300 Years of Lutherans in India
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 1 IMG 0001.1 Edit Our group planning the days ahead. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  2 IMG 0002 Edit The Tamil congregation where we worshipped tonight. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 3 IMG 0003 Edit The pastors of the church and our group following the service. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  4 IMG 0004 Edit Pipes from the oldest pipe organ in Chennai. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 5 IMG 0005 Edit The pastor and his wife. They are in a marriage arranged by their parents. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  6 IMG 0006 Edit The night scene was at 9:00 pm. The town was alive. Workers repairing the utilities under the street rest during the day and work at night when it is cooler. Someone said, "There is also less traffic," but I\'m not so sure about that. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 7 IMG 0131 1.0 Edit A mother agreed to a picture. She was sitting with other mothers and children on the street. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  8 IMG 0117 1.2 Edit A sign at a woman\'s clinic. (Photo by Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 9 Bharathidasan Nagar-1 Edit Slum Women\'s Advancement Project (SWAP) is a few kilometers from our hotel. This particular project of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI) is one of six developed through the Women\'s Desk headquartered in Chennai. SWAP "not only works with women, but also with children and the entire community," according to the Web site. "Issues such as environment, sanitation, pollution, unattended garbage pile-ups, burning and disposal of garbage, human rights, violence against women (including rape), violence against children, crime, housing, employment and health dominate the project agenda." Edit |  10 brighteye.0 Edit Add Description |
 11 kbphoto Edit On our Monday visit to the SWAP program I met a 17-year-old girl, Kanimozhi. I showed her a photo of my daughter, she introduced me to her mother and grandmother, and showed me her house--two rooms for four people and cared for with great pride. We talked about school and vacation and future plans. (Caption by Karen Bockelman, photo by Terri Lackey) Edit |  12 IMG 0001.3 Edit One line that Dr. Jayanthi Richard (pictured) attributes to Zienbalg: "The mistakes we make in our lives as Christians are greater than the faults we want to point out in their lives." Jesus should have said that -- maybe he did when he said "Love your neighbor as yourself." or "Love your neighbor and pray for those who pesecute you." In any event, this attitude undergirded Ziegenbalg\'s evangelism. Edit |
 13 IMG 0003.4 Edit On the way to lunch, a young Indian woman stopped me and said, "You are Rolf aren\'t you?" I asked, "How do you know my name?" When she told me she was "Sweetie," the former bishop\'s daughter, I recognized her. Sweetie is studying at Gurukul to become a pastor. She lives at the school. Her parents are now working together as pastors of a congregation. We are hoping to visit with Bishop Moses and others from the AELC on Friday. Edit |  14 sewing0 Edit After attending the seminar, we went to the HIV Clinic on the campus of Gururkul (the Lutheran Seminary) and were told about the work that they are doing. They have a walk-in clinic for women with HIV, which we toured, a meeting room for women with HIV for support (several women were there), a room where women were learning the trade of book binding and another where they were learning how to sew. After attending these classes women would be able to go out and either be employed or start their own business. These women were of status who had either lost their husbands to HIV or were shunned by their families and were forced to find a way to support hemselves. (caption by Becky Cusey) Edit |
 15 charlotte Edit Charlotte Erickson, left, talks with Becky Cusey, vice-president for the Northwestern Minnesota Synod, and Gary Wollersheim, bishop of Northern Illinois Synod. Edit |  16 Children-Shiloh-Tsunammi-Victims Edit These girls come from a culture that is as different from Indian culture as our culture is different from Indian Culture. Shiney is from one of five tribes living on a string of islands in the gulf. One of the tribes is quite violent and (according to the pastor) is as likely to kill a visitor as to welcome them. That isn\'t true of Shiney\'s tribe however. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 17 Tsunammi-Girls-in-Dorm Edit This is a picture of the Tsunammi Girls living in the dorm at Shiloh Church. Shiloh is a non-denominational church served by Esther\'s (the vice president of the Northern Illinois synod) brother-in-law and nephew. One of the girls was in her hut on an island in the Bay of Bengal when the tidal wave destoyed her home. Part of the home collapsed on her and she was trapped. She does not know how she got out of her home or how she lived. Her family was killed. She now stays in the dorm at Shiloh and is in their school. The trauma of the death of her family and all that happened is still too much for her. When I asked her if she would share her story, she said she could not. I felt bad I had asked but one of the other girls told me the story. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  18 WedTrees0001 Edit This picture is of the reforestation -- thousands of trees have been planted in areas where there are only scattered trees. I assume thousands of trees were destroyed by the Tsunammi and the stragglers were left. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 19 Slum Edit This is a picture of a village near the sea that is for elderly widows. One of the amazing thing about these huts is that they have electricity. They look like huts that would have been destroyed by the Tsunammi and have been rebuilt. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  20 Wed-Thomas-Tomb Edit I need to say a word about visiting the church where St. Thomas is reputedly buried. It is certainly humbling to be in one of the three churches in the world that are reputedly built over the tombs of one of the apostles. For some reason, the historicity of the scriptures become even more real when there are artifacts that testify to the incarnational elements of the Gospel taking human form in Christ and in the apostles touched by his call. The piety of people who came to visit the tomb and pay attention to the artifacts was touching. The faith that brings people to this site out of respect for our Lord and the church her created through the work of the apostles is a reminder of the fellowship into which God has called us. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 21 WedSpear0001 Edit The purple sign reads, "The lancehead that killed St. Thomas and his precious bone, esconsed and preserved until today." I tend to have a natural Lutheran (I believe) skepticism of such artifacts (I have heard too many comments attributed to the reformers about the overabundance of bones of apostles scattered around the churches of Europe), but what if these folks really did pay attention to history and preserve in their archives the very same types of things we preserve in our archives and museums? (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  22 GurukulPhilharmonic Edit One of the joys of worshiping in a seminary community is listening to and singing with the seminary choir. That was certainly the case today as we heard and sang along with the Gurukul Philharmonic with the congregation singing the chorus of the hymn, "Here I am Lord." What a marvelous experience. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 23 PriscillaSingh Edit Priscilla Singh, secretary for the Lutheran World Federation Desk for Women in Church and Society spoke on "Mission and Self-Reliance" under the theme of the "Consultation on Post Modern Challenges to Christian Mission in India." She pointed to the LWF document, "Mission in Context: Transformation, Reconciliation, Empowerment," which lifts up the Emmaus road encounter as an appropriate mission model. We have been talking about that model in the ELCA as "accompaniment." It is the model for our relationship with companion synods. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  24 SubhashiniBeckyRolf Edit Certainly one of the highlights of the day was visiting with Pastor Subhasini (Su) Bondu, director of the Women\'s Wing of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church of India. Subhasini studied at Trinity Serminary in Columbus, Luther Seminary in St. Paul, and Princeton. I first met Subhashini at Guntur on a Sunday evening in February of 2004. She is a great leader in the Church in India, compassionate, insightful, and deeply committed to making Christ known in the world. Photo: Rolf Wangberg, bishop, Minnesota Synod; Subhasini Bondu, and Becky Cusey, vice president of Minnesota Synod. Edit |
 25 VidhyaRani Edit This morning\'s worship included a sermon by Vidhya Rani, head of the UELCI\'s Women\'s Desk, on the text: "The harvest is plentiful, the laborer\'s are few." Vidhya reminded us that Jesus had compassion because laborers were harassed and helpless. She said, "It is a challenge to you and to me, to the global church. Where are we and what are we doing for those who have been entrusted to us?" (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |  26 Andhra Ev Lu Ch and WMN Edit Bishop Christopher and the delegation from the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church of India arrived today. The AELC and the Northwestern Minnesota Synod (ELCA) are companion synods. Becky Cusey, the vice president of the NWMN Synod, Dr. Suneel Hranu, Pastor Subhashini (Director of the AELC Women�s wing), and I had dinner together and made plans for a visit from members of their church to our synod. (Bishop Rolf Wangberg) Edit |
 27 MarkHansonPresentation Edit As a part of celebrating 300 years of Lutheran mission in India, Gurukul Theological College granted honorary degrees today to 25 church leaders from around the world. ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson is pictured receiving his degree. Edit |  28 PrasannaKumariSamuelTomb Edit The day (Friday, 7/7/06) started with a memorial service at the tomb of Prasanna Sumari Samuel who died just a couple of months ago. Prasanna, wife of Pastor Samuel Meshack, principal of the Gurukul Theological College, was recognized as a worldwide leader in the Lutheran church and was one of the vice presidents of the LWF. Her premature death is a great loss not only to her family and the GTC, but to all of the Lutheran church. Edit |
 29 RafaelMalpic-PadillaPresentation Edit As a part of celebrating 300 years of Lutheran mission in India, Gurukul Theological College granted honorary degrees today to 25 church leaders from around the world. The Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla is pictured receiving his degree. Edit |  30 Ruth Edit Ruth Fairchild, representing Women of the ELCA in Rockford, Ill., sits in front of a sidewalk welcome from Esther Prabhakar\'s family. Edit |
 31 sarees Edit Women on the team getting ready for the Friday evening special convocation at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute. Some are wearing sarees, some salwars, some plain old western attire. Edit |  32 SebastianBaptism201 Edit We gathered in the chapel for the baptism of Sebatian Lyseng, the grandson of Pastor Meshack and Prasanna. Dr. Ishmael Noko preached. Bishop Gideon Devanesan of the Arcot Lutheran Church of India and Bishop Mark Hanson participated in the service along with others. Grandpa poured the water. Edit |
 33 SebastianBaptism203 Edit We gathered in the chapel for the baptism of Sebatian Lyseng, the grandson of Pastor Meshack and Prasanna. Edit |