In a few short days, my squad and I will be getting on a plane for Africa, and our time in Cambodia and Asia will be done. I used to think I wasn’t any good at telling stories, but last night I stood up to share one as our squad encouraged each other with testimonies of what God has been doing over the past couple months. I prefaced my story with that disclaimer and received a stern rebuke from my teammate Jess. Today, one of my fellow squadmates told me that I should tell more stories so as I prepare to leave Cambodia, I want to share three stories that happened this month and what God taught me through those experiences.
The first happened at the beginning of the month. On our very first day in Kampong Cham, we discovered a guest house with a restaurant and smoothie stand. This is where we ate many meals and met many new people. One of those people was the owner of the guest house. His name is Toma, and even though he isn’t a Christian, he and his family excel in hospitality.
One morning while I was having breakfast with one of my teammates, Toma told us about a wedding that would be happening the next evening and invited us to tag along. One of the things they tell you at training camp is to jump at any chance you get to attend a wedding so we were in. The next evening we showered and pulled out our cleanest dirty dresses (a la Johnny Cash) and headed to the guest house. As we were climbing in the tuk tuk to go to the wedding, a woman walks out of the guest house. She seemed a little confused, but one of my teammates volunteered that we were going to a wedding and invited her to come.
Now to be honest, at first I was concerned that we shouldn’t be inviting guests to a wedding last minute, especially if we didn’t RSVP with a plus one, but there wasn’t much I could do when the woman climbed into the tuk tuk right before it drove away. We got to the wedding, and it felt like we were walking down the red carpet. There were women in fancy dresses and a tent set up with tables where they kept bringing another round of food and more drinks. Such abundance!
I sat next to the woman we brought and learned that her named is Denise and that she is from New Zealand. She had just arrived from Phnom Penh. On her first night there, she had seen a wedding and thought how exciting it would be to attend one. Then she arrived here and walked out of the guesthouse at just the moment we were leaving. She told me someone was looking out for her, and I smiled and agreed. We spent the rest of the night eating and laughing and dancing.
As I reflect on this experience, it reminds me of two stories from the gospels. The first is in John chapter two where Jesus performs his first miracle by turning water into wine for the guests at a wedding. Verse eleven says, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” Jesus manifested his glory in such a way that caused his disciples to believe in him by keeping the party going. This was just the first of the miracles they would witness and be part of and only the beginning of the lives of abundance they would live, but still, I think it tells us much about Jesus and much about his kingdom. His kingdom is more like a boisterous wedding than a somber service.
The other story is when Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a great banquet that a man threw. His guests gave excuses, but the master of the feast insisted the show must go on. He commanded his servants to go find guests for his banquet, and when there was still more room, he sent them out again that the house would be full. This month I read a book called Love Does by Bob Goff. In it, there is a chapter where he talks about this story, and it is titled “There’s More Room.” There was more room at the wedding for Denise, and there is more room in God’s kingdom. He’s sending us out to invite everyone to come join the party.
The second story happened at the end of the month, only a couple days before we left for Siem Reap. Most of our team was sitting on the mat in the back corner of the sanctuary that we called our bedroom for the month. Stephanie and I were getting ready to go to dinner, and just as we got up to leave, Toma showed up at the church with a friend. Now, we often saw Toma at the guesthouse and sometimes in the streets, and he often introduced us to his guests or friends. But this was the first time we ever saw him at the church.
The man he brought with him was named Nick. He came to Cambodia six months ago to teach, but he recently lost his job. He was out of money, and only because of Toma’s generosity would he have enough money to get to Phnom Penh to look for work there. I’m not sure why Toma brought him. Maybe they were expecting money that we couldn’t give. What we did was listen to Nick’s story, and then we prayed for him.
Something I have been meditating on this month was how the church was our home. We slept every night in the sanctuary. We taught and rested and worship and ate in the place where the people of God gather. We talked this month about the power of belonging, and I’m more convinced than ever that this is a beautiful picture of what the church is supposed to be.
The Church, the people of God (not just the building), should be a safe place where people can come and feel like they are home, like they belong. It should be – we should be – where people come to worship, share and learn, be fed, and find rest. We should be a place where life happens and where abundant life is found because we have a source of that abundant life living in us.
This should be the case, but all too often, it hasn’t been true of us. Instead, people have faced rejection and judgment. Instead of being fed and refreshed, they leave empty and still searching. Rather than rest, they have found a to-do list and a to-don’t list along with commitments necessary for membership. How have we gotten our mission, more than that – our identity, so wrong? When did we stop being a sanctuary for the broken and hurting to run to?
I don’t have all the answers, and I can’t change any of the ways people have been hurt in the past. I wish I could. All I can do is say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for how you’ve been hurt. I’m sorry that we didn’t love you like Jesus. I’m sorry for not giving you a sanctuary to feel safe, a home where you can find the place you belong.
And I wish I could promise you won’t get hurt again, but sadly, you probably will. It’s not an excuse, but we’re still trying to get the hang of living like Jesus showed us. I know it seems like a lot to ask, but please forgive us and give us grace as we keep trying to walk worthy of that calling.
To my brothers and sisters – let us return to our identity and our mission from God to be a sanctuary for people to feel safe from all the fears of the world. Let’s invite people in and welcome them in love, even if (especially when) they look, act, think, or believe differently. Let’s love them like Jesus loved the tax collectors and the woman caught in adultery. Let’s give them a place to belong, a place where they can live their lives. Let’s be a place where God is found, His people are fed and refreshed. May the Church be a sanctuary once again.
So I’m not sure if Nick and Toma found what they were looking for that day, but I like to think they came to the church that day and found a sanctuary, a safe place to share the burdens of life.
The last story is something that happened throughout the month, but it culminated in a revelation that God gave me for how he wants us to activate our faith.
During our first week in Kampong Cham, one of the pastors we were working with told us that this big empty building we’ve been passing was built with the intention of being a market. Instead, it sits mostly empty because people would rather keep their shops in the street rather than paying rent. When I heard this story, I found it sad that something the community invested in would sit useless and empty. I began praying that this building would become a place of worship where people would pack it out and be crowding to get in to hear the good news about Jesus. Maybe that seems outrageous, but I think God is honored when we are willing to pray big prayers. It sounds like we actually expect him to be capable of something like that.
Somehow, that thought and those prayers formed a fondness in my heart for this place. And I was looking for a place to go to find quiet and space apart from the 12 other people living at the church, I would often find myself there in the mornings, watching the sky dissolve to blue from all the many colors of the sunrise as I prayed to begin my day. At the end of the month, I wanted to spend some time in worship since all the songs were in Khmer at the church. They had English lyrics underneath, and some of them we even recognized, but it just wasn’t quite the same. So I went to the market, and I worshiped. I sang and proclaimed God’s goodness.
It was after this time of worship that God brought something to mind. Many of the Old Testament prophets weren’t simply asked by God to speak to his people. On many occasions, God asked them to do things to show, not just tell, the people his message to them. Whether it was Isaiah walking naked or Hosea actually marrying a prostitute and buying her back when she returns to her old life, God asked these men to do more than just pray and speak. He asked them to act on his words to them.
I felt like that was what I was doing in that moment and in all those mornings throughout the month. God allowed me to envision something better for this space than sitting idle and empty, but he wasn’t content for me to just see that. He drew me there in the mornings to pray. He led me there to worship, to make it a place of worship, not just pray for that. I’m not saying I’m a prophet, and I don’t know what will happen with that space. But I know that even if it was just this month, and even if it was just for me, that market became a place of worship. What vision has God given you that you’ve been praying about? Is it time to act? Is there more he’s asking of you? Step out in faith, watch God answer your prayers.
