It is winter in Zambia - the dry season. This means dust everywhere. Just sitting still, or riding in a car with the windows closed, the dust sifts in and settles in an innocuous but definite way.
It is also the perfect climate for flip-flops. I wear them; almost everyone who isn't working indoors wears them. By the end of the day you experience a fine grit - well just about everywhere. Feet are brown, clothese are dusty, your face feels gritty and your hair is just holding its own.
Just before dinner Tuesday evening, I could stand it no longer. There wasn't time for a bath, so I climbed into the tub inside the bath tub, ran the water and washed my feet. When I got to the dinner table, my feet were the cleanest part of me (with exception to my hands of course), and I can't tell you how wonderful that felt.
I felt prepared to receive the gift of food. I felt refreshed and more able to converse with my companions. I felt renewed. It made me think of the gift of foot washing that Jesus gave to the disciples - cleansing, renewing, refreshing. For the sake of the kingdom of God. A moment that caused me to pause and think.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
5 loaves, 2 fish
Even if both the loaves and the fish were small, this would be a good meal in many parts of rural Zambia where fish or meat is often only a monthly occurence.
These folks were the original vegetarians, although some of the indigenous dishes were impossible for me to swallow, they use all kinds of leaves, roots, fruits to make a wide variety of vegetable dishes which are served with rice or nshima, a corn meal porridge. Pr. Chana once remarked, "When there's nshima on the table, there is a meal." This tells you how important this starch is to the people's diet.
Pr. Chana was reflecting on the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish with the Zambezi congregation the other day and his primary interpretation was, "Jesus is concerned for people's physical needs". It is such a straightforward reading of the story that I certainly am prone to jump right over it to deeper meanings.
But when a few vegetables and a scoop of porridge constitutes a good meal, perhaps there is no deeper meaning than Jesus' compassion and concern for the physical needs of his people.
These folks were the original vegetarians, although some of the indigenous dishes were impossible for me to swallow, they use all kinds of leaves, roots, fruits to make a wide variety of vegetable dishes which are served with rice or nshima, a corn meal porridge. Pr. Chana once remarked, "When there's nshima on the table, there is a meal." This tells you how important this starch is to the people's diet.
Pr. Chana was reflecting on the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish with the Zambezi congregation the other day and his primary interpretation was, "Jesus is concerned for people's physical needs". It is such a straightforward reading of the story that I certainly am prone to jump right over it to deeper meanings.
But when a few vegetables and a scoop of porridge constitutes a good meal, perhaps there is no deeper meaning than Jesus' compassion and concern for the physical needs of his people.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
What is justice?
Justice is a word that is used differently inside and outside the Christian church. For the person on the street, justice is about the (right) punishment of criminals. For believers, justice is much more about leveling the playing field, opening up possibilities and opportunities for a more equitable distribution of resources.
Paying your workers so little that they cannot eat properly so to maximize your profits and maintain your profits is an unjust system, and for believers, cries out for greater equity. Justice will not eliminate the gap between rich and poor, but it will stand with the oppressed and ask for change.
Yesterday 35 miners were shot by police in South Africa. This disagreement has been boiling up for some time and it has much to do with wages, but also deals with unions trying to expand their membership (often at the expense of the miners themselves).
The mean income in South Africa is $11,000. Miners are paid between $3500 and $6000 annually(according to CNN news). They live in shacks (there is simply no other word to describe them) with educational opportunities for their children few and far between. They want more; they want some kind of equity. They want a wage that reflects the dangers of the work they do and offers some kind of opportunity for their children.
Yesterday it all fell apart. Video shows a nervous and poorly commanded police force using automatic weapons encountering a crowd of miners who were armed with machetes and possibly hand guns. An open area divided them. Then shots rang out and 35 were dead.
Are we humans so greedy that this outcome is acceptable to anyone?
Let justice roll down like water ........AMEN
Paying your workers so little that they cannot eat properly so to maximize your profits and maintain your profits is an unjust system, and for believers, cries out for greater equity. Justice will not eliminate the gap between rich and poor, but it will stand with the oppressed and ask for change.
Yesterday 35 miners were shot by police in South Africa. This disagreement has been boiling up for some time and it has much to do with wages, but also deals with unions trying to expand their membership (often at the expense of the miners themselves).
The mean income in South Africa is $11,000. Miners are paid between $3500 and $6000 annually(according to CNN news). They live in shacks (there is simply no other word to describe them) with educational opportunities for their children few and far between. They want more; they want some kind of equity. They want a wage that reflects the dangers of the work they do and offers some kind of opportunity for their children.
Yesterday it all fell apart. Video shows a nervous and poorly commanded police force using automatic weapons encountering a crowd of miners who were armed with machetes and possibly hand guns. An open area divided them. Then shots rang out and 35 were dead.
Are we humans so greedy that this outcome is acceptable to anyone?
Let justice roll down like water ........AMEN
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
What do you want me to do for you?
This is the question that Jesus asks the blind Bartemaeus.
This man had cried out,'Lord have mercy.'
Jesus asks, 'What do you want me to do for you?'
'Let me see again.' the blind man replies.
So it would be. Bartemaeus would receive his sight and in his thanksgiving he follows Jesus into Jerusalem. There he comes face to face with the cross that brings God’s mercy to all humanity.
Jesus asks each of us that same question. I wonder what we would answer. Would the mercy of Jesus be enough for us?
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The creativity of God, part II
Every Lutheran pastor has a copy of our Lutheran confessionals documents known as The Book of Concord. It costs about $40 in the states, is the core of our Lutheran Confessions course at seminary and for many, has no use after they graduate.
This is considered a luxury for the pastors of the ELCZa. Where could they get $40 + shipping? Even if travelers from the US brought copies with them, how many could any one person carry at a time? And once they were in Zambia, how could the copies get out to the pastors who are scattered across a country the size of Texas? Mail? They would never arrive after you had paid outrageous fees to send them.
Technology to the rescue! Today, as a result of a creative and generous gift of some donors in the US, all 15 pastors of the ELCZa received their own Kindle, loaded with reference books, biblical books, children's books, and two portions of The Book of Concord. (only two sections are available without charge at this time).
They were entranced with this e-reader that put at their fingertips books they would never have access to. They worked to learn how to use all the features. They checked out the different offerings. And they were thankful.
For a creative God and similarly faithful and creative servants, we all give thanks. AMEN
This is considered a luxury for the pastors of the ELCZa. Where could they get $40 + shipping? Even if travelers from the US brought copies with them, how many could any one person carry at a time? And once they were in Zambia, how could the copies get out to the pastors who are scattered across a country the size of Texas? Mail? They would never arrive after you had paid outrageous fees to send them.
Technology to the rescue! Today, as a result of a creative and generous gift of some donors in the US, all 15 pastors of the ELCZa received their own Kindle, loaded with reference books, biblical books, children's books, and two portions of The Book of Concord. (only two sections are available without charge at this time).
They were entranced with this e-reader that put at their fingertips books they would never have access to. They worked to learn how to use all the features. They checked out the different offerings. And they were thankful.
For a creative God and similarly faithful and creative servants, we all give thanks. AMEN
Monday, August 13, 2012
The creativity of God
Today a young girl spoke about her amazing adventure as a Lutheran representative to the World Conference on AIDS recently held in Washington, DC. She is a member of the Matera Lutheran Parish.
This trip represented many 'firsts' for her. It was the first time she'd been out of the country. It was the first time she had flown in an airplane.
And it was the first time she felt safe enough to admit out loud that she is HIV positive.
There in the company of people whose work is the care of those infected with HIV/AIDS and the eradication of new cases, she finally could say what she felt unable to say in her own country.
For the first time in her life, she told us, "I felt I had been set free."
Salvation comes in many forms, although we cynics rarely expect it to arrive in Washington, DC.
May God continue to be at work in her life so she might be just such a blessing to others. AMEN
This trip represented many 'firsts' for her. It was the first time she'd been out of the country. It was the first time she had flown in an airplane.
And it was the first time she felt safe enough to admit out loud that she is HIV positive.
There in the company of people whose work is the care of those infected with HIV/AIDS and the eradication of new cases, she finally could say what she felt unable to say in her own country.
For the first time in her life, she told us, "I felt I had been set free."
Salvation comes in many forms, although we cynics rarely expect it to arrive in Washington, DC.
May God continue to be at work in her life so she might be just such a blessing to others. AMEN
Sunday, August 12, 2012
One bread, one body
One bread, one body.
One baptism in Jesus Christ our Lord.
One faith.
The apostle Paul used this language to help us understand the radical difference between our lives before Jesus and our lives after Jesus. Before we were but one person. Now each of us is a part of a greater whole, the body of Christ. We are not we alone. We are we together.
This happens through the waters of baptism where God's promises shower down upon us.
This happens in the meal of bread and wine where we eat and drink the gift of Jesus, and in so doing, become Christ's body in the world.
Christ invites us into new life - and that new life looks like the life of Christ.
This is the one faith.
A gift of grace; a gift of life. AMEN
One baptism in Jesus Christ our Lord.
One faith.
The apostle Paul used this language to help us understand the radical difference between our lives before Jesus and our lives after Jesus. Before we were but one person. Now each of us is a part of a greater whole, the body of Christ. We are not we alone. We are we together.
This happens through the waters of baptism where God's promises shower down upon us.
This happens in the meal of bread and wine where we eat and drink the gift of Jesus, and in so doing, become Christ's body in the world.
Christ invites us into new life - and that new life looks like the life of Christ.
This is the one faith.
A gift of grace; a gift of life. AMEN
Thursday, August 9, 2012
How many tomatoes = daily bread
How many tomatoes does it take to support a family?
Many of the marginal folks in Zambia have developed a way to purchase a commodity here for 10 cents each and sell it there for 11 cents each (obviously this is just an example using US currency). For the smallest of profit margins these folks will re-locate a needed item from far away (important if you do not have any kind of transport) to nearby which allows them to charge just a little more and make a living.
Many women do this with tomatoes.
You will see them on the side of the road. Perhaps they have a little table with a large display of tomatoes on it; sometimes these women only have a large basket of tomatoes. Their neighbors, who don't have enough money to pay a lot more for the convenience of having these tomatoes close by, will pay just a little bit more to purchase what they need.
These entrepreneurs have no overhead since they simply set up on the side of the road. They pay no taxes since they are not officially a business. And they pay no workers because it is a one woman operation.
From these tomatoes a family is supported; often more than one family since the woman often has to pay someone to watch her children at home.
Perhaps at the end of a day this woman will have the equivalent of $1. At a penny a tomato she must sell 100 tomatoes a day to earn her dollar. At the end of the week she may pay her help $1.
This is what 'marginalized' looks like in tomatoes.
Give us this day our daily bread, we pray. Lord, please help me sell 100 tomatoes today. AMEN
Many of the marginal folks in Zambia have developed a way to purchase a commodity here for 10 cents each and sell it there for 11 cents each (obviously this is just an example using US currency). For the smallest of profit margins these folks will re-locate a needed item from far away (important if you do not have any kind of transport) to nearby which allows them to charge just a little more and make a living.
Many women do this with tomatoes.
You will see them on the side of the road. Perhaps they have a little table with a large display of tomatoes on it; sometimes these women only have a large basket of tomatoes. Their neighbors, who don't have enough money to pay a lot more for the convenience of having these tomatoes close by, will pay just a little bit more to purchase what they need.
These entrepreneurs have no overhead since they simply set up on the side of the road. They pay no taxes since they are not officially a business. And they pay no workers because it is a one woman operation.
From these tomatoes a family is supported; often more than one family since the woman often has to pay someone to watch her children at home.
Perhaps at the end of a day this woman will have the equivalent of $1. At a penny a tomato she must sell 100 tomatoes a day to earn her dollar. At the end of the week she may pay her help $1.
This is what 'marginalized' looks like in tomatoes.
Friday, August 3, 2012
So to remember
Today in chapel a small cairn was built - a tower of stones - a small example of the stone pillars built by the people of the Bible. Of course, stone towers are a part of many cultures including Native American. They are built to mark a spot and to remember an event or a person.
"Remembering" is one element in the richness of faith. It is an activity which calls to mind so richly as to make that event or person present again. So when you 'remember' your friend's phone number, you also bring into your presence the fullness of who your friend is, and what that friend means to you. We remember God's covenants. God remembers God's people. We remember Jesus' gift of wine and bread; God remembers the promises of forgiveness made by Jesus.
The gift of the act of remembering is this: we do not fly through the minutes and hours of this day, but in each act of remembering we are connected to our past, our friends, our hopes, our sorrows, our dreams. This moment then becomes a thread in a larger living. Our lives are richer through these connections which help us avoid losing our way.
Take a moment and remember....and be blessed. AMEN
"Remembering" is one element in the richness of faith. It is an activity which calls to mind so richly as to make that event or person present again. So when you 'remember' your friend's phone number, you also bring into your presence the fullness of who your friend is, and what that friend means to you. We remember God's covenants. God remembers God's people. We remember Jesus' gift of wine and bread; God remembers the promises of forgiveness made by Jesus.
The gift of the act of remembering is this: we do not fly through the minutes and hours of this day, but in each act of remembering we are connected to our past, our friends, our hopes, our sorrows, our dreams. This moment then becomes a thread in a larger living. Our lives are richer through these connections which help us avoid losing our way.
Take a moment and remember....and be blessed. AMEN
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Could you bless me?
In this morning's worship service here at Hartwick, we heard a story about a pastor (wearing her clerical collar) who was trying to successfully cross a big and very busy intersection in downtown Chicago with her little pull along luggage. As she approached the intersection, waiting for the light to change, her eyes met the eyes of a man who was standing on the opposite corner selling newspapers. He looked a little sketchy.
The light changes; she hurries into the intersection and is met halfway by the man from the opposite corner. He kneels before her right in the street and asks, "Could you bless me?"
Well, OK. She let's go of her luggage and places her right hand on the man's head and pronounces a blessing.
There were no horns honking. No cars pressing them to get going. It was as if time stood still. When he stood, she grabbed her luggage, proceeded to the other corner and life resumed as it was......
Or did it? Who knows why he needed or wanted a blessing. But for the rest of the day, he was blessed and he knew it.
Be ye always ready to bless someone else, in Christ's name, for their sake. You can do it; you can do it exactly right because you know what it means to be blessed. Pass it on.
Bless us and keep us O Lord. AMEN
The light changes; she hurries into the intersection and is met halfway by the man from the opposite corner. He kneels before her right in the street and asks, "Could you bless me?"
Well, OK. She let's go of her luggage and places her right hand on the man's head and pronounces a blessing.
There were no horns honking. No cars pressing them to get going. It was as if time stood still. When he stood, she grabbed her luggage, proceeded to the other corner and life resumed as it was......
Or did it? Who knows why he needed or wanted a blessing. But for the rest of the day, he was blessed and he knew it.
Be ye always ready to bless someone else, in Christ's name, for their sake. You can do it; you can do it exactly right because you know what it means to be blessed. Pass it on.
Bless us and keep us O Lord. AMEN
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)