IN HIS SERVICE

If you are like me, many times during your career you may have wondered whether you are doing God’s work in this world. Does your chosen career serve you, or does it serve God? I see people in my church who seem to have so much more integrated a spiritual and work life. I barely make it to church on Sunday morning.

So I was very excited in the fall of 2006 when my work allowed me, in my own small way, to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ and hopefully advance his Kingdom just a little on this earth.

I work as the President’s East Asia advisor, and my job includes helping to plan his visits to East Asia. In November 2006, President Bush was to attend a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Hanoi, Vietnam. Along with the leaders’ summit, the President would enjoy the hospitality of the Vietnamese people – only the second American President to visit Hanoi since the Vietnam War.

In June 2006, I paid my first visit ever to Hanoi to begin planning the President’s November schedule. I visited a Buddhist temple where I found dedicated monks caring for the victims of HIV/AIDS. Their work with these victims of the sex trade was supported by generous donations from the American people, and I knew no presidential visit would be complete without an event that highlighted their inspiring work.

I also knew we would be in Hanoi on a Sunday and that President and Mrs. Bush would wish to honor Vietnamese Christians by attending a service. Vietnamese Christians have suffered greatly under Communist rule, but as the country has modernized, the Party’s attitude toward the Christian community has improved – with some coaxing from us.

However, Christians remain a suspect group because of their foreign connections with the Vatican and Western denominations. Consequently, Protestants and Catholics have their own built-in suspicions – even of each other.

We came to realize that there had never been a large, ecumenical service in the city of Hanoi. Suddenly, I heard a calling. I told the Protestant and Catholic clergy that the President and Mrs. Bush would prefer to worship with a cross-section of Christians and that it was up to them to get their flocks together. After protracted negotiations, both sides agreed to an interfaith service in the Cao Bac Catholic Church.

On Nov. 19, 2006, I was proud to walk into a packed church and see the smiling faces of ordinary Vietnamese Christians. Instead of being met by members of the Communist Party, the President and his wife were led to their seats by members of the Hanoi clergy. I marveled at the enthusiasm of these once-oppressed people as we gamely tried to sing along with the congregation in Vietnamese to that very familiar hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer.”

As I bowed to pray that day, I felt that finally my work and faith life had come together in a magnificent moment. And as we concluded the service, it felt as if the first two sentences of the final Vietnamese hymn had been written just for me:

“Oh God of mercy and love, in your name, I will love and I will serve all mankind. In your love, I will live my life as an instrument of your love and peace.”

— Dennis Wilder

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist