Pastor Watson served a small Lutheran congregation in a thatch-roof village in India. After a chicken and rice lunch cooked over an open fire and served on freshly-cut banana leaves, we met the young man in the World Mission Souvenir photo above. He was cared for in the orphan home managed by the Pastor and his daughter. Perhaps the boy’s parents were deceased, or they may have been too ill or too impoverished to care for him. In any event, the boy found himself homeless on his own and supported himself by picking and selling scraps of paper and other recyclables. Taken Into Watson’s home, cared for there, he learned about Jesus and became a child of God.
Need reasons for Thanksgiving? Here’s one: Pastors like Watson share the Good News that Jesus Christ lived and died to be our Savior and they show their Christian faith by caring for others. Here’s another: that our children and grand-children are spared the difficulties that children in poverty and danger face everyday around the world. We might thank God also that there are loving people who care for those in need. Our role? It starts with awareness of and empathy for the troubles others face, and prayer for God’s blessing. It proceeds from there to helping with our own resources as we are able. Christian charity reflects gratitude for the mercy God has shown to us in Christ our Savior, and his grace in our own lives. We love because he first loved us (I John 4). And everything you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3).
(The ELS relationship with The Lutheran Mission of Salvation – India is conducted by the Asia Committee of the Board for World Outreach.)
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Steve Petersen