NASHVILLE — Martha Sadongei learned to set a formal table growing up.
But in her heart, she’s a “one knife, one fork, one spoon, one mug or glass kind of gal.” She’s happy with paper plates.
Through the years, though, Sadongei has sometimes found herself in fancy settings with lots of silverware and unfamiliar food — food she’s embarrassed to admit she doesn’t know how to eat. That stuff on the outside — do you cut it off or eat it? What exactly is it, anyway?
And she finds a lesson in that — and in Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, from the 4th chapter of John’s gospel — in the struggle Presbyterian churches have with evangelism.
It’s typical, Sadongei preached during Sunday worship at the National Presbyterian Evangelism Conference Sept. 2, for congregations to describe themselves as “warm and friendly.”
But that’s not always how they seem to the newcomer –the one who’s just walked in the door and isn’t sure whether to stick around.
Sadongei, a member of the Kiowa and Tohono O’odham tribes and pastor of Central Church in Phoenix, described how visitors are greeted at her small Native American congregation. Every single person shakes their hand during the passing of the peace. They are drawn out into the aisle, spoken to by everyone, sought out for a greeting of welcome.
Before even routine meetings begin, each person is greeted with a handshake or a hug. “We acknowledge the life presence,” she said, “of those we are with.”
But it’s not always like that.
“A church that is wanting to evangelize to the surrounding Hispanic neighborhood should not have the only sign in Spanish reading `No trespassing, violators will be prosecuted,’ “ Sadongei said. “True story. How inviting is that to the neighborhood? Evangelism is inviting another individual into conversation, to share what God has done in one’s life.”
But when Sadongei visited one church as part of a presbytery team — a congregation that had described itself as “warm and friendly” and was seeking renewal — she found “I was greeted with a ‘Good morning,’ “ handed a bulletin, and not spoken to again until she was introduced as a pastor and a representative of the presbytery.
“Then folks came up to me to offer a drink, here’s a chair, why don’t you be comfortable.”
In John’s gospel, Jesus initiated the conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, asking for a drink of water, even though he was a Jewish man and she a Gentile woman.
“Jesus and the woman were willing to risk trying something different, willing to be open to someone who was much different from them, and possibly learn something from them.”
It began with this: Jesus started a conversation with a stranger, a first move that lead to “an unbelievable dialogue,” Sadongei said.
“I don’t think we realize how important an acknowledgement of presence and an initiation of a conversation can be.”
Sometimes, when she has guests, Sadongei serves tamales — handmade, in the traditional way. She can see her visitors struggling with how to eat them — poking and prodding, picking up a knife to saw through the cornhusk.
She gently instructs them how to unwrap the husk to find the delicious surprise within — and in so doing explains how tamales are served as part of her family’s meal each Christmas, and “the significance of the labor and love that goes into making these delectable items.”
She urged Presbyterians: “Take the risk to be open, to be share of yourselves, and to learn from your brothers and sisters.”
Eat something different.
Find the delicious surprise.
