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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Death, burial and resurrection
The day had finally arrived! It was finally time to present the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. I could hardly pray as we met this morning, getting choked up as I thought about a church being born here in Wabuku for the first time. In some ways it’s a bit of a blur – skits, reading of Scripture and teaching – going back and forth between the three things and monitoring the audience. But I wanted to get my first impressions out there for you to read and enjoy! The weather was perfect – we’ve had a number of rainy days and it would have been tricky if it rained during the teaching time. But it was sunny and fine. The whole village was there minus one couple plus some folks from the other two villages. Even Tyems and his wife were there, in spite of him still being upset about the marriage arrangement. Some of the guys that have been out in the bush came back in time to hear the last couple lessons here so it was a full house, and yard.
Noel, one of the Uriay men played the part of Jesus in our skits and he did a great job! We started with the soldiers taking Jesus while Simon carried his cross to Golgotha. I played a Roman soldier along with Elias and Paetrik. Matt was Simon so he carried the cross over to where it be planted. We mocked Jesus and while he wore his crown of thorns (and old clothes of Elias’), they ‘nailed’ him to the cross and we lifted the cross up and got him up into the hole and hung. Then we left and came back as Jews, mocking him and telling him to help himself like he helped everyone else. Then we talked about the darkness now covering the land and ran away at the earthquake. Then Noel cried out to the Father, as Jesus cried out to His Father, asking Him why He had forsaken him and then saying, “It is finished.” He hung his head down and ‘died’ and it was quite convincing. The ketchup on his hands and feet looked quite real. Then we came back on as soldiers again and I was the one that pierced his side – a Ziploc bag filled with red water – that splashed and ran and really looked like blood. Matt said that as it hit and splashed, it took him back to when Elias ‘killed’ the wooden sheep and the red water popped and flowed down. Then we took him down off the cross and carried him to the tomb. We wrapped him in a white sheet – and it looked so similar to what they do here when someone dies – so it resonated even more with the folks. You could have heard a pin drop! We put him into the tomb and went back to the teaching. I read the rest of what we had acted out – the soldiers beating and the people mocking him and the actual hanging. I got choked up as I read but the Lord enabled me to continue reading in spite of the tears running down my face. Elias taught on these portions, driving home the reasons for Christ enduring such a painful death. Imi was sitting next to me with her head down as were many of the other people – a somber mood had settled over the crowd. Then it was time for the resurrection and Jose, Rachel and I played the ladies that went to prepare Christ’s body with the spices. Elias played the angel that we met in the tomb and sent us off to tell the disciples of Christ’s resurrection. It was amazing! We got to use these fun expressions of surprise that we hear all the time – wanariri and kukaka! Then we met Jesus on the road and I exclaimed that He’s alive, weaving in the things He had said before about dying and being in the tomb for three days before rising again. Then it was back to teaching and Scripture reading again. It was an amazing morning – full and emotional and everything in between. At one point Elias had to wait for the dogs to stop howling – every dog in Wabuku (seriously) was in one spot and they were all howling at the same time!
We left the teaching there – we didn’t go over the review questions, wanting to give them time to ask questions or make comments – hoping that they’d declare their faith in Christ. We actually didn’t expect that since it would be too public a thing for some of them. Jon from Busan asked a question that basically only showed that he hadn’t heard much of the teaching. He’s been here the last two weeks and was here the first week but his question about the veil that was rent only showed that he had missed too much. Jon is a pastor for this other denomination but we heard later that he was at his house and crying because he’d never heard this before. He’s been steeped in works and never understood about Christ’s substitutionary death on his behalf. He realized that he’d missed it all these years. Not sure yet what he really thinks yet but we’ll find out more in the days ahead perhaps.
Anyway, the crowd was pretty quiet and somber but they didn’t hang around for very long. I sat with some of the ladies though and Imi was in tears as she talked about Jesus dying for her sins. She recognized that His blood had poured out to cover her sins but she didn’t seem to know how to put it into words. Wekot and Kayne were also tracking right along. I talked with Imi later on and she seemed hesitant to say she is child of God now. She recognizes that only He can save her but because of the teaching they’ve heard from this other denomination, she seemed unsure that she could say she’s in God’s canoe now. She seemed worried about sin – if she’s a believer then what about sin after that. I think she’s a believer, but with questions on eternal security but we’ll see as the days progress. I talked later with Dakruma – and she was beaming! I went over to see her and she was rolling her sago paste into the little globs when I got there. Her son was running around and had pooped in a few spots – he’s barely walking and no diaper so she cleaned that up while I started rolling the paste into globs for her. We sat there talking about the teaching this morning, me rolling her sago globs while she boldly talked about her trust in Christ’s shed blood for her sins! She was clear and confident that she was a child of God – and I had no doubt either! I had tears in my eyes as we talked – it was an incredible moment! Then here came Nawiyem, she was under the house and she and I chatted through the floor board, she really seems to understand but wasn’t sure what to do with the other teaching she’s heard too. Then she came up into the house and we talked some more. Again, I think she understands the basis of salvation but may need a bit more clarification on the other teaching before she can fully rest in what He’s done on her behalf. I think she’ll get more clear in the days ahead. The next phase of teaching will talk about eternal security and hit on the things we’ve been teaching about salvation too.
Imi’s husband, Fabel, was talking to Elias and he told him that this other denomination has lied to them. They had never heard this talk before. There’s an area meeting for this group next month and he asked Elias who they’d be worshipping – why would they meet? The doctrine is heavy on them cleaning up their lives, and even physical bodies in order to be right with God. They have stressed that they need to wash well with soap before coming to this meeting – and change their behavior in order to be right before God. He recognized that they weren’t talking about the God of the Bible. It was so cool to hear him recognize the truth for what it is!
Aendru came by and talked to Elias and said much the same. He’d heard talk about Jesus but never understood the substitutionary side of things. He was in tears basically. He said that when he saw ‘Christ’ hanging on the cross, he put his head down and could hardly hold back the tears. He went back to his house after the teaching and read the account again himself and couldn’t stop thinking about it. He tried to sleep but couldn’t – just kept thinking about it. He couldn’t do anything for thinking about what Christ did for him. He said he’s asking the Lord to change his mouth – that that’s the thing that gets him into trouble so much! This young man has been a huge help to me in translation but tends to lean towards pride and arrogance! And now he’s a believer! Praise the Lord!
Now it’s the evening and there are still lots more people to talk to and see how many more have truly placed their trust in Christ. We’ll know more tomorrow but we do know that God has built His church here in Wabuku on September 8, 2010! There will be others added to the fold and we’ll keep you updated on those too!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Death of a small boy
It was barely dark last night when I first heard what I thought was one of the single boy’s radios. They have a tape that they play a lot lately that sounds rather gray and mournful and at first, that’s what I thought I heard. Then a bit later, I heard my ‘sister’s (Imi’s) mourning wail. Unfortunately we’ve heard the death wail enough to know who’s is who’s. Sad but true. Once I heard that, I knew it wasn’t a radio but truly death had come again to Wabuku. The fact that others were still siting in their houses and it was a single wailing I heard, I figured that it was a baby that had died as opposed to an adult or even toddler. A baby boy that was born the first or second week of this teaching phase we’re in had died. He didn’t really have a name yet, he was too young for them to officially assign a name to him. It’s Komnawe’s baby boy, her last child with her husband Wobre. Now Wobre is still alive but his second wife, that Komnawe fought with most of the time, Awe, killed herself a few weeks before we started teaching. She has been blamed for Awe’s decision. The two of them fought – Awe was the more abrasive personality of the two. She was a loud mouth and fought with her previous husband all the time before he died. But because these two ladies fought, it was Komnawe’s fault that Awe chose to kill herself to get her ultimate revenge on the other wife and her husband. Wobre’s been in Vanimo, the closest town that our guys can walk to, for the last three months basically. He came back last week with all kinds of plans to get another wife from a different region of PNG so that he can get his baby back from the other village. Anyway, it’s a complicated mess – and now his son is dead. He seemed to get the village cold or bronchitis or perhaps even pneumonia earlier last week and although he was short-winded, he looked fine and was breast feeding well until yesterday. My coworkers gave her medicine for him on Friday but even still, he was so young, not sure if it would really do any good or not. But then last night he died. No one else cried – the child wasn’t really old enough for anyone besides the immediate family to mourn for him. We wondered if we should cancel the teaching this morning and yet knew from history that a 3 month old baby doesn’t garner much sympathy here – it’s far too common for them to die at that age or younger.
We could hear the mother crying this morning after the first tree gong was hit, but still no one else. As we gathered at the teaching house, her nephew and oldest son were digging the burial hole underneath her brother’s new house. They made a little platform of sorts in the bottom to put the body and another platform above so the baby would lie in between the two pieces of flooring. Once they got it just right, the brother carried the baby wrapped in a piece of tree bark (soft and moldable that they use for their baskets, etc.) and the mom came behind him and threw herself on the dirt, still crying. No one else shed a tear or cried or anything…they covered the baby with dirt and said it was done….time to go listen to God’s Word.
So we walked the few feet over to the teaching house, waited for a few of the folks to come back that had wandered off and dove into the next lesson. At first, the mother still lay under the house crying….I could hardly hold back the tears. I just about can’t stand to see anybody cry anyway – I’m that person that cries in the movies and every time my pastor gets choked up…..and apart from that, this woman had lost her child. The village thinks it’s her fault because she sinned, she didn’t sit well with this other lady and so now God is paying her back. I couldn’t help but wonder if she feels anything but condemned and lost and alone. This was the last tie to keep her husband close to her – apart from the other six kids that they have together (that he’s ignoring). The father is downriver. He left yesterday morning to go down and shake hands with his dead wife’s sister who is caring, and keeping his child. She’s sick and in their world, he needs to shake hands to indicate that there’s no dispute there or hard feelings – that will make her well – since disharmony is what brings sickness and death and sorcery. So he’s gone down to straighten that out and his son here died. As far as we know, he doesn’t know yet. A canoe came through and we’ve sent word down but haven’t seen him yet.
After all these weeks of teaching, they’re still combining their ancestral customs with the truth they’ve heard. So sad…but that’s what we’re here for – to bring light and truth into this little corner of the world. Everyone was there this morning apart from her. Chances are that she won’t come to the teaching this week – when she’s heard so much of it. Pray that God would do a work in her life to bring her to the lessons – especially on Wednesday. Pray for wisdom and opportunity for me to encourage her and share His love for her with her.
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