Wrapped in Prayer

Three days before we left for Ethiopia we attended a pancake supper at Tuscarora Church.  I had met a few of the Elders through various ways of working together in the Presbytery, but this was my first opportunity to be with the people of Tuscarora and to catch something of the spiritof that faith community. 

I was surprised at the end of the evening when they presented me with the gift of a prayer shawl and then prayed for God’s presence and for safe travel for our Ethiopia team.  The shawl was prayerfully made at Tuscarora in a group called “Knit one, Pray Too,” where the knitters pray as they are making the shawl for the person who will receive it.  The note that came with it told me that the shawl was blessed for me in worship at Tuscarora on February 12, 2012, and then it was placed at the door of the church where every worshipper could touch it with an additional word of prayer as they left the sanctuary.

I have that prayer shawl with me here in Ethiopia.  I have had it draped over my shoulders as I finished preparations for teaching the newly ordained pastors in Mettu, and for training the representatives gathered by the Department of Mission and Theology of the Mekane Yesus Church in Addis Ababa.  (The training classes from 9 to 5 every day this week and evenings with our hosts have left no time for new blogs until now.)  It has been very helpful for me to remember throughout this trip that our team and the people we are in relationship with here have been “wrapped in prayer” by people of God in Shenandoah.

We also have remembered and prayed for committees and mission communities that were meeting, as well as for the two work trips from Shenandoah mission communities that were going on during these three weeks.

This morning we were invited to join in the devotions of the national church staff at the headquarters office, and to bring greetings from Shenandoah.  I wore the prayer shawl over my shoulders as a visible illustration of being wrapped in prayer by churches and people in Shenandoah.  Our partners here have always affirmed that praying for each other is our most important connection and one of the greatest blessings of our relationship.

Because of the witness of more than 130 faithful people from Shenandoah who have contributed their time, energy and resources traveling to Ethiopia through the years of our partnership, the name of Shenandoah Presbytery is known and respected here.  You should know that Ethiopian Christians whom you may never meet are also wrapping you and your church in prayer as they pray for our congregations and for our Presbytery.

This too is a way that God is at work in Shenandoah.  Thank you Tuscarora for the gift of this shawl.  Thank you Shenandoah for your faithful prayer support.  And thank you God for binding us together through the gift and mystery of prayer that outdistances the miles and stretches over the time that we are apart. 

Learnings at the Mettu Community Library

This blog is supposed to be about God at work in Shenandoah Presbytery.  So why am I writing stories about Ethiopia?  Today’s visit to the Mettu library offers a good illustration for the answer to that question.

In 2005, Opequon Presbyterian Church in Winchester built the Mettu Community Library.  It is a beautiful building, clean and well lit with lots of natural light.  Since our last visit 15 months ago, they have doubled the number of tables and chairs that are available for reading and study.  (The tables and chairs are made in the wood shop at the Gore Home.)  There are still a number of empty shelves, but from what we saw the books they do have are excellent and on a wide variety of subjects.

We wondered how often books from the religious section were used.  On a table between two young men was a book titled “The Christian Faith.”  We asked the librarian if those two were part of the Bible school and he said no, they were two exceptional young men from the town.

Shortly before noon we went outside to the front of the building to take another picture and we were addressed by four teenage boys.  We later learned their names were:  Abil (Abel from the Bible), Gru, Sura and Mesh.  The conversation went something like this.

Abil

Abil:  “Why you take picture of this building?”

Randy:  “It is a wonderful library.”

Abil:  “Yes, we know it is a library.”

Doug:  “Do you use the library?”

Abil:  “Yes, it is very good for us.  We are blessed to have this library.” 

Gru:  “But why you take pictures of it?”

Randy:  “We helped build the library and we are trying to fill it with books.”

Gru:  “So you are sponsors of this building?”

Randy:  “Yes, we are from Shenandoah Presbytery and…..”

Abil: (interrupting)  “Oh, Shenandoah!”  There was not only recognition in Abil’s voice but excitement.  The conversation had just been raised to a whole new level.

Doug:  “How do you know Shenandoah Presbytery?”

Abil:  “We are Christians!  Mekane Yesus church.”

Gru

Gru:  “Yes, and next year we will go to University.”

Doug:  “You have very good English.  Were you in the classes this summer?”

Abil:  “Yes, we were in the classes”

Gru:  “Amy Gwaltney and Jeremy and Theresa, and Renee were the teachers.”

Randy:  “Yes.  That team was sent from Shenandoah Presbytery.”

Abil:  “Yes, we know.”

Doug:  “Amy and Jeremy are getting married this year.”

Gru:  “Yes, we know, we follow their plans on Facebook.”

It did not take much to see that God was at work in Abil and Gru’s lives as they quickly and stongly confessed “We are Christians.”  It also did not take much to see that God had blessed them and worked on their lives through the mission efforts of people and churches in Shenandoah Presbytery.  Their excellent English that opens the doors to higher education, and the library of resources available to help their study and growth, were there for them because of the witness of Shenandoah Presbytery people giving of their time and resources to make these things happen.

The evidence of God at work in Shenandoah Presbytery extends far beyond our geographical boundaries, and it includes God working with us, God working through us, and God working on us.

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The Pastor's "Living Room"

The open door on the old mud house called to us.  Perhaps it caught our attention because the theme scripture for this Convention of our partner synod is Rev. 3:8.  “I know your works.  Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.  I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

We turned aside from the path we were on and as we approached the old building, I recognized it as the first building constructed on what is now the IBS compound.  The land had been given but the municipality would not allow them to build a church.  Instead they built a pastor’s house and the believers gathered there for worship.  (About 1970)  As the size of the congregation grew the pastor expanded the “living room” of his house twice, finally ending up with a “living room” that was bigger than the original house.

To serve the worshiping needs of the growing congregation a concrete platform was later added which partly obscures the door to the rest of the pastor’s house.  The congregation continued to grow and in 1994 with a membership of 2,000 and with help from their partners at First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, they built a beautiful new sanctuary.

The membership at the Mettu Church is now 800, but not for the reasons we might think.  As the church continued its amazing growth they decided that they should start more churches and they sent groups of their members to help those new churches.  The Mettu church started the Kata congregation (now 1,200) and the Kolo Korma church (now 800).  Kata congregation in turn began the Botto church (now 600) and a new church at Mettu University that now has 200 members.  All together the Illubabor Bethel Synod membership has grown from 30,000 members to 363,257 members during the 22 years of our partnership.

We followed the noise of children’s voices around the old house to where the “living room” had been enlarged and we saw happy children running up the steps to be part of the Saturday morning Bible classes.  The adults were happy to see them and welcomed each one warmly.  They begin with worship together in the old living room and then divide into classes according to their age.  After worship the children quickly and noisily moved out to line up outside a different building for their classes.

I took a closer look at the condition of the old living room where so many had defied the authorities to gather for Christian worship for so many years.  The walls had crumbled in one corner of the room.  The roof leaked and was open to the sky in another place.  Yet in this place the people had gathered, the word had been preached, the sacraments celebrated, faith had been nurtured and lives had been changed.  All because God had “set before them an open door, which no one [not even the militant communist authorities] were able to shut.”

Through the lively children’s Bible school in this old living room, lives are still being touched and formed by the love of Jesus Christ, even as the roof lets in the sunlight and the walls now provide additional unplanned “ventilation”.  Not even the many needs for repair could dampen the spirit that is still felt in the place.  Jesus said that “God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”   By every indication that is exactly what happened here, and what is still happening here.  And by the way the door is still open.