A Festival to the Lord: the 2023 Vision Convocation of the Presbyterian Mission Agency

Currently I am teaching the course “Introduction to African Traditional Religion” at Nile Theological College in Juba, South Sudan. A recent lecture and discussion focused on the role of rituals and festivals within the African Heritage. Together we discussed the role of festivals and the multiple functions which they serve. Festivals often last many days; they can even last up to one month and sometimes longer. Festivals can be a time of ritual worship, and they provide a source of entertainment through special food, music, and dancing. Festivals bring people together and they provide an outlet for thoughts and feelings to be expressed in the context of community. According to African cosmology, festivals bring together and unite the visible world with the invisible world of the spirit. Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, festivals renew the life of a community, strengthening its religious and social values.

Last month we gathered as the Presbyterian Mission Agency for our first ever Vision Convocation. We were an assembled gathering of more than two hundred staff across eight inter-related departments/ agencies:

1) Compassion, Peace, and Justice

2) Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries

3) Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA)

4) Presbyterian Hunger Program

5) 1,001 New Worshipping Communities

6) Theology, Formation, and Evangelism

7) Office of Public Witness

8) Presbyterian World Mission

This was the first time all agencies came together under one banner. It was also the first time that all Presbyterian mission-coworkers serving across the globe were gathered in one place. 

Presbyterian World Mission, all of us (almost!) gathered together
as one body perhaps for the first time

The theme of our time together was “One Band/One Sound.” We were led by Rev. Dr. Dianne Moffett, our humble and courageous leader who serves as President and Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA). In my most recent reflections on our week together, I was struck by how this gathering reflected the value of a festival according to the African Heritage. There was entertainment throughout, highlighted by music, drama, and good-natured humor. 

Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, President and Executive Director 
of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA)
Photo Credit: The Presbyterian Outlook 

We were led in a fun storytelling drama! 

Being led in song by Reverend Alonzo Johnson! 

We worshipped together each day, and we were able to spend time reflecting together on our social values or “culture code.” We were able to listen to one another, learn from one another, and simply be together “in-person” after three years of the pandemic stress of being separated physically. Over the last three years, we have known each other “in boxes” on a screen (Zoom). Now, we had a chance to all be together in one room, in the flesh. It was a fully orbed, inculturated, incarnational experience. I remember helping lead the liturgy on our first day of worship. I recall looking deeply into the eyes of a brother sitting near the front as I spoke words of confession and feeling an immediate bond of kinship with him, being united in that moment with my brother across race and generation, joined together in that consequential moment across the divides which our society constructs to separate us. I was deeply moved. Such experiences usually do not happen on Zoom.

The Reverend Gregory J. Bentley, Co-Moderator of the 224th General Assembly (2020)
of the Presbyterian Church (USA) gave a rousing, Spirit-filled devotional message 
each morning

Partaking of the Lord's Supper together 

I will be honest and share that I initially had misgivings about participating in the Vision Convocation due to various concerns. Yet, I am so glad that we were able to attend! Following the wisdom of our African ancestors and the African Heritage, I believe that such gatherings are necessary to renew the life, vision, and values of our community. Rev. Dr. Dianne Moffett and the other leaders within the Presbyterian Mission Agency were determined to bring everyone together, and for that I am eternally grateful. To God be the glory!

Other fun photos from our time together - 

Our Africa Team!

Praying together!

Learning together! (as the Africa Team)

Learning from Reverend Jermaine Ross-Allam, Director of
the Center for the Repair of Historical Harm of the Presbyterian Mission Agency,
 who came and shared his heart and vision with our Africa Team

Jeff and Christi Boyd, friends and colleagues from our
time in DR Congo

With Africa Team colleagues Rev. Cheryl Barnes and 
Rev. Paula Cooper, also Ryan White, a friend from seminary
who lives and serves in Germany with his family

With Destini Hodges, our courageous leader of the 
Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program 

Our "White Mission Co-Workers Confronting Racism" group 
which has been meeting virtually since July, 2020
(this was our first time together in person!) 

Tested positive for Covid-19 upon return to Juba;

thankfully it was a mild case!

New Facilitators of Healing in Juba

Our new facilitators arrived at the graduation joyful but tired after an intense two days of facilitating their first Healing Hearts, Transforming Nations workshop. It had been a challenging five weeks for them during the South Sudan School of Reconciliation – giving up their weekends to be in training all day and preparing lessons during the week in a way that was new for them. We all celebrated that God got us through and the amazing way that people experienced God’s love and healing through these new facilitators in their faltering first steps.

Graduates (standing) along with trainers and church leaders

One of the graduates shared his own experience, emphatically telling the church leaders “the people who see today are not the same people that you sent to this training. I am completely changed.” He described that one woman in the workshop in which he and others had led was a widow and all of her children had died. In South Sudan this puts her in a very isolated and vulnerable position – she has no social credibility or connections. The loss, isolation, and rejection that she had experienced had led to her being full of bitterness and anger towards others. She faithfully went to church and studied the Bible but found no relief from the bitterness and anger until God touched her heart in the workshop and she was able to give it over to Jesus and let God heal her. She shared in the workshop that she was forgiving all the people who had rejected her and that she felt free to love others again.

Chol shares his testimony during the graduation

Another graduate shared that he realized the unique format of this workshop had power to open people’s hearts. He said that the dramas help people to connect with their own experience and understand principles more deeply than just through teaching. He shared how surprised he was to see a respected elder in the church come in tears (which is shameful in this culture) during the practicum workshop he facilitated. During a session about prejudice and the ways that we wound each other, the man initially said “we are Christians and we do not want to say anything bad about people of other groups.” But later during the Standing in the Gap session, a woman confessed the ways that people from her group, the Nuer, have harmed and killed those of the Shilluk people group. The man was Shilluk, and her confession freed him to express the pent up hatred that he had towards the Nuer for a series of attacks on his village and the people who had been killed and displaced. He said “this is the first time I have ever spoken of this hatred. I want to forgive the Nuer people and be free of this hatred. I want us to live together in harmony.”

A drama about how unforgiveness affects us is

performed during one of the practicum workshops

As Rev. Tut commissioned the new graduates, he exhorted them not to be limited by workshops, but to share this message at every opportunity. People in all sectors of society are traumatized and division and tensions between groups is an ongoing reality in South Sudan. We desperately need to experience God’s love and healing so that we can be freed to celebrate and embrace our differences rather than let them divide us.

The new facilitators being commissioned during the graduation

This group of new facilitators are not experts – they are humble people who come from every profession and walk of life. We had a professor of agriculture, some university students, a journalist, and a few people living in camps for displaced people, among others. And none of them have English as their first language. But they humbly submitted to learning a new way of teaching and asked God to use them. Our amazing group of trainers also labored sacrificially through the 5 weeks, even when the obstacles we faced threatened to derail and compromise the training. I think this is a great example of the ways that God works through ordinary people in unexpected ways. This was certainly not a highly publicized or big budget training, and none of us are international experts. But when we do our part to be faithful and trust God to do the work of the heart, the Holy Spirit can truly bring transformation. 

A celebration at the end of the workshops gives and

opportunityto appreciate and bless people from all groups.

Honoring the President, Seeking Real Peace…

Evangelist John Odhong Mayik, my friend and research collaborator, arrived at our home around 6:30am. I had been waiting all week for this day. John helped me put on a lawo, the traditional dress of the Chollo people. John also brought for me a staff, a cultural instrument assigned to older Chollo men, used for walking but also carrying the symbolic value of dignity and status. My friend Dylan arrived and John also clad Dylan in lawo. Juma, our rickshaw driver, had arrived, Kristi quickly snapped a picture of the three of us, and we were off!

John Odhong, Dylan and I 

By half past seven there was already a flurry of activity at the John Garang Mausoleum. People were finding their seats, groups practiced their marching and preparing themselves for the big day. Looking up into the elevated seating we saw two friendly and familiar faces; we were promptly escorted to sit together, up with them. His Excellency, the President, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, did not arrive until almost 11am, so we had plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere. Two things were clear as we waited. The Chollo people are a well-organized people, and they are serious about their culture. Different Chollo clans and groups from different regions wore matching lawo as they marched in preparation. The energy and excitement of the day were palpable. As we waited, we witnessed the arrival of foreign dignitaries, political leaders, the king of the Anyuwaa and a representative of the King of the Azande and his retinue. Then, the organizer and instigator of today’s event arrived, Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet, king of the Chollo kingdom. Songs were sung about Padiet, the grandfather of the current king, and how people were happy during that time as there was peace and people were able to cultivate, having “food in hand.” Songs continued, from one song-leading group to the next, songs celebrating the legacy of this royal family.

Arrival of the Representative of
the King of the Azande People

Arrival of the Ambassador of the Netherlands

Arrival of Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet
King of the Chollo People 

Today’s event was billed as an opportunity to promote unity, peace, and cooperation amongst the Chollo people of Upper Nile, South Sudan, and by extension, to promote peace and unity among all peoples of South Sudan. The event was also promoted as a day for the king of the Chollo to honor His Excellency, the President of the Republic. The king of the Chollo had been recently rescued by the President as a marauding militia from a neighboring state who had “called for the head of the king” as they invaded the heartland of Chollo land and killed innocent civilians by the thousands. The king was evacuated and brought to Juba until it is same for him to return home. Normally, the king would not abandon his people; in this case, however, circumstances became such that his temporary removal became necessary.

A day to promote unit and peace from within the Chollo people, 
A day to promote unity and peace for all South Sudanese peoples 

As the sun raised her head higher and higher, as late morning approached, it became clear to all that the most important person of the hour was on his way. We were told to put down our phones and to not take pictures. Military vehicles, heavily armed, arrived ahead of the motorcade of white SUVs carrying the President. A stillness and silence in the air carried the weight of anticipation. Entering from the other side of the large pavilion, I did not see the President until he appeared walking together, hand-in-hand, with Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet, king of the Chollo kingdom.

Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet (King of the Chollo) and 
His Excellency, President Salva Kiir 
Photo credit: Office of the Presidency 

For the next hour we watched a colorful parade of troupes from different parts of the Chollo kingdom march before the king, sit in reverence before him, and then continue marching. It was not only the Chollo who paraded before the king. They were followed by the other tribal groups of Upper Nile and then by several different tribes from different parts of South Sudan. The marching and dancing was a marvel, a demonstration of the unique strength of the peoples of South Sudan. When the marching ended, prayers for the day were offered by a Christian pastor and a leader from the Islamic community.

Some images of the Parade
(marching, kneeling in honor, dancing) 

 

Speeches then commenced, starting with a member of the organizing community, and then from the representative of the king of the Azande people, the king of the Anyuaak people, the Governor of Upper Nile State, and the Governor of Central Equatoria State (the host). After these short speeches, the central moment of honoring the President and his wife with songs and gifts was conducted by the king of the Chollo kingdom while the Chollo Nyikang Okwa band led a song, singing “God will bring peace, and everyone will sleep and be happy because there is peace. The God of all places will bring peace.” 

Gifts presented to the President and his wife on behalf 
of the King and the Chollo people

Traditional songs calling for peace led by Mr. Thomas Aban 
and the Chollo Nyikang Okwa band 

Finally, we heard directly from Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet of the Chollo kingdom, and then from the President of the Republic of South Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit. Both speeches echoed the great themes of the day, peace, unity, reconciliation, and the development of the peoples of this great land. My friends and colleagues encouraged me to attend this event for the purpose of observing traditional dress, music, and dancing of the Chollo people, and how these cultural components have been introduced into the church, an important component for my doctoral research. As important as this reason was for me to attend, what other significance does such an event signal?  

What comes to mind is the story of Esther from the Hebrew Scriptures. When the Hebrew peoples were slated for death by King Ahasuerus who ruled a diverse kingdom of more than one hundred twenty-seven provinces spanning from India to Cush (Esther 1: 1), Queen Esther organized two banquets to honor King Ahasuerus. It was during the second banquet that Queen Esther revealed to the King the truth of the situation concerning the decree to exterminate the Hebrew people, which included Esther. The King listened to Esther and redacted the decree to kill the Hebrew people. Thus, Esther successfully intervened on behalf of her people. We remain in hope that such an honorific event for the president of South Sudan, intended, it seems, as a humble and magnanimous plea, will help move the country towards real actionable peace, a peace not intended only for the Chollo people of Upper Nile, but for all peoples in South Sudan.

“People of South Sudan, you must accept peace…the God of everywhere will bring peace. South Sudan will be a good place. Then the orphans will benefit from that peace. South Sudan needs peace, and everyone must go to his village. South Sudan must be united because of peace.” (from Thomas Aban and the Chollo Nyikang Okwa band)

Working and praying for healing

 It was a last-minute idea to gather. Our facilitators have been busy with workshops across South Sudan and we are preparing for a big training in Juba. But in the midst of the busyness, we realized it was the right time to come together to pray and encourage each other. So on Sunday evening about 10 of us sat in the shade of a tree, recounting testimonies of people who experienced God through the workshops and praying together for God expand this work of healing in South Sudan.

Sharing testimonies this week with our facilitators

One of the workshops was held in Aweil, in the north-west corner of South Sudan. Michael recounted that one of the people who attended the workshop was a pastor whose wife had been killed by the wife of his brother last year. He was overcome with grief and anger, and had been unable to organize the final funeral prayers for his wife. He also did not want to take his sister-in-law to court for the murder even though he was angry at her, so he felt stuck. In the workshop he experienced God healing him from that wound in his heart and enabling him to forgive. The man shared that he felt able now to organize the final prayers for his wife to bring closure to the grieving.

The workshop in Aweil

Another team of facilitators went to Bentiu in the north and held a workshop inside the largest camp for displaced people in South Sudan. They shared that all the clans of that region were represented in the workshop, and that they were able to repent from the accusations that they had against each other and forgive each other. At the end the participants said that next time the workshop should be done in the town, with some representatives from the camp, so that they could resolve some of the conflicts and prejudice between people in the camp and the town.

Passing a candle in Bentiu to demonstrate that God

has called us to be His lights in the world.

In January we also had a training for new facilitators in Yambio, in the Southwest corner of South Sudan. Lucia shared how moved she was by the women who walked 7 miles each way to attend the practicum workshop as part of that training. The women expressed how freeing it was to experience God's healing from their pain, but they lamented that there were many more people in their community who needed this message. We praise God for the twelve new facilitators in that region who are committed to going to remote villages to help people learn God's heart of love, forgiveness, and healing. 

Asking God to bring healing out of the ashes of our pain

In all these testimonies, we were reminded again that it is God who works in people's hearts. We communicate the message and try to create an environment where people are open to God's healing, but the information or our teaching can not change hearts. We prayed together that God would continue to bring healing and transformation and help us to be faithful to commuicate the message.

Some of the new facilitators in Yambio at their graduation

This week we begin a training of new facilitators in Juba. Please join us in praying for God to raise up people called to this ministry of healing and reconciliation in South Sudan, and pray that God enables our team to train them effectively. We pray that the new facilitators experience God's love and healing power and would be equipped to help others find healing. 

Some members of the facilitation team at our prayer gathering

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

The Bee Sting

South Sudan is no stranger to division, brokenness, and pain. At the highest levels of government, within the church, within families, and across communities, what separates us defines us and keeps us from one another. Since 2013 alone, not to mention two previous horrific civil wars which lasted almost fifty years, hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have been killed during an ethnic, internecine, and bloody civil war. Fear continues to walk alongside us, uncertainty calls our name, and violence runs deeply as the most trafficked way of relating to one other.

Into this maelstrom of fear, uncertainty, and violence, has entered messages of healing, peace, justice, and reconciliation. These messages were most recently brought by leaders from the highest levels of the ecclesial and religious landscape known to our twenty-first century. It is almost unbelievable, but for the first time in five hundred years, an ecumenical peace pilgrimage was made by Catholic, Anglican and Protestant leaders to South Sudan. Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Rev. Iain Greenshields responded to an invitation to come to South Sudan after South Sudanese political and ecclesial leaders visited the Vatican in 2018. To have participated in this historic event last week was an amazing privilege and an unforgettable blessing.

On the plane as they leave Juba together on Sunday afternoon
Photo Credit: Church of Scotland

 

The events began in earnest Friday afternoon when the Pope arrived at the airport from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As the last vehicle in a long line of cars going to the airport to welcome Pope Francis on a sultry Friday afternoon, we stopped, and I marveled at the thousands of South Sudanese lined up peacefully and joyfully along the road. The immediate line of persons held hands, serving as a buffer, a human chain, shielding all safely behind. Those behind were beaded with drops of sweat, the unforgiving sun bearing down as they sang choruses and danced, sweet smiles from young and old greeting me. One group of Catholic pilgrims walked nine days to Juba; a woman among them said, "When you have smelled and seen death and hopelessness, then you will search for peace with all the might that you have." The true and enduring strength of South Sudan was on full display as we waited for Pope Francis.

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity. On Friday afternoon the three faith leaders and other notable faith leaders among them visited the President and the five Vice Presidents at the Presidential Palace. On Saturday morning each faith leader spent time with their respective faith communities. The Presbyterian Church of South Sudan and the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church hosted a reception and worship service today for the Rt. Rev. Dr. Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the Church of Scotland, and Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis of the Presbyterian Church (USA), along with other members and leaders from both denominational bodies. It was a joyous occasion with almost sixteen thousand in attendance, including Spirit inspired worship through song and messages about unity, love, and our shared history and hopes for our shared future. It was an extraordinary event, and it served as a reunion of sorts as Kristi and I saw many church leaders whom we know and several of my former students. Entering into that worship space in its magnitude defies description. Seeing the smiling, joyful faces welcome us into the huge blue and white tent will forever be etched on my soul.

Rev. Iain Greenshields of the Church of Scotland receives flowers
from a child upon arrival at reception/worship service 

The women of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan 
joyfully greet our delegation as we arrive

Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, Co-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
gives a message on unity from Psalm 133   

That afternoon we joined hundreds at Freedom Hall where Pope Francis and the others welcomed internally displaced persons from all over South Sudan. Three children from the IDP camp in Malakal shared their stories of life in the camp and the significant challenges they face regarding daily life and schooling. 

Rev. Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the Church of Scotland greets a young man
from one of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in South Sudan

Photo Credit: Church of Scotland (on FB page) 

With Colleagues Jeff Boyd and Sharon Kandel at a forum whereby the Pope and the 
two other leaders listen to the stories and realities of IDPs in South Sudan 

To our surprise, Kristi and I were included with the ecclesial leadership community, both from South Sudan and abroad on the stage where the Pope and others led us in an ecumenical prayer and worship service. The following morning I joined colleagues as we worshiped at the same venue, the John Garang Mausoleum, participating in the Mass with the masses. Both Saturday night and Sunday morning, it is reported that between fifty and seventy thousand people were present. Everyone who came walked long distances as there was no public transport in operation. Mama Lucia, a colleague and friend, told Kristi that she was so tired Saturday night when she finally arrived home after two hours of walking. Yet, she was there the next morning to help with a medical effort as people had no means to eat, had stayed at the worship site all night, and were now suffering from dehydration, lack of access to food and water, and a hot sun.

The Stage from where the Pope and other leaders led us in prayer at the 
Saturday evening Ecumenical Prayer Service
Photo Credit: Church of Scotland (FB page) 

Pope Francis compares the challenges of South Sudan with the 
children of Israel leaving Egypt, finding themselves in a hopeless
situation which requires God's intervention

Bishop Paride Taban of South Sudan, a true hero, listens to the Pope's message of peace;

Bishop Taban has been actively working for the peace of his people for over forty years 

The crowds at the Sunday Morning Mass could take your breath away! The Red Cross
was present to assist those who had waited all night without access to food or water

The choirs, singers and dancers help us worship as the Pope preached from the
Gospel of Matthew, announcing that we are to be the  salt of the earth, the light of the world! 
Photo Credit: Shelvis Smith-Mather 

By Sunday afternoon, all the notable visitors had left, but a palpable sense of hope continued to fill the landscape. On the following Friday, our friend and colleague Shelvis Smith-Mather connected us with  Bishop Paride Taban, a notable Catholic bishop best known for his peace-making efforts over the last forty years. When asked about the Pope’s visit, the aged and wizened bishop said to us in characteristic African proverbial fashion, “The Pope’s visit is like a bee which came to us, stung us, and has now left us. We trust and pray that the ‘itch of peace’ left by his sting will remain.”

Shelvis Smith-Mather, our friend and colleague, graciously connected 
Kristi and I with Bishop Paride Taban (right, foreground) after the Pope's visit
Photo Credit: Shelvis Smith-Mather