Christmas 2007 to New Year 2008

It's 21.40 on 31st December 2007 after the strangest Christmas we've ever known. Even now it's just struck me that this will be the first New Year we've known that won't be ushered in with the chimes of Big Ben and the strains of Auld Lang Syne on the radio or TV.

Christmas morning dawned sunny and hot after the first Advent-less approach to Christmas and Christmas Eve without a Midnight Christmas Communion in 38 years. We awoke to a house without electricity or running water as the power cable from the hydro-scheme had been severed by termites, and the water is dependent on an electric water pump. We were very grateful to have a cooker running on bottled gas as this meant we could still entertain the guests we had invited to share our frozen chicken from Kampala.

The Christmas morning service began at around 10.00 am. Two-and-a-half hours later it was still going strong, although by that time the spirit of Christmas joy had been somewhat stifled by prayers against 'the spirit of disco-dancing' and a condemnation of condoms! We, very wickedly, left the service before the results of the competitive Christmas collection (don't ask) had been announced!

This service at Kuluva was a far cry from the 3-hour Carol Service we attended at St Philip's in Arua the previous Sunday - a service of 11 Lessons and Carols with added contributions from the children and a hilarious Nativity Play by the Young People. The blond-haired, blue-eyed female baby doll which took the part of the baby Jesus was an entirely new interpretation of the Christmas story for us, and one of Herod's guards was truly terrifying. I had been invited to preach at the service by a colleague from Ringili, and finally got up to preach after two-and-a-half hours of the service in a highly excited atmosphere following this performance and a truly lively rendering of Joy to the World. I really enjoyed the service, and the opportunity to preach a Christmas message made me feel it really was Christmas. Unfortunately Anne's experience was less good because she didn't have such a good view as me, and was also sitting in front of the PA loudspeakers. The average age of the 200+ strong congregation was probably less than 30. It was an encouraging celebration and a good start to Christmas.

Christmas Eve was spent muzungu-style in the grounds of Radio Pacis - the Roman Catholic local radio station. A group of some 50 ex-patriates sang Christmas Carols in candlelight around an absolutely enormous Christmas tree growing there, festooned in literally thousands of lights. Singing was followed by food accompanied by 20 different flavours of ice cream produced by our American host who runs the radio station. It was a good 'do', but it was a universe away from Uganda.

The start of Christmas Day we've already described - but it did improve. We spoke to our children on the phone before we ate, then had a truly scrumptious Christmas dinner with our 3 German and 2 Scottish guests from Kuluva. We all wore silly paper hats and sang around the dinner table before they left us to a quiet end of the day with an hour's worth of Christmas Carols on the remaining battery in our laptops, and (but don't tell anyone) a couple of glasses of wine from a bottle we'd smuggled in from Kampala.

So now we await the New Year. We can hear strains of a Lugbara knees-up drifting up to us from Kuluva Chapel. We'll probably go down there later. But then tomorrow morning a service at which I am preaching. New Year is at least as big as Christmas here. And the only real negative on the horizon is having to have our rear shock-absorbers renewed. They were finished off on our 1000 km tour of the diocese before Christmas.

We are quite looking forward to a period with slightly fewer new experiences than we've had over the past 2-3 weeks, just to re-group. But the New Year promises to be challenging and stimulating.

We pray that you will all know God's blessing in the year ahead.

Cathedral Consecration Part 2 - Emmanuel

I was not the last member of the clergy to arrive for the procession, and so had the company of others who also had to robe in record time before moving swiftly to catch up with the procession which was by now nearing the entrance to the old cathedral.

The old cathedral has seen much better days and for some time the diocese has been advised to vacate the building for safety reasons. But that didn’t prevent one final act of worship in the crowded building for its de-consecration. The bishop acknowledged that some would be sad to see the end of the old cathedral, but the dominant mood was one of celebration. The singing was energetic, and thankfully the roof remained intact!

A final procession from the old cathedral led us out into bright sunlight. There were crowds of people, and accompanied by the sound of a brass band, drums and singing, the procession (by now more of a dance) passed between a guard of honour made up of the Mothers’ Union, members of the Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade, Guides and other uniformed organizations. We were headed for the new Cathedral about a quarter of a mile down the road past the Diocesan Office.

The West Door of the Cathedral was festooned with balloons and ribbons, but we didn’t enter. Instead, continuing to sing To God be the Glory, the procession was directed to ‘dance’ its way around the perimeter of the building - once only, not seven times - although the trumpets continued to sound in bravura fashion.

Arriving at the West Door for a second time we came to a halt. Bishop Joel knocked on the door three times with his staff - “The peace of God be in this house”. The crowd responded enthusiastically “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” and we entered the Cathedral, singing a Lugbara hymn – which some of us had to make up – or sing in tongues.

It took some time for the members of the congregation to take their places, but finally the service to consecrate the new cathedral began in earnest. If the service had been happening in a British cathedral, every move would have been worked out in minute detail and, probably, the printed orders of service would have been ready to be used in the service. But here there was a delightful spontaneity, aided by the fact that the Orders of Service didn’t appear until they were no longer needed

Up to two years ago Madi and West-Nile Diocese had been in some turmoil and in need of much love and healing. On this Advent Sunday in a new cathedral, a new beginning was made. Bishop Joel’s predecessor was present and God’s grace was apparent as Bishop Joel and he embraced one another. The Archbishop preached on the Parable of the Talents, congratulating the diocese on the work they had done to bring the cathedral to its present state of readiness. In fact the floor isn’t yet complete, and some windows and doors remain to be put in place, but in this condition it was a good parable in itself of a work in progress. I was reminded of Philippians 1.6 “......being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Emmanuel Cathedral – that is the name it shares with its predecessor – and a good one for an Advent celebration. The forgiveness and reconciliation evident in the service, the fellowship shared over Ugandan food and bottles of soda afterwards, and the spirit of worship and celebration; all were testimony to God’s presence in this place and a genuine readiness in his people to listen and to follow. There is still so much to do, so much spiritual growth needed in clergy and congregation alike for us to be equipped to face the future, but ‘Emmanuel’ – God is with us. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Cathedral Consecration Part 1 - African Time

We returned from Kampala relieved to be back home, away from CHOGM and the dust of the city.

We were also glad to be back in time for the consecration of Madi/West Nile’s new Cathedral in Mvarra, which was due to take place the following weekend on 2nd December. The consecration was to be the centrepiece of a 12-day visit the Archbishop of Uganda was making to the diocese.

We went to church our first Sunday back, hoping to learn about arrangements for the consecration. Notices are a significant part of many Ugandan church services (sometimes taking at least as long as the sermon), and usually include a “welcome” to visitors and a “welcome back” to anyone who has been away for more than a few days. We were duly welcomed back after our month in Kampala, but there was no mention of the cathedral consecration.

After the service we asked whether the consecration was still taking place the following Sunday. We were assured that it was. But when? Possibly 9.00 am, or maybe 10.00 am............although it could conceivably be later......or earlier.

Enquiries on Monday at the college in Ringili yielded no more reliable information. It hadn’t been announced on Sunday at St Philip’s, a church in Arua just down the road from the new cathedral. Various attempts to find out what was happening during the week proved no more successful.

On Friday, the Hospital Chaplain said that the service was definitely starting at 10.00 am, and that we should leave Kuluva at 9.30. To make sure I thought it would be a good idea to go to the Diocesan Office to ask the Diocesan Secretary. No, the service wasn’t starting at 10.00 am but 9.30. Be there for 9.00 am to robe.

Returning to Kuluva we met the Hospital Administrator, who told us that he had received four invitations to the consecration. We should have one of them. Taking the precious invitation we were glad to see that the invitation said 9.30 am. We arranged to take the Hospital Administrator, the Chaplain and one or two others in the car. Meet at 8.40 on Sunday morning we said.

Sunday morning at 8.45 we had just one of our passengers. It took a further 10 minutes to collect the others – a different group than the one we had first arranged.

We arrived at the cathedral at 9.10 am just as the bishop was praying at the start of the procession. For once, African time had been replaced by European time - and I was late! One mortified muzungu!

A few days later we discovered that the bishop of Nebbi, the neighbouring diocese, had received his invitation by text on Friday evening. He was otherwise engaged.