Sabbatical 2012: Diocesan Meeting, Nasirabad, and Ashapura

2/28/12

Accompanied by Paul Theodore, I made my way to Madar where the Diocesan meeting was being held. I was greeted by more than one hundred fifty church leaders from around the Diocese of Rajasthan. Bishop Warris gave me a warm public introduction and welcome. I was presented in an expression of Rajasthan hospitality with a wonderful bouquet of flowers, and invited to address the gathering with Rev. Jetendra Nath of Jodhpur translating for me into Hindi.

Then accompanied by Paul (elder brother of former Bishop Collin Theodore) and by Rev. Sunny S. Kumar of St. Mary’s church in Ajmer but formerly of Ashapura we made our way to Nasirabad. [The current pastor, Rev. Stella Anand Ras who has served Nasirabad for nine years now with wonderful leadership was unable to join us for the trip because she was committed to the Diocesan gathering.] We first visited the home of Mr. Solomon Rosario, who is part of a seven generation family of Rosarios to have served the church and Diocese. His father was the chief collector of historical documents and wrote a major history that has yet to be published covering the period 1860 – 1960. His son, Solomon guards that material with great care and is waiting for sufficient funding to embark on the publication.

It is very hard to put into words the emotional excitement and sheer delight of visiting the school and mission bungalow where Granny served as a teacher and then, stopping by to visit the principal of the school in his home. Then to the beautifully kept and recently refurbished church where Grandfather and Granny were married, where Grandfather was the ministor in charge and where Dad was baptized. From the vestry all the way through to the front door of the church it is a strikingly lovely sanctuary. Sitting there all these years later I felt I could reach out and touch the joy of that wedding day January 15, 1925. Both worship and prayer in that church must be a delight Sunday by Sunday.

Then on to Ashapura. Now a separate charge, but in Grandfather’s day I think it was linked to Nasirabad. This village in the heart of rural Rajasthan was the place where the Mission gathered so many orphans after the great famine in the late 1800s providing those orphans with homes to live in, education, land with which to learn to make their own living and the parental role of arranging marriages among them. All these years later it is one of a very few villages in all of India that is inhabited entirely by Christians. The church customs are touchingly expressive of the devotion of rural Christian life. Shoes must be removed to enter the church, women sit on one side of the church while the men sit on the other. A collection tin is carried around the village from house to house on Sunday mornings so that those who do not plan to attend church for whatever reason that day can still make their offering. That would be a little easier as a project in the village of Ashapura than in the community of West End in Manhattan, though the idea is very appealing from a church stewardship perspective.

I’ll attach some photos below of my trip today.