CAN WE HEAL THE WOUNDS? FAITH AND UGANDA’S HOMOSEXUAL DEBATE

Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last week signed into law the Anti-Homosexual Bill.   Social media has been active in the discussion.   A multiple of Western nations are considering changing their aid packages to Uganda.   Western media has some thoughtful voices speaking.   Yet, I can also find some who quickly resort to name calling.

                This discussion is very personal one for me.  My family was blessed to spend 11 years in Uganda.  Many of the media commentators and pastors from Africa’s Great Lakes are my friends.   Also, I am privileged to have been friends with some of the Ugandan political leaders.    During my missionary posting in Chicago some of our family’s most delightful friendships are with Uganda Diaspora.    

                So far though there are a multiple of Ugandan pastors and short-term missionaries involved in the Anti-Homosexual Bill I can find few who are offering pastoral reflections.   I prayerfully try in the hope that whatever words the Lord may give me will be ones to heal wounds.

THE HISTORICAL WOUNDS ENDURE

                My missionary training frequently included the phrase, “Context matters.”    I believe it.   This concept of seeking to understand is crucial to healing wounds.  A gaping hole that I repeatedly see in the discussion of the debate on homosexuality in Uganda is the historical wounds.

                Most cultural commentators on Uganda conclude that homosexuality is considered abhorrent.   Yet, a few mention that there are some instances of behavior that contemporary humanity would call homosexual.   Andrew Mwenda has been one of the more open ones to discuss historical practices of homosexuality in Uganda in pre-colonial periods.   As a missionary I asked question after question trying to understand context.    A few times I heard stories similar to the ones repeated by my friend, Andrew.     Yet, those who whispered these stories to me saw them as fringe behavior in the darker reaches of Ugandan traditional culture.    All cultures (including my American one) have fringe places of darkness.   I am cautious to make these normative patterns of understanding as they many times further promote prejudice. Yet, to be honest we must acknowledge there is a history of homosexual behavior in pre-colonial Uganda.   Yet, those stories are difficult to document and meander into a world of great ambiguity.   

However, there is one historical event that I do believe has left a deeply lasting wound in Uganda.    On June 3, 1886 Buganda’s Kabaka (King) Mwanga ordered the execution of between 30 and 40 of his pages.   Many historians believe the pages were ordered to be executed after their refusal to submit to Kabaka Mwanga’s homosexual advances.    These pages were both Catholic and Protestant and some of the earliest Christian converts in Uganda.   Though the tragedy took place in Buganda some of the pages were from neighboring tribes.    Many in Uganda find the story so embarrassing that they never mention the homosexual parts of the story.    Those who do tell the homosexual parts of the story usually include that homosexuality was introduced to Buganda by Arab traders and that it was a new and abhorrent practice in Buganda.    The events following the martyrdom led to an increase in the speed of the colonial activity, religious wars, rapid increase in Christian influence, and an enduring story.   

Road to Namugongo, Martyr's Day

Martyr’s Day on June 3 is a Ugandan National Holiday.   All stops and thousands make their way to the Namugongo Shrine where the martyrdom took place.   The Ugandan Martyrs are Catholic Saints.   Uganda’s history of homosexuality is perceived as one of outside influence and violence.   It is little wonder why the discussion on homosexuality so rapidly stirs such deep emotions. 

PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE

                A basic task of leadership is security of person.   Protective leaders scan their surroundings to maintain safety.     Humanity is wounded.    Our wounds can at times make us wise.   At other times they create a sense of paranoia that wounds others.   Discernment is our prayer and hope.

                With Uganda’s historic wounds her best leaders search to protect the most vulnerable.   I perceive two realities that make Uganda’s youth vulnerable in her beginning interactions with homosexuality.    

                The first vulnerability is Ugandan poverty.   Though great economic strides have been made in Uganda from the collapsed state of the 1970’s and 80’s Uganda still is a poor country.     A growing middle class is part of Uganda, but there are still young people who struggle to have the basics of life.   With such levels of poverty it is very easy to manipulate one into behavior one would not normally do with the promise of money, immigration, jobs and scholarship opportunities.

                The second area of vulnerability is Uganda’s culture of same gender affection.    In Ugandan culture intimate affection is expressed between those of the same gender with no sexual connotation. For instance, one will frequently see men in Uganda walking the streets holding hands with one another.    These men sometimes are the most masculine men that can be found.    In school rooms with too few desks one will find several students of the same gender sitting on one another’s lap.   Many westerners feel quite uncomfortable when they first have a Ugandan friend of the same gender take their hand on a walking conversation.    Some westerners quickly conclude this same gender affection is a mark of homosexuality.     It is not.    However, with cultural cues so different the potential for misinterpretation and later exploitation is possible

CONTEMPORARY WOUNDS ARE REAL

                As I have read Western commentaries on the Ant-Homosexual legislation I have noticed a tendency to not acknowledge contemporary wounds in Uganda.    I pastored a church in Kampala and had a high level of community engagement with youth.    I can twice remember listening to painful stories as Ugandan youth had fallen into an exploitative homosexual relationship, and we sought through prayer and the grace of God to find healing.    The stories were ones of poverty and same gender affection meeting an expatriate who at first seemed helpful, but later developed a surprising sexual component.

                I also can twice remember while away from Africa on furloughs communicating with former African missionaries who were in the midst of healing from being such an exploiter.    Both situations were ones of tragedy.     I have pastorally listened to both sides.   God made humanity in His image.   We are full of dignity by the proclamation of God.   Yet, we are all also depraved and do the most horrible things.      Our contemporary wounds are real.   Through the Lord’s grace we seek healing.

                I also am friends with a number of Diaspora from Africa’s Great Lakes who have traveled to Western nations to study.    I have lost track of the number of times in visiting with Diaspora students they explain the confusion of first meeting homosexuals.     The nuance and cultural cues of our different cultures make misunderstanding likely.     With so many misunderstandings the potential for wounds is great.    Healing must be sought.  

  

NEW NARRATIVES

                The narrative that I have frequently experienced in listening to these types of stories has some consistent themes.    My friends in the midst of healing from what they did to their fellow man tell stories of a dysfunctional childhood home and early exposure to pornography.

                Yet, I can read of other narratives that don’t include these types of stories.    I believe we need to listen well to other narratives.   In God’s family there is always room for conversation.

FREQUENCY?

While these wounds are real I also need to mention they are rare.    If my averages are consistent with other pastors in Africa healing from homosexual exploitation is a pastor’s task about once every 4 to 5 years.   I have lost track of the number of times pastoral counseling involved healing from heterosexual exploitation.     My sense is that heterosexual exploitation is much more prevalent than homosexual exploitation.   Both require governments to develop strong measures of legal protection.  

DEMOCRACY IS MESSY

                In the debate concerning the signing of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality act there have been several positions taken that I believe are ill advised to heal wounds.    One has been the approach of Western nation’s leaders that seems to forget democracy is a messy endeavor.    Democracy evolves.   It reflects shifting society morals.    History finds that almost all democracies do things that later generations will find flawed.    Thus fear of our own arrogance is one of the most appropriate states of democratic wisdom.   

       

                Four years ago I was at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC when United States President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke against the proposed Uganda homosexual legislation (http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2010/07/pastoral-reflections-on-ugandas.html.)   I wrote, 

“I believe that we live in a global community in which it is acceptable for friends to widely and graciously advise one another. However, I also believe that sometimes global advice can degenerate into the powerful manipulating those who have less global influence. I found it disturbing that though David Bahati was the author of Uganda’s legislation and Edward Ssekandi is the Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not mention a phone call to either of them. Instead, she clarified that she had called Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to voice her disapproval of the legislation. It seemed to me that a phone call to President Museveni communicates that the United States government is more comfortable with a developing nation where one individual personally influences national policy than one in which democratic practice is debated and decided in community. David Bahati saw a problem in Uganda. He introduced legislation that he saw as a solution. Now, Uganda debates his proposal. This is how parliamentary democracy functions. We in the west would be well served to allow Uganda to debate and decide without our manipulation. Those of us who are only visitors or friends to Uganda must allow Uganda to develop her own democratic institutions and practice.”

I am at the same place today.   As time has gone on the death penalty has been removed from the legislation.  Then Uganda’s parliament, religious organizations, N.G.O.’s, and media thoroughly debated the bill.  It was passed by Parliament.   Then President Museveni signed the bill into law.   Though we may have concerns, democracy worked in a democratic way in Uganda.    All the polls show that the majority of Ugandans approve of the legislation.   In a short amount of time the legislation will be tested in Uganda’s courts.    If history is a marker the Anti-Homosexuality law will be practically modified many times in the next few years.    

The banter of Western nation’s leaders is an inappropriate muscle flexing mechanism that I believe discourages the development of democratic institutions in both Uganda and around the world.   Emperors tell other sovereign nations what do with threats.   Democracy calls for discussion.   Because of our flawed human condition democracy is always messy.   Grace is our hope.

MOB JUSTICE IS IMMORAL

                Another approach that will not heal the wounds is mob justice.    In seasons of communal frustration we take matters into our own hands.    Someone must pay.     History is filled with stories of the injustices of angry mobs crying for blood.     Maybe, the most enduring and indicting story of an ungodly mob is the one crying for Jesus of Nazareth to be crucified.   All humanity at one time or another has participated in mob justice.   Whether we were a school bully or a self-righteous religious hypocrite we have all participated.   It is immoral.   Repentance is required.

                There is no place for publicly naming and shaming.   Healing requires confidences.    There is no place to grab a suspect, host an impromptu court, and brutalize another.    Justice requires law, the establishment of truth, and measured punishments.     The goal of justice is a reconciled community.    Mob justice makes reconciliation impossible.

PRIORITIES

             

   Many have raised the issue of priorities.     Uganda faces many difficulties – unstable neighbors, rampant corruption in politics, poverty, poor infrastructure, and inadequate education systems are some of the first to come to my mind.     Why has the Anti-Homosexual legislation become center stage?

                If one does a twitter search on “Uganda” most of the hits the last week have concerned this legislation.    Yet, when one reads New Vision (http://www.newvision.co.ug/) or Monitor (http://www.monitor.co.ug/)  (Uganda’s leading daily newspapers) it seems that Ugandans have much more on their mind.     Ugandan media and churches are discussing many more matters.    I suspect that this legislation has become the priority of westerners and neglected that the Ugandan public finds other matters to prioritize.

                History may find that the Anti-Homosexual legislation was nothing more than a political show for partisan purposes.    Yet, history will speak most clearly in the contemporary times as we are faithful with the task of today.    

                Let us today make the well being of our neighbors the highest priority.    As our neighbors are diverse so will be the daily tasks.    All of these tasks seek a better day.     We believe this world is wounded and flawed.    Yet, our Lord teaches us that redemption is possible.  

REDEMPTION IS POSSIBLE

                My greatest concern in this debate is the neglect of redemption.    The dictionary defines redemption as “atoning for a fault or mistake” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/redemption,) “to make (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) better or more acceptable, to free from what distresses or harms,  to free from captivity by payment of ransom, to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental,  to release from blame or debt,  to free from the consequences of sin” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redeem.)    Both extremists in this debate seem to have lost sight of the possibility of redemption.

                As I read the law a homosexual can be sentenced to life imprisonment (http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/files/2014/02/Anti-Homosexuality-Act-2014.pdf.)      The intent of the law seems to be protection of the vulnerable.  Yet the law could easily be a lifetime punishment of private consensual homosexual activity.     With such a law how is redemption possible?    The law has made the historic mistake of law.    It neglected forgiving grace and the power of change.

                Those who oppose the law also neglect redemption.     Many of their arguments demean those who believe change is possible.   They argue that homosexuality is a fixed state unable to change. 

                Both extremes leave our community tattered and torn.

                Master missionary Paul wrote, 

“Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,  or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.   New Living Translation.)”

                The most terrifying words are that none of us can escape this condemnation.    There are some sins we find culturally abhorrent in Paul’s list, but when it comes to making material things our pursuit (idolatry), small acts of theft, and anger we’re most likely all guilty.     Paul in another passage wrote,

“For we have already shown that all people … are under the power of sin. (Romans 6:9.   New Living Translation.)”

                None of us is righteous.   We’re all guilty.   If the mob has to sacrifice someone it might as well be me.

 

                Yet, the story is not over.    Paul tells about the start of a new church plant in Corinth,

“Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 9:11.   New Living Translation.)”

               If 2,000 years ago God could redeem such morally bankrupt people and turn them into a vibrant church He can do the same thing today.     The extremists are mistaken.   Redemption is possible.

THE LEGITIMACY OF THE MISSIONARY IMPULSE

                In the discussion many have pointed out that Uganda’s Anti-Homosexual law was promoted by conservative American evangelical short-term missionaries.    I can understand their reasoning.    Yet I disagree.   I define a missionary as one sent by the Holy Spirit to a new location to make disciples, develop churches, and usher in kingdom possibilities.    To be a missionary requires for one to become a master of a place that will always be foreign.     There is no such thing as a short-term missionary.    Missionaries listen and serve before speaking.   Those who speak quickly are simply meddlers.

                Paul was a missionary.    The Roman world was changed by his missionary impulse.     He was a master of contemporary languages and cultures.    He offended many, but his chief offense was his steadfast belief in the possibility of redemption because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

                All cultures are in need of missionaries in their midst.    Recent historians have argued that missionaries actually promote a culture of democracy (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/world-missionaries-made.html.) 

                The missionary impulse is a legitimate one not only in Uganda, but in America.    I’m a newbie in Chicago.    Yet, I’ve been dumbfounded by watching Chicago dig out from snow.     In Africa’s Great Lakes our best leaders insist that in the midst of nature’s obstacles our community serves our most vulnerable.    I can’t believe it as I watch single moms, the elderly, and the disabled deal with Chicago snow.

             

   A few weeks ago I was driving in the snow through my neighborhood that has some Diaspora from Africa’s Great Lakes.     I don’t know all of them so I’m always looking, listening, and trying to find a way to start a conversation.     As I drove I noticed a woman with black skin, tightly bundled, walking with swagger (that place between humility and dignity), with a bit of kitenge (African cloth) wrapped as a scarf.    I didn’t know her personally, but I knew she was from my earthly home.    She came to a busy street corner at the same time as an older European American woman.    Then the missionary impulse happened.    The woman with black skin quickly grabbed the hand of the older woman and helped her walk across the street.    Only one out of place would be so bold.    Only one whose culture accepted same gender affection would quickly take another’s hand.    The older woman was startled and then quickly assured.   Both were safe in a moment of danger.   Traffic quickly forced me to drive through the intersection without a conversation.     Yet, I knew the missionary impulse lived in my African sister.   Without that impulse our neighborhood had no hope of becoming all God intended.

                It is because of this hope that I write this blog.    Uganda is dear to me.     The wounds are real.   Democracy is messy.   Redemption is possible.   We must attempt to heal the wounds.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE NATION OF RWANDA

Antoinette Kanyabutembo and me

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak at the Rwanda National Prayer Banquet in Silver Springs,  Maryland.    Antoinette Kanyabutembo asked for me to speak on, “My experience with the nation of Rwanda.”
 

            The Lord gave me the privilege to pastor in Rwanda.   With that came the experience of sharing in the rituals of life – birth, marriage, sickness, and death.   One great privilege was listening to the bzee (elders) of Rwanda.    We live in a season of history in which those who experienced the East African Revival will soon be gone from this created earth.   Now we have the opportunity to listen to their voices.   Frequently this is at family gatherings and even hospitals.

          

Prayers at the Banquet

  The bzee of the East African Revival had the original vision for the East African Community.   They began in an isolated village of Gahini, Rwanda.   Yet, all who consider themselves Balokole (Born Again, Saved, or Evangelical) in Sub-Saharan Africa will trace their history back to Gahini.   The Revival started with prayer.   It concluded that unity was no respecter of divisions of nation, race, ethnicity, nor denomination.    The Revival spoke a simple word of our Lord, “Go.”  It went to locations like Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.   Those who went planted churches.   They started schools.   They preached, “Man is made in the image of God.”   They began the intellectual seeds that broke colonialism and called for independence.   

East Africa Revival Leaders

            Some of those who went, “disappeared.”   Factors like poor communication systems, distance, and political instability resulted in their extended family being unaware of the outcome of the “going” for generations.    They lived out the words of our Lord, 

^“And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29.  New Living Translation.)”

Jesus' Great Commission

One of the privileges I had with the nation of Rwanda was being with extended families when those who had left during the Revival grandchildren returned.   It was a privilege to see bzee meet their nieces and nephews of departed brothers and sisters.   The Lord’s words were true.    They had received a hundred times return plus eternal life.   Some of those simple Rwandan missionaries of old were buried in unmarked graves.   They had little power of earth.   Yet, few have their enduring influence.

Another part of my experience with the nation of Rwanda is in my wife, Jana’s childhood in Kenya (1968-89) and our young adult years in Uganda in the 1990’s.    Though some may argue that Rwanda was peaceful in the 1970’s and 80’s not all Rwandans lived in peace.   Political nonsense created refugee living.  

Yet, our experience watched as agaciro (dignity) refused to accept the fate of destitution.

Joseph receive his brothers

  Like Joseph of old, Rwandans excelled.   They were good students.   Farms and businesses that employed Rwandans thrived.

As we were “foreigners” and out of place it was frequently these Rwandan refugees who gave us compassion and wisdom.    They gave key advice came at just the right moment as we pondered new understandings and undertakings.  

Our family was next door in Uganda when the Genocide began.   We initially thought, “Surely not.   This must be an exaggeration.”   Then the bodies began drifting into Lake Victoria.   We did nothing.  My repentance has been a resolve to engage.

From 2005 to 2012 we had the privilege to serve in Rwanda.   We lived during a season that was much like the stories of Judah’s return from Babylonian exile.   

Rwanda Presidential Scholars Graduation 2010

As Ezra taught the law we saw the building of educational institutions.   University attendance boomed to over 72,000 students.    New schools were built.   Scholarship programs thrived.    

With this came a compelling vision and new policy framework.   President Kagame told us, “Others can walk.   We must run.”

Like Nehemiah building the wall of Jerusalem our security in Kigali was excellent.   My beautiful daughters were safe to walk at night.  Roads, infra-structure, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses were being rapidly built.   

It was a privilege to serve in such a season of hope.

As my family prepared to go into exile as missionaries to America it was the bzee of

Mzee William Rugege

Rwanda who blessed us.    I had the privilege to serve Mzee William Rugege Holy Communion my last Sunday in Rwanda.   As I walked him back to his seat he held me close and whispered God’s blessings in my ear.

As our family has returned to America after 19 years of service in Africa the transition has been overwhelming.   It is the Diaspora who nurtured us.   They have called and asked those simple questions, “How are you?   What can we pray for?”   When we feel at loss we remember we were blessed by Rwandan bzee.   The best advice comes from them.   They tell us heaven is home.   Everything else is temporary.   Yet, while on this earth we must make it as much like heaven as possible.

As many of us at this Prayer Banquet are in exile what should we conclude about our temporary stay?

Have you seen today’s USA Today headline, “Hope Dims for Immigration Bill”? (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/02/06/boehner-immigration-prospects-dim/5257015/) 

Can you imagine such a headline in New Times?   Can you imagine a Rwanda headline of dimming hope?   Can you imagine a Rwanda that is unable to empathize with those living in exile?  Can you imagine a Rwanda whose leaders don’t open a Bible to see that all who follow Christ are described in terms like “foreigner, alien, and refugee.”?

Our temporary stay in exile is about being missionaries to America.    You see America needs Rwandan missionaries in her midst to become all God intends.   I can quickly find five areas where Rwandan Diaspora must speak to America as missionaries.

Boy Jesus at Temple with Bzee

First, America’s bzee (elders) are lonely.   Few listen to their wisdom.   One joy I have repeatedly seen is Rwanda youth taking the time to listen to American bzee.   Few others do.

Second, in a fast paced America with many To Do lists Rwanda teaches America that children are a blessing.   We have time to be with them.   Their cries in our solemn assemblies are actually the whispers of God that our community is alive.     

Doreen Rwigambo

Third, I believe when we get to heaven we’ll see a Bible where the Lord chooses which language best describes His intent.    When God’s word says, “Made in the image of God,” and English translates the concept as “dignity” God’s full intent will best be said with the Kinyarwanda word, “Agaciro.”    Humanity in creation is full of dignity.   All life is infinitely valuable.    Our human creativity and labor reflect God’s intent from Creation.

Fourth, is Umuganda (community work.)     I live in Chicago.   We’ve had lots of snow.   I can’t believe as I watch elders, widows, and single moms try to shovel out of snow alone.    Umuganda tells me that when our community has a little hiccup of life all of us with some measure of physical strength go outside, pick up a tool, and labor together.    America needs Umuganda.

Kinyarwanda dancing at Prayer Banquet

Lastly, when I was a child in America I remember being told that the nuclear family is the basic social building block of society.     When I arrived in Africa I had a startling realization.   Africa sees the basic social building block to be the extended family.   When I read my Bible I realized Africa was right.   Why do we have all these genealogies if extended family is not how we build society?

In the America I returned to I believe most Americans now see the most basic social building block to be the individual.   In the process America has become a lonely polarized nation.     America needs Rwandan missionaries to teach America about community.

Honorable Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana

Thank you very much for this opportunity to share my experiences with the fine people of Rwanda.

THERE ARE NO FORGOTTEN BIRTHDAYS

The humble one’s stories are too easily forgotten.    This morning as I checked my Facebook I had 40 friends whose birthday is January First.     On an average day I should have 8 or 9 friends to wish "Happy Birthday."   (3,200 Facebook friends divided by 365 days in a year equals 8.77 friend’s birthdays per day.)    Today, there is a 456% increase in birthday averages.   What is up?

A couple of my Bazungu (white, or those who wander in circles) friends truly know that January 1 is their birthday.    A couple of my friends from Africa who were fortunate to have their mother deliver in a hospital during a day of relative peace truly know that January 1 is their birthday.

Yet, for the majority of my 40 Facebook friends today they were born during a season of absolute chaos.    They were born in places like remote villages, refugee camps, and urban slums.   Their mom was one of the world’s poorest of poor.    She was likely on the run.  Their mom was thankful to have lived through delivery, and today is exceptionally thankful the child born on that day is alive.

These friends of mine share a common past with my boss, Jesus of Nazareth.   He too was born in poverty (Luke 2:1-21).     Stables and mangers in church nativity scenes frequently miss this point.    If you can’t smell the manure your church has understated the chaos of Jesus’ birth.    Jesus was born in forced circumstance as his nation, Judah was under Roman occupation.    His parents were forced to travel near the end of his mom's pregnancy just to register for a census and pay tax.    Forcing a pregnant woman to travel is the height of oppressive government policy.    

These friends of mine likely share another common past with my boss, Jesus of Nazareth.   His family was forced to flee for their safety as refugees (Matthew 2:13-18.)    An evil despot intended to kill all rivals, and that included infant boys in a remote village.     Despots do the same things today.

Where is God in such circumstances?

Paul in describing the riches of knowing Christ tells an unfathomable truth (Ephesians 1.)    Before creation God in His infinite knowledge knew His creation would rebel.     God’s holiness could not dwell with rebellion.    Our rebellion would cause eternal separation from the God of infinite love.     The consequence was as horrific as an infant child abandoned and left to die in a field (Ezekiel 16:4-6.)    God chose to rescue us by sacrificing the life of His own Son.    In the process He took us rebels, and adopted us into His family.    Can you imagine?    He knew every sin we would commit.   He knew the horrific costs.   Yet, He chose to create what He would redeem though sacrifice.    Amazing.  Jesus is Emmanuel, God near and with us.

In the chaos that humanity lives God watches every movement of life.   In God’s eyes there are no forgotten birthdays.  His word states,

“Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast (Psalm 22:9.)”

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13.)”

“This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid… whom I have chosen (Isaiah 44:2.)”

“This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself… (Isaiah 44:24.)”

“Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. (Isaiah 49:1.)”

“And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant (Isaiah 49:4.)”

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; (Jeremiah 1:5.)”

 
In eternity, God will redeem each one of these chaotic births.   In God’s eyes there are no forgotten birthdays.   Yet, we do live in the here and now.   Is there hope in this life for God to bring good out of chaos?

Absolutely.    God is sovereign.   He is good.    He is full of love.  His ways are mysterious.   Yet, His ways are just.    History is full of stories of God bringing good from chaos.

One of the privileges God gave me during my season in Rwanda was to be a facilitator in the Presidential Scholars program.   Facilitator sounds important.   All I did was pragmatically pastor.  I made friends.    I helped friends communicate to one another.    Sometimes it was rather mundane.   One of the mundane moments was filling out visa applications.    The applications required filling out a date of birth.    Many times we wrote in the application January 1, _______.

Most of those bright young Banyarwanda who wrote January 1, ______ were not born on January 1, ______.    Instead they were born during absolute chaos.     All their family can remember is a year filled with turmoil.    In some ways, God has helped them forgive the sources of the chaos, and in the process forget a few details that would even include the month of the birth.   

Rwanda Presidential Scholars at Hendrix College

Yet, something wonderful happened in the years following the traumatic birth.    Enough peace came that a family could survive.    They could put down a root somewhere.    The kids could go to school.    Many times the schools were barely functioning.    Yet, somehow learning happened.    The brightest students found a place of marginal stability and success.    They kept at it for years.    Then they sat their final secondary exam.   They scored near the top of all the students in the nation.     Then they received an opportunity to interview with the different universities offering scholarships.    For some of these bright Banyarwanda, this was the first time they had even been in the capital of Kigali.   If there was no God they would have had no chance.    Yet, there is a God.  He is good.   He enjoys showing His grace upon the most humble.   These kids whose families don’t remember their birthday were offered scholarships to attend prestigious universities in the United States.   God is good.

So today I ask that if you definitely know the day of your birth thank God.    Much of the world does not have that luxury.   If you’re one of those who wrote January 1, _____, but really don’t know; also thank God.   If you meet someone with a January 1, ____ birthday, listen to their story.   Thank God.   He is good.  There are no forgotten birthdays.

BIRTHDAY PRAYER FOR PEACE IN SOUTH SUDAN - Adopted from Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Sharing dinner with South Sudanese

The Lord was kind to give our family an extended season in Africa.    Through most of that season Sudan was at war.   Occasionally, South Sudanese would visit our Ugandan church, the Kampala Church of Christ.    Our organization, New Testament Churches of Christ had work in the Kiryandongo Sudanese refugee camp near Hoima.   I had Sudanese students in my classes at Kampala Evangelical School of Theology.

While we were in Rwanda South Sudan became independent.  The war seemed to be over.    Many of us had great hopes for South Sudan.    My business minded friends from Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda were investing.

As we've moved to the USA with a dream to serve the Diaspora I have heard over and over again from Kenyan, Rwanda, Tanzanian, and Ugandan friends, "We must reach to the South Sudanese.   We can not leave them alone."

A few weeks ago shocking news began coming from South Sudan.   Some worry that a civil war is possible.

Tonight we had a few South Sudanese in our home for dinner.   On my birthday, tomorrow I will preach from Psalm 147, an Exilic Psalm in a South Sudanese church.   Yet, our Sudanese brothers stopped this evening to bless our family's home.   It was humbling.  (ABA = Africa Blesses Again.)

Each year I ask for my friends and family to join in a prayer for a specific matter on my birthday.   On my 47th birthday I request you join in praying the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi for South Sudan.
 

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.