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Entries in Rwanda (3)

Tuesday
Apr072015

Choose a different way (together) - On Rwanda and reconciliation

In my morning devotion today I read about the start of the genocide in Rwanda on 7 April 1994 (just 20 days before South Africa’s first democratic elections on 27 April 1994).
Here is the summary of those events from “Common Prayer: A liturgy for ordinary radicals”:
‘On April 7, 1994, a civil war broke out in Rwanda as Hutu extremists began brutally killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Over the next one hundred days, nearly a million people were killed in the worst occurrence of genocide since the Holocaust. An estimated 75 percent of the Tutsis living in Rwanda were murdered.’
The following story is told from after the genocide:
‘When Cardinal Roger Etchegary visited Rwanda on behalf of the pope in 1994, he asked the assembled church leaders, “Are you saying that the blood of tribalism is deeper than the waters of baptism?” One leader answered, “Yes, it is.”’
How sad! Two things were clear in Rwanda. First, this genocide was an ethnic crime - the violence was motivated by hatred and distrust among people of different ethnicities and cultures. Second, however, is that 98% of Rwandans (perpetrators and victims) were Christian. How could that be? That followers of the Prince of Peace could hate one another so much? How could it be that those who live by the way of truth could be so easily misled about their sisters and brothers?
We must choose a different way. We must choose a way of peace and reconciliation. We cannot choose against our fellow humans. By choosing for one another we choose for the common good.
Pray for us in South Africa. We too are a largely Christian nation in which people choose against each other. Here is another quote from “Common Prayer”:
'Charles Péguy said, “We must be saved together. We cannot go to God alone; else he would ask, ‘Where are the others?’ ”’

Friday
Apr062012

Rwanda to Bryanston, and the Passion Narrative of John

It is Good Friday - by God's grace I woke up early this morning and have been given the gift of quiet time to pray, read, and reflect.

Since my last post, from Kampala Uganda, it feels like a lifetime has passed.  It has only been a week. 

Last Saturday I flew from Rwanda to Johannesburg.  Megan and our children flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg as a gift from one of the members of the Bryanston Methodist Church.  Such gifts are truly an expression of God's love for us as a family through the goodness of others.  By Saturday afternoon we were all together at Megan's sister's home in Bryanston.

I had come here at the invitation of this wonderful Church to preach the Holy Week services, based on the theme of Jesus' High Priestly Prayer (John 17.1-26).  The High Priestly prayer is normally only considered after Easter in the lectionary.  However, in its placement in the text it fits nicely as a build up to Easter, since it is likely that the prayer itself would have been prayed at the conclusion of the Last Supper, or on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

It is a wonderful text to shape one's thoughts on Jesus love for the Father, the Triune God's love for the world (although there is no direct mention of the Holy Spirit in this text), and of course Jesus' prayer for his disciples and the Church that would come (that is you and I).

You are most welcome to download the 4 sermons that I preached from Sunday evening from my dropbox account here on the following links:

If you don't already have a free DropBox account please sign up: use my referral link, and I will get an extra 250MB storage, a great help to me.  Thanks!

As I was preparing the reflections for this week I found the following quote.  It is quite thought provoking:

Indeed, Saint John’s whole Passion narrative is built on this connection between humble service and glory (doxa): it is in Jesus’ downward path, in his abasement even to the Cross, that God’s glory is seen, that the Father and, in him, Jesus are glorified. In a brief scene on ‘Palm Sunday’ - in what might be termed the Johannine version of the Gethsemane story - all this is summed up: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’” (12:27-28). The hour of the Cross is the hour of the Father’s true glory, the hour of Jesus’ true glory.

Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two (via invisibleforeigner)

So, let me take a step back to Rwanda. I only had the privilege of visiting Kigali, the Capital City, of that beautiful nation.  I was struck by the beauty of the place and its people.  It is hard to imagine the horror of the genocide that took place there when one encounters the current beauty!  I wrote the following short reflection on my Tumblr blog while waiting for my flight from Kigali to Johannesburg.

 

(Source: peacerockandnature)

Rwanda is so beautiful. This morning all of the citizens of Kigali work in the city from 8am - 11am to clean and tidy this beautiful place. It is hard to imagine the horror that transpired here with the Rwandan genocide. I am left with a host of conflicting emotions - the conflict between the horror and depravity of human sin, and the possibility and beauty that God has placed within people and creation. I recognise that I carry that same conflict in my very nature. I am prone to sin, anger, selfishness, self-righteousness, pride… Yet, at the same time God gives the gift of empathy, the faculty of reason and the frailty of needing to depend on others… Without my kind French speaking taxi driver, who had to explain to police in a roadblock why he was driving me to the airport instead of working in the city, I would not be returning home to my wife and children for whom my heart aches with longing. I am dependent, dependent on God’s grace, and dependent on the good will of others, and dependent on love and beauty. This is a good place to reflect on the value of dependence.

It was good to be back in South Africa, a country to which I came as a young 'refugee' from Zimbabwe.  Here too we have immeasurable beauty, incalculable wealth, and wonderful opportunity.  I am blessed and thankful to be a citizen of this nation.

However, I also recognize that this privilege comes with a great responsibility.  South Africa is one of the most inequitable nations in the world.  We have the 27th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world.  The province of Gauteng has the 3rd largest economy on the continent of Africa (if I am correct, the largest economy is the nation of South Africa, then Nigeria, then the Gauteng Province, then Egypt).  Yet, there are some signs of concern.  Last year Rwanda rose about 4 places on the Transparency International Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) to being perceived to be the 4th least corrupt nation in Africa (behind Botswana, Cape Verde, and Mauritius).  South Africa, however, dropped 16 places in their CPI score in 1 year!  This is a grace concern.

So, this week was spent preaching in the evenings, and during the day I used the opportunity to meet with some of the most influential business, political and Church leaders of South Africa who live and work in and around Johannesburg.  In each instance I shared the challenge to stand for values, ethics and clean living, by joining us in the Unashamedly Ethical campaing.

I also asked these persons to book the dates of 14-20 October 2013 for a week of witness, action and advocacy on behalf of the poor and the corrupt, by joining the 100 million others who form the EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption campaign. By the way, EXPOSED is featured as the lead story on the World Evangelical Alliance website this month - I met with the vice chair of the WEA here in Johannesburg, Ndaba Mazabane.  I will be meeting with the chair of the World Evangelical Alliance in the USA in about three weeks time (Geoff Tunnicliffe).

This Easter Friday morning I am considering the fact that the passion of Christ is intricately linked to His glory. What some would consider a defeat, death at the hands of his adversaries, was the greatest victory in all history. Because of His sacrificial love the world is saved.

In John 17.4 Jesus says that he brought Glory to his Father by completing the work that he had been sent to do.  It is my desire to bring Glory to the Father, Son and Spirit by completing the work that I am sent to do - and I ask for your prayers in this task.

Please join me in the work of healing and transforming the world for the sake of God's Kingdom.

A blessed Easter to you!  It is Friday, but Sunday is coming!

 

 

Tuesday
Mar272012

Another journey begins - Uganda and Rwanda (and Bryanston!)

Tomorrow I depart for Uganda and Rwanda. 

These two nations have been in the news a great deal in recent years.  The populations of these two beautiful countries have faced a great deal of struggle and hardship in their history - however, both countries seem to be finding their way out of that legacy and charting a new path.

Rwanda is popularly known as the Switzerland of Africa because of its mountainous beauty, its cleanliness and emerging social and economic efficiency.  This is wonderful news when one considers the genocide that brought this nation into the news a few short years ago.

What has always struck me about the Rwandan genocide is that the population is overwhelmingly Christian - I believe that 98% of Rwandan's profess the Christian faith.  However, I'm sure that we would all agree that there is something wrong with a faith that allows neighbours to kill each other, children to kill their friends, and ethnic ideology to outweigh Christian peace and loving conviction.

I will also be spending some time in Uganda doing some television work, speaking at the Watoto Church, and doing some speaking engagements for business people (Christian, secular and persons of other faiths).  Uganda is also showing wonderful signs of social and economic reform.  Many in Africa look to such countries, who are trying to combat poverty and corruption, and take the lead from them.  I hope that we too can learn something about what they are doing, and perhaps add a little something in return.

I will be in Uganda and Rwanda with Graham Power, and together we will be representing the Unashamedly Ethical campaign. I will be speaking about, and representing, 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption' (follow us on Twitter @EXPOSED2013.  Our friends form Media Village will also be in there with us to do some of the television work for Inspire Africa.

Please could you pray for us?  The darkness does not like to be pushed back by the light.  Pray for our families back home. Please pray that God prepares the way for us, that we have great love and humility in our lives so that we can serve His people.  Please pray that God gives us courage, together with His love, to encourage, support and inspire his people.  Please thank God for the people of Rwanda and Uganda and for all that God is doing.

I return to Johannesburg on the weekend and will spend Holy Week preaching at the Bryanston Methodist Church.  From Sunday the 1st of April to Wednesday the 4th of April we shall be concentrating on Jesus prayer in John 17.  There are a number of very important lessons to consider in that important prayer.  They teach us about our relationship with God, our relationships with others, and our responsibility in this world.  Please do join us each evening you can find out details about this event here.

Megan, Courtney and Liam will be joining me in JHB for the week.  It is going to be great!  We retun to Cape Town just after Easter and then I will be working in Cape Town until the 23rd when I'll be going to Orlando and New York for some meetings for EXPOSED campaign.