Different, but same like me

Some things are so different here than in the U.S. Intermittent power, clean water, lots of bugs and big snakes. Deadly snakes. Fences made from elephant grass which grows taller than most people, laundry done by hand in a bucket on the back porch in cold water. But there is also so much we have in common that it reminds me of the Church today. I see mothers playing kissy face with their babies, reaching out eagerly for children vitamins for their toddlers. I see girls having their hair braided and combed by older sisters and mothers, boys kicking a soccer ball around the field and I know this isn't different from back home. Zambians have a different culture, but their innate sense of loving their children and wanting what is best for them is universal.

So it is with the Church. Here a church service is so different than back home. Different language, different seating arrangements with the women on the right and the men on the left. Communion bread is anything from baked hard flat bread bits, to store bought crackers. Communion wine is usually just that,wine, diluted with water that may or may not be from a clean bore hole. Sometimes we only have one cup for the whole church. Not because of some theological interpretation but rather because that is all they have. There is always a "program " that is announced at the beginning of the service including those who will be participating in the worship. Zambians love order and announced programs for any event,even church. So would you feel at home in this Church service as you do at home? Should you? Is the intent of worship to feel at home? Is the worship meant to make us feel comfortable ? I would rather suggest that it is to see how glorious is the variety of God. How we can be different in the manner of worship and still be brothers and sisters. In this 200th anniversary of Campbell's Declaration the one thing I remember reading is the statement" Christians only, but not the only Christians". He said that the test of fellowship was belief in Jesus as God's son and our savior. That we should embrace and accept each other as Jesus accepted and embraced us. So as we worship in village churches, school classrooms, and open fields let us model the similarities not the differences. This will allow God to have what he desired most of all.....one in Jesus.

In Him we still live
Don and Laura