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"The Least of These" Matthew 25
by Clancy Nixon
August 28, 2005
Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican/Episcopal)
Ashburn, Virginia
M'kama asimwe! That means "Praise the Lord" in Rotoro, the language of
Rewenzori in Uganda. I bring you greetings from Bishop Beniziri Kisembo and his wife
Lovy, on behalf of the people of the Diocese of Rewenzori. Many of you will remember
Bishop Ben and Lovy from their visit with us last October. They send you this gift of an
offering basket as a tangible reminder of their love for us. I'm delighted to report that in
Rewenzori, the name of Jesus is always on believers' lips; prayer is far more frequent
among them than us; and that the joy of the Lord manifests itself with regular broad
smiles. While I was in Uganda for one week, I laughed more than I had in the previous
month. I also preached more, danced in the Spirit more, prayed for more people, and saw
far more people come to Christ. I come home to you renewed in the Spirit, encouraged at
the Spiritual vitality of the people, and with hope restored in the Anglican prospect.
I want to teach you something I learned. When someone says, "M'kama
asimwe," your reply is "Asimwe muno," which means "Praise Him very much." So
M'kama asimwe! "Asimwe muno!"
I learned more about Bishop Ben, as well. When he was here visiting with us last
October, he seemed rather formal. In his element, he is warm, very funny, generous with
his time, a man who dreams Kingdom sized dreams, and who oversees an enormous
Diocese. My appreciation for him and Lovy have increased dramatically, and our
friendship has deepened. I also learned about his decision to become ordained. He was a
teacher at Mokono University in the 1970's, which later became Uganda Christian
University. At that time, the ruthless and half-crazy Muslim dictator Idi Amin ruled
Uganda. Amin expelled from the country all persons of Asian descent, mostly Indians.
These Indians were the entire business class and shopkeepers, and on their departure, the
economy collapsed, and is just now recovering under President Museveni. Amin killed
over 300,000 people, many of them Christian leaders, others from rival tribes.
At that time Ben had gone through part of the process toward ordination, but he
had never finished. Amin had spies posing as students at Mokono, and if a teacher
criticized Amin, that teacher could be killed. It was a crime in those days to mention the
name "Israel," even in Scripture readings. In 1977, the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda,
Janani Luwum, came to Amin personally to protest the killings. Luwum was arrested,
put on a show trial for treason, and shot dead, evidently by the hand of Amin himself.
When this happened, Ben Kisembo realized that the time had come for him to stand with
this martyr and others. Ben became ordained, as a witness of his willingness to stand for
Christ and against Amin's terror. The collar would make him a target, he knew. Unlike
many other clergy, Ben did not flee the country, but stayed throughout the terror of Amin
and the terror of Amin's successor. Bishop Ben is a man of deep integrity and courage.
This Uganda Pilgrimage was my first trip to Africa. I went along with twelve
others from five Episcopal churches in Northern Virginia who have affiliated with the
Network. My mission was twofold: first, to seek to discern ways in which our
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congregation might be involved long term to make a Kingdom difference in partnership
with the Diocese of Rewenzori; and second, in light of the Realignment of Anglicanism
in North America and the world, to explore the possibility of closer ties with the Anglican
Church there. Thanks be to God, I saw real progress in both those areas.
The Church of Uganda is huge, vibrant, deep and growing. It has eight million
baptized members, or over three times the number of souls in its care as the entire
Episcopal Church in the United States. Steve Studebaker, Pastor Phil Ashey of South
Riding Church, and I, spent most of our time in western Uganda, the Diocese of
Rewenzori, where Bishop Ben oversees 900,000 souls. The Church of Uganda was begun
by missionaries from CMS in England, and so has a conservative evangelical theology. It
has been deeply affected by the East African Revival, which started in Rwanda in the
1920's. This move of the Holy Spirit brought public confession of sins, evangelistic
fervor, and many new converts. It deeply impacted the whole culture there. At most
services of the Anglican Church of Uganda, there is a Billy Graham style altar call, and
several people come forward to commit their lives to Christ. The Pentecostal movement
has also come to Uganda. When some churches have resisted this move of God, many of
the people have left them and joined Pentecostal churches. Many other Anglican
churches have embraced charismatic renewal, which Bishop Ben and Lovy encourage. I
saw a familiar dynamic there in a single worship service which includes the singing of
older English hymns with organ accompaniment, and the singing of new African praise
choruses, complete with drums, dancing, and hand clapping. These believers show a deep
joy in their worship that I wish you could all experience. I'm happy to report that
Revisionists are not part of the Anglican Church in Uganda.
The church there ministers to the whole person, soul and body. The Church is
hugely important to the infrastructure of Uganda. In the Diocese of Rewenzori, the
Anglican Church owns and operates over 250 primary schools. It also runs the only
hospital in the district; the only eye clinic; the only AIDS center; the only training
institute for construction; and on and on. In one primary school I visited, there were 900
students, of whom 300 were orphans. Of these orphans, about half live in child headed
households. The main culprits are AIDS, malaria, broken families, and crushing poverty.
The government has instituted universal primary education as an unfunded mandate.
Classrooms which here in the US would hold 25 children, used to have 50 children there,
and now must hold 90 children.
There are so many needs in Uganda, that one might be tempted to despair. What
can one person do, or even one congregation, when faced with an ocean of need? It
reminds me of a story of a tourist who walked along a beach to discover thousands of
living starfish had been washed ashore by a freak tide. There he came upon a local man
who was busy throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one. The tourist said to
the local, "Why do you bother doing that? You'll hardly make a dent in this problem.
What difference do you expect to make?" The local picked up another starfish, threw it,
and replied, "Well, I made a difference to that one." He picked up another. "Made a
difference to that one, too." And he calmly went about continuing his labor of love.
When faced with an ocean of need, we are called to do what we can, with God's help.
That means making a difference even to one life.
That is Jesus' message in the parable of the sheep and the goats. The Lord tells us
that we are to minister food for the hungry, visit those who are sick or in prison, welcome
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the stranger, and clothe the naked. These are simple things. Anyone can do them. We're
to do them out of love, not expecting any reward. Notice how surprised the saints are
when Jesus tells them they ministered to him. When your heart has been so transformed
by the love of Jesus, you cannot stop yourself from helping others. That is evidence of a
transformed heart. When we help needy believers, we help Jesus himself. How can this
be? If you want to delight a parent's heart, then help their child. God is father to all
believers. This Scripture is a call for us to minister to "the least of these my brothers."
Matthew always means believers when he uses the word brothers. While there is an
ocean of need in the world, in Uganda I met dear believers, brothers and sisters in Christ,
who are poor and sick and hungry. There but for the mercy of God go you and I.
Phil Ashey and I have thought and prayed about how our congregations can
partner to make a strategic difference in Rewenzori. While there are many ways we can
be involved, I'd like to suggest two.
First, we can help Bishop Balya College return to its place as a training center for
pastors, lay leaders, and teachers. The college had fifty students when it was closed three
years ago because a tribal war spilled over the border from neighboring Congo. Many
refugees came in, and students at a neighboring school were killed. The war is now gone
from Rewenzori, but so are the full time teachers at Bishop Balya college. Only ten
students now remain. Phil and I think that providing for the training of pastors and
teachers, most of whom do not have a tenth grade education, is the most strategic
investment we can make in the long term future of the Diocese. Our two congregations
plan to fund the salaries of five tutors in theology, and buy some other school supplies, at
the cost of about $5,000 per congregation per year. There are so many opportunities to
help Bishop Balya College. If you are interested in that project, please let me know.
Second, we can help one person in need. I met Ruth Kasamba at an AIDS
Memorial Service. Lovy has organized a monthly support group meeting for people with
AIDS. This month, Ruth gave a testimony, and sang a beautiful song. She contracted
AIDS a few years ago, and her husband abandoned both her and their four children, two
of whom are HIV positive. They became homeless. Her brother and sister refused to
take her in, because of her AIDS. They told her, "You made your bed; now sleep in it!"
People will take her in only if she agrees to do hard labor all day for them, but she is
often sick and cannot manage it. She is articulate and intelligent, but has little education.
An Irish missionary came through recently and taught many of these women how to
make beads out of the acetate signs that come on soda bottle cases. Here are these
necklaces. I bought every one of them that Ruth had made by her own hands. Ruth and
her children need drugs for AIDS; she needs a place for her and her children to live.
Ruth's song that she sang for us was one she helped write, called "He intends victory."
It's a song about how God intends to provide for her, even cure her one day. She heard
the Lord tell her in a prophetic dream before she met me that her story would be told on a
screen, and she did not know what that meant. Will you help provide for Ruth and her
family? If you'd like to do that, please make a special offering, over and above your tithe,
to CHS, and put AIDS in the memo line. A little goes a long way. We will make sure it
gets to Ruth. If you do make that special offering, I'd like to give you a necklace that
Ruth made as a gift, as long as they last. You can pick it up at the end of the service. If
you are interested in helping Ruth, please let me know.
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When we minister to the least of these, we minister to Jesus. If, when you look at
your own life, you do not see evidence of giving help to those in need around you, then
the Lord calls you to repent, and turn to him. At Church of the Holy Spirit, our mission
includes loving Jesus and our neighbors. As you minister to needy believers, you minister
to the Lord himself. M'kama asimwe! "Asimwe muno!" Let's pray.
Give yourself to him as we sing this song.
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