Okay, so it's been a year & a half since I posted anything...yikes! Not promising when my next post will be, but here are some of my thoughts as I was reading in Genesis this morning.

Incredible Creation

Incredible how the story tells of God's creative acts. The first three days are him separating: the light from darkness, sky from seas, land from sea. Each one builds in its importance. God is making space, creating room for what is coming next.

Then the next three days mirror the first three. To inhabit the day and night (Day 1), he creates the big and little lights (Day 4). To inhabit the sky and sea (Day 2), he creates birds, fish, water animals (Day 5). Creating land (Day 3) was the big triumph of the first three days, so to populate it he creates land animals: wild animals of every type, from the largest blue whale to the tiniest insect, animals that slither, that crawl, that dash, and that lope (Day 6). Each of the things created in days 4-6 was created to inhabit and fill its space, which was created on days 1-3. The Creation is growing, building to something more...

And then, there is the second half of the sixth day. Now God makes something different. He makes something in HIS OWN image. He made us. But where we fall in this progression through creation is almost at the end. That placement shows that we are the most important of all he created, that we are different. Because of that place at the pinnacle of creation, he gives us dominion over all that he has created.

But that dominion is not absolute. He gives us dominion over HIS creation. We are the caretakers of what is truly his. It's not ours to do whatever we want with, it's his for us to watch over, care for, manage, and protect. How do the scriptures emphasize this? Continuing the pattern of building in intensity and greatness through the days of creation, man is not created at the end of the story. The end of the story is God's: his day, his rest, he is over all that has come before because he is the creator of it.

And that's why God commanded his people to take a sabbath, a day of rest. It's not only because we all need to relax sometimes. Not only because our bodies were not designed to function well when they are running at high capacity all the time. We are commanded to take a sabbath because it is a reminder that God is the one in control. Ultimately, we are not even in total control of our lives. God is the one who numbers our days. Our rest time helps us recognize that it's not all about us. The world does not fall apart when we are not working. The world is made up of things that are out of our control. But God is good.

Genesis 1:1-31 and Genesis 2:1-3

Mozambique moon.

Mozambican Bishop

When we first arrived in the country, we were met by Armindo, who is the Mozambican ‘Volunteers In Mission’ (VIM) coordinator for the United Methodist Church. He had arranged meetings for us with several government officials, and he would also be our driver for most of the next week (except on those occasions where he let me drive: it was fun to get to drive on the left side of the road again!).

After dropping off our bags at the Methodist Guesthouse where we stayed, the first thing we did was drive out to the UM Bishop’s house in the outskirts of the city. The Bishop had recently had foot surgery, so he was at home rather than at the office. It’s hard to explain what it meant for me to meet Bishop João Somane Machado. I don’t toss around the word ‘hero’ lightly, but he is one of my heroes. He played a pivotal role in bringing peace to the country of Mozambique after 15 years of civil warfare between Frelimo (the ruling party) and Renamo (the rebel faction, now the minority political party). The two parties were not willing to come to the table because neither trusted the other after fighting started in 1977. After much work by Bishop Machado and a couple other Christian leaders, including the Catholic Archbishop, they were able to help assure each side that they would be heard and treated fairly if they came to the negotiating table.

After many years of meeting with each of the two parties, the finally brought them to the same table. With the help of a Catholic organization in Italy, they were able to negotiate a peace in 1992 which has lasted to this day. I am fascinated by the role of the church in international peacemaking. Jesus came to reconcile the world to himself and bring peace to his Kingdom, and this bishop played a role in doing that in Mozambique. And I had the opportunity to sit in his home office and talk with him about the possibility of us working in Mozambique. How amazing is that?!?

Nothing But Nets



The New York Times has a great article today (here) on Nothing But Nets, the coalition between many organizations, including the United Methodist Church, the NBA and the United Nations Foundation, that gets insecticide treated bed nets into the hands of people in malaria-affected areas. $10 buys a net and trains a family to use it. It can literally save a life, particularly of a child under 5, who are at the highest risk. The UM Bishop who is mentioned, Tom Bickerton, is the bishop of our Western Pennsylvania Conference.

If you would like to give nets to Mozambique in particular, you can do that through the Missouri Conference of the UMC. You can make your contribution (payable to "Missouri Conference UMC") and send it to Missouri Conference Treasurer's Office, 3601 Amron Court, Columbia, MO 65202, marked "#7390 Nothing But Nets."

Mozambican Muslims

We had the chance to meet with a couple of key Muslim leaders in the country. It came about without us intending to (one of the many times we could tell people were praying for us!). We were meeting with a United Methodist pastor who was talking about the need for Christians of different denominations to work together for the cause of Christ. As part of the follow-up to that conversation, Steve asked about the relationship between Muslims and Christians in the country in general. Pastor Guilherme (pronounced ‘Gill-yair-may’) responded that there was not much tension between the two groups in the country, but rather they were just focused in different directions. They did not interact much. Steve asked if Guilherme knew any Muslim leader, and Guilherme told us that if we were interested he could have several leaders meet with us the next day in his office if we were interested. We were excited to have the chance to meet with them.

We were interested in this meeting for several reasons. For one thing, even though we do not agree on matters of theology, there are still many things we do agree on. Just as we can find common ground with secular organizations that are trying to improve the quality of life in the world, we can also find that with Muslims who are doing good things in the community. We might view the work in different ways, but we can still work side by side for some common goals.

Secondly, we think it’s a good thing if there can continue to be a positive co-existence between members of two of the three largest religious groups in Mozambique. If we can be a part of keeping people on good terms rather than taking up arms against each other, that is a benefit for the country and for the entire planet. Some people frame the new/coming world order as one of conflict between “Christian” nations and Islamic nations. It does not have to be that way, and one way we can affect that is by reaching out in the circles in which we have influence.

The meeting itself went really well. Of the two leaders, one was the head of the Islamic Counsel of Mozambique and the other is one of the two Mozambican Peace Ambassadors to the United Nations. They told us of ways their organizations are working to help their people, and many of them lined up with things we heard from the government and other churches. Some things were charitable, and some were more oriented towards training and development (I talked a little about how we have been struggling with that tension in my post on May 26). We are still discerning if and how we would partner with them, but the ability to even have the conversation was encouraging.

One thing they mentioned that excited me was the need for religious leaders to be involved in the election process as neutral observers. Mozambique will have national elections toward the end of 2009. One of the needs is always for observers for the voting processes. Religious leaders have the advantage of being respected members in the community. The people know them to be honest and trustworthy, so their opinions on the election process would not be taken lightly.

Often in elections in countries such as Mozambique, the election results are contested. In the Mozambican elections of 2004, international observers noted some irregularities, but not large enough to affect the outcome of the election. The minority party then refused to take their seats in parliament in the first days after the election because they were protesting the results. By providing religious leaders to be election observers, some of this might be able to be prevented, which could help set a positive political tone in the country for the next 5 years.

The European Parliamentary Group is apparently training observers for Mozambique. They would be willing to train religious leaders, but there would need to be a comprehensive plan in place for making it happen. This is one of the opportunities we are praying about participating in as a church.

There are a lot of opportunities for us as a church to work in the country, so now our challenge is discerning which ones are right for our church. Which ones does God have lined up for us to participate in?

From Mozambique

This is our fourth day here in Mozambique, and I have to say it has been very fruitful so far. We have had many good meetings and opportunities to talk with people who are doing things here in the country, both Mozambicans and Americans, Christians and not, Church workers, missionaries, and government officials. The pre-existing connections here have been invaluable; we could not have accomplished the depth of learning and understanding that we have without them. Our two main avenues of connection have been the United Methodist Church (a connectional system that is strong here in the country) and my relationship with OMS International. Because of those relationships, we have been able to connect with people and hear from them in valuable ways. They are already here on the ground doing good work, so we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We are able to look for ways we can partner with what they are already doing. That will maximize our investment as a church, as well as strengthen what they are doing. We do not have to arrange an infrastructure for what we do because there is already one existing.

The focus of this trip has been learning, asking questions, and making connections. A lot of learning has happened! The church has much we can learn from. Each evening (or whenever we have a spare moment, really!) Steve and I have been processing the meetings, trying to discern how our church can be involved in healthy and helpful ways. There are so many opportunities, possibilities, needs, and ways we can learn. One question that we have repeatedly come back to is the difference between charity and development. We want to help, but not in ways that will only create dependency. There has been enough help of that sort, so we must work very hard not to give hand-outs, but to help in ways that will allow people to help themselves.

Many of our conversations have come back to the idea of training. Of course, there is the old saying that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. As one of the Mozambicans said, If you give me food, I’ll just eat it and then lie down and take a nap! As we think about ways Crossroads UMC can be involved, there is a great opportunity for training. We met with a person from the Ministry (equivalent to a Department in the US) of Education this morning. He said they have done a better job over the last ten years of providing access to primary school (through 7th grade) throughout the country; there are now 4.5 million children in school, compared with 2 million 10 years ago. But there is a lack of quality in the teaching. The teachers need training, but the need for teachers is so urgent that they have accepted teachers who were willing, but don’t have training. Maybe this is one way we can contribute in a meaningful way to the future of this beautiful country.

Tomorrow we have a meeting with some Muslim leaders in the capital city of Maputo, where we have been the whole time so far. We hope to find ways we can bridge the gap between the religions in the area of development work, while we still maintain our commitment to Jesus.

We went to several different church services yesterday and were blessed by it. Steve went to the service where all 5 United Methodist churches in the city came together for a celebration. He said there were several times when tears came to his eyes because of what God was doing. The music and the spirit of cooperation was wonderful.

I went to a service in another part of the city where I preached in Portuguese. I have been pleased to find that I haven’t lost too much of my language in the 7 years since I was last here, although I have confused several words with Spanish! I preached about God’s plan for the city and the importance of Maputo in God’s plan for reaching Mozambique. Afterwards a young man named Amilcar came up for prayer. God had been challenging him to do something significant, and he said the preaching Sunday was God’s word for him. He wants to help reach the city for Christ; Praise God!! Please pray for Amilcar.

I also got to go to the last part of the service in T-3, which is the church I was a part of when I was here in 2000-2001. It was good to see some of the people from my time there.

Some quick notes:
- It has been great getting to drive here again! I missed driving on the left side of the road.
- There is a lot of new development here in the last 7 years. It seems much of the city has a fresh coat of paint and a fresh coat of pavement.
- Here in the city people seem busier than they were at that time. They have become more punctual and more obsessed with the schedule. The joys of modern life!
- We are 6 hours ahead of Eastern time. Interestingly, Steve and I happened to spend the time from 4:00-5:00pm here talking about the Bridgeville campus. With the 6 hours time difference, that means we spent the whole time of the Bridgeville service talking about Bridgeville! We were thinking about and praying for you all.

Thank you for your continued prayers. We have more meetings scheduled for the week, and we’re working to schedule still more before we fly out on Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday we are heading up to Xai-Xai (pronounced shy-shy). This is a couple hours north in a more rural area. So far all we have seen is Maputo, which is much different than the rest of Mozambique. It will be good for me to get back out there, and I’m glad Steve will get the chance to experience it.

From Maputo, Mozambique,
Jonathan

Trip to Mozambique

Well, in a few short hours Pastor Steve and I will be heading to Mozambique. We are going to be there for a week exploring opportunities for our church to partner in the country to help reach the goals Mozambicans are striving for. This trip is one of learning and exploration: we want to talk with key people (in the church, government, and secular world) to find out what areas they are trying to improve, what triumphs and obstacles they have faced, and how we might be able to help them meet those goals.

It has been 7 years since I was last in the country. I lived there for a year and a half and got engaged there --the best thing I've ever done on a beach! Since Katherine and I have been married, we have tried several times to go back, but it has never worked out. If things go the way we think the Spirit is leading us now, this will not be my last trip there. Crossroads will build lasting relationships with Mozambicans through a steady stream of work trips tailored to meet the needs in Mozambique and the gifts of the people in our congregation. Exciting stuff!

I am very pleased to be able to meet with the people we will be talking with, including the United Methodist Bishop of the South Mozambique Conference (a personal hero of mine because of the key role he played in bringing the warring parties to the negotiating table during the Civil War in the 1980s and 90s), leaders in the government areas of education, health, and religion, and many pastors. I am very excited to get to re-connect with some of the young men whom I ministered alongside in my earlier time there. Several of them are now pastors and/or church planters seeing many people come to Christ while meeting the needs of their communities.

Here is a rough outline of where we will be and when, if you would join us in praying. My main request for this trip is that we will have "the right conversations with the right people." All in His timing:

Wed - Thurs.: flying: overnight in Johannesburg South Africa.
Friday morning: flight into Maputo, MZ; meet with United Methodist officials.
Saturday: a.m. meet with MZ church officials about their “Village Church Planting” model (which is rapidly growing in the north)
p.m. Meet with Christian Micro-Enterprise Development program leaders
Sunday: worshipping at MZ churches: I preach (in Portuguese!)
Monday: meeting with MZ pastor, and later with the MZ national governement Director of Relgious Affairs
Tuesday- Wed.: Chicuque (Methodist) Rural Hospital; follow up with any connections we discovered since arriving
Thursday - flying…. home Friday. If all the connections work, Steve will be preaching the next day at Crossroads.

It has been so encouraging to hear from so many people that they are praying for us. I really feel this can be a key point in the life of our congregation.

Well, so much for getting to bed early the night before the trip!

Last Service at Star City

We had the last Crossroads: Bridgeville service at the Star City Theater this past Sunday, and I have to say, I am really proud to be a part of this church. During the last 2 months we have been looking for a new, more permanent location in which to worship. But during that time the attitude in our congregation has been great; I have not heard people grumbling or worrying. There has not been a sense of panic. There has been a strong sense that, no matter where we are meeting, we will continue to be the church. We are living into an understanding that the church is not a building. There are some who are new to our community who have said they knew this was the church for them because we were not so wrapped up in a building that we were afraid to be the church.

That said, it is usually hard to leave a place that has been a part of our worshiping life. My 4 year old son Samuel has told me he is going to miss having church at the Star City; "I like it there!" But he went with me this week to work on some of the paperwork with our temporary location, the South Fayette Fire Hall. He really liked the fact that it is a part of the fire station. And he was surprised to see the fire engines were yellow with bees on them, rather than red. I think he's adjusting to the idea of the change though. Yesterday he asked me if I wanted to build something with him. When I said yes, he asked what I wanted to build. I suggested a garage (one of his favorite things to build). Then when I said, "Or how about a fire station?", his face lit up! "Let's build a fire hall!" Here's what we built (notice the yellow fire engines in the station, and Joey on the move in the background). Yeah, I think he's going to be fine with the transition.

In the meantime, we are still praying for the right longer-term location to come through for us. We are in negotiations with a possibility right now, and we are waiting to hear back from them. Please keep praying for that.