Good Friday

Reflections....

March 2013

       “I was wondering,” Johann later mused, “what does one DO when one’s pajamas are carefully laid on the pulpit beside you as you preach?” We were with him when, without missing a beat, he continued talking about the heart of Love, - as clothes, toothbrush etc were quietly, almost reverently laid beside him.

       “A sheep has done this,” explained John to Grant. Seeing Grant’s respectful but somewhat blank and enquiring expression, John, priest in charge of Matar Mission Centre, further explained, “ A sheep has broken into the car”.  As Grant was trying to visualize this, it dawned on him - “Ohh!! A THIEF!”. Our minds went immediately to the money given to re-roof the church. Was that taken too? 

       Thankfully, only one bag had been opened, and the items recovered, one by one, it seemed. Preaching, communion, confirmation and church council meeting later, it was off to the police station. There was our thief or lost ‘sheep’ - the Nuer pronunciation of sh/th and f/p being somewhat interchangeable. He was a skinny, underweight and undersized little guy, 14 going on 11 in appearance, named Chol (a Nuer name meaning “the one born after the previous child has died”). He was from South Sudan, just across the river. He was alone, without parents, food or means of support.

       What to do with him? It was decided by consensus, as is so often the case in this culture; “Let us take him home and feed him.”

       When I met him, Chol was sitting in the corner, his back to us in self-imposed shame, eating leftovers from the morning’s breakfast ‘feast’ of goat kidney stew. He had been admonished by the Mammas, “Don’t you know that we are your mothers? If you are hungry, you come to us!” We offered to pray for him. He was willing. By the time we drove off he actually waved, though in his eyes, tears were threatening.

       Two weeks later we watched another thief as he walked off with our soap. It was the day after he had received his disciplinary letter of suspension from his duties as parish priest; his church’s money having been redirected into the unimaginable riches of his new fridge and colour TV (these rare and precious appliances likely doomed to sudden death by electric power surge given the nature of Gambella’s power grid).  And yet, just moments before, we had seen him standing with our neighbour as her husband was buried, sharing her grief. And he had comforted her. The flash of anger over the loss of soap was reminiscent of the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35) as the love of Jesus seemed to cry within, “Who is robbed and I am not robbed?” Jesus’ words to the penitent one suffering beside Him ring out: “this night you will be with me...” (Luke 23:43). Sin, defeated by His love, is no barrier to God.

       This Good Friday, just two days before we leave for North America, pain and love resonate as memories of Africa come to mind. A few months ago, there had been flowers, lush reeds and myriads of butterflies and water birds in our region. Now the land was now charred and ravaged by the pre-planting season fires - the precious micro-nutrients of the topsoil burned away. Yet even as we travelled through the scorched and burnt earth of the dry season, the land remained beautiful. Through the patches of yellowed grass on charcoal black earth, we could see herds of exquisite antelope, beautiful red monkeys wise and Amish-looking with their white whiskers; and powerful, threatening baboons looking at us imperiously from the deserted village they had taken over for the season while the village people were away, bringing their cattle to the water. The physical suffering of hunger, thirst, and unremitting heat - 105 degrees day and night [40 degrees centigrade, eh] - is mixed  with the delight of new life shared with new brothers and sisters in a global family...and with the almost physical ache of looking forward to being with our family back home.

    Wendy & friends Pinyadu Refugee Camp

                           Abol Church

The Rt Rev Dr Grant LeMarquand and Dr Wendy LeMarquand are missionaries of SAMS (Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders)

Bishop Grant is Area bishop for the Horn of Africa within the Episcopal/Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa

 

Beautiful Africa

Beautiful children...


Beautiful Friends...

Rosie in the Rain


Johann - kid magnet

Prayer Concerns
~ Developing the Gambella Anglican centre: new church; new theological college; going green
~ Newly formed congregations in Ethiopia
~ Mothers' Union Community Education and Development Project

Africans teaching Africans

Bishop's Highlights:

In Addis

March 2: Addis’ first service for the newly re-formed S***** congregation

March 3-5: Time with St Matthew’s congregation;
Meetings & more meetings, including plans with Tearfund for a pilot ‘savings group” in Lare

In Gambella Region

March 6-15: Visit from Rosie Fyfe, our wonderful Diocesan proposal writer (many thanks, Rosie, for your invaluable aid)

March 6-20: Visit from Johann Vanderbilj - priest, scholar and friend, - discerning a call to teach in Africa (yes, this is the Johann of the redeemed pajamas)

March 8: Anuak worship conference at Gambella Anglican Centre 

March 9: Visit to Matar and Nininyang 

March 10: Confirmation Service in Matar

March 11: Visit to Lare, Pilwal, and Itang

March 13-15: First aid training at Gambella Anglican Centre

March 14: Visit to Opo (Rosie and Johann)

March 17: Service in Illea Anuak church 

March 17-20: Visit from Australian Board of Mission representative Julianne Stewart and her husband Martin (thank you for the food given to our mission centre in Tiergol - a famine region deemed too unsafe for the World Food Program to intervene)

March 24: Confirmation service in Abol

March 24-27: Visit from Dr Ron Lett  to those Gambella region schools receiving First aid training program

In Addis

March 27-31:Holy Week services with St Matthew’s church

March 30: S***** service 

March 31: Easter Sunday St Matthew’s 

March 31: Fly to North America

February Newsletter

                                              Mountain and Valley, War and Peace

Sherkole Refugee Camp

“The heavens declare the glory of God...”(Ps 19)

       We sat under a canopy of shining stars, astounded by their nearness and their beauty. All heaven seemed to lean close to hear the children and youth of the Mabaan as they ended the day, as was their custom, singing Evening Prayer. It seemed like Jesus was nudging me in the ribs - “See That?!!!  My kids!  Aren’t they beautiful?” -  I could feel His joy reflected in the beauty of the stars, pouring forth the silent speech of glory. The health of the Mabaan congregation and the maturity of its leadership was evident in the happiness of their children. 'I’m so happy I’m here', I thought, as I headed into the clean-swept tukul (mud-built thatched house), beautifully adorned with natural rock-powder paintings, for a night of peace.

       Then it started.

 It was, apparently, night two of the neighbouring clan’s three-night, all-night marathon of dancing and ‘music’, celebrating the return of a newly ‘rich’ young man from Australia - home to find a wife. Grant and I wondered if it was a contest of strength; (- the young woman who was able to dance vigorously all 3 nights and then sing the loudest on the 4th morning, perhaps the one most worthy to be chosen as the prospective bride?). The volume from this was such that Grant and I, sitting side by side, touching each other, yelling mouth to ear at the top of our lungs, were literally unable to hear our own words. The screeching music, sometimes blaring lyrics such as “ I don’t care, don’t care, DON”T CARE!!”, and “Hey! Hey!! HEY!!”, was interspersed with sounds reminiscent of machine gun fire, ambulance sirens, alarm clocks, traffic jams and battle zones. Worse still, it would suddenly and jarringly stop mid-screech for 10-20 seconds - the short savage bursts of silence as aggressive and startling as the din. Occasionally we would be treated to sounds of canned ‘merriment’ and ulalations cut unnaturally short.

       The suffering two to three hours into this was nothing compared to the suffering at eight to ten hours in - truly I understood why such things were sometimes used in torture. By night three, having done all we could within the gentle and respectful code of inter-clan negotiations, suffering seemed to blend with peace.  The sheer, quiet, overwhelming goodness of God, still present with our Mabaan hosts (who were more distressed over our discomfort than over their own), somehow defeated the power of the mocking and disrespectful attitudes of those whose oppressive, alcohol-driven ‘pleasure’ seemed to speak only too loudly of their hopelessness and despair. 

       The day’s lectionary readings after our first night with the Mabaan seemed particularly appropriate, - the disciples first glimpsing the glory of God on the mount of transfiguration and then needing faith and an ‘extreme make-over’ in their thinking, as they encountered the demon-oppressed down in the valley (Lk 9:28-43).  We were refreshed as, in reverence and joy, the Holy Spirit was received in power in baptism and confirmation. Truly, I was happy to be WITH Jesus and with the Mabaan.  ...“Having done all, to stand"(Eph 6 )...Interesting.... Grant’s ‘light reading’ at this time was Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”.

February: Bishop’s Highlights

 A few of the Mekele Students

Feb 1-3: Visit to Ethiopia’s newest Anglican church: formed by students of Mekele University, northern Ethiopia, wanting to meet and worship together in a common language (English). We were struck by the depth of unity in this ethnically diverse group.

Feb 9-12: Visit to Serkole Refugee Camp:  fellowship, baptisms, confirmations, healing prayer with the Jieng and Mabaan congregations

Feb 7-29: Work at GAC (Gambella Anglican Centre): Digging begun for the new well for GAC's agricultural area, clearing of agricultural area land, interviewing for GAC's Agricultural Co-ordinator job, meeting with contractor re: design for new GAC Church (to host St Barnabas' Anuak congregation as well as area diocesan events)

Feb 10-15: Addis meetings: Amhara and Somali believers
Feb 13: Ash Wednesday service: St Matthew's Church, Addis

Feb 16-18: “Life Skills” program training:  (Darash Thatha - Education Co-ordinator, GAC): Fifty teachers together with the principals of regional schools received training and materials to begin a new program teaching  Grade 6  students about  conflict resolution and first aid. (one wonders - first aid if conflict resolution fails?!!!)
Feb 23-24: Visit to Pinyadu: meetings with Anuak church council members of Pinyadu town; fellowship with "Pinyadu Old Camp" churches; worship and confirmations at the "Pinyadu New Camp" of twenty thousand new refugees from the Blue Nile/Nuba Mountains region of Sudan

Feb 28-29: Clergy Training days: Bible (1 Corinthians - pastoral issues); Anglicanism and the 39 articles of faith (text “Essential Truths for Christians” by Bp John Rogers); Prayer (Knowing God); Stewardship (Budget)

Feb 28-29: Visit from Canadian Embassy representative to schools hosting the “Life Skills” program.

            Confirmation at Sherkole

A little beauty from Mekele Prayer Concerns:  Please pray with us for these ideas to be actualized:

1) 'Vertical Gardening' 

Many Gambella region families do not have enough land or water for farming. Each family’s tiny plot of land is surrounded by a (none-to-secure) 'security wall'. A ‘Living wall’ would transform these ‘security walls’ into vertical gardens which could grow the vegetables and fruit vines so desperately needed for nutrition. The water used for the top levels of the garden would be funnelled down and used for the lower levels as well.

We are hoping to build a “living wall” demonstration vertical garden at GAC for use of our staff and church community members.

 2) Mother's Union:

The Mother’s union members of our 73 churches in the Gambella region are asking for further training. Already involved in leading literacy circles, church activities, fellowship groups and home visitation (for illness, bereavement, prayer, outreach and practical care for those who are shut-in or in some way incapacitated), they are ideally situated to provide one-on-one teaching as well as small group participatory learning activities for the women of their communities. They want to teach bible, prayer and practical skills (such as simple methods of water purification , disease prevention, nutrition, and child care), as well as income-generating skills (such as sewing, weaving, and handicrafts) 

Please pray for the development and implementation of this program.

Gambella reflections Rebuilding Churches destroyed by floods Sunday, Jan 27th: Cathedrals come in many shapes. This one, like a stained glass window, had the sunlight filtering in through squares of UNICEF plastic tarp stretched over wooden poles tied together with re-purposed mosquito netting (amazing the uses this wonderful material is put to). We were in Itang, former site of 500,000 Sudanese refugees, a small thriving Ethiopian town, and we were sitting in what is becoming the new church as it is rebuilt after the floods. Worshipping with song and drums, preaching, meeting with the Mother's Union to hear of their hopes and dreams - a typical Sunday journey for us; passing baboons and Guinea Fowl on the way home -  stopping to see “the king of birds”* - its jet black plumage contrasting sharply with it’s bright yellow and red markings - and delighting our African passengers with the wonder of binoculars bringing into clear focus the Shining Ibis, the Crested Eagle, Herons, Egrets, Kites, etc and etc. *(the local name for the Saddleback Stork) Monday and Tuesday, Jan 28th, 29th:  Clergy training days and a deluge of clergy needs, concerns, frustrations and joys.  In one of our classes, Michael Anyar shares about a recent answer to prayer. He was watching the faces of those who were hearing about Jesus, some for the first time. A few had come back on this his second visit to the area - one dear old lady in particular, her face shining, listening intently. Then - sudden tragedy. Family members come running up with the news that her youngest grandchild had just drowned while playing in the river. Instantly the whole crowd was on its feet, running to the river. The child was face down in the water. She was not breathing as they carried her out and laid her on the ground. No one knew anything about resuscitation. They stood around her, crying out to heaven and weeping. After a few moments, the little one coughed out some water and began to breathe! Once again, Michael was struck by the sight of shining faces; smiling and weeping!   Wednesday, Jan 30th: In Addis, on our way to Mekele to visit a brand new Anglican congregation. Ahhh, Hot Bath - need I say more? Thursday, Jan 31st: A minute to reflect on life in Gambella, and write our newsletter.      When I see people who do not know their worth, their surroundings reflective of hopelessness, discontent and discouragement - something rises up in me. Something good. It was like that when I first arrived in the Gambella Anglican Centre. My first ‘site inspection’ walk through - pen and paper in hand, listing repairs and improvements needed - was, well.... major repairs needed in each building, grounds dangerous and unkempt, water happily cascading down from a hole in the rusting, broken water tank (nourishing the broken glass and weeds gloriously burgeoning below). But most striking were some of the faces of the staff employed to care for the Centre, as they sat around, eyes dull, some with clothes torn and dirty, some with expressions hopeless and indifferent.      I was particularly struck by the guest house. The cleaner’s job apparently entailed sweeping around the perimeter of the building every day. Inside, left untouched, the mosquito netting around the broken beds had achieved an unbelievable degree of mustiness; the toilets and showers (several broken and rusting) were, despite the enchanting resident population of tiny white frogs, desperately in need of attention. The ‘custom-made’ empty storage cupboard leaned drunkenly with its combination of too-large and too-small cupboard doors permanently swinging open, and the happy community of several species of spiders in, around and under each bed, was flourishing nicely! (Actually, some of them were really beautiful - my favorite - the silver-dollar-sized, striped yellow and brown, flat, saucer-shaped ones which ran by bouncing on all 8 feet in a way that made them look as if they were shimmering!!).      Bringing the Centre into good working order was and is a good goal - but even more important was the challenge to build up the people. A challenge, I’ve found, that begins in honouring the kingdom of God; - His ruling Presence. Establishing my heart’s response to my surroundings as an acknowledgement of Christ present, allows the fragrance of His love to permeate and change the atmosphere. Have you ever walked into a place where the very atmosphere was healing and refreshing; slept in a bed where the prayers of those who had cleaned the room, made the bed and swept the floor brought almost palpable blessing? This was the kind of place I was hoping that the Centre could grow into becoming - a place where the fragrance of the Presence of Christ lingered.      As I reflect on my early impressions of the Gambella Anglican Centre, Ariet’s face comes to mind. I can see her standing in her beautiful new dress, her shy smile lighting her face as she bid me goodbye yesterday. She was one of my first ‘partners in grime’  - a partnership of learning through working side by side. Ariet is our guest house cleaner. Sometimes we see her smiling to herself as she cleans. Sometimes we hear her singing. She is a delight - as is our clean guest house!! January: Bishop’s Highlights Jan 9-13:  Clergy Conference lead by Rev Canon John MacDonald and the team from Trinity School for Ministry, PA - great job teaching Anglicanism Jan 9-13:  Site Visit by Gary Campbell, CPMS, Addis - envisioning/planning eco-friendly restoration and development  for the Gambella Anglican Center Jan 16-25:Village Medical Training course (Wendy) Jan 18-23:Australian Mission team visit led by Archbishop Jeffrey Driver - bringing skills, enthusiasm and good practical help  - deeply appreciated.  Highlight: installing lights made solely of water - see YouTube's "A Liter of light *Official Version*  " Jan 20th: Visit to Pilwal Mission Centre Jan 27th: Visit to Itang Mission Centre Jan 28-29:Clergy training days: Stewardship and Accountability, Bible, Prayer (Wendy) and ‘How to make lights using water’ - (Ujulu, one of the Gambella Centre staff trained by the Australian team) All Month: Fire, Water, Land and Air Fire  - acrid smoke and falling ash - the lands surrounding us are burned to clear for planting -largest fire: 16 foot flames the length of the compound; most dangerous: right under some power lines. Electricity stoppages (many) and electric surge fires (2): new motto: “Unplug! You fool!” (cf Gandalf in Lord of the Rings) Water - supply, purification, drainage - often without: longest ‘drought’ 12 days Land- clearing, digging, leveling, building up (all by hand, of course), and possibly enlarging (ongoing negotiations with Gambella municipality). Air - obeying the biblical command, “Consider the birds of the air”:  100 species sighted The Rt Rev Grant and Dr Wendy LeMarquand are missionaries of SAMS -USA (Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders) Bishop Grant is area bishop of the Horn of Africa and assistant bishop of the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa under the Most Rev Dr Mouneer Anis

Friend on Facebook Forward to a Friend Ariet's Laundromat Grant's laundromat Gambella's Laundromat Gambella's ... ...Beautiful ...Children PRAYER CONCERNS: For Alternate Water Sources Wells for Gambella Centre and churches For Alternate Energy Sources Biogas, Solar For Alternative Agricultural Options Living Wall/vertical gardening model at Centre and for Gambella Churches Development of Training in natural resource utilization ( e.g. brick making) For Mother's Union Training Program training in bible, prayer, child care and community health For New Church Buildings For Nininyang, Itang, and for St Barnabas, GAC For funding for all of the above!!

December Newsletter

Christmas Night and Day:

Night this week:
My bare toes felt suddenly very vulnerable. The snake, far from being dead, was coiled 3 coils high, with arched neck and flashing fangs, obviously furious at the din that Peter, (helpfully?) banging at the snake’s wheelbarrow hiding place, was making. But thankfully things would be OK now - Bishop was here! Grant and I looked at each other. They didn’t teach you this in bishop school! Peter (helpful again!) threw the wheelbarrow off the snake and leapt out of the way. I shone my flashlight on the snake, leaving Grant, armed with rubber boots and a few nearby boulders, to take on the night battle. It was a large puff adder - it’s penetrating bite quickly fatal. David took one stone to kill Goliath. Grant took five large boulders  - but bragging rights have been pretty good all the same.

Night Last week:

It was the night before Christmas Eve. A canopy of stars filled the African sky. 600 heads bent forward in delighted intensity, as the Opo, sitting on mats crowded around a 10-inch screen, watched the Christmas story. For the first time, they could see the drama that had been filmed 2 years earlier. It was their own re-enactment of the story of Jesus’ birth, performed by their children, in their own language!

There is a fascinating brand of realism in these dramas - I’d been told of an earlier play about becoming fishers of men where the fish/men that were caught were then clubbed on the head, as is (apparently) the thing to do with fish. A delightful realism shone through our Christmas play as well. Herod had his regal splendor emphasized with a close-up of his huge tummy, patted regally - (whoops the stuffing fell out - quickly replaced). Joseph, after stomping around yelling furiously and then going to the bar and getting drunk, was able, after the angel’s instruction, to accept Mary as his betrothed.

Day Last Week:

It was Christmas day. Christmas hymns (we think), a Christmas feast, and Opo friendship and hospitality! Now it was time for the baptisms. “Are you sure there are no crocodiles?” Grant asked, half-joking. “Oh no!” replied the priest!  ( “Oh yes!”, nodded the people). “Oh well!”, we decided. I was glad I didn’t have to get into the water - that was until I suddenly needed to help hold up those coming under the power of the Holy Spirit

Day 2 weeks ago (Egypt):

With quiet, melodic chanting the monks at St Mecarius monastery were worshiping. Privileged to be allowed to enter at all, I knelt to pray in a beautiful ancient chapel steeped in 16 centuries of daily prayer. The golden light of pre-sunset lit up the ancient icons and the scent of incense filled the air. I felt like I had taken a plunge into a cool refreshing fountain.

Grant’s turn

This  month has been filled with baptisms and confirmations and meetings: in the Gambella area and in Addis, in Egypt (dodging various demonstrations), and in Uganda to represent the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East at the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, where I literally “got the t-shirt” - good thing too, because my luggage was lost somewhere between Cairo, Addis and Entebbe.

My most poignant meeting was in Uganda with a young couple. He was a Christian, she had been a Muslim. When she fell in love with her husband to be, she also came to know and love Jesus. Then the trouble started. Beaten with iron repeatedly by her brothers and sisters, she was covered in scars. The small cross she had tattooed on her wrist was burned off by her brothers with battery acid. She was then imprisoned, but in a dream was told to bend the iron bars of her cell and walk to freedom.  Awake, she took hold of the thick steel; it melted in her hands as if made of butter, and out she walked. Dreams of Jesus and Christian leaders encouraged her. Her husband, also beaten on several occasions, had to leave his law practice and flee his country, no longer employable, as his picture had been published in the press as someone attempting to corrupt a Muslim girl - by radical opinion someone who should be eliminated.

Together they fled to Juba in South Sudan,  but could find neither work nor a place to stay. They headed south and in Kampala, Christians began to help them. They have refugee status in Uganda at the moment. He is looking for work, but his English is poor and hers non-existent. Their story, of course, is not unique. Christians are intimidated, persecuted and, yes, martyred on a regular basis in today’s world - there have been more martyrdoms in the modern period than at any other time in history. Please pray for this couple as they build a new life in a safe place - and for many like them, still in danger.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!!
xxx Grant and Wendy

The Rt Rev Dr Grant and Dr Wendy LeMarquand are missionaries ofSAMS ( Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders)
Grant is area bishop for the Horn of Africa, one of two assistant bishops for the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, under the Most Rev Mouneer Anis

The Road to Opo Opo Welcoming Committee Opo Church Grinding Coffee - Opo Style Food Processing - Opo style Pinyadu Refugee Camp St Luke's, Gambella, Confirmation  Christmas Wish List ~ Clean water for the mission centers ~ Transportation for the Mother's Union teaching sessions ~ For the Opo - Mill for grinding maize, a generator, a tractor, access to education and health care ~ For many mission centers - Rebuilding of churches destroyed by floods, and church repairs (benches, doors, tables, chairs, fences...) and access to health care

November Newsletter

Of Cows and Considerations...

Once upon a time there was a man who had 10 cows and 100 children.

All his children needed cows.

“Give me a cow so I can feed my many children”, said one.

“Give me, for I am your newest child and I have nothing”.

Another said - “Give me a cow for I have lost my house and crops to flooding”

“My friends are leaving me for others who are richer”, said another.

There were school fees, hospital bills, repairs;  - many needs. Few cows.

What to do?

The man thought.

I could take all my cows and prepare a big feast for my children - but they would be hungry again tomorrow.

If I say “yes” to one, then I must say “no” to another, for there is not enough to go around.

Then he had an idea!

Instead of taking from the cows, his children could give to them.

Some had grass they could give. One had wood, another had rope- they could build an enclosure to protect them at night.

Some had knowledge of how to help the sick and the weak ones.

Some could be with them to watch over them.

At first his children were unhappy.

But little as they had, they gave what they could, and the herd began to grow.

The cows became healthy and sleek. Their milk was good and nourishing.

Before long, their cows became the ones that everyone wanted to buy.

They kept some and sold some, and the herd kept increasing.

Now I can be in peace, thought the old man - if my children learn how to give what little they can, and to share what they have, and to take care of what they have, then there will always be enough.

This parable came to mind as we prayed for wisdom in the sweltering heat of the night in Niniyang. “We are poor and powerless - You must give to us a church building, a clinic, a preschool, teachers, supplies. Then we will be a church that will attract people.”

“What are your strengths? Your gifts? Your ministries?”, we ask. “We need money - then our ministry will be to have a church that can give education, health care and worship,” was the reply. How to bless and empower without discouragement and without continuing to foster an unhealthy dependency? How to build a fully African church in its support, propagation, liturgy and government?

The Confirmation service the next morning was held under a tree - the church had been destroyed by recent flooding (not the only one to have been lost to the floods in Gambella this rainy season). Grant preached on Matthew 28:16-20, the so-called Great Commission: a story about eleven disciples, some of them doubting, sent to change the world.  They had no church buildings (or clinics, or schools) - nothing but the power and the Presence of Jesus - with them always: the same Jesus who had died on the cross at the hands of the religious and political authorities of his day, now claims to have all authority. Grant then laid hands on about forty Confirmands (most of them named Martha, it seemed) and commissioned them to go into the world with the message of God’s love in the power of the Spirit.

The first weeks in Gambella have been intense. After a beautiful service of Installation in Addis, with Ethiopian church leaders, international visitors and members of the diplomatic community as witnesses, we then headed to Part II. At the Gambella Installation there were a few more religious and political leaders - but mostly members of the churches from all around the Gambella region - some had travelled for two days to get there. Grant spoke to them about his hopes for this Diocesan Area - that they would be self-expanding (well, they do this already), self-governing (their next bishop should be an African!), self-supporting (they need to move away on depending on outsiders for everything) and self-theologizing (they need to be able to discern God’s will for God’s mission in this place). Not everyone liked these ideas, Grant soon discovered - especially the self-governing part: a small ethnic group worried that this would mean that the next bishop would be from a different ethnic group. Their fears may or may not be well-founded, but they are fears nonetheless. So they must be taken seriously - but they must also be healed by the perfect love of Jesus who casts out all fear. The self-supporting bit, well it just seemed to them to be impossible.

In the meantime, we will continue with the self-expanding part (they can plant churches, these folks), and begin work on the self-theologizing - every month when they come to be paid, they will receive two days of theological education, something they have had little of, but which they yearn for. 

Come Holy Spirit - guide and empower us!

Wendy & Grant LeMarquand

Addis Installation Oct 27, 2012

Gambella installation

Gambella kids

September newsletter

Amharic for beginners

Language learning is about sharing and relationship. Our Amharic class, is self- dubbed, ‘The Ferenge Show’ because of the particular giftedness we Ferenge (‘foreigners’) seem to have for causing our Ethiopian friends to weep with laughter. In fact, we love nothing better than to share stories of our latest spectacular failures in communication. One classmate left her egg seller bewildered when she asked for, “One dozen frogs, please”, and gave the man who grabbed her arm on the street a totally wrong impression when she responded, “Ow!” - which is the Amharic word for “Yes!”  Together we are discovering, in language, an interwoven tapestry of communication and culture, meaning and relationship. 

It was the story of the Afar that brought this home most vividly to me. Imagine with me that you are in the tribal court of the Afar, listening with the elders gathered to hear a case. Arguments and counter arguments are put forth. Then everyone is quiet. In poetry, the elder designate stands and sings the two sides of the case. Only now is it legitimate. Only now the arguments, presented in song, poetry and metaphor, are ready to be decided upon. 

The Afar dictionary is a fraction of the thickness of those of other languages. But one sentence in metaphor, conveys the essence of an entire story, culturally nuanced to convey much more than the spoken word. Leaders must undergo years of training in eloquence before being given the honour and responsibility of judging the words of another. When we learn a language, we get to learn a people.

Wendy

Meskel

Imagine an event which has elements of the Rose Bowl Parade, followed by a victory celebration on the street after your team has won the Stanley Cup or the Super Bowl, combined with elements of Good Friday and Ash Wednesday all rolled into one. It may be hard to imagine, but such is the annual celebration of ‘Meskel’ (Amharic for ‘cross’), the feast of the finding of the true cross. 

The feast is a public holiday. In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, close to 300,000 people gather at Meskel Square every Sept 27 to watch marching bands, mass choirs and floats on which the story of the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine (his vision of a glowing cross in the sky and a voice declaring “in this sign is victory”) is portrayed. His mother, Queen Helena searching through Jerusalem for the true cross, is directed by the smoke from incense offered with her prayers, to the correct place to dig for the relic. The climax of the festivities comes as the sun sets. As thousands of candles are lit, the Patriarch lights the Meskel fire - a huge Christmas tree-looking pyre called a “Demera.” As the night goes on thousands of smaller Demera bonfires are lit all over the city (and all over the rest of the country for that matter).

But events in the square are not over. Just as it was believed that the wood of the cross had miraculous healing power, so the Orthodox believe that the ashes of the Demera, blessed and lit by the Patriarch, will bring a blessing. And so, as the fire of the Demera dies down, thousands of people run to gather the ashes and mark their foreheads. We escaped the crush, but only just.

Meskel is a fascinating combination of religious, cultural and political ideas. The church in this country is ancient (at least 1,600 years) and it has shaped many cultural realities. The church and the state have also been closely linked (perhaps, at times, too closely linked). A confusion between the cross as a sign of victory (over evil) and the cross as an imperial weapon for victory betrays this close, and not always healthy, connection. I worry about the message of the cross as a weapon, and the obvious connections between political and religious power also worry me.

At the same time, the devotion and piety of the ordinary people cannot be denied or ignored. They know that the cross has some kind of power. The desire to retrieve the Demera ashes and just the sheer numbers of people at this event reveal a love for the story of the cross. 

And, thankfully, another reading of the message of the cross was delivered on this day by Abune Nathaniel, the acting Patriarch (Abune Paulos died just before we arrived in Ethiopia). His short message was that the cross brings peace. Jesus’ death for us achieved reconciliation with God and pointed to reconciliation between people and people groups. It was a message much needed in a country still recovering from years of totalitarian rule under the Marxist Derg which only came to an end in 1991, as well as massive poverty, and recurrent famine. Ethiopia is an island surrounded by unstable and often war-torn neighbours. Internal issues and external pressures seem to conspire against the poor. In a country with 80 distinct ethnic groups each with their own languages and cultures, it is tempting to blame the people down the road or the people in the capital city, or the people in the next district, or country. But the cross, said the Patriarch, brings peace, a peace not yet fully realized, but promised none the less, and seen in many and various ways as God works in this amazing place. 

He is the head of his body the church. 

He is the beginning,the firstborn from the dead, 

that in everything he might be preeminent. 

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 

and through him to reconcile to himself all things, 

whether on earth or in heaven, 

making peace by the blood of his cross.

(Colossians 1:18-20)

Grant

Images of Meskel