Community

Happy Canada Day everyone! It is hard to believe that it has already been one month since the plane left the ground from the Halifax airport. We celebrated the day by eating a cake baked by my sole Canadian colleague, and it was enjoyed by Mozambicans, Americans, and Brits alike.

We had the cake at morning tea-time

I made this special meal for Canada Day

The thought I would like to share with you today is a thought about community. “Community” is a trendy word right now, I think. Many of us want to experience community, whatever that means. But, as I have been learning, Mozambicans know a lot more about what community means than we do.

Pastor B. is a short, jolly, and like all Mozambicans I’ve met so far, an excessively optimistic man. I met him first at our morning prayer meeting in the office, which happens 7:30am every weekday. Though he has been studying in South Africa for the last couple years, this Bible translator was in town visiting his sister who was very ill. When he spoke at our weekly missionary fellowship one night, he was modest about his English skills but spoke very well, and in his delivery of the message, it was clearly genuine and came from his heart and the Bible. With his multilinguism and his strong faith and good teaching, Pastor B. was sponsored by the organization to get more education so that he may have more training. While this is a great opportunity for him and his family, there are consequences. It is taking longer than he thought it would to get his degree, so he is short thousands of dollars for an additional year. As if that weren’t enough, the church denomination he is part of is not supportive of any missions organizations outside of the denomination. As a result, Pastor B. has been cut off from his church. They see his involvement in other organizations as turning his back on the church.  People treat him as if he is a heretic, and they ignore his phone calls. When he does enter a church meeting, people ask him what he is doing there. If it were me, I would be deeply hurt, and I would most likely choose another church to go to! But that is not the way Pastor B. thinks. When you are part of a church, you are part of a church, no matter how much they reject you or hurt you. He will still keep on trying to come back and rejoin the community, despite their rejection of him. He would not dream of leaving.

I was inspired by Pastor B’s story. Here is a man who understands true community: loving others and being committed to a community even when it causes hurt. This is what Christ is like! You may remember that in early May I went to a retreat for university students called MarkEast, where I spent a week studying the second half of the gospel of Mark. Something that struck me during that week was the incredible determination of Jesus to die. God’s chosen people, Israel, did not recognize the Messiah when he came. And even the people closest to Jesus—his disciples—turned away. Judas betrayed him. When he was arrested, the disciples fled.  Later, Peter denied ever knowing him. And it was the chief priests and the scribes—the people who were supposed to be drawing the people closer to God—who wanted Jesus dead. From reading the Gospels, it is clear that Jesus had the power to stop his death. But he stayed silent and complied as he was cruelly executed. That kind of love is incredible. Jesus died, I believe, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, so that we may know God. And he was still willing to go through this painful, painful thing even when everyone he knew had basically chosen a side that was not with him. But I would think, and I hope you would agree, that it was worth it.

So in that way, Jesus and Pastor B. can teach us something about community. Community is making a commitment to love people in all circumstances, no matter how much they hurt or reject you. This love is only possible through God’s spirit.

African sunset

Here's a photo of a banana tree