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When we left for
Tanzania on February 13th, the six of us who were making the
journey to visit St.
John’s companion parish for the first time,
thought our eyesight was just fine. We all had our corrective lenses on,
and tucked into our bags were sunglasses, reading glasses and a spare pair
of glasses in case the everyday ones were lost. Yes, we thought we were a
20/20 group of folks…
However, what happened
to us was not unlike what happened to the blind man who was anointed with
mud, sent by Jesus to wash in the pool of Siloam, and came back able to see
– not just surface images, but in depth. We arrived in Mramba Parish, were
“washed in” the generous love of sisters and brothers in Christ, and “came
back able to see,” in a new way, the reckless, generous mercy of God. From
the moment we arrived at Mramba, after dark on that first Friday night,
until we left to the strains of the “bye-bye” song at mid-day on Monday, God
was working on our eyesight – and we are still trying to put words to what
we began to see.
- We were embraced by
such gracious hospitality that we began to see, in a way that we
had not seen it before, the hospitality of God that is shown to us
in Christ! As temporarily homeless foreigners, we were not put up at the
local motel so that no one would be inconvenienced by our visit, no one
would be made to feel uncomfortable because there were strangers in the
house. No, in pairs, we were welcomed into the hearts of three families,
given the best beds, the places of honor at the family table. When we
walked back and forth to the church our bags or backpacks were gently
lifted off of our shoulders and carried by our hosts, and on Sunday
morning we found ourselves in the procession, given seats in the front row
of a packed sanctuary – and even given the honor of proclaiming the Word
of God…Washed in such deep and respectful hospitality shown to complete
strangers – with a different language and different habits - we began to
see the deep hospitality God has shown to sinners in Christ! Though we
live and speak and are most familiar with the culture of sin,
through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been welcomed to the
home of God’s heart, given the best seats at the table of unending grace,
every burden of guilt & shame lifted from our lives, and have joined the
procession of God’s beloved – anointed and sent to make God’s hospitality
known to the world…In Mramba we began to see, with grace-washed eyes, the
hospitality of God!
- We were shown such
costly generosity that we began to see, in a way we had not seen it
before, the costly generosity of the cross of Christ!...At
Mramba, it seemed that we were sitting down to eat every time that we
turned around. And in homes that could ill-afford to feed everyone who
already lived there, the table was spread, again and again, with rice and
potatoes, chicken and beef, cucumbers, bananas, mangos and watermelon.
There was always the offer of a Coca-Cola or a Fanta, as well as coffee
and tea. Indeed, for three days, every meal and every tea break
was a feast that not one family with whom we stayed could afford. My host
farmed a small plot of land and worked as a primary school teacher in the
village. His income for teaching is approximately $100 per month, and the
extended family he cares for is very large. Yet, with joy he called us to
the table, with joy we gave thanks for God’s goodness, and with joy he
presented the feast…And washed in such costly generosity, we began to see
the costly grace of the death and resurrection of our Lord. Who are we,
that we should be served the daily feast of forgiveness? Who are we that
we should be served the feast of God’s abiding presence? Yet, at
great cost to God, such grace flows like a river into our lives,
generously renewing and restoring us and the whole community of faith to
new life…We began to see, with deepened sight, the profound generosity of
God.
- And we witnessed
such a stewardship of life, such lives of worship, that we
began to see, in a way that we had not seen before, God’s desire
that thanks and praise be our way of life! In the three hours we
spent in worship that Sunday – yes, three hours that passed in a blink of
an eye - nearly every voice was lifted in song, in four-part harmony no
less, most singing from memory the songs they had known since childhood.
Every face was turned to receive the Word in proclamation, and not once,
but twice, the congregation processed with the offering of thanks. Most
came with a few shillings that they placed silently into the offering
basket. But those without shillings came, as well, with a small basket of
tomatoes, perhaps, or a bag of ground nuts or a half-gallon of goat’s milk
or two eggs laid carefully at the altar rail. Yes, two eggs! In
thanksgiving for God’s grace, our sisters and brothers worship with all
that they are and all that they have…And washed in such an
example of praise, we began to see, with a different kind of sight, a way
of thankful living in response to the abundant grace God has shown to
us.
Must one go to Tanzania in order to have
one’s sight restored? Of course not. I am more grateful than I can say for
the privilege of visiting Mramba Parish and returning to testify to that
experience of grace. But the pool of Siloam is here, my friends, in
the Word and in the Sacraments! As our Lenten journey takes us ever deeper
into the mystery of God’s abiding love for sinners, we are washed by the
Word, by the bread and wine, and our sight is restored. We see the
hospitality of God in arms out-stretched on the cross. We see the costly
generosity of a life freely given over to death for love of sinners. And we
see that the response to such amazing grace is a life of praise - with
all that we are and all that we have.
Bwana, asifewey! That is, may God be
praised.
Amen. |
