Sunday, Oct 2

Our long-awaited Liberia trip report is scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 2, in the sanctuary of the Greater Boston Vineyard at 1:15 p.m. Here’s hoping another hurricane doesn’t postpone us into December!

African Sons

I just wrote this blog entry this morning in preparation for our Sunday Liberia trip report which will take place at 1:15 in the sanctuary of the Greater Boston Vineyard. Due to the uncertainty with Hurricane Irene, I will repost confirmation about that meeting on Sunday morning. This blog was written for my musical project, Prodigal God, and will post in the coming weeks at www.prodigal-god.com

“In my father’s house, there are no slaves, only servants and sons…”

The story version of Prodigal God traveled to Liberia with my 17-year-old son and me this summer. One of the most memorable sounds from our trip was the raised voices of more than 50 young men who took part in the Joseph project, a 3-day retreat at the ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) campus. During the day we studied the life of Joseph, another bible story with a lot of brotherly animosity, and the guys played football (soccer, that is, if you’re North American), basketball, and volleyball. In the evening, we gathered together to sing and to listen to the story and songs about two brothers and one wastefully extravagant father.

I told the story live – slowing down my speech and adjusting my vocabulary to help account for the language barrier. (English is the primary language spoken in Liberia, but my American English, especially as represented in the story script, is much broader and more convoluted than that of the average uneducated young Liberian man.) I projected the lyrics for the songs, hoping it would help the guys follow the story better.

I wish I could convey to you the magic of the moment when I first detected, two or three songs in, the voices of my newfound Liberian brothers singing along in the dark night. Maybe not so surprising when you consider Brian’s gift, to create singable songs for gathered communities of faith throughout the world. What made this moment remarkable is that these guys were hearing these songs for the very first time. And they were singing along as if they knew them!

Lest you misunderstand my wonder – I’m not describing how awesome these songs are, I’m describing how responsive and open-hearted these young men are, most of whom haven’t yet finished high school though well into their 20’s. Civil war in Liberia raged for more than a decade before its dramatic end in 2003 when Liberia’s criminal president, Charles Taylor, was exiled. Throughout that period young boys were recruited and even kidnapped, and armed with guns and drugs. These young combatants wreaked havoc on their homeland, “killing their fathers and raping their mothers”, according to some reports. Those boy soldiers were the peers of these young men at the retreat, some of whom were “ex-combatants” themselves.

Here’s what brings tears to my eyes as I write this: For all the brutality and evil unleashed in that country, which is now considered the 3rd poorest in the world, fragile hope remains. The sound of the young men’s voices had more than a trace of innocence and awe. These guys chose to hang out with us for a few days to consider how they, like Joseph, might have some role to play in saving the lives of their families and fellow countrymen in a time of peril. Liberia is rebuilding and here are some of her laborers.

On our last day together, we interviewed a couple of the young men about their experiences with us. One young man described how much anger he felt toward the Younger Son in our story. At one level, this is not a surprising reaction to the Younger Son’s choice to squander his great inheritance. But this young Liberian man was not playing the morally superior Elder Brother in his anger. What he said is, if I had a father like that, I would never do such a thing. He said this because he doesn’t have a father. He has no one in his family with enough resource to help him finish school. He has no father waiting for him should he wander far afield. He has no father holding out hope against hope that the wrongs will be made right, and that he’ll find himself home at last one day on this earth.

There is a character in Prodigal God whom you have not met. He doesn’t appear on the recording. He is not mentioned in the story version. But he is in the stage script and will have a memorable role in the film. We’ve called him the Beggar Boy, and he represents a third type of lost son. We know the first two sons well – the one who loses himself in a distant land and the one who gets lost “in the house”, as it were – because their story, for most of us, is our own.

The third son is also lost. The third son is the one without a father. My Liberian friends remind me that these third sons are also full members of the household with a great inheritance and all the benefits. How painful to live in a world in which their great lostness persists without remedy.

For some of you who are reading this, I’m aware this is your story. Brian and I know you’re there. You’re the reason we wrote this play in the first place.

JOSEPH RETREAT FINALE

Our final sessions on Saturday brought wide eyes, profound insights, and heartfelt farewells.

Perhaps you’ve noticed, but sandwiched into the middle of the Joseph narrative is a bizarre chapter about Judah and Tamar.  It’s one of those chapters in the bible about which it is easy to say, I’m not sure why this is in here and I wish it wasn’t.  We had focused earlier on Judah’s role in the selling of Joseph into slavery, and discovered that the event which precedes Joseph’s revelation of his identity to his brothers involves Judah as well.  Perhaps Judah’s reversal is what Joseph has been looking for.

In the first episode, Judah seems to be the ringleader to get rid of Joseph.  In the later episode, Judah is still the leader, but we find a very different Judah.  While early on in the story Judah seems not to care about Joseph’s well-being or his father’s great grief at the loss of Joseph, in the later episode, he is very tuned in.  He doesn’t want to cause his father great pain again.  And he doesn’t want to abandon little brother Benjamin to an unknown fate.  He offers himself as Joseph’s slave, and it is this offer which seems to push Joseph to drop his charade and reveal his identity. 

This raises an obvious question, how did Judah undergo such a night and day transformation?

Maybe the Tamar episode would tell us something.  (I had a hunch that it would, but I was only a few steps ahead of the guys, so I discovered things along the way that I hadn’t expected.)  In a nutshell, Judah marries and has three sons in the intervening 22 years between the selling of Joseph and the brothers’ second trip to Egypt.  Judah’s first son marries Tamar, but he dies before they have a child.  So, as is the custom, the second son marries Tamar to fulfill his brother’s duty.  But Judah’s second son is not happy about such an arrangement and develops an unusual strategy to avoid fathering his brother’s children.  (I won’t say more.  Read it yourself.)  Because of his actions, God strikes him dead. 

In response, Judah promises Tamar that when the third son comes of age, he will become her husband and carry on their family’s obligation to provide for her.  Well, Judah renegs because he’s afraid the third son will die too, and then Judah himself will be without an heir.  So he leaves Tamar to go back to her own family.  Meanwhile, Judah’s wife dies, and Tamar does something bizarre.  She poses as a prostitute and places herself in Judah’s path.  Judah approaches, sleeps with and impregnates her.  (Yes, it just gets weirder and weirder.)  She concocts a scheme to acquire from him his seal and his walking stick.  She later hands these items back to him after it is discovered that she is pregnant and Judah pronounces her fate:  to be burned alive for her sin.  Masterfully, she tells him that the seal and walking stick belong to the father of her child, and Judah is immediately cut to the heart and owns his bad.

The plot point which is undeniable is that Judah is a different person after the Tamar episode than he was before.  Based on this story, the challenge I posed to the men is that the ultimate test of your character and integrity may not be how you prevail in the world of men but how you treat the women in your life and whether or not you honor your commitments to them.  Whether you view women as extensions of your own life, to feed, clothe, comfort, and pleasure you, or as people in their own right with their own dreams and gifts.  This may be the ultimate test of your manhood.  In a country where 3 out of 4 women is a victim of rape, this challenge brought a rousing and earnest Q&A session.  Nobody dozed off in that session.

Another highlight of the final session was when I asked the men to compare and contrast the Joseph story with the parable of the prodigal son, which we had been listening to in musical form over three days.  Based on their educational level, you wouldn’t think these guys would be able to do such astute literary analysis as they did.  In addition, the more courageous part is that they made consequential personal connections to the stories as well.  Many comments were made about how relevant this story seemed to their situation and their country.

After a prayer of blessing over each guy in small groups (using Jacob’s prayer over Joseph as a model), we all made our way to the beach for a group photo and unexpectedly emotional goodbyes.  I was reminded of the poignant Reepicheep moment in the latest Narnia film – we were returning to our world and they were returning to theirs.  None of us was in a hurry to leave that beach.

Meet Alfreda

Alfreda is a single mom who participated in the CrossCurrent program run here by Peter and Stephanie Choo three years ago.  She described to me the awkwardness of being the only single person in that gathering, but at the same time how powerful it was for her to identify herself, her needs, and her pains after carrying them alone for her whole life.  She had learned to keep it to herself and not say anything, which led her to dream about getting even one day with those who wounded her.  She describes herself as having been “broken and bitter”.

On our first Friday in Monrovia, Alfreda shared as part of our healing conference for young women how God, over the past six months, has led her to forgive a key figure in her life, and how much joy she has experienced since then.  She spoke of the difficult process of forgiving her wounder, and the many, many choices she’s had to make since then to hold that ground. 

When she says how remarkable it is that she is smiling again, you wouldn’t believe it.  Her smile is so genuine and infectious, it is hard to imagine that this beaming woman was so fixated on revenge such a short time ago.

Alfreda is one of Rebuild Africa’s scholarship recipients, and she is attending the local Baptist seminary in order to get a Bachelor’s degree.  When I asked her what her aspirations for ministry are, she said it is to bring inner healing to young women like herself.  She wants to do what it is that she’s seen us do here this week.  That was quite a delightful surprise to hear! 

In interviewing her for the film, we learned about how terrifying it was to live in Monrovia during the civil war.  She recounted the story of her younger sister who died at 16 years of age because her family was hiding in the bush.  Her sister fell ill (sounds like pneumonia) but they were unable to go into town for medical care because there were “boys with guns” in the town. 

When asked what Liberia most needs, she spoke compellingly about how employment and electricity are not going to touch the deep wounds of the heart.  She believes the only hope for her nation is the healing that the gospel of Jesus offers people.  Alfreda was speaking pragmatically, she was not spiritualizing.  “The wound is too big for us to fix without God,” she says.

Alfreda is one of the firstfruits of the Vineyard’s partnership with Rebuild Africa, and it is very possible that she will be one of the pioneers of depth healing ministry in Liberia.  Please pray for the Lord to deepen His good work in her, to lead her to the next steps of training and preparation, and to provide resources for her to be able to avail herself to those opportunities.

We’re home

After 21 hours in planes and airports.  All uneventful, praise God, except for the fact that we traveled 6000 miles in a chair in the sky.

Thanks for seeing us through.  All told it was a remarkably fruitful and multidimensional trip.  Unlike any 2 weeks I’ve spent in my life.  Much to praise God for:  We all stayed healthy the whole time.  The whole team significantly contributed, and each person was stretched and gratified to be so lovingly received by the Liberian people.  

There is much to digest and process.  To sum it up, we discovered the many ways that Liberia is poised for a follow-up miracle from God.  Civil war is over, but there’s much to be done to really see that nation turned around.  This is a pivotal year with President Sirleaf up for reelection.  It’s a historic time to be tuned into their story and praying for God’s intervention.

More reports to follow.

Joseph Retreat, Final Morning

A funny culture clash story: Yesterday morning on the way to the radio station, I ran into a few small children who came up to me to say hello, as all children are wont to do here. Two little boys, ages 4 & 5 I would guess, said something to me that sounded like “You’re my father”. Being the metaphoric and hyperbolic thinker that I am, I tried to make sense of this statement. It seemed jarring and confusing and sweet. There was a little girl with these boys, probably about 8 years old. She translated for her brother. “He’s saying he wants five dollars.” I almost laughed out loud at my own naïve and earnest misunderstanding!

What began as a funny story hit home last night as a few of the guys wanted to share their stories with me after the session. 4 out of 5 have no father. The one who did have a father described his father as very old. (I would guess that would be around 65 or 70.) This one also said that, by this same father, he had little siblings of less than 5 years. (Bill corroborated that this is not at all unusual here in Liberia.)

To a one, these young men were saying the same thing in essence that I misheard earlier in the day: Would you be my father by giving me some money? To clarify, they weren’t begging me for money nor literally saying adopt me. But each faced the same challenge: they want to finish high school and go on to college but they can’t afford tuition. Their parents are unable to support them either due to poverty or due to the fact that they have no parents. They fully embrace all that we’ve been talking about here – to become like Joseph, to work hard, to make something of yourself, to pursue a big dream and prevail against difficult circumstances. They are hindered by lack of resource.

Of course, there’s nuance… Perhaps like Joseph, these guys might be a little full of themselves, a little prone to grandiosity, and a little unaware of their own personal limitations. Perhaps it’s easy for them to think, as American young men often do, if I only had a patron/agent/scholarship/big break then the world would be my oyster. Perhaps there’s a little self-pity in the mix. But who can blame them for this?

More than one guy said, I don’t go to church because I can’t afford shoes. As a Vineyard pastor, this of course is a non-sequitir. I don’t think it encouraged them much to know that they could come to my church dressed as they are. (Bill gave context for this later in the night – there is pressure in the church to put on your best for God, and at the same time, some use the excuse of not having proper clothes as a justification for not coming to church. His church, for example, has done clothing drives to help such folks and they found that some people will still not come even if that barrier is removed. I told him I want to go back on the radio and say, “Pastors, let people come to your church dressed as they are!”)

More heavy stillness. Two nights of half awake, half asleep dreams in which I’m trying to fix what seems unfixable. 

Here are some of the names as promised: Jeremiah Kollie Massaquoi, Jonathan B. Macevlay (sp?), Kelvin A. Chea, Jr., Samuel Mulbah, Laueto Paywala, George Sirleaf, Jr., Michael Victor Supreme Johnson II, Romeo, Lawrence Clarke Lilse, Rufus Vankpanah, Emmanuel Goeh, Abel S. Payne, Abraham Kamara, Amos K. Sheriff, Joshua A. Jarthanah (sp?), Matthew Y. Worlobah, Bill Massaquoi (Bill’s nephew who led one of the small groups), Joe P. Boeyah, Joseph Lymas, Jonathan Salkie, Gabriel Kpoto, Charlton Wisner, Prince W. Flowers, Jr., Thomas Sheriff, Josephus S. Dennis, Francis K. Maxwell II, Aaron Dennis, L. Christopher Teah, David Gbanah

Updates

President Sirleaf said no.  They’ll meet with her chief of staff instead.  (Pretty good!)

Former General Butt Naked said yes.  He was a major warlord during the civil war who had a dramatic Road to Damascus type of conversion.  He is now a pastor and evangelist and he has a ministry to ex-combatants.  He’s a controversial figure because he has confessed to committing horrendous atrocities, and some feel that he should not be allowed to minister as he does.  The name comes from his former practice of fighting in the nude.  Adam met with him today, and he agreed to an interview tomorrow.

Radio interview today.  Pastor and Choir Director Joshua Sweegaye and I talked about worship for an hour and took a few phone calls.  Fun to connect with him.  If we ever came back to do a city-wide worship event (Anthony’s idea), Joshua is on board to help pull it together.