Our Journey

I am increasingly thankful for the praying community at Galilea United Methodist Church.  I knew this morning that the men and women at church would pray with me for the tragedy of Haiti, would pray for the families of the dead and injured aid workers, and that they would understand better than some heartbreak, devastation and miracle in the aftermath of an earthquake because of the many that have rocked Karonga in the north of Malawi in recent months.

I remember the prayers that Pastor Kaunda led just before Christmas.  The Malawi students from Malawi had just returned from Africa University in Malawi.  Marie Claire had just left to return to the United States.  And the first earthquakes had just shook Karonga.  Pastor Kaunda called Andi Ngwira forward to represent the students from Africa University and the connection between Malawi and Zimbabwe.  He called Claire Marin forward to represent the global United Methodist Church, and especially our partnership with Belmont United Methodist Church.  And he called Elvyn Nkhata to stand for the people in the north suffering after the earthquake.

representatives of global church, Malawi & Zimbabwe, and Karonga

Then Pastor Kaunda invited us all to pray aloud simultaneously for the three communities, reaching our hands out to Andi, Claire Marin and Elvyn, symbolizing our care and connection to them and to one another.  As the prayers subsided he invited me to pray for Zimbabwe, our students there and our connection; he invited Paul Ngwira to pray for the devastation in Karonga, and asked Amayi Galina, a member from Zimbabwe, to pray for global church and Belmont.

It was a beautiful melding of the spontaneous, impromptu and Pentecost prayers that I have come to love and the intentional and liturgical prayers that feed me and connect me to God and the community.

This morning I anticipated a similar expression of prayer and outpouring of concern and petition.  And rested in it once I arrived.  After the greeting, opening Psalm and hymn we all knelt at our seats and prayed aloud sending a cacophony of thanksgiving and petition to heaven, trusting God to hear each unique voice and particular offering of praise and cry for help.  Then Rev. Mhone read specific prayer requests – lack of rain and hunger in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, the continued rebuilding in Karonga, and the devastation in Haiti, including the death of UMCOR Executive, Sam Dixon, and health of Clint Rabb, in critical condition in Florida.

We prayed again in unison and then allowed our hearts and spirits to unite around the words of the three who were chosen to offer specific prayers.

There is something freeing about praying in a multi-lingual congregation.  While the majority of our service is translated from Chichewa to Enlish or vice versa, prayers are never translated.  These are words for God, words meant to convey the deepest joys and groans of the soul.  When asked to pray people default to their first language, the language that comes most easily, most naturally.  When talking to the Creator, no one wants to be slowed down by self-translation.  So in the cacophony of prayers at Galilea you can hear Chichewa, English, Timbuka, Shona and French.

When I arrived in Malawi I was intimidated by the fast and furious prayers, the prayers that arose from the depths of people’s souls, prayers that flowed so freely and beautifully.  Only now do I understand the freedom in their prayers.  They pray for God alone.  No one (well, most people) are not praying to impress, not praying for any one’s approval or for anyone’s intervention except God.  My desire for theologically sound, M. Div approved, beautiful and poetic prayers is arrogant and unnecessary.  God only wants my honest and authentic praise, thanksgiving, repentance and petition.

It took the experience of not being understood by half of my worshipping community to realize whom I’m really talking to when I pray.  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.  Living and learning… and praying!