Saturday, July 25, Feast of St. James the Apostle. Iavombony, outside Antananarivo.
I preached my second sermon at this morning's 6:30 am Komoniona Masina (Koo-moo-nee-oona Mah-see-na). "Today is the feast of St. Matthew, the first martyr of the Church," I began, and then the puzzled look on my translator's face and murmurs from the congregation alerted me to the fact that I had said St. Matthew rather than St. James! It was one of those moments that has the effect of connecting preacher and congregation, so in the event it was A Good Thing!
The Gospel for St. James ends with Jesus' words, "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve," and one of the points I made in conclusion was that we as Christians always need to remember our call to serve. I thought that was a fairly mild exhortation, but Todd later commented that serving is so much a cultural given in Malagasy society and the Malagasy Church that another emphasis might have been more helpful. It was another reminder how difficult it is to communicate across significant cultural divides. One of the lay members of the Synod, a college professor, told me that he thought I was a better teacher than preacher, but also said that he appreciated my sermon. I thanked him, and explained that I usually include some teaching in my sermons because the only Christian education most adults get is through preaching, and that especially in this context, addressing a Christian community whose circumstances are so different from mine, that teaching seemed safer than preaching.
Todd had arranged another excursion for Ingrid and me while the Synod was meeting, so Bishop Jaoni's driver, Fred, took us to St. Paul's Theological College in the village of Ambatoharanana, about fifteen minutes from Iavombony. Sam Beeton met us, and we climbed the stairs to the upstairs living room. We were soon joined by his wife, Violette Rahimalala (the -malala part of her name means "beloved"). She made us delicious cups of coffee as I got out my brown leather notebook and pen.
Sam was attracted to mission work, and in 2002 he decided to contact the USPG, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in his native England: "These are my gifts; how can you use me?" They needed him at St. Paul's, to teach theology, English, history, New Testament Greek, and Hebrew. He trained for 4 months at the College of the Ascension in Birmingham, and then for 3 months at Transfiguration College in South Africa, before coming to Madagascar. In addition to English Sam speaks French, which helped, but he immediately set about learning Malagasy. You can see a picture of Sam in this flier from USPG.
In addition to the work of training clergy for the Anglican Church, St. Paul's Theological College also operates a neighborhood medical clinic.
As we were talking, Kathy Lucking came into the room, and Sam introduced us. Two summers ago, in 2007, Kathy had been invited by Mary Sherwood to work at the Akany Famonjena Orphanage in Antananarivo. Inspired by her experience there, Kathy decided to put her skills as a school teacher to work and launched The Madagascar School Project. Her school is just a short walk from St. Paul's, on the same tract of land owned by the Diocese of Antananarivo. Kathy now divides her time between Madagascar and her native Canada, alternating every six months. She was on her way to the Synod, hoping to have a chance to talk with Bishop Jaona about the Project.
After Kathy left, Sam gave us a tour of the area, including the school. One our way to the school site we dropped by the building where four American students are living. Michael Buckwald, Mary Yanik, Sean Robinson, and Kate Doyle are here as part of the One Laptop Per Child Corps, sponsored by George Washington University and the University of Maryland. The students were in the midst of dealing with a family of rats who are their co-tenants, but they paused to welcome us. We had a delightful conversation with them about their efforts to provide laptops and training for Kathy's Project. They were frustrated by the government bureaucracy which was holding the school's laptops pending the resolution of import issues.
After we left them we walked over to the Madagascar School Project site. Two schoolhouses are under construction, in addition to the two-room schoolhouse already being used. A two-story building contains an office and kitchen on the first floor, and Kathy's apartment on the second floor. There is also a garden, where the school hopes to raise its own vegetables for the children's meals.
On the way back to the College Sam also pointed out the storage barn for rice that had been constructed when Todd served as the College's interim president. This allows the College to buy rice when it is less expensive.
As we waited to be picked up for the drive back to the Training Center, Sam let me use his dial-up, French keyboarded, computer to make a rare "live from Madagascar" post.
Ingrid and I were surprised and happy when Dr. Zoe appeared to drive us back. As soon as we arrived Todd greeted us with the great news that the Synod had finally, and overwhelmingly, voted to create the new Diocese of Toliara!
By mid-afternoon the Synod had adjourned until tomorrow's service at the Cathedral in Antananarivo. We gathered our luggage and Todd drove us to his School for Lay Training in Tana, where the three of us would spend the next three nights.
The title for today's post is taken from St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11.
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