-Written by Archie Wiranata
Halfway through my exchange program, I was on the way to Hamburg, a major port city in Germany.
It had been a while since I had heard from my friends back home, so I decided to call one of them.
I rang one of my closest friends, Marco, as I was leaving Lausanne, Switzerland. We caught up with each other and how we were doing. Marco then proceeded to catch me up on the things that had been happening in ICF while I was away.
It was a long call, and even though I was enjoying myself, I felt a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out) afterwards—it just felt like I was missing something.
I was in the midst of good company, and even better food. I was going to be travelling with friends within the next few days, and was definitely having fun on my own in Europe, far removed from any of the normal responsibilities that I would have had in Hong Kong and at home.
It was arguably the most enjoyable experience of my life so far, so why was I still yearning for something more, something other than all these good things that I already had?
It was arguably the most enjoyable experience of my life so far, so why was I still yearning for something more, something other than all these good things that I already had?
Prior to leaving Hong Kong, I had discussed my expectations about my spiritual journey and faith with Henrieke, my friend and mentor from ICF.
My research had found only one church that provided English translations for its congregation within St. Gallen, the Swiss-German speaking region that I would be staying at. I was fully anticipating that the church culture would be drastically different from that in Hong Kong, but it didn’t quite prepare me for the reality of it: despite celebrating Easter and Christmas, the majority of Europe just didn’t attach that same weight or meaning to it as my community in Hong Kong did.
It then became clear to me that they cared much more about the celebration, rather than the reason behind that celebration.
Most people in Europe, whether or not they are Christian, treat Easter and Christmas as a cultural festival rather than a religious one. I experienced this first-hand later on when I walked through the empty streets of Stuttgart, Germany, on Easter morning.
As I looked down the cobbled paths, I could see no one in the entire city except for me. Friends and families were still sleeping in after a long night of festivities, the city’s residents absent from any morning, or even afternoon activities. It then became clear to me that they cared much more about the celebration, rather than the reason behind that celebration. To the people of Stuttgart, Easter wasn’t about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As I continued to travel around Europe and spend time with the friends I had made while on exchange, I slowly understood the reason behind my yearning.
It wasn’t just a yearning for my friends back home, nor was it simply a yearning to partake in everything I was missing out on. It wasn’t just a yearning for friends that I could fully relate to. I could relate to them from an exchange student’s perspective, as I looked for people whom I could spend my time with, people who could keep me company. But they partook in activities that I found to be physically and spiritually harmful; there lies the differences and is where the similarities ended.
No, what I realized in Europe was that I was yearning for a God-centered community, for friends who weren’t motivated by self-centered incentives to bond with the people around them.
The friends that I had made while on exchange came together because they were looking for travel buddies. They were looking for short-term relationships, such as “vacation” flings, and fun. These were not long-term friendships and relationships, as these people were all motivated to embark on these relationships based solely on their own enjoyment. They would choose to break away easily when confronted with a bit of tension and friction, instead of sitting down to try and solve the problems that they had.
Everything made much more sense after I was able to come to this conclusion. While I missed my friends from Hong Kong and felt left out from the fun that they were having, what I missed was my God-centered community where our friendships were founded not in terms of what we can get from each other, but on the grace of God and in our mutual faith of Jesus Christ.
This may all sound like Christian nonsense or mumbo-jumbo, but the difference between a God-centered community and a non-God-centered one is that the God-centered community is an open and real community founded on God’s love. We are different, messed-up people with genuine weaknesses and shame who do not judge one another, but strive to love each other unconditionally.
We are different, messed-up people with genuine weaknesses and shame who do not judge one another, but strive to love each other unconditionally.
Just as God continues to show his love and pursuit of us through the crucifixion of his son Jesus on the cross, so we continue to show our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We didn’t deserve the unyielding love of God, nor did we do anything to earn it. In the same way, though there may be tension and friction within our spiritual family sometimes, we continue to love the different members of our family in Christ as God first loved us.
I realized too that it’s also easier to stray towards earthly pursuits or idols when one isn’t part of a God-centered community. That can take different forms, such as partaking in harmful activities to quench or meet one’s desires. At the end of this exchange experience, God showed me that even if I met all my physical pursuits, or have everything material in life that I want or need, I would thirst for something more: Him.
Even though I hadn’t had a God-centered community at St. Gallen, His presence continued to be with me.
He kept me safe during my journeys, and continuously encouraged me in my day to day activities. This distance away from His people taught me how to cherish His providence of a Godly community in my life so much more.
Despite the temptation not to serve in ICF during my final year of university, as I was busy with my final year project, I continued to do so because I know that’s how we show our love to our fellow brothers and sisters.
That, too, is how we show our love for God as well, by making sure that His people are a priority in our lives.
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