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Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt, July 24, 2016


Mission to Mityana, Uganda


Text: Ephesians 4:1-6, 11-16

Travelling to a country like Uganda, where everything is so very different from our own culture, is an eye-opening experience. It deepens one’s faith. What I saw there was a church living out the Christian life in the way it was described in the book of Acts. Being a witness to this had a profound impact. I have chosen three topics that sum up my experience and will use chapter 4 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as the context. The topics are: unity in the body of believers, Christians bound together in love, and the importance of prayers and thanksgivings. Paul reminds the Ephesians that the goal of a Christian is to attain unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God( v.13) and to become mature in faith taking on the fullness of Christ. Simply put, we are to become more and more like Jesus. This is the transformation that begins when we give our lives to Jesus and follow him.

In Chapter 4, verse 11, we see that some are chosen to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds or teachers, to help equip the saints for ministry. Some are called for these specific roles, but every one of us is a saint called to do the work of ministry.

We were busy during the week we spent in Uganda and everywhere we went, we were asked to bring a message of hope and encouragement. Our first venue was the Mityana Secondary School where 1,000 children gathered to hear us speak. This was rather intimidating, especially since I am accustomed to the security of having notes and a Bible in front of me when speaking, or at least a podium to hold on to. It became quickly apparent that this would be not the case. Hannah and Bart spoke first, and then my turn came to deliver the main message. When I looked out on the kids gathered there, I was moved by what I saw. I actually saw them-their beautiful young faces looking up expectantly at me. They were attentive and ready to hear my message to them. Although, I was uncertain what would be forthcoming from my mouth, God knew, and the words came. Awkward, yes, but a message was there. It got better with each day. Speaking in the schools changed according to the age of the children. The message to the younger ones in the primary schools was about how much God loves them and has a plan for their lives. Using Psalm 139 as the basis, I told them how God had known them before they were born and he was always present watching over them. I had the same message for the older kids, but added more of my personal testimony. I encouraged them to stay close to the church and their Christian family, so they would not go astray and be influenced by the world and false teachers. That happened in my life and it took 25 years for me to return. I did not want this for these children. I was asked to preach the sermon at a confirmation service where I chose this morning’s Ephesians passage as my text. It was a privilege to preach to new believers of all ages. In every situation, the Holy Spirit guided my words and filled me with the confidence I needed to speak to large groups. God’s grace was sufficient.

During the week, I was struck by the way that we, as Christians, are all one in the Body of Christ. Bishop Stephen liked to introduce us by saying that we came from “the ends of the earth” in Heathsville, Virginia, USA, and they live in “the ends of the earth” in Mityana, Uganda. Although 8000 miles separate us, in God’s family, there is no distance at all. We are one body of believers regardless of where we live geographically.

My first point relates to this unity of believers everywhere. Paul tells the Ephesians to “walk in the manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (v. 1). He admonishes them to live in peace and love keeping the unity which comes to us through Christ. There is one body and one Spirit-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. There is no room in the body of believers for any kind of separation. As a nurse, I am always intrigued by the wonderful and complex nature of the human body. I can still recall a graduate pathophysiology class, where we spent two very long (and boring) hours discussing one teeny tiny nerve pathway in the complex nervous system. It was overwhelming to see how intricately we are put together. Everything that occurs within our human body is completely dependent on something else happening first in another part of the body. We are truly an amazing and complex design of dependent elements that all come together to perform activities of daily living. This is also true in the body of Christians around the world. This is God’s plan. He designed us to work together in peace and harmony to establish his kingdom and carry out his purposes. Christians in Virginia and Christians in Uganda are two parts of one body and we share Jesus Christ as our head. In our human bodies, we take our commands from the human brain which sends out messages to every part of our physical and emotional body. In the body of believers, we receive our instructions from Jesus Christ and we do what he asks us to do, so that we may all become mature in faith. He prepares us for service and he gives gifts to each of us to use in the building of the body. And, according to Paul, when we are mature and united as believers, we will not be tossed to and fro by the waves of every doctrine around. We can stand against the cunning ways of false teachers and their scheming and deceitfulness. As Christians, we stand together, united in faith. The glue that holds us all together is Christian love.

As I looked at each group we addressed in Uganda, I recognized this unity among us. I knew that whatever we said in words to them did not matter as much as our presence. The fact that we travelled many miles to meet and greet them spoke volumes. We were Christians speaking to Christians, encouraging one another, and building one another up. The knowledge that we shared beliefs and that many of our struggles were the same, just cemented that understanding of being one body together with one head. Coming to the Lord’s Table to receive Holy Communion may never be the same for me again because I have a wider vision of how large the body of Christ is. It reaches far beyond Heathsville, VA. I now have the faces of people, who make up a different part of the body, imprinted on my heart.

My second point is a reminder of the love Christians have for one another. This is what binds us together. Paul tells the Ephesians that the way the body of Christ works is that when every joint is working together properly as it is equipped to do, the whole body grows and builds itself up in love, becoming more like Christ. Each person has to do his or her part to contribute to the proper functioning of the entire body, so that we all reach maturity and unity in faith, as God has called us to do. We are to speak the truth in love. We recognize that we do not function alone in the body of Christ. We are given exactly what we need to fulfill our individual place. We are not an island apart from other believers. As we turn our focus to Jesus and give him our allegiance, he fills us with love. We can then share this love with those around us. The family of God is much bigger than just the family at LOC. As I looked at the children in Uganda and met with groups of women who shared their concerns and struggles, I was filled with love for them. It caught me by surprise to realize how deeply connected I felt to these people who were strangers to me. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see our brothers and sisters in a new, more personal and compassionate light. It is difficult to explain the love and joy that I experienced from each person I. The women called me “Sister”. The children looked at me with adoring eyes and gathered around us, either watching from a distance or walking closely beside us. The men became brothers. There was an ease in relating to one another, even though we were strangers, because we were not strangers in Christ. There was love between us. Christian love. It is the kind of love I see in this congregation all the time, but did not expect to experience it in a foreign country with people I had never met. This is what it means to follow Christ. We become more like him and we grow in our love for others as we become more mature in our faith. Our vision becomes wider, our family larger, and we feel deeply connected regardless of geographical distance. We are part of the communion of saints, the family of God, bound together in love.

My third point today relates to something I witnessed that made me think. My Ugandan friends offered prayers and thanksgivings continuously for every aspect of their day. This was normal for them and it showed me where there are a few deficits in my own Christian life. Yes, I am grateful every day for all that God has blessed me with, but there is so much that we take for granted in this culture. I witnessed true gratitude in the hearts of people who have so little in material possessions and wealth. They live with extreme poverty in the material sense, but they are rich in the spirit. We always prayed when we started out in the car and when we returned home safely in the car at the end of the day. Of course, there was good reason for this as the road conditions were a bit challenging, not to mention the traffic, people, and animals in the road. Navigation was almost impossible and each trip seemed miraculous to us.

We soon discovered that prayer was as much a part of everyday life as talking and eating. We prayed at every venue for the people hosting us. We prayed at every school we visited- for the teachers, administration, head teacher, and the children. In the bishop’s home, there were morning and evening times of prayer and praise. We woke each morning to the sound of drumming and angelic voices singing. The evenings included devotions, sharing, prayer and praise. This was their normal routine, and not just to impress us. It was normal to break out in songs of praise while in the car, or at the breakfast table. People showed up at the house early in the day just to pray with the bishop or his wife. As a child, I can recall only one family who read the Bible around the dinner table each evening and that was the family of a woman whose father had been a missionary. We were taught to pray, but family prayers and devotions was not a common thing. What would happen if every home, or at least every Christian home, had time set aside for family prayer and devotion? For Christians in Uganda, praying and giving thanks to God was so much a part of the daily life, that it was not unusual to have several collections of money and gifts during a worship service in thanksgiving to God. Anyone could request to give thanks for a specific purpose. It was normal to take up an offering at a wedding in thanksgiving for that marriage union. In our worship, we have stopped using the prayer of General Thanksgiving that was part of the liturgy in the Morning Prayer service. We usually do not emphasize the different times during the day for a call to prayer as was customary in earlier Christian communities. We would never take up an offering at a wedding, although this seems like the very best time to offer praise and give thanks to God for the commitment of marriage. In Uganda, marriage is treated as a sacred and holy union between a man and a woman. We saw one prominent political leader who was not re-elected hold a special service of thanksgiving to God for the privilege of serving her district for many years. Can you imagine what would happen if our politicians gave thanks to God when they were not re-elected? God came first in the lives of the people, in His rightful place. This was the Acts church lived out in daily life. Now, I’m sure this was not always the wonderful picture I’ve painted, but keep in mind that we were guests of the bishop and surrounded by the spiritual leaders of the community. They were leading their people in the right direction and it was humbling to see the fruit of their labor.

What can we learn from our Ugandan friends? As we look again at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he was teaching these early Christians about the importance of unity in the body of believers and the importance of their love for one another. Jesus speaks about the importance of prayer throughout his ministry. One version of the Lord’s prayer is in today’s gospel. The psalms are full of praise and thanksgiving in gratitude to God, who gives us everything. Psalm 138 which we read today is a good example of this. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing and to make requests in all circumstances. Jesus tells us to be persistent in our prayers and petitions. The Christian life is a simple way of living where God comes first in all things. We saw this in Uganda. Sacrifices were made from the little that people had because they want to give back to God. Prayer and praise were routine even when there was not enough food or work. The joy of the Lord was everywhere in the faces of the people. We do not have to visit Uganda, or a similar country, to return to a simple, God-focused life. We can live this way in our own homes as well as in our churches and we can spread the joy of the Lord everywhere in this community. Our pastor, Mike, has plans for more community involvement this fall and I urge each of you to consider what part in the body of believers here at LOC that you are called to fill. It may be something you haven’t yet considered, but God knows what he is asking of you and it may require that you take a step beyond your comfort zone. He will show you when you seek his guidance, and equip you for what he calls you to do. It will take every one of the saints here today, and those who are absent from us today, to join together as one body to reach Christian maturity, and to fulfill our part in the larger body of believers. We are one body with Jesus Christ as our head and we are bound together by his love. We can rejoice in knowing that God loves each of us and has a plan for us in his kingdom. By His grace, we have been called and equipped for service. Praise be to God for who he is and what he is doing in each of us!

©2016 Rev. Mary Swann

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