Erik Nilsen Apprenticeship Update: March 2024

At the time of writing, I have just finished my second month as an NCP apprentice with EFM. In most other internships, one might report settling into a stable, expected routine by this time. In full-time ministry, this is not so. While we indeed have regular meetings and practices throughout the week with each other, the contents of our days are anything but expected, and frequently our faith is put on the spot.

A few weeks ago, a group of pastors and lay leaders from Friends churches in Indonesia contacted us and invited us to meet with them over Zoom to share with them what we have been learning. We told them about the process of Bible dialogues—inviting people who are curious about Jesus to read the Gospel of Mark in a group setting, and asking them open questions of their observations and responses to facilitate discussion. The Indonesian Friends were pleased and encouraged by what we shared. Then some of the younger members, who were also in their twenties, asked what it meant to emulate Jesus in everyday life, outside of a teaching setting. We recounted these stories.

On Valentine’s Day, Nick, Garry, Grace, and I visited City Lights, a low-income housing organization in Fullerton, as they had invited us to their bingo party that afternoon. While Garry, Grace, and I served pizza, soda, and cupcakes, Nick hosted the bingo tournament and called out the numbers. It was a very spirited game.

Afterwards, as we were cleaning up, the social worker in charge pulled Nick and Garry aside to meet another tenant upstairs. As they entered the room, they saw an old man lying on a bed surrounded by shelves and shelves of medication. The man, who I will call Job for his privacy, introduced himself, and told them his story: he was a survivor of the Syrian Civil War and had watched his whole family die in a missile strike. He lived in deep depression and anguish, and now also suffers from terminal cancer. Job said he prayed every day that God would finally take his life. Though a Muslim, he begged Nick and Garry to sit and pray for him. Nick reached out and embraced him, and they held each other in silence for some time. Finally, Nick said a prayer over Job, pleading God to comfort him and to reveal Himself to Job, so that he would know that he is loved by God. As Nick and Garry prepared to depart and said goodbye, Job rose and pronounced blessings on them, their households, and their extended families.

That same evening, around 8 o’clock, Paul and I took a pickup truck and drove to Placentia to pick up a barbecue from a friend. As we passed a street corner, I saw a man lying prone on the grass next to a wheelchair. This scene seemed incredibly amiss and as we were returning home, I asked Paul to pull over so we could check on him. I approached the man and learned that he needed helped and offered to take him to a shelter in Anaheim.

He told us his name (I’ll call him Adam) and said he had been homeless for several weeks after falling out with his family. He intended to let himself freeze to death that night to end his suffering. Though his legs were numb, he was grateful for the heat in the truck and thanked us for rescuing him. Previously a wealthy trucker for 50 years, Adam had lost everything, including his faith. He said he had long since stopped believing in God, and even if he did exist, he had long since abandoned him. Moved, I struggled to maintain my composure. I asked Adam if he had heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He had not but asked me to tell it. I began telling about the man left for dead, and how the priest and the Levite passed him by, but Adam had me stop, not liking the story.

By that time, we arrived at the Salvation Army emergency shelter and were informed that the shelter did not accept walk-in arrivals and that Adam would need a referral from another agency to enter. The guard provided me with the phone numbers of several city agencies, but as I called each one, they were either closed or suggested I call a different agency. Frustrated and overwhelmed, I did not know what I was supposed to do. Finally, the guard took me aside and suggested I take Adam to the UCI Medical Center ER. “If you tell them that he is going to die otherwise and that he has psychiatric issues (which was probably true), they legally cannot turn him away. They will also be able to refer him to us when they are finished treating him.”

As we arrived to the ER, helped Adam check in and waited, I asked Adam if he would like to hear the rest of the story straight from the Bible. He said yes. When I finished reading about how the Samaritan had compassion on the man and brought him to the inn, I told Adam, “This is what Jesus has done for me. How can I not do the same for you, my neighbor?” Adam was called to go back then and said, “You and your friend have done more than enough for me, right when I thought it was all over. Thank you. You don’t have to stay any longer.”

Before I left, Adam let me pray with him, and I left him my Gideon New Testament with my number written inside. As I walked outside to meet Paul, another man I had seen in the waiting room approached me and handed me a business card for a Christian homeless shelter which I took back to Adam. Finally, we drove home, barbecue in tow, just before midnight.

In the Gospels, I am particularly moved by how Jesus allowed himself to be inconvenienced when confronted by people in need of compassion. As we grow to follow and emulate Jesus as our Teacher, we will share his joys and sorrows, his problems and inconveniences. On Valentine’s Day, Nick , Garry, Paul, and I faced unexpected inconveniences. We did not know the answers. We could only offer God a response of compassion, and trust him to provide the rest.

This I shared with the Indonesians and this I now share with you.

Pray for Job and Adam, that they might know the God who loves them, who has neither abandoned nor forsaken them, but has sent his Son to save them.

Go in peace, glorifying the Lord with your life.

Faithfully yours,

Erik

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