This past summer I was blessed to travel to Zimbabwe, Africa to participate in the Pastors’ School and an international partnership summit. What a discipleship adventure! I met some of the most amazing people and was able to connect with a part of myself that is deeply rooted in my cultural heritage and history. I am still unpacking lessons and gifts from this trip as I continue to reflect on the many moments of growth and inspiration. One of the most powerful gifts I brought back from this journey was a new and revived sense of Hope. So often we base our hope on things seen, that which we expect to follow as a result of what we believe to be feasible given a certain set of resources, gifts, or talents. But the bible tells us that our faith is about a different kind of hope. Our faith is now faith. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is hope that lives before, without, nevertheless, and in spite of.
In Zimbabwe, I saw the very substance and evidence of that kind of hope. I saw hope come to fruition as Bishops Schol and Nhiwatiwa dedicated a new church that was built on nothing less than hope and faith. The people had a vision and a mind to work. Most of all they had hope that if they started moving toward their vision, God would see it through. The Zimbabwean people believe in the principle of chabadza which says that if one is engaged in productive work, God will send others to help bring it to completion. In the spirit of chabadza, the women of Muradzikwa made bricks with which to build this new church. The team planned and prayed and worked with their vision ever in mind. And when they had come to the end of their resources, Hope kicked in! God allowed our Hope Fund dollars, combined with the work of the faithful people of Zimbabwe, to contribute to the completion of this magnificent new worship space in only 13 months.
I came home from Zimbabwe unpacking a new understanding of hope. This hope is not in grants, or numbers, or in the bent minds and wills of public officials. This hope is the bright eyed hope of children who value the privilege of attending school. This hope is the hope of people who work and give, often without knowing whether or how much they will be paid. This hope is the hope of pastors who live without what we might deem the bare necessities of life, but preach and teach as if Jesus is on his way this very hour. This hope is the hope of students who study at Africa University to equip themselves for leadership, and the families that support them as the hope for the future. This hope is the hope of mothers and grandmothers who dance in grateful celebration for the life-line of malaria nets to protect their families from the deadly disease that kills a child every 30 seconds. This hope is the hope that doesn’t need an organ or pulpit to be the church, but will gather around a rock or a tree to form a congregation and band together to feed a community. These things I recall to my mind and therefore I have new hope for Baltimore. This new hope is brick-making, stronghold-shattering and death-defying! With all of the resources at our disposal, when we embrace the spirit of chabadza and work collaboratively and faithfully, we can realize our vision to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world right here in Baltimore.
No comments:
Post a Comment