Church in Zambia

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!