The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us as We Serve

You need not go to the other side of the world to bear witness to injustice and oppression.  But as Global Ministries missionaries this is part of our daily work.  Through mission, we have the opportunity to make contact with poverty and suffering with our brothers and sisters the world over.  Few of us are called to actually go on missions far from home, but all of us are called to listen.

Luke 4:18 speaks of healing the blind and of the bonds of oppression being broken.  The message is that faith in Christ brings relief from suffering.

The five women I work with each day at Clinic Immanuel in Lospalos, East Timor tend to the sick each day.  Some are sick with tuberculosis or malaria.  Some are sick at heart having lost a husband, wife or baby to illness or tragedy.  Old women are lonely and looking for comfort.  In the clinic each day, each person gets their moment as staff tend to them each with intention and care.

Through my service in mission I truly recognize that, as in Luke 4:18 that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us as we serve in this clinic each day.  I feel it when we stand together and pray each morning before patients come in the doors.  I feel it when I see the staff gently address a child.  I feel it when I sit with one of the staff and “talk shop.”  I feel it when I check on the children eating nutritious food in our feeding program.

Through mission, we are sent out to work for justice, to heal the sick, to befriend the poor.  We are called to follow Jesus’ example of a life of devotion and service.  It is all the more tangible in an environment of houses which are bamboo shacks, with irregular electricity and water supply and where diseases such as worms, diarrhea and tuberculosis are commonplace threats to health and life.

For the privilege to serve as missionaries with Global Ministries, we give thanks.

Monica Liddle, ND
Clinic Immanuel, Lospalos, East Timor