The Song Remains the Same - Reflections on Mission in Uganda
The welcoming party at Oyoe Village
I returned this past week from a two week mission trip to Uganda…yes, Uganda. I still can’t quite believe I went to Africa. I’ve been on my fair share of short-term mission trips…in fact, Kate and I met on the plane for a high school youth group mission trip to Juarez, Mexico…but Africa?! That’s really far…like reeeally far. It took us almost 20 hours of flying just to get there! On that note, why connect through Amsterdam? Holland is at the top of Europe! It basically made our flight pattern a right angle. Fly northeast to Holland then turn right. I guess the airlines haven’t yet figured out the shortest distance between two points is a straight line? Portugal or southern Spain would have made much more sense, but I digress. Amsterdam it was and then almost a straight shot south for 8 hours to Uganda, “the Pearl of Africa.” Winston Churchill coined the phrase in his book My African Journey reflecting on his visit as he was struck by Uganda’s natural beauty…the scenery, the vegetation and animals. It was a beautiful place in many ways, full of beautiful people and places. I want to spend the next few posts of mine reflecting on our trip and what stood out to me in this very cross-cultural ministry experience.
Bishop Andrew, Regina (a team member), and me on the long flight to Amsterdam
I accompanied our Bishop Andrew Williams of the Anglican Diocese in New England and a small team of 7 others (3 teens and 4 adults) from Grace Anglican and Faith Anglican churches in our diocese. The trip had a dual purpose: 1) to allow Bishop Williams a chance to visit the home dioceses of our 3 Ugandan congregations here in New England 2) to partner with our brothers and sisters in Uganda in ministering to their people, specifically the youth. It was a whirlwind of a trip. We hit the ground running with a youth conference for high school and university students the first day we were there and didn’t really let up for the better part of two weeks. We traveled all over the country visiting 4 dioceses, multiple churches, multiple villages, and ended with yet another youth conference for over 1500 elementary school aged children…yes, over 1500 children! Looking back on it, I’m amazed at the Lord’s grace to carry us through such a rigorous schedule. It was something Bishop Williams said the first day, “The Lord has ensured we will not do this in our own strength. It will be by his grace alone.” And it was.
“Rattle On Rosa!”
Most days we met for breakfast around 6:15am and then were on the road to visit a church or diocese by 7. Our days often ended after a long, bumpy ride (which is a gross understatement) in our Mitsubishi Rosa bus, who was as much a part of our team as any human. I immortalized Rosa in a song called “Rattle On Rosa”…sure to be a huge hit in East Africa. Hopefully, I can locate the footage of us all singing it to share with you soon. We would burn into our next location after 8pm usually, eat dinner, try to debrief a bit, then crash in bed for the next day’s early start. Fatigue was certainly a factor, and it was a long enough trip to have multiple team members fall ill and then recover. We had everything from tooth aches and dehydration to migraines and stomach bugs. Still, no one was completely knocked out…the Lord gave us the grace to do whatever needed to be done each day. It is truly a miracle we held together as well as we did.
Inside Rosa
From day one all the way to day “I-don’t-know-what-day-it-is-I’m-so-tired-and-can’t-think-straight” I was struck by the same thing. Rural Uganda is about as far away as you can get from the common experience of your average American. The poverty is extreme in many cases. Everyday conveniences in our world like indoor plumbing and running water for example, are major luxuries in theirs. We regularly heard stories of people walking multiple kilometers just to get their daily drinking water for their families. It is the epitome of cultural difference….and, at the same time, the Ugandan people are not really different from us. Even though they are in a vastly different context, they are dealing with the same issues as we are here in the U.S. I heard bishops and pastors share their concern about helping their people get over their fears as they transitioned back to some kind of normalcy after the height of Covid. People were worried about provision with global inflation. I heard so many of their young people describe the pressure they feel to be successful. Many of them were the first ones in their family or village to have the opportunity to get a higher education and the resulting expectations were high. They were stressed about romantic relationships too. Wanting to be with someone, but feeling the pressure to have the impressive job, the clear career path, the fancy car, etc. You may scoff at such things as shallow, that you are above such materialistic concerns, but we’ve all thought about it when wanting someone to like us. We want to be as impressive as we can be to win them over.
one village’s men’s room
The young men there had the added pressure of needing to come up with any number of cows to pay the “bride price” for their love interest. The Bishop and I could not help but smile when they asked us advice over such an issue. Neither of us had to give cows to our fathers-in-law. Thank God! Granted, while we do not have a direct correlation here, closely related to the “bride price” is the pressure to want to be able to provide for your family and to show your future in-laws you’re not an idiot or a failure. Anyone remember Meet the Parents? We could relate to them, and we could speak to that tension between honoring family traditions and at the same time starting a new family with a new culture, especially one that is more defined by our faith in Jesus rather than whatever tribe we came from. And we certainly have our tribes in the U.S. too. Remember Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl”? Our brothers and sisters in Uganda were dealing with fear, anxiety, spending too much time on their phones, lust, pornography, making ends meet, family pressure, childhood trauma, rejection, etc., etc., etc.
No matter how different our contexts may be we are all still humans dealing with the same brokenness, sharing the same need. It’s not to say culture is irrelevant…it certainly is relevant, but it does not vastly change the human experience. We may have different stories with varying degrees of severity, but the end result is the same. I watched the Lord open up conversations with both men and women in Uganda where I would share part of my story, and they felt described. We were having that “You too?!” experience. It was just like Led Zeppelin sang, “California sunlight, sweet Calcutta rain, Honolulu starbright, the song remains the same!” While I doubt Robert Plant was trying to be that profound, it still rings true…no matter where you are on this earth, the song remains the same. You will find you have as much in common with someone from the other side of the planet as you do differences. There is truly nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
I wasn’t singing Led Zeppelin, but I did get the chance to share some of my originals
This is why testimony from men and women in the Ancient Near East 2000 years ago is still life-altering and liberating. We may not understand every cultural nuance in the Bible (and there are many), but we do hear ourselves being described. I see myself in the woman at the well, in Zacchaeus, in the lepers, in the woman caught in adultery, in Martha, in Peter and many more. And I need the same answer that they all received from outside of their situation. I need the same Lord Jesus that broke into their worlds, that knew everything about them and their context and came to forgive them, to heal them, to love them. I know their story…it is mine. And it is the story of our brothers and sisters in Uganda too.
Michael was one of our guides and “my brother from another mother”
We are all desperate for the same grace from the one true God, Jesus Christ. And the great news that we shared all over Uganda is what I share with you again today…Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, knows you and loves you and forgives you. He knows what you are going through today. He knows what you are carrying right now, what you are facing, what you have faced…and he promises to never leave you. He is not going anywhere. He loves you completely and unconditionally right where you are right now today. He has taken all of your past and made it his…all your mistakes, all your false-starts, all your regrets, all your trauma…he knows it and has taken it upon himself. It is his now. He is with you right now in your present, and he promises to hold your future always. Your future is guaranteed in him. He promises you will be with him forever in eternity, safe, and secure. There is nothing you could do to make him love you any more and there is nothing you could do to make him love you any less. Nothing can change him or his love for you. No matter where you are the song remains the same. Amen.
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