Chennai

This morning, I woke up on a train. This waking-up-on-a-train thing is not a huge deal; I’ve done it so many times over the course of the year. But my destination – Chennai – was a huge deal. Once known as Madras, Chennai is located on India’s east coast in Kerala’s neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. With nearly six million people, it is India’s fourth largest city.

I am here to meet a delegation from the ELCA, who are here to participate in a huge celebration of the 300th anniversary of Lutheran mission in India. Fortunately for me, the delegation includes my bishop, Gary Wollersheim, from the Northern Illinois Synod. Knowing that I have been serving in India this year, he kindly invited me to join the delegation, and I am more than happy to do just that.

But before I met him, I had to travel to Chennai all by myself. I’ve done a lot of things all by myself while on this journey, but this is the first time that I slept on a train without one of my friends sleeping right below me. But, despite having no one to bid me goodnight, except that rambunctious little mouse running along the bars of the cage-like light fixture just above my upper berth (and mice are not an ok thing), I made it through the 11-hour journey in fine form.

When I stepped off the train into the cavernous station this morning, though, I found myself desperately wishing for a friend. Instead, I found the nearest rickshaw driver and directed him to the Beverly Hotel, where an air-conditioned room, a hot shower, and a buffet breakfast awaited me.

Today was a much-needed day of rest for the delegation, whose plane arrived at about 1:00 this morning, and tomorrow we start the celebrations (although I was celebrating my air-conditioned room, hot shower, and buffet breakfast (and then lunch, and then dinner) all day today).

I don’t know quite what to expect from the week to come, but I know that this is a milestone event. We are celebrating a ministry of 300 years, and we are building relationships here that will help all of our ministries go forward into a bright future. ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hansen is here, as well as other very important people from Lutheran churches around the world. The governor of Tamil Nadu is speaking at the inauguration ceremony tomorrow night. I’d be happy with my air-conditioned room, hot shower, and buffet breakfasts, but it looks like it’s going to be so much more.

To know what that “so much more” is, check out the ELCA delegation’s blog at http://lutheransinindia.blogspot.com/