Peter and Paul, Apostles
June 29, 2008
Acts 12:1-11
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
John 21:15-19
These past three weeks
I have seen the power of God at work.
I have witnessed the fire of the Holy Spirit burning.
And I have wondered at the miracle of that first Pentecost
Repeated before my very eyes.
I saw the power of God in both the great expanse of the Serengeti and the diversity of life teaming in the Norogoro Crater.
I saw God burning in the uplifting rhythms and music of the Masai people and choirs as they praised and glorified God for hours on end.
I saw God in the amazing growth of the church among the Masai, as they respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ in great number.
As I’ve said many times before: sometimes you need to leave home – to get out of your “comfort zone” – in order to see God in new ways and to have your faith restored and renewed.
The past three weeks have done that for me.
I wish I could take each one of you to
I wish I knew how to set the Spirit loose among us the way I witnessed it blowing among
the people of
But, I think I can give you a little taste of what we experienced.
And I do know that renewal is possible and even necessary from time to time in every Christian community – including our own.
And I know from personal experience that through prayer and open hearts that Holy Spirit can and will do amazing things – even among us.
And so, this morning, I would like you to come with me to a Masai Lutheran worship service, and to think about how God might be calling you, personally, and us, as a community of faith, to renew our lives, praise God and let the Spirit blow.
Over the last few years, the church in the Morogoro mission
district in central
Pastor Herb Hafermann, who we pray for each week, has been working in the area as a teacher and pastor for over 40 years. But it has only been in the last 6 or 10 that the real explosion has taken place.
The founding of a new congregation usually begins the same way:
Someone from one community experiences or hears what the Gospel is doing in another community and then asks Herb to come and start a church for them. In that way the church has grown from around 50 “preaching places” a few years ago, to (as of three weeks ago) 119 preaching places.
Herb isn’t doing anything fancy. There are no gimmicks, no tricks, no elaborate evangelism strategies or slick advertizing campaigns. No one goes “door knocking”.
Like in the days of Peter and Paul, the church grows through the enthusiasm and excitement of the people about what they have seen and heard and experienced in Jesus Christ.
What is going on there is thoroughly Lutheran and thoroughly liturgical – event though the words are Swahili, the music is distinctively Masai, and the setting is often just an opening under the trees. It is just good old fashioned word and sacrament Gospel-centered ministry which embodies the love of Christ in people’s lives shared person to person.
The gatherings of these young faith communities usually goes all day. The “service” proper (though it is a little hard to say when it “officially” begins or ends) usually goes three or more hours – though it doesn’t feel that way.
The whole gathering is surrounded with music and praise. At one gathering, the choir sang and danced for over six hours straight with little or no breaks! Six hours!
As people gather, they greet each other with warm handshakes, broad smiles and the words
“Bwana asifiwe” which means “praise the Lord”. (The proper response is “amen”)
As the people gather, Pastor Herb registers those who are interested in being baptized. There are always baptisms. At the four gatherings I went to, there were never any less than ten. Men, women, youth and children come to dedicate their lives to Christ through the sacrament.
The whole thing reminds me of the words of Acts: “And day by day, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
The registrations can go on for quite a while, depending on how many people come for baptism. In the mean time, we were served tea, the choir sang and the people visited with one another.
After the baptismal registrations are completed, the community gathers for worship.
As I said, some gather in the open, others in “stick churches” and others in the small buildings we are helping them to build.
You would recognize the format for worship. It is essentially identical to our own: gathering, word, prayer, and sacrament. Only it’s longer. The main difference is that the announcements take a long time and include introductions of visitors, and almost a small business meeting where information and reports on finance and attendance are shared. The other difference is that the offering takes place a the very end of the service and people bring their offerings forward individually (including money, produce and livestock) and present them to God. The baptisms happen before the word is proclaimed and Holy Communion is shared so that the newly baptized can participate fully.
Everything is surrounded with music and praise led by the choir or choirs (one service we attended had five choirs) made up of adults and children.
At the end of the service, they do something Herb started that is quite unique and a powerful reminder of how important everyone is to the community:
Everyone processes out of the church (like we do), but they don’t just shake the Pastor’s hand, they shake his hand and then join him in line, shaking the hands of everyone who follows, who also join the line. Children are blessed by everyone. As they shake hands, they say bwana asifiwe (praise the Lord) or salaam (peace). This time of handshaking and blessing takes the place of our passing of the peace.
Now, I know this is going to shake you up a bit… but that’s what we’re going to do this morning as we conclude our service. I simply encourage you to try it. Who knows, we may like it. Remember this is about community and about seeing God in each person who is gathered here this morning: adult or child, friend or stranger or… even someone we’ve been estranged from!
The gatherings conclude with a meal that is shared with everyone.
These experiences got me to thinking about our own worship life. (Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we start doing three hour long worship services).
But so often, we get so caught up in bickering about worship styles, music preferences and the way we use technology (whether that’s a slide show or the organ) that we forget why we worship in the first place – that is, to praise and glorify the God who loves us enough to have died for us (even with our bickering) and to renew our faith for life in the world (which can be a pretty tough place sometimes).
The Masai reminded me again of how important that is!
Bwana asifiwe!
Praise the Lord!
Amen!