I had nothing to say to them. “Mary will be preaching the Word of God,” Pastor Gama said while introducing me to the Pastor of a church in a nearby village. Although people all over the world share the same root issues, in America and Malawi, they manifest themselves in ways that are so radically different it feels like we have nothing in common. That any story or connection I would normally share from my American life is completely irrelevant to this subsistence farming community. Additionally, the people of this culture have a skewed vision that my culture and I are superior. What could I possibly say to them?
After much thought, this was my message. This is what I said.
“Thank you for welcoming us into your church. First, I apologize that we cannot speak your language. I wish we could speak Chichewa. Its beautiful, but we have only been here for a week. Thank you for being patient as we use translators. My name is Mary, and we are from the United States of America. And today, that is what I am going to talk about-America. I cannot tell you about Malawi. I cannot tell you what God is doing or how God speaks to your people. In fact, I am here to learn that from you. But what I can tell you about is America, and give a warning from life on our side of the world. Our two countries are very different, but my hope is that you will learn something and that God would be glorified in the process.
“What I have noticed from my time in America, is that we have a tendency to forget things- very important things. First, we forget about God. In America, we have this pattern in our lives. When we are children, we go to a lot of school. We go to classes, and practice, and meetings, and parties, etc. As adults we go to work- a lot of work. And then we take kids to practice, join clubs, go to conferences, events, and a million other things. These things aren’t bad. I actually advocate that being busy is a way of thankfulness for the blessings that God gives us. However, amidst our business- its easy to forget about God. We can be so focused on a list of activities that we do- many of which actually don’t have any lasting meaning or impact on us- that we overlook the reason for life in the first place. We focus so much on the blessings that we forget the person that gave them to us in the first place.
“It seems that we forget him until there is trouble. It when things are going fine- when we are healthy, our job is going well, our family is at peace, we aren’t hungry, etc that we forget about God. But the truth is that God is worthy of our praise and attention in every stage of our lives. God isn’t someone that we should only run to in times of trouble. He isn’t something that we should use only when things get hard and then disregard him the rest of our lives. Yes, we are to go to him in trouble, but he deserves our celebration well. Even when we are comfortable- we need God and we need to recognize that everything we have comes from him.
“Secondly, we forget that God knows what is best. In America, we talk a lot about dreaming big. We are great at creating plans for ourselves. We are great at praising each other for going after jobs where you can earn the most money, chasing after what is the “biggest thing,” or what is the hardest. Sometimes we take those dreams to the Lord tell him what we want. We forget to ask him to lead us instead. It is easy to rely on ourselves more than God, and we forget that he is the one with the answers for a lot of our decisions
“Have any of you seen this before? (I pull a chapstick out of my purse as everyone in the church shakes their heads no). You put it on your lips when they are dry. It also helps protect against the sun. I didn’t make this. I bought it, but lets pretend that I made it. If I just gave this to you, you wouldn’t know what to use it for. You could guess. You could rub it on your body to try to clean yourself. You could try to eat it. You could try to do a lot of things with it, but it probably wouldn’t work out very well. Or, you could ask me what you should use it for. I should know better than anyone else because I made it for a special purpose. God is the same way. He made you, and he knows better than anyone else how to live your life. Despite this, I think in American culture we rarely go to the Lord with genuine concern for what we should do with our lives, or consult him when we face daily decisions.
“Third, we forget that God uses us. In America, so many people will pray in church, and walk away. People will carry on and forget about it. That makes me sad. In John 14:12, Jesus says that his disciples and followers will do greater things than he did while on Earth. What did he just say? That we, small meager humans would do things greater than God himself? God has a plan for humanity and for each one of us. His overall will is that all of his children get to know him and grow to be more like him so that we may love him and each other. God could miraculously and/or instantly reveal himself to each one of us. He has the ability to do anything an everything, but instead he gives us purpose by including us in carrying out his plan.
“Its an honor to be used by the Father- to answer others prayers, to love people the way that he would, and to see his kingdom expand through us. We know God can heal- but do we go to their bedsides and pray for them? We know God can provide job opportunities for those who are begging for work, but do we use our resources to give them work? We know God can show mercy to those who are broken, but do when we see someone who is broken, do we get to know them and show them their worth? We forget that through God, we can do BIG things. Over the course of this race, I have seen quite a few people healed- just because my squamates stepped up and asked for healing. I have seen businesses start up to answer the prayers of those struggling to find work. I have seen friends be sought out and mentored by others who are searching for good influences. Christianity is not passive. Revelation 3:16 describes God’s frustration with those who are lukewarm. We are to pursue his goodness, passion, and power daily. We aren’t called to pray in the distance and wait, we are called and equipped to answer each others prayers. Let’s not forget that!
“I pray that these traps of forgetfulness are things that you don’t fall into. As we take time to pray for your community today, I ask that you pray for our nation as well- that the people of Malawi and the United States remember God, his goodness, and how we are to live as his followers. We have been learning so much about the joy of the Lord. We see him through your people and through your church. I can only hope that you have learned something from me as well.”
PS: I apologize that there have not been any pictures lately. Wifi has been a struggle for us in this part of the world.
