The Communion of Saints

The communion of saints. Its such an interesting concept to consider how we share fellowship with those around the world who are Jesus followers as well as those who have gone before us and those that will come after us. It seems somewhat distant, like one of those lines that we say in the creeds and we remember on World Communion Sunday or the thread of liturgical readings and prayers that get read and said by people in every time zone of the world every day of the year. Rather, it is the commonness that holds us together as brothers and sisters in The Lord which transcends all political boundaries and geographic definitions.

Since starting on this journey that now finds us in Ethiopia, I have been struck by the communion of the saints in a much more personal way. Consider some of the people that we have “bumped into” along the journey. This, in my opinion, smacks of Providence. Of course we have a love for Jesus in common with these people, however there are some other common things that I must share. Here are some of the saints which we have "stumbled into" which we have much in common with…

- While working on our adoption of Hanna we got a call from Christy’s mom telling us that her college roommate had talked with someone while working in her church’s nursery whose son and daugther-in-law was adopting from Ethiopia and that they lived in Quarryville, PA. About a week later I got an email from my brother saying that his college friends were adopting a little boy from Ethiopia and we should meet them. He said that they live in Quarryville. These folks are Brad & Kate Aldrich and have become great friends and huge encouragers in partnering with us in coming to Ethiopia.

-Last year when adopting Hanna here in Ethiopia we stayed at the same guest house as a couple from Virginia who were adopting two little girls. Late this summer we were talking with Rip and Ann-Marie Wahlberg (now pastoring Lancaster Vineyard) and they told us about a couple that they had met at family camp that we should meet who adopted 2 little girls from Ethiopia. I asked if their names were Steve and Kristy and sure enough it was the same people. We got to reconnect with them and they are graciously helping to bring some of the books that we could not fit in our bags.

-This past May while at our pastors conference in Galveston, TX , I happened to see a friend of ours whom we haven’t seen in a long time sitting across the restaurant. We went to say hi, and he introduced us to a friend of his whom he was having breakfast with who knows our primary contact in Ethiopia, Woody, very well. Mike used to be his pastor. He had some words of encouragement and some prophetic words for us.

- While at the same conference we were helping at an outreach, serving lunch. As we started to talk we learned that the folks serving at the end of the line were from the church in California where Woody used to attend and they had many loving words to say about him. We also were standing across from 2 people from the Ethiopian partnership that we had never met before.

- As we prepared for Ethiopia I got a call from a colleague in St. Louis, Missouri who told me he had a friend who is Ethiopian whom he wanted me to talk with on the phone. This man was in the States for a couple of days. I called and talked with him, and he was one of the leaders who planted the Ethiopian congregation in Lancaster, PA whose building we were meeting in.

- We've gotten reaquainted with a woman from Switzerland whom we met at the guest house last March when we were here in Addis Ababa. She attends a Vineyard church in Switzerland.

-Since arriving in Ethiopia we have met an Orthopedic surgeon and his family who live right around the corner from the guest house. They are here serving as long term medical cross cultural workers. Their US address is Yardley, PA (Bucks County) and they attend a large Methodist church in Washington Crossing. I know their son’s former youth pastor who is now living in Lancaster.

-Soon after arriving at the guest house we met a couple who have been serving as missionaries over the past 40 years here in Ethiopia. I had just finished reading this woman’s book about their time here serving in Northern Ethiopia, while I was on vacation. It was awesome to hear more of their stories firsthand and glean from their wisdom.

-At the guest house for the past 2 weeks we have had a young woman living there who is a student at Messiah and Temple and who is from Lancaster County. Rachel grew up in Morgantown, went to Lancaster Mennonite High School and is now living in Uganda interning with Cure Hospitals and will return to Pennsylvania in a few weeks.

I expect there are going to be many more of these connections that come out and that are developed. There are those moments where I wonder what all of these connections mean and how The Lord will use them long term. I know in the short term they serve as a constant reminder of how small our world has become, but how even smaller it truly is when we share Jesus as Lord in common. It is a constant reminder of how we never were meant to go about this race alone.