'

Its hard to know whether the little girl really has not heard, or doesn't want to know.  Sheba moves ahead carefully and explains that one of the kinds of medicines that Priya is taking - the one she gets from the local govt. health centre is for TB.

'What about the other medicine?  The one you go to the Civil Hospital to get.  Do you know what that is for?'

Priya says she does not.  She then tells that her grandmother has told her she has a disease from her mother.  But she must not tell anyone about it.  No one.

Sheba explained that just telling about that sickness will not harm her.  Sheba told Priya that it is a difficult disease to talk about, but when she turned 13 everything about the sickness will be explained to her.  She assured Priya, however, that whenever Priya wanted to know more they would tell her.

Sheba talked about just how important the medicines are.  How good they are and how much they help make the body strong.

How hard it is for these children.  How hard it is for every person living with HIV.  But especially for children who have known no other life.

Though the meds are real life-savers, they are also so hard to take.  Especially if you don't know why you have to take them.  If you have been told you have a secret and deadly disease.  And yet as a kid the whole adult world with its seriousness and hustle and bustle can just be so alien.

We hope Priya and her younger sister will now stick to taking their meds.  We don't want to put Priya in a coffin anytime soon.  We are so grateful for Daisy and Ben for their kindness in reaching out to Priya and Roshini.  Without the love and supervision of Daisy and Ben, this conversation would not have happened.  And though there is still much work to be done in Priya and Roshini's lives, we are so blessed to see them growing.

Namaste sate

An eon ago a dear friend of mine took to the stage of Parker Hall of Woodstock School with his fellow band-mates of Silmarillion.  I was in the audience.  They then belted out what was for me a pretty mind-blowing cover of the Pink Floyd classic 'comfortably numb.'

Over a quarter century later my friend is due to take a very different stage in Mumbai next month.  We have booked a 1400 capacity hall for Chris Hale and the full strength Aradhna.  Chris and Peter Hicks have formed the core of this group for the last 12 years.  Thirteen years after Chris'  Parker Hall gig, in the dying days of the last millenium, the then nascent Aradhna played as a two-some for the newly-married Sheba and I at our wedding reception in the Woodstock Dining room.

What a musical journey they have had since.  Their debut album Deep Jale with its hauntingly beautiful Yishu-bhajans was followed by Marga Darshan.  Then came the live album Satsang.  As time flowed by the music continued to develop - with their own sound coming to the fore - a heady mesh of sitar and guitar and the whole jugalbandi of other instruments indic and western.  At the core of it all - throbbing along with the varied musical collaborators - are the soaring vocals of Chris and Peter's intuitive guitar work - and a devotional strain that they have continued to explore and shape.  The latter albums Amrit Vani and the latest Namaste Sate show greater freedom with English creeping in at various places and the sound being stretched well past the simple bhajan frame.  But through it all there is a devotion to Yishu Raja - and a desire to share and explore what that devotion means.

This past year also saw the release of Sau Guna - the achingly beautiful series of six music videos shot by Ben Stamper - filmmaker extraordinaire.  A sample can be seen from the promo clip above.

This tour of India will take Aradhna to Delhi, Chennai, Ooty, Mumbai (twice), Nasik, Pune, and Bangalore.  They are a foursome this time - with their veteran bassist Travis McAfee joining and Uday Kumar coming on board from Hyderabad.  Mike Williams - who was part of the Olio experience - will be manning the sound at each venue.  Tour dates are up on the Aradhna website (www.AradhnaMusic.com).  Most of the concerts  (ours too) will be benefiting the remarkable work of Freedom Firm (www.FreedomFirm.in) which helps not only free women from sexual slavery (and work to book perpetrators) but also works to recover and rediscover their God-given personhoods of the girls who have been through such hell.

The concert we have the privilege of organising is historic as after so many years we finally have  Aradhna sharing their soul with our city.  Soberingly - it may also be their last time here as a group.  An email today announced that for 2013 Chris and Peter will be cutting back on their touring to be more locally focussed and listen carefully to what God is telling them for the next steps.

So we are in for a treat.  And some slogging to do before the hall is mesmerised by the beauty of music.  November 16th is 6 weeks away from tonight.

Gao re!

Lighting

Its been quite the week. 

We had an amazing bunch of people from across North India - and Nepal with us since last Wednesday.  And this afternoon we said good-bye to them.

Our friends have come to learn about how churches can reach out and help people with HIV.  They got the full treatment - an intense week where we shared what we have learned from our 10 years of working with people and churches in Thane.

Our friends at the Christian AIDS/HIV National Alliance in Delhi helped recruit these key people - the 19 participants being from Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh ... and from Nepal too!

It was wonderful to see our friends 'dive in' - visiting homes of people with HIV on the first day, participating in our lectures and discussions, visiting churches and homes that church people are supporting, asking question after question, grappling with issues, being delighted at how the Bible helps us in so many ways, hearing the testimonies of people with HIV, doing role plays, worshipping, eating and laughing together.

As the haunting strains of 'ek aag har dil mein' were sung by all of us today, the darkened room started to glow with the candles that were being lit.  Each of us - the trainees as well as our JSK staff - held up the candles and sang with a determination that fits the song - that one candle can light a lakh candles - and that we must work while we have time for the Kingdom that has no end.

Its all over. The one-week training that is.  Now the next step takes place where these wonderful people start living out what they learned from us.

Our little candles here at JSK are lighting others, and the gift goes on....

A ray of hope

Day before yesterday we were thrilled - just thrilled - to be have dear friends visit us.  We will keep them nameless so as not to embarrass them by publicly writing about them - but just their being here is such a ray of hope, such a breath of fresh air to us.

Our friends are both Malayalis - but American ones.  Their parents worked hard to get out of India and be part of the American dream.  And succeeded in getting not only the coveted green-cards - but also the citizenship in the land of the stars and the stripes.  Both sets of parents had great kids - one grew up to be a Chartered Accountant and the other a Nurse.  Two great Malayali professions.  They met and married.

Then things departed from the script.  They were supposed to get their white-picket fence house and continue living in the home of the brave and the land of the free.  But something else kicked in.

India did.  And a love for Jesus. And a desire to serve Him with their lives.  A desire to see more of their life than just living the big A dream.  And a willingness to obey what He told them, even if means separation from parents.  All because they were actively asking God to shape their lives for Him.

Seven years ago our friends joined a funding organisation which built up a novel targeted philanthropy programme in South Asia.  As part of this they shifted to Bangalore for a year and a bit.  When as part of his official duties, our friend swung by Mumbai to meet us at Jeevan Sahara  we became instant friends.  This guy was the real deal.  Over those months our occasional meetings deepened the friendship, especially when they found out that his mother had cancer.  We prayed much.  Looking back she has amazingly totally recovered!

And then before we knew it our friends were back to the US.  With their contract completed it looked like it was back to the life in 'Stets' after an Indian excursion.  He got a job as a professor at a university.  When they were blessed with a son after adopting one from here, I thought that this was the last we would see of them.

But last year the family visited us.  They were here in the Mumbai area for 2 months over the summer to support a charity that reaches out to women in prostitution. They were a family of four when previously their had been only two.   No, make that five.  In addition to the two rambunctious kids, we were thrilled to hear that she was expecting again.  They talked about shifting to India - but to me it seemed almost academic.  Here was a family bursting at the seams - and to have them shift here to work with women in sexual slavery?

In the rough and tumble of the last year I really did not think about this family much.  An occasional brief email.  The congratulatory post on FB after their third son was born 4 months ago.

And then a Facebook update that sent a chill of joy.  Out of the blue I see that they are packing up and heading over to India on the 15th of September.  I can't believe my eyes.

And here they are.  All five of them.  What a total joy to have this family 'in the flesh.'  What a total testimony to a family who believes that life is worth living now.  Who are not going to wait for another 20 years to see their kids through college before they invest their lives in something worthwhile.

And get this.  This family hopes to live in Thane!  We are over the moon.

They came to Thane for some house-hunting on Friday.  We were deep into our training session but it worked out perfecting for them to share some of their vision with our trainees.

Our friends talked about how the group they are serving with have experienced the miracle of Rescue - where women in bondage were leaving prostitution,  They organisation then experienced the miracle of building and running a Rehabilitation home for these women - and the children who were born while their mothers were selling themselves.  But what just thrills me is my friends take on the road ahead.  Talking to our group he said that while they are so thankful to God for the amazing work their group has done, they are hungry for a new miracle.  One of seeing these women Re-integrated back into society.  Our friends want to see the local churches take up the challenge of seeing this miracle take place.  They don't want the women they work with to remain in a bubble of a home for the rest of their lives - but want them to 'graduate' and move forward.  A tall order - but one that God specializes in.  And one where people like our friends who have taken these steps are going to be scripting out some amazing stories for eternity.

More power to ya!

Training Day

A total blender of a day.

Much, much to be thankful for.

Awaking with a jolt - we are doing the training for 19 folks from North India (including 3 from Nepal).

Bible over ginger/elaichi tea.  Sheba calls me back and gets me to eat some bread before I am out the door.

Yesterday's bandh changed todays programme.  Rewrite the schedule.  Print out.

Check mail.  Share that I will not be able to evaluate a 3 year project of a church-based organisation that works with women in prostitution next month because things are just too tight.

Get a call from that organisation.  They ask if I can do it in December.   I say yes.

First strains of the devotions see me scurry into the training room.  Mobile off.

Share about Jesus and the man with leprosy.  Mark 1.40-44.  One of my favourite passages.  Shared it so often.  Still thrills me to see what Jesus did.

Giri takes the HIV testing and counselling session.  Sit in to help a bit.  Lively discussion.  Many questions by the group.  Great group of people from all over - Bihar, Orissa, Delhi, West Bengal, MP, Chattisgarh - and even Nepal!

Duck out to call people for the afternoon meeting with CORINTH partners.

Duck back in to the training.  Get a call that books sent from Hyderabad have arrived.  Arrange for someone to pick them up.

Discussion group time sees me stop by home to check in on the kids.  Doing well.  Home spick and span.  Help them start a video.  They have a holiday because of the Ganesh festival.

See Flavia Paes when I get back.  Hardly recognise her from when she was almost paralysed with osteoporsis.  She is walking around and looking thin but radiant.  A saint.

Discussion group time winds down.  Excellent thoughts flowing by the folks.   I take a short session on the way HIV affects the whole person - and the way the church is called to reach out and heal each part that is broken.

Then another trip home to be with Asha and Enoch.  A quick lunch that Sheba has prepared earlier.  Read part of the last chapter of Robin Hood and the men of the Greenwood with them.  Cracking good tale.

Back to the training.  Afternoon session is special.  Flavia Paes tells her story.  How she has been living with HIV for the past 17 years.  What rejection she received from family and friends.  How God is good to her - even though she suffers.  How she is going to win - and serve others.  Many moist eyes in the room as Flavia speaks fearlessly and clearly about living with HIV.  My eyes needed windshield wipers.

Peter took the next session on keeping the immune system healthy.  I ducked out to do last minute work on a CORINTH presentation.

Tea time - and then we had 4 members of the CORINTH network join us to share about their work.  Wonderful to hear from people working in prisons, caring for the destitute picked up from the streets, serving by helping women out of prostitution and into healing and rehabilitation and acceptance, and caring for people with HIV through home visits.

Thrilled to have Jim and Leena Varghese with us - having just come from the US last month to serve with Bombay Teen Challenge.

Wound up the day's training  with some reflections by the participants.  People were deeply moved by what they had seen and heard.

The joy of meeting dear, dear friends.  Jim and Leena and their lovely sons Nehemiah, Elias and Daniel (5, 4, and 0.4 yrs old) at our home.  Asha and Enoch showed again how mature and kind they are with kids younger to them.  Amazed to hear Jim and Leena's story and see what God is doing to bring them to India as Americans of Indian origin (make that Malayali origin).

Had a lovely meal that Sheba was able to russle up (God bless this amazing woman) with this great family.  Words just kept tumbling out - and the sheer joy of seeing our dear ones sitting with us in the flesh.  Very excited that they hope to move to Thane.

Family leaves and its time to clean up.  Dishes? Done.  Change shirt.  Grab Bible.  Head over the Rolly and Doris's home across the street ... and up on the 11th floor.  Friday Night Bible Study.

Tired but translate Rolly's sharing into Hindi.  Powerful exploration of the lives of Jehosheba and Jehoiada.  Our families matter.  Big time.  May God give us grace to change.  Was thinking of a family whose mutual bitterness is playing itself out in an apparent end-game where one is about to leave and take the kids.

Study over at 10.20 - chatting and snacks afterward.  As we come out of the lift 3 girls from the building walk buy.   6-9 year olds by the looks of them.  "Oh, we have come back early" says one of them "it is only 10.40 PM!"  Urban life.

Back home sweet home.  Check mail.  Kids to bed.  Lights off.

And then sleep doesn't come.  So here I am reviewing the day by the white glow of the computer screen while dogs bark in the darkness outside and the Eicher household slumbers.

Its been a good day.  Tired and happy.  Next day is day 3 of our week-long training in HIV care for  members of churches from across North India.  Sheba and I discussed that one of our trainers need to take a patient for second line treatment.  So I need to take the TB session tomorrow.

Excited. Tired.  Restless.  Glad.

Today was a swirl.

A message from the Art for Change Foundation!

Dear Friends, We are so excited about a new short video we just completed using paintings made in our studios on the topic of the 'missing women of India.' We need your help! We've entered it into an international competition run by our friends at 'All Girls Allowed'. With prizes up to $1000, if we win, we get to use the money towards our work here in New Delhi responding to the pressing issue of female foeticide. So check out the short video by clicking here. Watch the video and if you like it, press the 'like' button above it! The more 'likes' we get the more likely we win. If you really like it, share the link with your friends, too!  This contest is open till September 24th. Become a part of seeing truth transform a nation! Thanks and blessings, Stefan Eicher New Delhi ------------------- For more about the Art for Change Foundation - you can check out their facebook page by clicking here or visiting their site at http://reflectionart.com/