Anglo-Catholic Anxieties in Evangelical Africa

Lent is quickly approaching, and my stomach is tied in knots over Ugandas lack of traditional church practices.  This upcoming Wednesday, as I am sure many of you know, is Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is a special day in the church’s liturgical calendar.  Ash Wednesday is the day that kicks off the period of Lent, and traditionally Christians would receive the imposition of ashes, from last years Palm Sunday, to remind us that we are dust and to dust we shall return.  Lent is a period of forty days during the church year that has traditionally been a time set apart for penance, where Christians reflect on the severity of personal sin, but also to ponder the glory of Christ’s sacrifice and his role in our lives.  This period closely models Christ’s exile into the desert, directly following his baptism, where he prays, fasts, and is tempted by Satan but also the forty days that follows his resurrection before the time of his ascension.  This period also reflects the forty days and forty nights of Noah’s flood, the forty days which Moses repeatedly spends on Mount Sinai, and the ancient Jewish exile from Egypt for forty years before being brought into the promise land.  Lent is a time where baptisms, weddings, alleluias, and sanctus bells are removed from the liturgy.  The standard of Christ, his cross, is also shrouded for the duration of Lent; till their triumphant return in Easter.  In our daily lives we are devotionally requested to refrain from excessive celebrations.  I believe that these practices, like so many other liturgical practices, really adds to my sense of worship.  I believe that as Christ’s bride the church is called to be set apart from the profanity of daily life.  So therefore, the practices and traditions of the church are meant to be wholly different than what this world asks of us.  We are called to be in this world but not of it.  So, here is my anxiety.  The Anglican church of Uganda is heavily influenced by the protestant evangelical church.  By “evangelical” I mean a low appreciation for the sacraments and high emphasis on preaching.  This is an important part of Christian ministry, don’t get me wrong, but I feel that this style of worship loses the sense of sanctity in Christ’s institution and the blessings which he graciously has bestowed to us through the Church.  This is probably my own fault, but when I engage in overly charismatic praise and worship I tend to lose the sight of the seriousness of what I am doing.  It makes me feel like church practice is becoming too commonplace and too consumer friendly.  The church should not be something that lures people in with flashy modern public appeal only to have them surprised by the fact that they are in church.  Church is not supposed to be a country club.  But I digress, my anxiety is that I that all the way out here, where I am at, they won’t be practicing any of this.  This is what my heart longs for in worship.  During my trip, so far, I have been faced with the importance of embracing the other ways God conveys his saving grace.  I have read, absorbed, and studied more scripture then I ever have, as of yet, in my life and I have tried to practice much stricter prayer devotions.  Now, I ask you dear readers to keep me in your prayers, for my discernment, for my anxieties, for peace, for patience, and for a fuller sense of appreciation.  May the Lord of wonders, the God of our forefathers, and the wholly same God who sacrificed all of himself us, be with us and strengthen us as we enter into this important time of prayer, fasting, penance, and self-reflection, known as Lent.  To the glory of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. + Amen

Oh, the spies.

Greetings from Africa…

My time is going smoothly here in Uganda, Africa, and I am gaining plenty of experiential knowledge. However, today I do not wish to talk about all my exciting and interesting cultural exchanges but instead I wish to discuss the seating accommodations in all of Uganda. John Bowers informed me shortly after my arrival of the different ways in which Ugandans can find seating bliss and how their rumps have the patience of Saints. John painted me a picture of his experience one day while he was at the Diocesan Office in Kasese. He delicately described two four by sixes sunk in the dirt with a two by four nailed across. This gorgeous fresco that John assembled for me was also accompanied by a group of men that could sit for hours with out fidgeting or having to readjust. Whereas John, who was there equally as long, reportedly could only sit for about ten minutes at a time before having to readjust or stand up. Since the day I arrived I found that in even in the airport the seats were firm, shallow, and hard. While still in Kampala we stayed at a hostile called the Red Chili Hideaway and the only seats that they had were some whicker chaise with thin red foamy discs for cushions and absolutely no back support. Flash forward to our home in Kagando we have a dining room set with hard wood chairs and a couch with the same flimsy foam found universally across the country of Uganda. All of the churches I have gone to have been very beautiful in their simplicity, but unfortunately their simplicity transcends to the choice and design of pews. My derriere has been screaming for rest considering that sermons here are emphatically and faithfully prolonged. I have been working with the local Archdeacon, Archdeacon Nelson, and his home is no exception to the rule. Archdeacon Nelson does however have something that most closely resembles an American couch except that the seat is deeply inclined and the back has no lumbar support. So when you lean back you are almost thrown into an inadvertent sit up / crunch. The only real way to sit in this couch is to sit on the very edge for fear of being permanently bent into a pretzel. Here is an obscure reference that some of you might not get but still it is one that has consumed my thoughts. In an episode of Family Guy Peter is dealing with discovering that his genealogy leads back to an African American slave ancestor. For the entirety of the episode Peter is trying to come to grips with his new found identity. For those who don’t know the character of Peter. Peter is prone to being exceedingly dramatic and therefore in this episode constantly makes everyday situations into more of a racial issue then necessary. In one of the concluding conflict resolution scenes Peter goes to the bathroom and comes face to face with an apparition of his black ancestor Nate Griffin in the bathroom mirror. To which Nate gives Peter the advice that he needs to hear so that his problems maybe resolved. After this Peter asks Nate what is Heaven like and Nate responds “Oh it’s just fine, but there is a shortage of chairs.” It is the sort of comment that just makes you say uhh OK? Now for some reason that silly scene has been caught in my head as I have contemplated this whole time I have been compiling this blog. I pray that all of you are doing well and please know that no matter how much I complain I really am enjoying myself and learning so much. The face of God is made very clear by the faith that these amazing people share. Thanks for reading.

God bless,

Evan +

Greetings from Africa

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My trip to Africa has been quite an exhilarating experience so far.  My flight into Entebbe arrived at 9 o’clock at night to the back drop of seemingly desolate country.  From my seat on the plane I could only see a few clusters of dull orange light.  The morning presented me with quite a drastic difference to my assumed suspicion that Uganda Africa is a desolate country.  Conversely Uganda is a beautiful and vibrant country full of wonderfully cheerful and welcoming people.  To include the Bowers.  John and Katherine were not informed of a change in my travel plans.  So when I arrived into Entebbe I was not met by anyone that I thought I was supposed to meet.  That is alright though.  I was able to chat with a few cab drivers and expose how vulnerable I really was.  I had no idea where I was going or how I was supposed to get there.  After a while of waiting I finally spoke to some wonderfully helpful women at the information desk in the airport and they helped to coordinate  my meeting up with the Bowers.  I can only believe that God’s hand was upon me as He led me safely to meet up with the Bowers in the light of all my ignorance.  For the next four days the Bowers and I spent time in the extraordinarily busy capital city of Kampala.  The Bowers needed time recharge their Western batteries.  I did not mind because it was a nice slow intro to the Ugandan culture.  Kampala is a veritable panoply of peoples, cultures, nationalities, and religions.  The astounding thing that struck me is the overwhelming effort people go to to express their faith.  People wear traditional cultural and religious clothing and they display their faith in so many other expressive ways.  At the top of the windshields of each taxi bus the drivers express their own faithful remarks.  Some praise Allah and others proclaim “God is my rock” still others say “Try Jesus.”  Kampala was fun but it was also draining on all of the senses.  Maybe that’s just because I was battling jet lag, but I am sure that it was also due to the fact that Kampala is busy and cacophonous and stinky and dirty.  Once we left Kampala on Friday morning we took a Kagando Hospital vehicle back to Kagando.  The ride was a little cramped but being cramped is a fine price to pay when the travel expense is free.  The sights on our trip through the country side was a bit of reparations for the travel stress.  I was as an eager child, constantly bugging the sleepy Bowers just to point out rolling hills and beautiful mountains which they have already been used to.  We arrived into Kagando on Friday night and I was able to set up my room a little.  Saturday was a calm day of exploring the area surrounding Kagando.  I do not think that I can emphasize enough how much I love the majesty of mountainous landscapes.  Church was delightfully relaxed and contemporary on Sunday.  Fr. Gideon is the parish priest at Kagando and he had John introduce me very quickly.  As of this morning John and I went to speak with Archdeacon Nelson about the duties which I will be undertaking.  It is all really very exciting but also overwhelming.  I appreciate the way Ugandan people are peacefully ready to wait and ready to listen intently.  I appreciate this because my speech has been considerably frustrating for me.  To those of you who do not know I have a stutter.  Tomorrow I will be going with Archdeacon Nelson to begin much of my work.  If I may request I could really use prayer for both of these issues; my speech and beginning work.  Thank you for reading.  

May the grace of God and His peace that surpasses all understanding be with you now and always.