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By Kathy L. Gilbert*
1:00 P.M. EST April 19, 2010 | KAMINA, Democratic Republic of Congo
(UMNS)
Katuba United Methodist Church has cracked concrete floors, wooden
benches that rock on uneven legs and no air circulation.
There is no organ or piano. Instead, there are logs worn smooth
with use into drums played by women and men with metal mallets.
One man with tree branches plays “cymbals” on pieces of metal
while using his feet to play a drum.
The offering plates are plastic baskets. The red one is for tithes,
the green and blue ones are for gifts because God provided during the
week. Farmers offer the fruits of their labor--cassava roots, peanuts
and green plantains.
The one thing Katuba doesn’t lack is joy.
On this Sunday, April 18, the church welcomed the first bishop that
had ever preached in their pulpit. Bishop Earl Bledsoe of the North
Texas Annual (regional) Conference was greeted with loud applause and
cries of celebration from the packed sanctuary.
Bledsoe, along with two other U.S. bishops and the top executive
from United Methodist Communications, preached in local churches in
Kamina, Congo, a rural city of 450,000 about 300 kilometers from
Lubumbashi. Bledsoe, Bishop James Dorff of the Southwest Texas Annual
(regional) Conference and Bishop Thomas Bickerton of Western
Pennsylvania, along with the Rev. Larry Hollon, were in the Congo as
part of the launch of The United Methodist Church’s Imagine No Malaria
campaign. The Congo is one of the countries in Africa where
insecticide-treated mosquito nets are being distributed.
Love of neighbor
Bledsoe preached on Luke 10:25-37, the parable of the Good
Samaritan.
United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton (right) is welcomed as part of a
delegation dedicated to helping to end malaria.
View in Photo Gallery
Picking a man from the front pew, Bledsoe
demonstrated how the stranger was beaten and left on the side of the
road.
“There was a bishop who saw the man and crossed on the other side of
the road,” Bledsoe said. “There was a lay leader who also saw the man
and did not help him.”
Bledsoe said that in his travels around the world he has seen people
with many different standards of living.
“There are those who are exploited, those who take without giving. I
have known people who live their lives by the motto ‘What’s mine is
mine and I aim to keep it.’ Others say, ‘What’s yours is mine and I
will work until I get it.’”
Jesus gave us a new definition of neighbor, he said.
“Sometimes we can live our lives by passing people on the side of
the road. But the ultimate goal of a Christian is to make sure that we
not only live our own lives but help others to live. That is what it
means to be that Good Samaritan.”
Sharing joy in Christ
Reflecting on several days in the Congo, Bledsoe said, “I think by
me coming and being in the midst of the people and actually seeing the
need that this will help bridge the gap. To say that this is legitimate
and we can make a difference in the lives of people.”
United Methodist Bishop Earl Bledsoe (center) preaches on the parable of
the Good Samaritan with the help of the Rev. Ihunga Mbayo (right), who
is playing the man on the road to Jericho.
View in Photo Gallery
Though they have little, the people love
the Lord and the church, he said.
“They are serious about their praise and their worship. … They have
welcomed us into their homes, talked with us, shared with us the joy of
the Lord. They don’t have very much. They are making do with what they
have so I think we just need to make sure we help them.”
Bickerton, who preached at Kamina Centre United Methodist Church,
said, “We don’t have to bring them joy, they already have it. … One of
the most enviable things about Africans is that they have absolutely
nothing materially, but they have absolutely everything spiritually.”
There is much to be learned from their faith.
“Our materialism has sucked the life out of us in the U.S.,” he
said. “And we have got to find renewed perspective about what an
African can teach us about faith. It is not all about what we give
them.”
*Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: Kathy Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470
or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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