 Bishop Jokomo preaching during service of commissioning. Photo: Connie Nelson. |
Below are excerpts from Bishop Christopher Jokomo's sermon preached March 24 during the Missioners of Hope commissioning in Kitwe, Zambia. Using Mark 8:22-26 as the text, Bishop Jokomo examined the role of the village in shaping persons' lives and faith, not only in positive ways, but also as a source of prejudice and hate. In his sermon, recalling how Jesus led the blind man outside his own community in order to be healed, he challenged the new Missioners of Hope and the congregation to 'come out of the village':
"For me, the village is central. It is the village that gave me much of what I am today. Most of you are familiar with the village: it is where your character, where my character, was molded. And (yet) Jesus says, 'Come out of the village. Let me take you out of the village.'
"My name 'Christopher' comes out of the village where I was born. My parents...had just become Christians. After giving birth to nine children, they gave birth to 10--and they called him 'Christopher,' saying 'this child shall be Christ's bearer.' Not only did the village give me my name. The village gave me my identity. Is that true? That your village is central to your identity?
"The village provided for me important securities. Young boys in the village would go out to help look after cattle, sheep and goats (and even with the threat of leopards, would return back to the village). My village gave me my work ethic. I learned to work because of the village. My father got up at 3 in the morning, to plow...and I went to work in the village.
"My sisters and brothers, the village is not always a joyous place. A village can teach you to hate people. In my African village in Zimbabwe, I learned to understand that (some people) were inferior. That people from other regions or other states were inferior...
"When people talk about Hitler and his atrocities, I say to myself, 'These people who condemn Hitler should in fact walk there to see the kind of village that he came out of.'
"And so I see why for Jesus it is crucially important to take this man out of the village; because it is the village that taught him that some people are just like thieves. And therefore, in order for healing to take place--complete healing--he had to leave the village and walk the road with Jesus Christ.
"The security in our village was false security. Security in your own village is false security. My friends, our institutions provide false security. Security is in the hands of Jesus.
"My sisters and brothers who are to be commissioned as Missioners of Hope, let me say this to you: You have spent several weeks here...and you are ready to go. You have experienced (life) apart from the village...and it was with Jesus.
"Jesus says to this (newly healed) man, 'Walk....but don't enter the village'."
"Today people are excited about globalization, about the 'global village.' (Yet it is a place where) the poor will become poorer and the rich will become richer. The foundation of the true global village is the name of Jesus Christ.
"Before I end, I would like to commend Jesus Christ to you all. For me, he is sure security.
"As you prepare to go, I challenge you to see beyond the horizon of the village. I challenge you to see beyond the horizon--because the horizon has limitations. I challenge you as servants...believing in the leadership that Jesus Christ will provide. Never go back to the village. You are a new creation...
"Africa has stereotypes about its children. Missioners of Hope, we hope and pray that your presence among us will be able to liberate us...so that we will begin to see children as God's children. Jesus Christ is watching us. And he is commanding us to go--and don't take the village.
"And walk your walk where the walk of love will extend to your neighbors, and continue until the whole world will say, 'Jesus is the Christ.' Amen."