September 2
I slept peacefully last night. The
neighbors' dogs were finally quiet, and the rooster only squawked once or
twice around 3AM. We woke up in the guest house for a quick breakfast before walking
to Bethel Lutheran Church, just a few steps down the road from the house.
The church, a large cement brick structure
with unfinished doors and windows is a local project started by members of the
congregation who had been gathering for worship in the small seminary chapel
for the past 30 years. The church is plain. An altar and reading stand are at
the front with white cloths draped over. There are potted tropical-looking
plants at the front.
100-150 plastic lawn chairs are set up in
neat lines. People pick them up and move them out of their orderly rows if they
see someone they want to sit near.
The pastor and his wife greeted us warmly,
as did many of the choir members and one of the couples from dinner the night
before.
Today's lesson is from Genesis --
"Jacob wrestles with God."
Jacob was a stubborn, arrogant man. He was
the kind of man who always wanted to get ahead, no matter what it took. And
still, God came all the way to earth and spent a whole night arguing, wrestling
and fighting with this stubborn man. Why did he do that? To change Jacob's
life. God made Jacob a new man... but not before dislocating his ankle.
When we are proud or don't put our trust
in God, sometimes he has to shake us around a bit to get us to listen. When we
don't listen, or when we aren't doing what we should be doing, or when things
go wrong and we try to take them into our own hands, that's when God takes the
time to change us.
When nothing is going right for you and
you think "Why, God? Why?" It often means that God is wrestling with
you to get you to change something about what you are doing.
So don't wrestle God. Obey him. Be humble.
And when you are walking your own way, be thankful when he takes the time to
come and fight with you.
The pastor spoke clearly and elegantly, in
a meandering way very unlike the preachers at home. In the States (or at
least in the Lutheran Church), pastors seem to follow an outline in their
sermons. There's the main passage we're studying. Then they state the three main
points, and then go through each one in detail. Then there's a conclusion and a
prayer. This style of preaching was more how we think. It was cyclical and
process-oriented, and went the directions it needed to go.
It was very moving. And real.
Two choirs blessed us with their music
today. It was so moving! Their musical tradition is different from ours as
well. The pastor announced, "Today our choir will sing us a
song."
The choir stood and sang a song as they
danced their way up to the front of the church. Then they all faced the
congregation and sang their main song. One woman was so moved that she leaped
up and started shouting and dancing. She ran up next to the choir and yelled,
"ayi-ayi-ayi-ayi!" as she waved her arms around. Some people in the
congregation smiled or chuckled, but from their reactions it didn't seem like
this was too out of the ordinary.
Jason also told us that sometimes the
sermons tend to get very long here. Where our entire service is usually an hour
on the dot (an hour ten if it's a Communion Sunday), here the pastor's speech
can be an hour or even an hour and a half! If someone is getting sleepy and
starts to nod off, it's acceptable for them to start humming or singing a hymn
to wake themselves up. The congregation will quickly join in, and the pastor
takes his cue to sit and rest for a bit as well. When the song is done, the
pastor returns to the front to continue where he left off.
While I was in Zambia I also noticed the
attention span and train of thought is very acute there compared to at home. If
I was interviewing a person and asked a question and their phone rang, they
would excuse themselves, answer the call and talk for a while (in a language
other than English), hand up, and then answer the question. I never heard the
phrase, "Where were we?" from a Zambian. Not once.
The order of service was nearly identical
to ours back home, except that this Sunday there was no accompaniment to our
singing. It's all a Capella, led by the choir and joined by everyone else.
Everyone seemed to know the songs even without a book with words.
Worshiping with these people--complete
strangers--was so uplifting. I felt completely welcomed there. Sure, a few
little boys and girls stared at me grinning for the entire service. But people
treated me like I was supposed to
be there. Like I belonged.
After church we had a quick lunch at the
guest house and departed for the airport.
It's time to go to Mfuwe to start the
second leg of our wild adventure!
