Day's Diary

May 9, 2007 ~ Female Abusa

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Sunday I went to Mbenjere Church, partner with Crafton Heights in Pittsburgh. I knew this would be an enjoyable visit, since the partnership between the congregations is so good and I was right. And as always, God had some surprises and lessons in store for me.  Mbenjere has a new pastor who has been there only 3 months, so there was much to be said about partnership, but that was not the pastor’s initial focus. You see, the pastor is one of only four ordained female pastors serving congregations in the Synod and she was thrilled that I was there. She was more interested in having a female pastor visit than in having someone come to talk about Partnership.

This was a stretch for me. I know this will sound funny, but I don’t think of myself as a female pastor. I see myself as a pastor, who happens to be, among other things, left handed, azungu, and, yes, female but none of those alone define who I am. They are all part of who God has made me to be and out of the context in which I serve him, but none of them is my identity. So having this pastor focus on the fact that I was a female pastor was uncomfortable for me, because it was focusing on one part of me and not on the ministry to which God has called me. I had to work through all of this to see things from her perspective and appreciate her enthusiasm.

The whole adventure began at 7 a.m. when I was informed that Rev. Navaya would be going with us to Mbenjere. She had been in Zomba for a meeting on Saturday and decided to stay over to ride up with us. Now Anderson Kamwendo and Joe Dzuwa from the Partnership came from Blantyre and I had two students who are working on dissertations who had asked to travel to several of the churches to gather information for their work and they were coming. Then, there were two students from the congregation who wanted to go to visit family and friends. That made eight to travel so some had to ride in the back of the truck. The two students from the congregation were elected and Rev. Navaya claimed the front seat, so we could talk and she could give directions. She was eager to talk about the roles of women in the Synod, especially with Synod elections coming. There were two other pastors and two elders in the truck and everyone had an opinion. It was a lively discussion. For the most part, I listened quietly as I drove. It was educational. When asked my opinion, I said that I was much more concerned with the person’s qualifications than I was with his or her gender. That was a conversation stopper. We rode for about three kilometers without anyone saying anything. The next topic moved us to a more neutral conversation.

Rev. Navaya was gracious and so eager to impress me and to show me her congregations (she had the choirs from her other two churches come to Mbenjere and participate in the service with drums and singing and dancing). During the children’s message, she had me come forward and answer questions the children had about Sunday school in America. When it came time for introductions of visitors, she focused on me, almost ignoring the other six who had come with me.  The church had prepared gifts for me and I was humbled again by the presentation. I now have a large wood carved Ngoni tribal warrior, complete with spears, sitting in my living room and a wonderful new chitenje. The mvano cheered when I put it on over my robe. Everything took a bit longer than normal because there was more formality and lots more flair to all the parts of the service. We began at 9:30 and the service did not end until 12:50, and the sermon was only 20 minutes long, with Anderson Kamwendo doing translation for me. At the end of the service, the pastor ushered me to the back of the church and together we stood to shake hands with everyone as they left. Now this is done in the States every Sunday but this was the first time I had done it in Malawi. Apparently it was a bit unusual for the congregation as well, because the first elders who came out, shook our hands and then got in line next to the pastor. Everyone followed suit, shaking hands down the line and then joining the line at the end. By the time everyone was out of the building, the line had hooked around in a “U” shape. It was really rather fun to see.

After the service, I had to meet with the Mvano to answer questions they had about women’s ministry in Pittsburgh before we could have the Partnership meeting. Rev. Navaya had promised them I would meet with them first. The partnership group waited patiently. We then had lunch and finally got to the partnership meeting. We had to go to her home when we were finished with the meeting. She wanted me to see where she lives and to sign her guest book. She was eager to try and set a date when I could come back and we could celebrate communion together. Then, she sent ground nuts and popcorn home with me from her own pantry. I was humbled because I just take for granted that I come and go as “abusa,” not as a female abusa. It meant something special to her for me to be there and share the service with her. It was a lesson for me.