Day's Diary

January 21, 2007 ~ General Assembly Opening

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The General Assembly of the CCAP is meeting in Blantyre this week, beginning with an opening worship service today at St. Michael and All Angels’ new multipurpose building. This is like the General Assembly of the PC(USA) meeting, with representatives from all the Synod, pastors and elders in equal numbers from all five synods. As a representative of a Partner church, I was invited to attend. Rev. Gunya, the General Secretary for Blantyre Synod said he would get details to those of us at Zomba who were to attend the opening. I knew Silas and Dr. Chiphangwe would be, since they are past General Secretaries of the Synod. Friday, Dr. Chiphangwe confirmed that we were to be there for the worship, which was to begin at 8:30 a.m. Anderson Kamwendo called to say that I would not be at a Partner church because of the General Assembly opening. We made the car pooling arrangements and were set to go. Then Saturday afternoon about 4:30, Dr. Chiphangwe stopped to say that the Moderator of the General Assembly had changed the time of the opening worship to 2 p.m., so the Blantyre pastors could be in their pulpits. This would never happen in the US, but this is Malawi and these things happen regularly. No one was surprised, except me. I called Silas to confirm and that was the first he had heard of the change but he said that worked well for him and I could preach at his large church, since they were having pledge Sunday and I had preached for that at his small church last week. He said he would confirm with the rest of the car pool and pick me up at 9 a.m., since he had just gotten his Land Rover back from the repair shop. All was set, again.

This morning just before 9 a.m. Sepo, Silas’ grandson, came with a note asking me to drive, since the Land Rover was very oily and not good for transporting folks. So Sepo and I went and picked up the rest of the family and we headed to Silas’ larger church. He let the elders know that we needed to leave by 12:15 to make it to Zomba to gather the rest of our passengers for the trip to Blantyre. We did a full worship, but in record time (one hour and 40 minutes), had lunch and were on the road by 12:15. Now it had begun to rain during the worship service and by the time we headed from the church to Zomba, it was pouring. Silas was driving and he dropped me at my house to freshen up and he went to get Dr. Chiphangwi and Dr. Hara, the vice principal, who is from Nkhoma Synod. He said he would be back by 12:45. I let my neighbor Rev. Katundu, from Livingstonia Synod, know the time frame. He was talking to Rev. Chiboboka, from Zambia Synod, who really wanted to come. We decided he could squeeze in. But 12:45 came and went and there was not Silas. By 1:10, I was worried because it was raining hard. I was concerned that something had happened to them or to the truck in the rain. I tried to call, but Silas’ cell phone was turned off. There was no way we were going to make it to Blantyre by 2 p.m. He came about 1:20. We quickly got in, with all of our robes and stoles, since Dr. Chiphangwi had instructed us to be properly dressed for the occasion – robes and such in the back of the truck and 6 people in the cab (4 in the back seat). Then we heard the story of why they were late. Dr. Chiphangwi had been locked out of his house because of a malfunctioning lock and they had to break in. None of the keys they had would turn the stubborn lock and he couldn’t leave his wife and family out in the rain, and his robe and stole in the house. We would be late, but everyone was safe and we would all be properly dressed.

Silas drove and we arrived by 2:15, not bad, considering our start and the rain. We pulled up to the new church building, but didn’t see anyone outside. The service must have begun. We parked and began to gather our things from the back of the truck while Silas searched for where we were to go. He determined that the service had not begun, so they must still be preparing, so we headed to a section of rooms below the worship center. No one was there, but a greeter said we could use a room to robe and he would take us to the vestry, where the others were meeting. We quickly dressed and followed the greeter. As we passed through the sanctuary on the way to the vestry, I had an uneasy feeling, because most of the pastors I know from Blantyre Synod were seated in the front rows in suits and clergy collars only. We went to the vestry and did the customary greetings all around and the moderator of the General Assembly, Dr Felix Chingota, (known to many in Pittsburgh Presbytery) instructed the greeter to seat us to the right of the pulpit area. So, as a choir sang, the six of us in full clergy splendor – robes, stoles and academic capes – were ushered to seats to the side of the chancel, while the rest of the clergy from all the synods sat in the center of the congregation. After the choir finished, the moderator, general secretary and the elders who were to serve communion filed into the chancel. From our seats of honor, we had a great view for the worship service, and everyone in the congregation had a great view of the well appointed clergy from Zomba. I decided that I was going to stand out anyway, because I was one of only five mzungus (whites) in the building and one of only three female clergy, so I might as well do so with my distinguished friends from ZTC, and make the best of it. The service was lovely, and in English, so I could understand it, a real bonus. We had a great time teasing Dr. Chiphangwi on the trip back to Zomba, thanking him for the ZTC distinction.

As the service ended, there were two announcements. The general session would be delayed in starting while the Standing Committee met and pastors and delegates from Blantyre Synod were to meet in the old church building. We doffed our robes, put them in the back of the truck, and headed for the church, just a bit behind the other clergy from the Synod. But when we got to the church, the youth were meeting there, so we had to go on a hunt for the new meeting place. After a few wrong turns, we found them in a back meeting room of the Synod building, already engaged in discussion. The agenda was to determine the exact voting members of the delegation and to nominate a pastor from Blantyre for a position in the General Council of the General Assembly. Zambia Synod had been asked to do the same thing. The reason these two synods were being asked to present someone for the position was because they are neutral synods. The next moderator of the General Assembly should come from Livingstonia Synod, but there is concern that that person can not be impartial in an issue where his Synod is one of the key players. The major issue before the General Assembly is the ongoing border dispute between Nkhoma Synod and Livingstonia Synod. There was great discussion about what the role of Blantyre Synod might be in this dispute, and what the way is forward for the Synods. Some wanted to deal with it at the end of the General Assembly and others wanted to address it immediately and have an end to the discussion, to move on to other business. That is the decision of the Standing Committee, and that was why they were meeting. At this point, there is no agenda for the Assembly because the position of the moderator is in question and the place of the debate has not been decided. The decision is to be made tonight and announced tomorrow morning, so we will hear then when the elections and the debate will be. The Zomba group left, with the time table for further trips down to the meetings in limbo until the agenda is announced. We did not discuss any of this on the way back, since there were representatives of the four Synods involved in this discussion in the truck. We decided against holding our own mini General Assembly and to wait for the real event in the next few days. This allows us to respect one another’s Synod positions and to remain friends and colleagues. That is our greatest desire. There is talk of Livingstonia looking for a reason to pull out of the CCAP, but that is only rumor at this time. Harare Synod did not come to the General Assembly at all, in protest of Livingstonia’s actions of setting up churches in their Synod as well, so only four Synods are represented at this point. This is a difficult time for the CCAP. Please keep these meetings in your prayers. Division in the Body of Christ is always difficult, as we in the PC(USA) know all too well. Prayer is the best support that we can offer at this time.