Loving Lusaka: Blessed

This past Sunday, I was blessed to participate in the licensing service for Rev. Mapopa Nialongo. In CCAP-Zambia, pastors are licensed for one year to the ministry of the word (preaching), and then after one year, they are ordained to ministry of the word and sacrament (baptism and communion.) When pastors are licensed, they are able to go and serve a church, but cannot administer sacraments.

The worship service was in a congregation in Linda, a little ways outside of Lusaka. I was there with many colleagues, including most of the staff of the Synod. The church building was packed full of people, and the choirs were amazing. A children’s choir, a youth choir, and an adult choir all sang, and danced, and filled the small building with beautiful praise. It was a joyful, wonderful worship experience. When I delivered the charge/sermon, it was translated into Chichewa, and I felt such joy in being able to preach at this gathering. I am determined, however, to preach in Chichewa by a year from now!

Mapopa Nialongo became Rev. Mapopa Nialongo during that worship service; afterwards, I visited with his wife and his 3 year old son, Alec. Their family lives on the same campus as we do, and Alec has become Johnny’s very best friend here in Lusaka. Unfortunately, their family will be leaving to serve a church in Eastern Zambia, so Johnny is very sad to lose his new friend. At the same time, it is so exciting to see a new pastor who is ready and gifted to serve a church.

I have participated in quite a few ordination and installation services in the United States, and it is so interesting to me how the spirit moves us in such similar ways, across culture and geography and denomination. The sense of joy and gratitude, the experience of wonder and praise, the hopeful, faithful expectation that God can, and will, work through us, is there despite the differences between us. The similarities, the fact that we are all seeking to follow Jesus, to serve God, to respond to the Holy Spirit; these things unify us in such powerful and miraculous ways. We truly are one in the Body of Christ, and that oneness was so evident this past Sunday, as Rev. Mapopa Nialongo was prayed for, blessed, and honored, as he begins his ministry as pastor in CCAP Zambia.

After we left Linda, we visited another pastor, a man who was in mourning, having just lost his brother at forty-three. I arrived, with five other pastors, at this man’s home, to offer condolences and prayers. While we were there, we sang and we prayed and we sat in silence for awhile. The house was full of women, maybe 25 women all seated together on the floor of an emptied room. Outside of the house, the men were gathered, probably about 20 men sitting underneath a grass roof. It was very visible to me the way that people here support one another. Those who were grieving were not alone; they were surrounded and upheld by love. After we sang, and prayed, and sat, we said good-bye, and offered our blessings. It is so heart-breaking that people here often die so young; this happens far too often in a country where the life expectancy is 39. But, it is also an incredibly moving experience to see the ways in which love, grace, and compassion are abundantly present in the midst of loss.

Through their agricultural programs, their community health programs, their HIV/AIDS programs, their community school programs, and a variety of other ministries, CCAP Zambia is working to create a country where people can live longer, healthier lives. But, they are also present where there is loss, to speak to the love of God, the promises of Jesus, and the presence of the Spirit. This is holistic ministry, and I am so grateful to be able to walk with them on this journey.

From a joyous commissioning, to a moving funeral visitation, back to home, exhausted, but blessed. What a gift to be in ministry here.

Here are some photos from that day, and from the rest of the week...