Sunday Morning at Iringa Road Mennonite Church

I haven't usually tried to pass on sermons I preach, but because of the unique situation, I want to tell you about last Sunday's preaching experience at Iringa Road Mennonite Church in Dodoma, hoping I can pass on some of the richness.

Preaching with an interpreter means sharing the pulpit with another person on whom one is almost wholly dependent. Pastor Amos Muhagachi played that role for me. He not only communicated words in Swahili but fully united with me in mood and intensity and added much to whatever persuasiveness my preaching had.

Here's pretty much what I said with the help of Pastor Amos:

In 2006, I was given the privilege to preach in a high-density residential area of Harare, Zimbabwe. We were with a new church, a few months old. It had begun under a tree but recently moved into a community hall. About 50 children of all ages were on the floor just to my left. They were amazingly attentive.

After my preaching, I sat down in a chair beside those children, I soon felt the hand of one of them in my hand, and quickly there were several reaching out for my hands. Two small children crawled into my lap. I was amazed by the intimacy of those children, especially the two on my lap: their warm bodies, soft skin, and beautiful eyes that told me so much of trust and acceptance. It was a moment of sheer grace! I deserved none of it. It was a wondrous gift of sheer grace.

Late last December, my good friend, Pastor Abiot Moyo, with whom we had made that trip to Harare from Massachusetts, sent an e-mail to me about the trip he had just made back to Harare. He wrote about the great suffering of the people, and about the spread of cholera that is making thousands sick and killing many, especially children. What came sharply into my mind, like a stab in my heart, was the memory of those children. I imagined those beautiful kids, now maybe five years old, suffering the horrors of cholera, maybe dead.

That picture of suffering came into my mind as I read the words of Mark's Gospel which we have heard today (Mark 1:29-39), particularly the scene of Jesus, as the sun goes down on a Sabbath day, moving among the crowd that had gathered on the street, many of them sick. We can be sure these were poor people. Thirty kilometers away was Tiberius, a great city, where the rich and powerful lived, and surely had the best medical care of that time. These people around Jesus would never get that care. It is so moving to picture Jesus as he reached out to touch and heal those needy people. I wish I were an artist; it would be a lovely picture to paint.

It is so easy for me to think of Jesus being among those little kids in Harare, loving them, caring for them, healing them. I know for sure Jesus' great concern for all who suffer, and I know that Jesus shows us the heart of God as a God who loves and cares, especially for those who are the most vulnerable.

Yet, although I can imagine that easily, still those children are suffering and dying of cholera and other diseases that in richer places would be quickly healed. It's right there that I remember healing is a big part of the work Jesus gives to his disciples, his church, his body in the world. Healing is our task, given to us by Jesus himself.

I could tell you this morning about many heroes of the Christian faith who have been healing heroes, but I will tell of one only. In 1988, a college student began to attend the church in Massachusetts where I was the pastor. That student was Alynne MacLean, and she became a good friend of Annette and me. After college, she went on to university, earned a Doctor of Philosophy, a PhD degree, in chemistry, and then took a job with a large corporation at a high salary. All during that time, Alynne knew that her real calling was to mission, and after a few years, she resigned her position at that big corporation and began a small non-profit organization called Science with a Mission. She set up a small laboratory and there she used her great knowledge and skill to work toward the goal of creating a simple device to detect malaria, one of the greatest killers of children around the world. She worked very hard, did her very best, and ran into many barriers that slowed her work, but she did not give up.

A few years later, she began to feel that something was not right in her own body. She was very tired and quite weak at times. She went to doctors, who told her she had MS, multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease, and that it was an aggressive form of the disease. They said, “Now you must take care of yourself.” Her family and friends said, “Now you must take care of yourself.” But Alynne said, “Now I must work much harder.” Indeed, she went back to work, spending as much time as her body would let her, and soon she had a test strip that would diagnose malaria quickly. Today those test strips are being used in many places around the world where there may be no laboratory, no skilled workers, no electricity. Soon, they will be in use right here in Dodoma, as we have brought 990 of them with us from Alynne MacLean.

Here in my hand is one of those test strips. Your finger would be pricked with this lancet. You'll jump a little at the slight pain, but the drop of blood we need will be there. We'll put that drop of blood in this spot on the test strip, and in 20 minutes the test will let us know whether you have malaria. If it says, “Yes, she has malaria,” you can immediately receive medicine that will make you well. Let me show you the tiny strip inside the plastic cover. Here it is, so tiny, but there's a miracle of science there, the work of many scientists, but this test strip, designed for healing malaria, is the work of Alynne MacLean. Aren't we all very happy for Alynne? Aren't we thankful to God that Alynne wanted to follow Jesus by being a healer? Aren't we glad that Alynne wanted to work even after she had a bad disease? [loud cheers from the congregation]. I'm glad to say that Alynne is alive and still working today. I wish you could meet her, but her health does not allow her to come to Africa. I can tell you that Alynne is praying for us right now, praying for these test strips, praying that many lives will be saved here in Dodoma.

Now, there's a question I want to ask you? Would you like to be a healer like Alynne? Would you like to give your life to helping people be well and whole? I'm thinking about you who are students. Are you willing to work very hard at your school work, go on to A-level and university, learn how to be a scientist or another worker with great knowledge and skill to help raise up God's needy people? That's what I ask you today, because you see, Jesus is depending on us, you and me, to be healers, to do his healing work. He sent out disciples and gave them the task of healing. Now it is our task. Are you willing to do that task, one way or another, to be God's servant to heal God's people?

God bless these test strips! God bless Alynne MacLean and all healers! God bless us all!

So, the sermon ended. Although the people listened, I had no idea how these words and thoughts might have been heard, but the answer came quickly. When Pastor Amos gave an invitation to come forward to make a commitment, dozens rose and came to stand before us, until the front of the room was crowded. Pastor Amos asked me to pray for those people, but he surprised me when he said, “First, we pray for the health of that good lady who sent the test strips.” He then prayed for Alynne's healing in words I did not understand, but the passion and unity of feeling was plain. After that powerful moment, I struggled to find words for my prayer. I do not remember what I said. I do remember that I closed with words that mean so much to me when I sing them Sunday after Sunday at worship, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us! Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us! Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace!”

Later, Pastor Amos said that people had told him of decisions they had made. Last night, a high school student told me of his desire to be a doctor who helps children, strengthened, he told me, by Sunday's sermon. I found out later that he is the top student in his class. I know there will be huge barriers in the way of his purpose, as is true of many hopeful African young people. I have decided that one way I can walk the talk of that sermon is to be as sure as I can be that Baraka will have the support he needs to fulfill his desire to be the healer he knows God is calling him to be.