When I first began to think about taking a sabbatical, the words of a hymn came to my mind..."clear the chaos and the clutter, clear my eyes that I may see - all those things that really matter, be at peace and simply be". Working in the church, like working anywhere else, can begin to feel a bit like life in the fast lane - filled with many, many activities and not nearly enough time to just step back and sift through everything to discover what it is that really matters. Sometimes the best way to get perspective is to actually be immersed in a completely different world for awhile. Shortly after I moved to Regina, Candace and Helge By introduced me to Tim Wright - Tim and Helge are cousins. Tim has lived in Africa for many years, and is the director of a charity he helped to found called Sauti Moja. To find out more about the work that they do, check out their website: www.sautimoja.org. When Tim came to our church and made a presentation, I think what touched me the most was how Tim would show us pictures of individual people, he would name them, and then tell us their stories. It wasn't about "Africans" - it was about the people that Tim names as his friends - as his community. He didn't describe the "project", he described the daily life of individual people. As Tim has told me often, Sauti Moja is not some kind of "project" - it is about building relationship with the people in these remote villages that very rarely get visited by any other aid agencies. It is about learning to work in partnership with them to improve the quality of life for them and for their village. I am incredibly thankful that Tim has agreed to have me come and walk alongside him and the rest of the Sauti Moja community for a few weeks. This is not the kind of trip that has a fixed agenda, or a detailed itinerary. What Tim and I have spoken about is how this is a trip that will simply evolve - we don't know exactly what we will be doing until I get there and we see what will emerge. It is truly an adventure - and I am doing my best to prepare my heart and my mind for a new reality. Here are a few of the things that I have been doing to get myself ready...
Karen went for a walk with me to help me learn to use my brand new camera - so hopefully I will get some great photos of a very different world - thanks to Karen and her willingness to teach me!
Two very good friends from Manitoba helped to launch me on my sabbatical by spending the first weekend with me - they wanted to make sure I didn't miss preaching too much, so they let me talk and talk and talk! And we celebrated with a tea ceremony just like Daniel taught me to do - tea and good conversation! That is what is in those tiny little cups - tea.
When I do arrive in Africa, my hope is to look for those holy moments that will remind me that we do indeed live in God's world. I will look into the eyes of those I meet and trust that I will come to know more about life and about strength. And I will do my best to get pictures of camels and monkeys and giraffes, just as the cards from the children at Sunset asked me to do!
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