Light their path

Yesterday at Church was another significant service with the rededication of the Anamoyo (Women’s Christian Fellowship) and the Blessing of Percy and Muyunda’s marriage. This was finally solemnised earlier in the month after protracted negotiations between Percy and Muyunda’s family. Percy is the Youth Pastor here and has been reaching out to young people in the community for the past year, though his role was only formalised in December 2008. We are delighted that he has found his wife and a helpmeet in Muyunda.

Sunday dawned bright and fresh after a heavy shower on Saturday. Brothers and sisters in the Church family had baked and decorated the cake, arranged the flowers, shredded the coleslaw, cooked the chicken and beef and prepared the Simba lawn for the lunch with furniture; and the benches from the chapel and tables from the Conference Room were set under the shade of the river-bank trees. Many hands were busy arranging the bougainvillea, hibiscus, roses in a profusion of delicate shades into dainty baskets, together with scented lavender and golden rod. Our family tent was pitched and its verandah used as a shaded pavilion for His Royal Highness Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta, who graced the occasion with his presence. The Anamoyo organized a group to prepare the rice and buhobe.

The service was held outside at the Church and Percy and Muyunda walked together hand in hand to the front of the congregation where the Reverend Silishebo blessed the couple with prayer and Scripture. They both promised to be faithful, loving, comforting, protecting and honouring life-long to each other this was followed by the exchange of rings and the Aaronic Blessing. Finally the congregation had the joy of embracing and congratulating the two of them and presenting them with gifts as tokens of love and esteem.

The celebration was a delightful mix of the Zambian and Christian.The first guests together with the couple arrived soon after the service for photographs in the garden.

Lunch followed, washed down by iced water and the ubiquitous bottles of Coke, Fanta or Sprite. (The bottle tops are a handy teaching aid for demonstrating square and triangular numbers to Grade 8!) The accompanying music was from the CD produced by the Mwandi Choir.

Percy and Muyunda have faced a tough time physically and spiritually, but they know who is leading them. At the end of the lunch both said they felt full of energy and ready to face the task God has set before them. They know they have been strengthened from God’s boundless resources and were able to pass through the difficulties that beset them earlier and to endure them with courage. As they start married life together we pray for God’s grace to light their path as they construct a ministry together that will bless and transform their life together and the lives of others.

A Trip of Coincidences

We have been musing recently what a good collective for coincidences might be. This is a game that we as a family often used to play on long car journeys! And we've had a long trip. We returned on Saturday evening to Mwandi from a busy week of meetings and doing business in Lusaka.

On Tuesday in the city we were conscientiously working our way down the ‘To Do’ list (at our age the written list has become a necessity) and to be honest we were becoming a bit smug about the good progress we were making. We had purchased tyres for the Aids Relief vehicle and various spare parts and were dropping them off at the Beit Cure Paediatric Hospital where Harold and Susan are chaplains. Susan is the former Minister at Mwandi and Harold, a Pastor as well, is the twin brother of Heath, who runs Mwandi’s Lab. A driver would later collect the tyres and other purchases and drive them back to Mwandi in the Government vehicle.

As we were leaving with the purchases, we saw two rather forlorn figures: it was Gladys and her Mum from Mwandi. I had taught Gladys two years ago in Grade 7. Unfortunately she had been attacked by a crocodile at the river and her foot and leg had been very badly deformed from the bite. Mother and daughter had come up to Lusaka for an operation and Gladys had just been discharged. Mum was delighted to see us. She is a self-confessed country-woman who does not know Lusaka. She had been told to go with Gladys to the Italian Orthopaedic Hospital on the other side of the city for a wedge and she was told also to buy a pair of strong lacing shoes (there are no medical boots available for purchase in Zambia). She did not have money for the shoes and did not know where to start to look for them anyway. A taxi-driver had cheated her earlier with a fare. She was dispirited and at the end of her tether. Gladys was in flipflops and carrying a stick, and without the shoes any good done by the operation would be undone.

This is where it is necessary to listen to God’s small voice. It would have been very easy to say, “We’re sorry, we’re on Mission business, we’re too busy doing other important work to get involved in this.” But this was a time we both felt God had put us here to help Gladys and her Mum. ‘Efter muckle focht and ding’ we got the shoes and arrived at the Orthopaedic Hospital to be welcomed unexpectedly by other friends who just happened to be up from Mwandi. They were able to take Gladys and her Mum under their wing. Confirmation through another ‘coincidence’

Other former pupils we bumped in to on the trip: Michael, now Logistics Manager at the Nissan garage where our car is being repaired; Khetiwe, Project Manager at ZNAN, able to help LIMOVADI women with applications for grants; Phatiswayo, working at his father’s Fire Extinguisher business, able to help at the hospital; and, Kanyanta, now a graduate Doctor hoping to come to Mwandi for rural placement.

Bring light to the people

Muiseze batu liseli
(Bring light to the people)
Kai ni kai mwa lifasi
(Throughout the world)
Muise taba za bupilo
(Bring the Gospel)
Kwa batu ba mishobo
(To all of humankind)

These words come from a powerful hymn in the Lozi hymnary, a hymn that is often sung by the Men’s Christian Fellowship when they meet. Last Sunday was such an occasion at the Mwandi Mission’s Jerusalem Church, where the Annual MCF Rededication Service took place in front of the congregation. The MCF individuals promise to set a good example of Christian love. The MCF, also called the Alume, was formed in the early 70s to encourage male communicants to share the Gospel with others, to become witnesses and to pray and encourage one another. The Jerusalem Church Choir was there in support. It was a busy time of worship with a visiting Minister, Reverend Lubasi from Livingstone preaching and celebrating Communion.

Jerusalem Church stands symbolically in the middle of the Mission between the school and hospital, showing that the Church is central to all that we do here as an institution with our various ministries – teaching, learning, nursing, healing, providing care of various sorts and spiritual formation. If we forget that or neglect that, then everything we are about loses focus and perspective. All our differences and diversity find their unity and fundamental meaning here.

So on Sunday we offered up everything we are and do to be used by God for God’s purposes in the world. Our Lord calls us to participate in the work of salvation here on earth, so we pledge ourselves and our labour to be used in his service according to his will and to bring his light, life and love into the dark places of this world.