Grace sightings #4, 2013

Home again—that in itself is grace. After 7 weeks that included an extended stay with family in Kigali, a brief tourist spin about London, and an incredible week in Istanbul and ancient Ephesus, home is a very good place to be. Grace abounds. Ever the God-spy, I sighted grace everywhere we wandered, and seated now in my favorite chair, with a cup of coffee, I savor the memories.

--Hospitality: We knew that 6 weeks was pushing the limit even for family (maybe especially for family), but various factors dictated our schedule. In retrospect, we do not regret it. We were able to enter the routines of everyday life in Kigali and take our part. In Istanbul, my former college roommate, Barbara Baker, took time off from her job as a journalist to host us and show us the sights of that amazing place. Hospitality, a grace-gift, welcomes people in, makes them feel like their visit is also a gift.

--Intercultural relationships: I loved being with our son David in Kigali, listening to him converse so freely in Ikinyarwanda, watching him relate to local Friends believers, appreciating how much he and Debby have entered this context and made it home. That was also one of my favorite parts of our time in Turkey—enjoying Barb’s linguistic and cultural expertise, and especially her relationships with her Muslim neighbors. I’m seeing again how that when God calls a person to service in another culture, God gives the gifts that enable that person to learn and relate—and love the experience. Grace, all grace.

--The antiquity and continuity of the church: Much of our time in Turkey had to do with antiquity. Ruins, history and a sense of the passing of time. We wandered the domed halls and dark stone passageways of the Hagia Sophia. Built during the time of Constantine, serving as a Christian cathedral for over 900 years, as a mosque for almost 500 years, now a museum, images of the different religious traditions seemed to compete for ascendency. We walked the ruins of Ephesus, one of the four largest cities in the Roman Empire during the time when Paul planted a congregation there. Long since destroyed by earthquake and wars, tumbled stones and columns supporting no roof can only hint at forgotten splendors. The forms of the church pass away, yet its substance remains and grows and reaches into every corner of the earth with more grace than we can imagine. Antiquity and continuity.

--Spring flowers tucked into the ruins at St. John’s Church near Ephesus.

--The Turkish carpet seller (one of Barb’s friends) who served us Turkish coffee and talked us into buying a small rug for a large price that we somehow didn’t mind paying.

--Home again in the Oregon spring.

Thanks be to God.

          Ottoman castle on the Bosporus, ferry ride to the Black Sea

 

Cheribim mosaic in the Hagia Sophia

            Mosaic icon of Jesus in the Hagia Sophia, my favorite

    St. John's Cathedral near Ephesus

    In the Istanbul bazaar

Buying a rug from Barb's friend Kalender

Quaker values among Rwandan Friends

One of the greatest graces of our time here in Rwanda has been our contact with the Friends Church. Although the main purpose of our trip (and the greatest joy) was to spend time with our kids and grandkids, they live surrounded by all sorts of wonders. These include tropical trees, giraffes, bright clothes, lots of mangos and—Quakers of a unique sort.

We’ve been able to worship in two places: out in the rural community of Mosovu where our son David is working as part of a Discipleship for Development team, and in a large urban congregation here in Kigali. We’ve sensed strong Quaker/Christian values among these sisters and brothers.

--A worshipful focus on the living Word, Jesus: This begins early every day here in the city as the drum beat calls local Quakers to prayer. Indigenous music forms a large part of every worship service, and the name Yesu resounds.

--A clinging to the written Word: Rwandan Quaker songs, teachings and sermons contain liberal references to the Bible. This resembles George Fox’s Journal, as well the numerous sermons and diaries that have been handed down from the early years.

--A determination to make a difference in their communities: In the class time in Mosovu people participated in a lively discussion on how to help the poor who live around them, exploring what the Bible says about responsibility toward the needy and offering stories of their own experiences. These people, whom many in my circle of friends would consider to be the poor, began planning how they could be giving and doing more. In the urban congregation, with about 250 Friends gathered in a large half-circle, one member of the group gave his testimony about being the president of his neighborhood organization. He told how God helped him mobilize people to clean up their whole area, thus winning recognition from the Kigali municipal government for being one of the four cleanest areas of the city. The congregation applauded and cheered.

--A high level of participation in the life of the church, a horizontal leadership style and gender equality: A three person leadership team led the Mosovo class last week: the local pastor (a man) and two amazing women, Godance and Dancila. (David, the other team member, was busy translating for us.) In the urban worship service, a lay woman, Domina, gave the sermon. The fact that women can preach and teach and pastor is very Quaker, but I must admit this fiery preacher didn’t resemble many Quaker preachers I know (with a few Bolivian exceptions).

The urban congregation has a large banner on the wall in front of its meeting house, stating its theme for 2012-2013 and its core values. Their theme comes from Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Following are the 10 values this Quaker community has committed to live out: 1) prayer; 2) good planning; 3) fellowship; 4) truth telling; 5) speaking the good news to their neighbors; 6) letting love motivate their work; 7) cleanliness in everything; 8) forgiveness; 9) self-sacrifice; 10) spreading peace.

We loved being able to bring greetings to these brothers and sisters from their Quaker family in Bolivia, and receiving their blessing to carry back with us to South and North America. I’m again impressed and blessed by the beauty and variety within the family of Friends around the world, by the things that make us different from one another and the values that bind us together.

 Friends in the Mosovu Friends Church sending greetings

Youth choir in the Gatarama Friends Church in Kigali

                                     Two Quaker preachers

Watching the hippo die

We approached the lake slowly,

easing our vehicle over the ruts.

Spotting something at the water’s edge,

we wondered if it were a giant hippo

or merely a large grey rock.

We were not the first to stop

or the first to see whatever

it was there in the water. Some distance

away, closer to it then we were, a van

loaded with tourists had parked.

The man standing outside was obviously

a guide. He pointed to the object, shouted

something, then bent down to gather stones.

We watched him throw them, mostly missing

at first. But when one hit the mark,

what was unmistakably a huge hippo

slowly raised his head, then just as slowly

lowered it back into the water.

The guide continued pelting,

getting more accurate with practice.

As one particular stone hit hard,

the animal raised its head higher,

and we saw what appeared to be a large yellow tusk.

Obviously an old beast, it became clear

to us that he was dying. No longer able

to move quickly or to submerge his bulk,

he just lay there in the shallows, finally

refusing to even raise his head. We had to leave,

and when we passed the place again

several hours later, he was still there,

motionless. The only evidence

of the guide and the tourists

were the scattered stones along the shoreline

and the tracks of their van, long gone.

We drove by in silence.

On safari in Rwanda!

We pulled out of the driveway in the pre-dawn darkness (4:00 am to be exact) in order to make it to the Akagera National Game Park in time for the gates to open. Which meant, by the time we got back home, about 15 hours of straight driving. But our son David shared driving privileges with three of the teenagers in the car who are learning the art. That, of course, was all part of the adventure. The roads in the game park are dirt, mud in places, and full of interesting ruts and termite holes, just the kind of driving kids love (at least third-culture-kids, TCKs).

The animals seemed especially shy, which only made our encounters all the more dramatic. My favorite was driving right through a “herd” of about 20 giraffes. All sizes and stages of development—from huge full grown adults to tiny 10 foot high youngsters—surrounded us, largely ignoring us as they nibbled tree tops, nuzzled each other, and slowly meandered about. One group of four seemed to be having a meeting. It was awesome, in the actual meaning of that overused word. (Do giraffes group in “herds”? Flocks? Surely not. Pods? Most certainly not. Clans? Nope; that’s a people word. I’ll have to look that up when I get home. I’m sure there’s a word. But you get the picture.)

We also encountered hippos, zebras, two crocodiles, many herds of impalas, gazelles, cape buffalo (one of which looked like he was charging us), warthogs, turtles, tupis, exotic birds, antelope, dung beetles (nothing too small to be fascinating), baboons, small monkeys, and  hundreds of butterflies.
The wonderful African landscape—mountains, planes, lakes, and all the hundreds of varieties of trees, thorn bushes and flowers—was part of the wonder.
     Thanks be to God for most this amazing world.