Sunday Service at St. Matthias
Last Sunday, Beth, Andy, Cheryl and I attended church at St Matthias, one of Fr Orma’s parishes. Reverand Orma is one of the women priests ordained in Nov 2004, when the delegation lead by Bishop Scarfe came to celebrate. She drove to the Thokosa Centre to meet us and show us the way to St. Matthias. As she stepped out of the car and looked around, her presence literally permeated the air. This spirited woman just EXUDES love. When she talks, you must listen.
She welcomed us with a huge smile, hugged each one of us and said, “I am so happy you are coming to my church today.” She told us we should follow in a van because she would not be able to bring us back, since there was a large community meeting at the Chief’s Kraal after the service. She had just come from visiting a family sick with HIV/AIDS and had conducted a funeral and we had better go because she wants us to have a tour of the priest’s house that Iowans had built before the service (this is the house that Ron and Toni helped build in their first trip to Swaziland). Warm words just spill out of Fr Orma, with such energy and emphasis, they feel like they are smiling as broadly as she is. So we followed, Andy driving.
The church is “just in” the Ezulwini Valley and it has a spectacular view, green even now. Fr. Orma rousted the lay minister who lives in the parish house and we had our tour. Then we followed her to her office. There she explained that in spite of the computer on the desk we should contact her through the Cathedral because she is hardly ever in her office. “If I am here, I am not doing my work”. She told us of her visits to the sick, particularly of taking a relative to the hospital in Mbabane the night before. He is in the terminal stages of AIDS. He needs to be in the hospital, but there are no beds. She takes him to the out-patient clinic for meds to help control the pain, but it does not control the pain. She wishes we could visit him so that he knows the people of Iowa are here and are thinking of him. But she has to go to the Chief’s Kraal after the services. And she is smiling. I have to write in the present tense. There is no past or future tense in Orma’s vocabulary.
Beth tells Fr. Orma about the information she has been gathering about the impact of AIDS on the communities we have visited. Orma says, “yes it is a very difficult thing to know about because people here don’t talk about it.” She tells us the story of a young Christian man who appeared at St. Matthias a few months ago. A short time ago he asked her to visit his family. One parent has died of AIDS, the other is in the terminal stages and a younger sibling is sick. And she said to him, “why didn’t you tell me? We can help you.” She said to us, “these are great opportunities to bring Christ’s love to people”. She tells that she and others go to help the sick people be peaceful and to know they will have a holy death. And the love she has for ALL of us and her work just sits on every word.
We left her office just minutes before the service started. We choose seats midway back in the church (good Episcopalians all) and are immediately given prayer books and song books. We use the Service Booklets we were given by Bishop Scarfe because there is an English translation. But we read and sing along in siSwati. It is a wonderful service. Fr. Orma asks the lay readers to please read the Ephesians text in English so we can understand it. The man reading the Psalm hands off to a women who reads from the English Bible. Later Fr. Orma gives a brief synopsis of the Gospel reading so we can follow along. She starts her sermon by telling the congregation that we are visiting from Iowa. She says, “someone tell them what you know about Iowans.” A women in the back answers ,”they built the priest’s house.” She says to us, “see, we know who you are here. Here you are known.”
She asks us to come up and say a few words, and we do. Most of the congregation understands us; and clap as we explain why we are here and how happy we are to meet Fr. Orma and her parish. Andy spoke of Bishop and Lucy Mabuza’z trip to Iowa last summer and the Healing Services. I told them that one of our priests had preached at Fr. Orma’s ordination and that Reverend Barbara had told us about Reverend Orma’s work. When we sat down, Orma said, “but you didn’t tell them the news. Your priest is going to Iowa. In November. Yes, I will visit Iowa and take greetings from the people of St. Matthias to the people of Iowa. I will visit their churches”. Everyone clapped.
Fr. Orma’s sermon on the feeding of the 5000 was very powerful. She laid out her main theme, “if you have two of something, do as Christ would do. Give one to someone who needs it more”. She said, “God’s love brings these people all the way from America. They don’t have to come here, they don’t know us. God’s love brings them to the Swazi people. Because of God’s love they love the Swazi people.” My thoughts flashed to the Commissioning Service at Christ Church, in which Barbara asked, “do you intend to carry the love of this parish to the people of Swaziland?” And we answered, “We intend to”. Well, we needed some help, but through Fr. Orma, we did accomplish this charge.
Reverend Orma walks around while she talks, giving examples of sharing sandwiches to the children seated along the side and examples of sharing school books to a youth sitting in the front row. Still more messages to the adults. One was, “what are you doing with 8 candles and you have electricity? You have electricity and you keep 8 candles in case it thunders, when your neighbors crawl through their dark house to find their beds at sunset? What are you doing? Are you living like Christ? These people came from America to worship with us and help us, out of God’s love, out of God's love we can help each other. We can help our neighbors, we can love our neighbors. When I see someone with 15 chickens or 20 chickens in the yard, I think, do what Christ would do. Feed your neighbor who doesn’t have any chickens.”
So here ends the story. Through experiences like these, we, each and all, are every day receiving much more than we have brought or given. Amen.
She welcomed us with a huge smile, hugged each one of us and said, “I am so happy you are coming to my church today.” She told us we should follow in a van because she would not be able to bring us back, since there was a large community meeting at the Chief’s Kraal after the service. She had just come from visiting a family sick with HIV/AIDS and had conducted a funeral and we had better go because she wants us to have a tour of the priest’s house that Iowans had built before the service (this is the house that Ron and Toni helped build in their first trip to Swaziland). Warm words just spill out of Fr Orma, with such energy and emphasis, they feel like they are smiling as broadly as she is. So we followed, Andy driving.
The church is “just in” the Ezulwini Valley and it has a spectacular view, green even now. Fr. Orma rousted the lay minister who lives in the parish house and we had our tour. Then we followed her to her office. There she explained that in spite of the computer on the desk we should contact her through the Cathedral because she is hardly ever in her office. “If I am here, I am not doing my work”. She told us of her visits to the sick, particularly of taking a relative to the hospital in Mbabane the night before. He is in the terminal stages of AIDS. He needs to be in the hospital, but there are no beds. She takes him to the out-patient clinic for meds to help control the pain, but it does not control the pain. She wishes we could visit him so that he knows the people of Iowa are here and are thinking of him. But she has to go to the Chief’s Kraal after the services. And she is smiling. I have to write in the present tense. There is no past or future tense in Orma’s vocabulary.
Beth tells Fr. Orma about the information she has been gathering about the impact of AIDS on the communities we have visited. Orma says, “yes it is a very difficult thing to know about because people here don’t talk about it.” She tells us the story of a young Christian man who appeared at St. Matthias a few months ago. A short time ago he asked her to visit his family. One parent has died of AIDS, the other is in the terminal stages and a younger sibling is sick. And she said to him, “why didn’t you tell me? We can help you.” She said to us, “these are great opportunities to bring Christ’s love to people”. She tells that she and others go to help the sick people be peaceful and to know they will have a holy death. And the love she has for ALL of us and her work just sits on every word.
We left her office just minutes before the service started. We choose seats midway back in the church (good Episcopalians all) and are immediately given prayer books and song books. We use the Service Booklets we were given by Bishop Scarfe because there is an English translation. But we read and sing along in siSwati. It is a wonderful service. Fr. Orma asks the lay readers to please read the Ephesians text in English so we can understand it. The man reading the Psalm hands off to a women who reads from the English Bible. Later Fr. Orma gives a brief synopsis of the Gospel reading so we can follow along. She starts her sermon by telling the congregation that we are visiting from Iowa. She says, “someone tell them what you know about Iowans.” A women in the back answers ,”they built the priest’s house.” She says to us, “see, we know who you are here. Here you are known.”
She asks us to come up and say a few words, and we do. Most of the congregation understands us; and clap as we explain why we are here and how happy we are to meet Fr. Orma and her parish. Andy spoke of Bishop and Lucy Mabuza’z trip to Iowa last summer and the Healing Services. I told them that one of our priests had preached at Fr. Orma’s ordination and that Reverend Barbara had told us about Reverend Orma’s work. When we sat down, Orma said, “but you didn’t tell them the news. Your priest is going to Iowa. In November. Yes, I will visit Iowa and take greetings from the people of St. Matthias to the people of Iowa. I will visit their churches”. Everyone clapped.
Fr. Orma’s sermon on the feeding of the 5000 was very powerful. She laid out her main theme, “if you have two of something, do as Christ would do. Give one to someone who needs it more”. She said, “God’s love brings these people all the way from America. They don’t have to come here, they don’t know us. God’s love brings them to the Swazi people. Because of God’s love they love the Swazi people.” My thoughts flashed to the Commissioning Service at Christ Church, in which Barbara asked, “do you intend to carry the love of this parish to the people of Swaziland?” And we answered, “We intend to”. Well, we needed some help, but through Fr. Orma, we did accomplish this charge.
Reverend Orma walks around while she talks, giving examples of sharing sandwiches to the children seated along the side and examples of sharing school books to a youth sitting in the front row. Still more messages to the adults. One was, “what are you doing with 8 candles and you have electricity? You have electricity and you keep 8 candles in case it thunders, when your neighbors crawl through their dark house to find their beds at sunset? What are you doing? Are you living like Christ? These people came from America to worship with us and help us, out of God’s love, out of God's love we can help each other. We can help our neighbors, we can love our neighbors. When I see someone with 15 chickens or 20 chickens in the yard, I think, do what Christ would do. Feed your neighbor who doesn’t have any chickens.”
So here ends the story. Through experiences like these, we, each and all, are every day receiving much more than we have brought or given. Amen.
posted by Mission Team ~ Iowa at
3:48 AM
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