Encountering Jesus in a girl with leprosy led to love for a ministry on the margins Ranjit K. Mathews I understand my call to proclaim Christ to the people on the margins of our city, because that is where I believe Christ would be. The Cathedral Church of St. Philomena ı Mysore in Karnataka, India. Photo: mysore_Arshad.ka
I experienced Jesus through a chance meeting with a young Indian girl in the summer of 1999. For my undergraduate degree, I enrolled in George Washington University in Washington, D.C, and while a seeker within the Episcopal tradition, I wanted to further explore my life in Christ at a campus ministry. On one particular Thursday evening in the student center, I heard Christian music playing in a dark classroom and decided to venture inside. I immediately saw music lyrics shown on wall through a transparency and felt emotionally moved to join in, as it had a catchy beat. Thus started my time with Hope Bible Study, a more conservative, student-led group located on the campus of George Washington University. The group served as my faith community, as I found friends who were kind and made me feel at home. We went to church together, hung out, and prayed together. Throughout my journey with the group, however, I was slowly being invited to turn away from friends who weren’t Christian, or who went clubbing or enjoyed having a more secular time. Some of these were people that I deeply enjoyed spending time with. Hope Bible Study also had some harsh things to say about the body, and a very conservative understanding of relationships. And so it truly felt as if I was bifurcating myself; and came to understand which side was quote unquote “good,” and which side was quote unquote “bad.” If time in college is meant to be a space that is associated with liberty and deepening of identity, or at least a more open understanding of one's self, my first two years were filled with deep internal turmoil. THE PILGRIMAGE That summer, in 1999, my family and I traveled to India on our onceevery-four years trip to my ancestral land. As it happened, my father was on the ordination track for priesthood, and I was discerning a path of faithfulness to Christ. During this vacation I sat down with my father on the veranda of my grandparent’s house in Kottayam in the state of Kerala. He looked at me — in only a way that a parent can — and asked me a very poignant question, “Ranjit, do you believe that of all the people who live in India who are NOT Christians, do you think God will send them to hell?” To say that I was caught off guard would be an understatement; but upon reflection, the question couldn’t have come at a better time in my spiritual journey. I was ready for it, because I was questioning what was being told to me at bible study, as it didn’t sit well with my own experience of God. I heard Jesus saying that I... should join him at the borders of society and proclaim the justice of the Realm of God. Later, during that same trip, I had an experience that not only answered that question for me forever, but transformed my life and crystallized my vocation. I remember it now like it was yesterday. My parents, sister, and I were in the bustling city of Mysore in the southern state of Karnataka. One afternoon we decided to visit the Cathedral Church of St. Philomena’s. We went downstairs without shoes on, which is culturally appropriate for India. After exploring the complicated history of the Cathedral under British rule, we decided to come upstairs. My parents and sister went up first, and I lagged behind. As I made my way back up, at the second step before the top, I saw a girl who was on a skateboard-like structure. She had leprosy. I remember this moment vividly. It seems like we looked at each other for some time; and then she took her hand and she touched my foot, and then brought her hand to her mouth. In many parts of Indian culture, when you do this, you are conveying respect. And yet, for me, I felt like I was seeing Jesus in her saying to me that I was beloved just who I was, for I didn’t need to change anything about myself. This was what it means to be beloved. Utterly beloved. I heard Jesus saying that I, in my belovedness, I should join him at the borders of society and proclaim the justice of the Realm of God. I also heard that I should join the leper girl in India and be in solidarity with her. This unambiguous, unconditional sense of liberation set me free in wholeness to go and offer this radical sharing of love to others, no matter where or who they are in life. This experience of God liberated me to share this sense of love, to whomever I came across. In theology, we call it an ontological change. But whatever it was, it was God and it has compelled me to proclaim the love of God; and yet I am drawn to share God’s love with those who find themselves at the margins of society. I feel drawn to the margins of our society, because I was met on the margin of myself by somebody who was herself on the outskirts of society. As a young girl with leprosy, she would have been stigmatized within Indian culture; and yet I believe Jesus through her helped me to see that I was beloved just as I am. Just as I am, with my love of Hip-Hop music and friends who are not Christian. With her gentle touch of my foot, she had recognized my inherent beloved-ness. As rector of St. James' here in New London, I understand my call to proclaim Christ to the people on the margins of our city, because that is where I believe Christ would be; not in any paternalistic sense; but in solidarity and accompaniment. I pray that the Holy Spirit, that She will continue to lead and guide me to share the Realm of God. The Rev. Ranjit K. Mathews is the rector of St. James', New London. In ECCT he serves on the Mission Council and works with multiple ministry networks including those working with combating gun violence; climate and the environment; clergy of color; immigration and immigrant children; and racial healing, justice, and reconciliation. He chairs The Episcopal Church's Task Force on Dialogue with the South Sudanese Anglican Diaspora. 29