Minister’s
Letter
July/August
2010
Oberammergau 2010 is behind us now. It was a truly enriching and memorable
experience for Hilary and I. The
whole Oberammergau community focus appears to be on the ten yearly production
of the Passion Play with the villagers and communities close by providing
overnight accommodation for thousands of visitors from all over the world. In our case we had our two nights’
stay in nearby Unterammergau, guests of a young couple, owners of a restored
early nineteenth century traditional house.
To get into part, the men of Oberammergau,
including the shopkeepers and roadmen, grow beards specially for the Play. Seen busy at work in the morning, they
are on stage for the afternoon and evening’s unfolding of Christ’s
Passion. The 48 voice chorus, the
hundreds on stage for the crowd scenes, a full orchestra, with 4,500 people in
the audience, all add to the sense of occasion and God’s imminence. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is
heralded by children and an exultant crowd coming on stage bearing palm
branches. One hears oneself say
within “Here comes Jesus!”
It is a first emotional highpoint.
In one’s hand is the English translation of the Passion story
being retold in German by the cast on stage. The eye flicks quickly from stage
to textbook in hand and back to stage again. On stage there are amazing
tableaux of scenes from the Old Testament, as it were underlining the truth
that the New (Testament) is in the Old concealed as the Old is in the New
revealed.
The crucifixion scene is powerful. For me the scene most moving was a
darkened Gethsemane where an angel ministers to Jesus, bereft of other helpers
and human comfort. God the Father
thus ministers to His Son’s distress. “Bear the sickness of
humanity! Take on the pain! Allow
yourself to be pierced by their crimes and crushed by their sins. Heal them through your wounds! For the sake of Israel, my chosen one, I
have called you by name. In you I
will show my glory. I have placed
my Spirit on you, to liberate all of those from their prisons who are sitting
in darkness. I make you into the
light for the nations, so that my saving grace will reach to the ends of the
earth.”
Following the crucifixion, the Passion Play
moves to final conclusion with the Resurrection, or as a pupil at Kirkcudbright
Primary School put it at Assembly in modern idiom the other Friday, echoing the
Dr Who play script, regeneration.
How would you begin to portray on stage the Resurrection?
Well, at the end of the Oberammergau Passion
Play, an angel bearing a burning torch is seen to precede Jesus out of the
emptied tomb. As the disciples in
turn become witnesses to the Risen Christ, the torch borne by each receives
borrowed flame from the angel’s.
There is burgeoning of light and the company of the apostles, light
bearing, are seen to exit stage rear in procession, to bear witness to Christ
crucified and resurrected to a dark and needy world. For its part, the audience, quietened in
these closing moments, breaks out into spontaneous applause. There is no curtain call. And so the discipleship of our time
itself makes its exit, with many, like us, having received anew, the borrowed
light of Christ’s Person and Spirit within, that we might ourselves give
witness to Christ to those sent our way today.
Oberammergau behind us, Kenya is before
us! This time, Jean and I set off
early next month to sub-Saharan Africa in the company of Ann Morgan and Lynda
Dalziel, Head Teacher of Kirkcudbright Primary School. No long Summer evenings
for us, though! Being on the
Equator, the Kenyan day is the same throughout the year, twelve hours daylight
and twelve hours darkness. It is seven years since Roan and I flew back after
memorable times spent in that beautiful land. The main purpose of the visit this time
is to head north-east from Nairobi to Tseikuru, in Kenya ’s Eastern
Province.
There we will meet with Pastor Timothy and
church and community leaders. We
will view the land acquired by Timothy’s congregation last year and
fenced in, which in May yielded a good harvest of cowpeas, green grams and
maize for members of the congregation.
Hopefully, we will see links forged between Kakoongo Primary School and
Kirkcudbright Primary School. There
will be opportunity for us to gauge first hand local needs. In and around Nairobi, through the
Church of Scotland’s partner Church, the Presbyterian Church of East
Africa, we will visit the slums of Kibera, a second visit for me, and take in
PCEA HIV/AIDS Project work there which the Church of Scotland HIV/AIDS Project,
on which I serve, is supporting over the next three years. We will also visit the PCEA Hospital at
Kikuyu, formerly Thogoto Hospital, part of a century old Presbyterian mission
station complex that includes the "Church of the Torch", and now also
the PCEA University campus. Our
schedule includes three days on the Masai Mara to view the wildlife of the Rift
Valley, in particular, hopefully, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, lion, rhinoceros
and zebra and perhaps hippopotamus.
Our time away concludes with a two-day stay in the rural coffee and tea
producing area around Gatundu, as guests of Rev Lawrence and Anastacia Mbagara,
who visited us a number of years ago, on which occasion Lawrence preached.
On the two Sundays I am in Kenya, it will be
the case of a “busman’s holiday”, however, as I am required
to preach both to Pastor Timothy’s Zion Global Ministries congregation in
Tseikuru and to Rev Lawrence’s PCEA congregation at Kibiru. During the Summer of 2003, you may
recall that our congregation sent a gift of money to PCEA Kibiru congregation
to purchase floor covering for the newly built church.
Here at home our own Christian
community’s witness will continue undiminished in our town amid Summer
Festivities and among the visitors who find their way to our fellowship. Sunday
School coinciding with our 9.30a.m. Service and The Ark on Tuesdays at 3.45p.m.
continue in the Church Hall throughout the Summer. We will again host the Kirkin’ of
the Cornet on 18 July, with Mhairi leading the Service. The Church will be a venue for the
Kirkcudbright Arts Trail between 30 July and 1 August with the Summer
Festivities Outdoor Service in Harbour Square will be held on 8 August at
6p.m. The Summer Holiday Club for
Primary School aged children has a new venue this year – Kirkcudbright
Primary School and will run all week, from Monday 16 August, in the mornings
from 10.30a.m. – 12 noon.
Remember in your prayers all those involved in
the cutting edge of Kingdom witness here and give prayerful thought to how the
Lord would seek to involve you in Kirkcudbright as He involves his people in
Oberammergau and in Kenya and throughout the world during this Summer of His
giving.
Your Minister and friend.