On November 1 I went by taxi to the United Theological College for the first ever Bangalore Lutheran get-together. On the stairs I was greeted by large images of Luther, Katie, and various Luther sites in Germany; more surprising, was the display of the 95 thesis. (Earlier in the week we were on campus for another event and saw a 1523 Luther's Galatians Commentary and Zeigenbald's Tamil NT.) The morning's activities included much, but the festival worship was the main event. Though much was in Tamil or other Indian languages, there was enough English for me to know what was going on. The singing was accompanied by a dozen and a half violins, drums, and an electric bass. One of the three renditions of "A Mighty Fortress" was youth presenting a dance loosely in the style of classical Indian dance. The ushers were oldish men; the women's organization offered a song; we had cake and coffee: some things seem constant! The bishop of the Arcot Lutheran Church, who we met earlier in the month, preached in Tamil with some comments in English that gave me plenty to think about. In concluding remarks I learned that this event was planned in ten days time and was the first ever. The hope is that it will launch more cooperative efforts among the congregations which belong to various "denominations". I was glad to have gone, both for the experience itself and for the historic nature of the event.

That afternoon a few students joined us in our living room for a brief All Saints Day service. One of them played the harmonium to accompany our singing of "For all the Saints." Know that our family and friends at home were among those who we held in memory and for whom we gave thanks.