Go Beyond

   07 October 2009 | Jogoseeta, Uganda

   This afternoon we traveled a short distance outside of Kampala to the village of Jogoseeta. My friend Joseph, who I met on my first visit to Uganda, is the pastor of the Warriors of Christ Church located on the outskirts of this village. A narrow dirt road leads from the main highway to a gently rolling hill where a half-constructed church building stands like a lighthouse overlooking a sea of deep green fields. The building is framed with slender poles nailed and wired together. The completed portion of the building is sheathed with rusty corrugated sheets of tin. A single entryway leads into the building where white and blue plastic chairs accent the hard-packed and red dirt floor. The back portion of the building is completely open to the weather.

   When we turned off the main road we heard the faint sound of singing that became increasingly louder as we approached. Children greeted us with smiles and laughter when we arrived and the siren sounds of worship drew us into the building. The people assembled inside were singing and dancing for joy. I love worship in Uganda. It’s impossible to remain passive in the presence of such joyful singing and movement. It does not seem to matter at all if the one leading worship happens to sing off-key. Everybody embraces the joyful noise and offers their unrestrained worship to God. It’s obvious that worship here is about Him.

   I was a bit concerned about the weather. But, no one seemed to mind when the sky grew dark and taunted us with the spittle of rain. Those present had come to learn and were not about to let bad weather keep them from it. Once again, we divided the large group of about one hundred into smaller teaching groups. And, once again, folks listened intently and asked the kinds of questions that indicated their concern about the sanctity of human life. Several pastors thanked me between sessions for bringing our team of teachers to Jogoseeta. “We want to teach about this subject,” said one, “but we do not have any resources to help us understand what is happening inside the mother’s womb.”

   I found it convicting to meet with such a great group of people under a building with half of a roof. They were so focused on the message that their “classroom” did not matter. They had come to worship and to learn. In the West, we are often so focused on where we meet that we lose sight of why we meet and miss the message. I’ve heard it all over the past thirty-one years of ministry. The room is too hot or too cold, the chairs are too hard or too soft, the light is too bright or the room is too dark, the music is too loud or not the kind of music I like, ad nauseam. We want coffee in every room and don’t want for the lesson or sermon to drag on for too long. Somehow we have got to come back to the place where we realize that worship is all about God and not about us. We should be thankful for the freedom to hear and study His message in nice buildings that actually have roofs.

   I enjoyed our time at Warriors of Christ Church. These folks really are warriors who are willing to get their uniforms dirty and who are willing to deal with any inconveniences in order to advance God’s purposes. They seem to understand that we are in a battle for souls and they fight an enemy intent on stealing, killing, and destroying everything good, including babies in the womb. These warriors of Christ remind me that the goal of the Christian life is not to see who can get to heaven with the cleanest uniform. I want to be among the warriors of Christ who drag into heaven bloodied and bruised.

   I am grateful to God for those we met with today in a building with half of a roof. Let’s not allow our desire for comforts to make us into soft and complaining people. Let’s not allow all that we have to blind us to what we really need. Let’s embrace the spirit of the folks who meet every week under a half-completed building. Let’s joyfully worship and serve God who has blessed us with so much.