On my first flight en route to the biennial General Council meeting of the AG, the man next to me avoided eye contact until we reached cruising altitude. Then he leaned over. “Hello, how are you? I’m not good at English, but I want to practice it.” After exchanging pleasantries, he asked me, “What religion are you?”
“Christian; what are you?”
“Catholic, so kind of the same thing.”
An 18-year-old from Vietnam, he moved to America five years ago with his parents and recently relocated alone to join a Catholic brotherhood and train to become a priest. “What do you do?” he asked. “I write articles about the Bible, and I study and hope to teach people about what the Bible says so that they know it makes sense for their lives today.” When I told him I was also a teacher and minister, his eyes grew wide — probably more about the latter than the former. Then I realized that I may have been the first female credential holder he had met or at least spoken to. I had a split-second thought that my words from that point of the conversation on may be representing Protestantism, women in ministry, females, and/or the United States — so no pressure. I made a decision to represent us well, to the best of my ability.
He then explored several topics from my perspective. He asked what I think of Mary, mother of Jesus. I responded with Luke 1:45, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” and I said, “I love Mary’s obedience. She demonstrated complete obedience to God. I want to live my life like that, don’t you?” Then we talked about Elizabeth’s words to Mary.
He asked me what I believe about breaking bread in the Eucharist, and I said, “Think of all the ways we break relationship with God: I am reminded of my brokenness and reminded that Jesus was broken for His Church. I am reminded of how I break fellowship with others and how Jesus died so we can live in wholeness with Him and others.”
He also asked about the seven sacraments and the tabernacle. I asked him about his favorite theologian, his favorite Bible book, and what his mission in life is. He aims to stay here and serve the Vietnamese in America. I asked him what he hopes to teach people.
When the plane touched down, I blessed him and thanked him for talking and, more importantly, for following God’s call on his life. He thanked me for talking and said that maybe he will come to my church one day.
He is a brother in Christ. I want him to excel in his studies and come out of them loving the Bible — really loving it. I want him to serve his people well. I want him to look for unity in the body of Christ, not division. I want him to continue engaging in dialog with other fellowships and traditions and continue learning from and with Christians as we seek to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of us. And I want him to know that Protestant Pentecostal female teachers and ministers love God and love people.
P.S. Did you know that Springfield, MO has the longest-running Roman Catholic/Pentecostal dialogue in the United States?
P.S.S. Photo taken of the sunset somewhere between Dallas and Orlando.