Sunday

Sunday morning several of the foreigners staying at Juniper Tree walked to a local Baptist Church. Since Juniper Tree serves a truly international community, most of our group this morning were German, but they all speak English. There was also a Canadian couple who are staying nearby. The pastor (Thai) and his wife (Filipino) also speak English and were happy to make the service bilingual for us. Interestingly (to me anyway), we sang an old missionary hymn, To The Regions Beyond. It's funny how music stays with you buried in a very special part of your brain. I remember singing this hymn growing up, and although I probably haven't sung it in more than 50 years, every word was there just waiting to be sung again. I wasn't sure if I knew it from growing up in the C&MA church or from my grandparents' Baptist church. It turns out it may have been both, but the hymn was written by A.B. Simpson (1843-1919), founder of the C&MA, so it's no surprise that I knew it. 

Opportunities to worship with believers from all over the world is something I truly love, appreciate, and miss. It highlights how much we have in common compared to differences of language, culture, and even denonimation. In fact, I doubt any of us are Baptist but it doesn't matter at all, and you realize that very quickly when you are in a country without a church on every corner. And even in a small country church on the other side of the world, I was able to connect again with my earliest roots in the church and reflect on the words that impacted the trajectory of my life... "To the regions beyond I must go, I must go..."