Sermons
Sermon
Proper 7 Year C – June 23-24, 2007
Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 9:18-24
Knowing Jesus in Southern Sudan
Hillary T. West
Just a few hours ago, in Southern Sudan, folks walked from their thatched roof cottages to gather to worship and give thanks to the Lord.
From far away you can hear the choir and muscians as they summon people with the beat of drums and repetitive chanting. The rhythm of the music is captivating. You can’t help but tap a foot and sway to the beat.
Tall, very dark skinned people come to worship in all types of costumes. Some wear multi colored cloths draped elegantly across their bodies. Others wear western garb and some, especially the children, come naked.
The Southern Sudanese share the gift of hospitality. When they meet, they greet one another with: Chee-bock = hello. Een-eh-pole = how are you? And the response is: en-eh-pole = I’m fine, how are you? This greeting continues over and over again as firm handshakes are exchanged.
Oddly enough, if this here congregation were present with the Southern Sudanese worshipers, we would notice many similarities. The clergy process to an opening song behind a processional cross. Prayers are said, scripture is read, preaching takes place. Children come and go. Folks come late. Some leave early. Too much time is given for announcements. And, coffee hour is very chatty.
The setting for worship, is different, however. Akot Episcopal Church in Southern Sudan is located under a huge spreading tree. Its branches stretch out over thirty or so 20 foot logs placed horizontally in rows on the flattened dirt ground. A thatched, open shelter stands on the edge of the dirt plot, next to the tree to cast more shade.
No music stand for preaching but an actual wooden lectern! The setting is beautiful as all of God’s creation, including a herd of cows, stretches out for all to see.
It’s amazing, isn’t it, that we can travel half way across the world and find common ground in knowing and worshiping the Lord.
But, that is what Jesus calls us to do, isn’t it? To, know him, as the Christ of God, the Messiah, the one who saves.
To know Jesus. It’s what we all crave, isn’t it? To know in our hearts, that to be in a relationship with Jesus, is to be swallowed up with his love; to live in the total freedom of his saving grace for us.
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples. Who is Jesus for each and every one of us? This Jesus who tells us that he must live and die for us so that we can have our lives saved through him. This Jesus who embraces us, who enfolds us and fills us with such love, that we can lose our life to him.
He calls us to pick up our cross and follow him. Carrying our cross may mean that we will suffer. The cross can be heavy, and even burdensome. We may well struggle on the road. But, the journey to follow Jesus is life saving. Life saving and life altering.
Picking up our cross to follow Jesus will look different for each and every one of us. In fact, late last night we received word that along with members of St. Francis, our 9th team arrived safely in Pascagoula, Mississippi to help the Katrina victims through our friends at St. John’s.
Next week, Jake, along with adults chaperones and 24 youth will be traveling to Pittsburgh to help with home repairs for those in need. 46 senior high students accompanied by 4 adults will travel to north eastern Tennessee later in July to offer their help to the elderly.
Also, in July, Christ Church will be working to build stronger race relationships in the City of Richmond.
And, in August another team will shove off to Lima, Peru, to complete the medical clinic that Christ Church has funded.
In these past couple of weeks, following Jesus for 10 of us has meant a different walk. Under the leadership of Jennifer and Darryl Ernst, with the invaluable help of Maker Mariel, Dan Ernst, Mary and Emerson Farley, Brian Hutcherson, Judy Goldnetz, Ron Andrews and myself traveled to Southern Sudan.
Jennifer and Darryl, in their passion to change the lives of young people in Southern Sudan, have dedicated their time and talent to building the secondary school, Hope and Resurrection, in Atiaba.
While in Sudan these past weeks, the school, has come to near completion. The school will provide quality education to its initial class of 40-50 students beginning in April of 2008.
Now, during our time there, we helped to build the finishing touches on Hope and Resurrection, mortaring brick, assembling rebar, and building foundational rafters for the roof.
Education seemed to be the focus of the week for our team. In a makeshift Vacation Bible School with the hundreds of primary school children in the Episcopal School in Akot, we focused on the theme of friends in Christ. We all shared in the Good News through the stories of: the Good Samaritan, Zacchaeus, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, The Prodigal Son and other favorites.
Other parts of our trip included traveling throughout Southern Sudan visiting existing schools, talking with headmasters and teachers and students about their needs for secondary schools.
Sudan, as you know, in its 51 years of independence, has endured 38 of those years in war. The Southern Sudanese survivors have very little of what the 21st century has to offer.
Sanitation, clean water, medical care and healthy food are still at a premium. They are largely an agrarian culture. They farm what they eat. Trading cows as currency and sacrificing animals as a form of hospitality, is a common ritual. Their homes consist of mud walls forming an 8x8 foot structure covered with a straw, thatched roof. They live in community, ministering and helping one another, as best as they are able.
Southern Sudanese speak Dinka. However, most of the survivors of the war are unable to read or write their native tongue. These amazing people with hearts filled, carry a cross. Not of defeat and sorrow. But, they carry a cross of Hope and Resurrection.
This secondary school, will provide for students an opportunity to perfect their English, and their native tongue. And, they will study sciences, history and Christian education. Through Hope and Resurrection, the cycle of poverty will be broken. Educated under qualified teachers, students will have a chance to go onto higher education and even university.
The task is large. Yet, not undefeatable. Now, not all of us are called to travel half way across the world to serve. Mother Teresa reminds us that just a few of us are called to do great things. But, all of us can do little things with great love. And there is much to do.
At Hope and Resurrection, a headmaster and three teachers are yet to be hired. Chairs, tables, and classroom supplies still need to be purchased. Textbooks will be ordered. Student’s uniforms will be selected. A feeding program is to be put into place so that no student spends one day without a meal. Bicycles, rain jackets and back packs need to be provided for all students to attend classes, regardless of the season.
This school will enable students from 9th through 12th grades to carry a cross of victory and hope for the future in a life resurrected through Jesus Christ.
Girls in Southern Sudan, generally do not attend school, as they are needed at home to do the chores. Attending secondary school is especially rare for young women.
In our travels we met Natalia, a stunning young woman with a boldness for learning. In fact, when we gathered with the headmaster and teachers of her school, all men, she without invitation, joined us in the discussion.
When asked about the importance of a secondary school in Southern Sudan, Natalia eloquently reported that in attending school, she will set an example for her own children. They’ll not live in poverty and hunger if they have an education, she explained. An education will enable them to help themselves and help others. “After all,” she reminded us, “we’re still living in the bush.”
Natalia, gives thanks to God for her opportunity to carry the cross of Jesus Christ. For it is this cross that Jesus has borne for us, and calls us to bear, that gives Natalia, and each and every one of us our identity. This is a radical identity, life saved in Jesus Christ. This identity marks us as Christ’s own forever.
The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians, that we are clothed in Christ. We are adorned in his love and forgiveness. Wear it well. Because being clothed in Christ means that God’s favor is promised for us all. We are one in Jesus and no one is alienated, no one is rejected or excluded.
On our last day in Southern Sudan, Jennifer and I strolled through the village. We stopped along the way to greet people. They are fascinated with kawagas, white people. As always, streams of children came from everywhere. As each child approached we shook hands, and offered the customary, chibok (chee-bok), een-eh-pole.
Jennifer had a few packets of stickers left over from Vacation Bible School. One by one, as we walked along, each child, lifted up his or her dark brown face with clear brown eyes, shining brightly. We stopped and placed a sticker in the shape of a star on the forehead of each child.
As we continued along the dirt road, looking behind us we could see a trail of children, beaming, stars sparkling. Speechless, we knew in that in that holy moment, we had come to know Jesus. Each of us blessed by Jesus. The one who makes us all one; who unites us in his love.
And, that while, we are happy to travel across the globe, or the country, or to downtown Richmond, or maybe just across the street, to give what we can. We have learned for certain, that Jesus has given us a true gift in his pathway to the cross.
The journey does not stop at the cross. At his death, he also has been risen, for us, so that we come to know him as the one who promises always to be alive in us; giving freely of his love; always revealing himself with each person we meet.
We come to know Jesus. He teaches us that he is present in every one of us, in every warm greeting, each handshake, every kind and thoughtful word, regardless of our shape or size or color, or where we live, or what we wear. He distinguishes us as his own. We are his, belonging to him, and heirs of his great mercy, called to follow; called to lose our lives in him. For in losing our lives for Jesus Christ, we are saved in him.
