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Road Construction Ahead: Advent Reflections from Zambia Second Sunday of Advent, December 7, 2008 |
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by Rev. Paul L. Webster |
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Scriptures: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13; II Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1: 1-8 In Zambia, as in much of Africa, we are constantly dealing with simply getting from point A to point B. More than once, I have had our project's Toyota Land Cruiser break through a bridge deck and nearly roll over into a river. Our project workers and I have spent hours unloading cargo and hand carrying them up hills too slippery and rough to ascend with a loaded vehicle. Of course, most Africans don't even have motor vehicles and consider themselves lucky to have a bicycle. Due to bad roads, collapsed bridges, and lack of public transportation, people can't get to hospitals, bring in essential goods, or haul out crops and other products for sale in larger cities. Without infrastructure, the wellbeing of nations, communities, and individuals cannot be realized. Schools and hospitals (the social infrastructure) in Zambia continue to struggle to offer even the most basic services. At the same time, Zambia's vast copper and cobalt wealth continues to be drained off to benefit wealthy multinationals, but with little or no benefit to its citizens. Isaiah's call to "lift up every valley and bring down every mountain and hill" can sometimes seem theoretical. But the fact is that the poor of the world remain in the dark valleys while the privileged few live on the mountaintops. There is a crying out and a gnashing of teeth in the land, and the Lord does hear and feel the people's anguish. While the First World has never lived in more opulent prosperity, much of the Third World is living in more desperate poverty than they were just 50 years ago. The increasing inequity between the 5 or 10 percent of the wealthiest citizens of the world and the billions at the bottom has never been wider. Yet, through the training and extension work being offered at Mujila Falls Agriculture Centre, people are learning to tap the vast potential of the land to support themselves, their families, and their communities. Through the investment of Christians across America, we have proved that people can have items such as milk, eggs, meat, nutritious vegetables, and fruits. We have formed cooperatives to produce bananas and goat's milk, and have shown farmer's cooperative how to use oxen to produce corn and other crops in abundance. We have created small businesses for people to transport and sell eggs, milk, and meat. We have even introduced donkeys to this area for the first time to improve distance transportation for people who can't afford motor vehicles. Suddenly the "way is being made straight," and some of the hills made low for people in our area. John the Baptist, like Isaiah, called the power structures of their day to account for the abuses heaped upon the poor. He predicted that God was about to "break in" upon the world to show a better way--the way of peace, righteousness, love, and hope. Second Peter calls us to action. God has provided the resources, both natural and human. We are called to speak out and to change our priorities. We are called to decrease the disparity between the haves and have-nots. We are called to come to the assistance of our brothers and sisters in Christ wherever they are in the world. To provide them a straight and wide path out of dire poverty and hopelessness. Prophets like Isaiah, Amos, and John the Baptist made it clear that it isn't going to be business as usual. Advent literally means "a breaking in," and Jesus Christ was the incarnation of God breaking in to human affairs. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to continue Christ's work on earth. United Methodist Missionaries have dedicated their lives over the decades to making the way straight, leveling uneven ground, lowering the hills, and raising the valleys for God's people around the world. Through your gifts and prayers we, as a denomination, can truly put up the sign: "Road Construction Ahead." Rev. Paul L. Webster is a Global Ministries missionary who, together with his co-director, Tshala Mwengo (also a Global Ministries missionary), is developing an agricultural research, development, and training center called Mujila Falls Agriculture Centre in extreme northwest Zambia. For more information, visit www.mujilafalls.com. Advance Special #15016A can be used to contribute to the work being done for the people of NW Zambia.
Date posted: Nov 29, 2008 |
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