Yesterday was the big ordination service and the closing Eucharist of the Standing Committee meeting. We vested in our albs and stoles (except for Bob North, who conveniently "forgot" to bring his vestments). Of course, he's been here before and so knows how incredibly hot it gets here and what it feel like under those robes! There was this huge procession from the Bishop's house across the road to the Cathedral. In the procession were all the priests of the Diocese, the Dean of the Cathedral, the four Archdeacons, the Evangelists, the Youth Choir, the Mothers Union, all four of us and the seven people to be ordained and, of course, the Bishop. However hot we were, though, the Bishop had to be a whole lot hotter since he had on easily two layer more than we did.
We initially gathered under the large mango tree where the ordinands signed their certificates. That was at 9:30 a.m. We processed across the road to the Cathedral and the service began at 10:00 p.m. Much singing, some dancing, great joy, and a LOT of people giving long speeches of greeting. We had been told that the service would go until 1:00 p.m., but it actually took til 2:30 p.m. We ordained 5 deacons (1 woman and 4 men) and 2 priests (1 man and 1 woman). Two of the new deacons were the people who had been primarily responsible for the simultaneous translation of the sessions of the Standing Committee meeting, so we felt as if we knew them.
Mary gave a very lovely (and blessedly short) sermon and had Suzanne, Bob, and I come forward and teach "This Little Gospel Light of Mine." What a hoot!!
I believe the Bishop told us that there were more than 1,000 people in attendance. Mary and I in one pair and Suzanne and one of the Deacons in another pair distributed communion to more than 450 people! That's just a lot of folks. And the handwashing that is done as part of the service is not ceremonial at all. It means really washing your hands with soap and water and drying them on a regular bath towel. And you are tremendously grateful for it! All of us were pouring sweat under our robes and were more than delighted to get out of the clergy collar and the hot clergy shirts for the balance of the day once we got back to our tukuls.
There was a large luncheon/dinner after the service held under that same large mango tree where we began it all in the morning. These women are amazing. You can't imagine cooking for this many people with the facilities they have. Truly I marvel! They have these beautiful fresh-baked rolls. We asked how they do this without ovens. Bob North gave us a little tutorial on how that's done and explained how difficult it is to keep an even temperature so that the rolls cook but don't burn. There was beef, chicken, fish, rice, casava greens, spinach, pineapple, bananas, and on and on!
Mary has had a bit of queasiness and stomach rumbling and now I have it too. Really don't want to eat anything, but that's difficult without insulting people. Today, we went over to St. Timothy's Pre-School and Lower Primary School and then on to the ECS (Episcopal Church in the Sudan, which, when they can afford to change their signs and logo, will be ECSSS, Episcopal Church of the Sudan and South Sudan). The children sang songs for us and we toured the classrooms. We taught "This Little Gospel Light of Mine" there as well!
From there, we went out into the bush to visit two churches, one St. Paul's in Nambia and the other St. Luke's in Rangu. Distances are not far, but the roads are so terrible that you just can't travel very fast. We were originally due to visit three parishes, but couldn't leave as early as we originally planned because some high-ranking person died yesterday and, although he was not of the Zande tribe, his family wanted the Bishop to bless the body. We waited quite a long time for the caravan of cars to arrive, but they didn't so the Bishop asked the Dean of the Cathedral to take over and we left.
We travel in an old, but sturdy truck with two wooden bench seats facing each other in the back. After about an hour of travel, we arrived at St. Paul's to an enthusiastic greeting of a large crowd lining the road and then walked on palm fronds from the road to the church. The Bishop greeted the people and then each of us visitors was given a chance to talk. We presented some of the pillowcase dresses and have photos of the girls dressed in them. Then tea and more food. Then another hour's drive to St. Luke's and a similarly enthusiastic greeting, distribution of more pillowcase dresses and some of the eyeglasses. And, of course, more food!
We arrived back at the Bishop's compound about 4:30 p.m. and, once again, were very grateful to take off the clergy shirts and collars.
Internet access has been difficult. I'll try to see if I can get this posted sometime this evening before they turn it off. I'll have to go down to the Diocesan offices in order to get the connection. We'll see!
More later!
Jeanie Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment