In January 2009, thirteen of us from all over the United States (including 6 from Jesus Metropolitan Community Church) had the opportunity to travel to the South Sudan and meet some brave and resilient people. We traveled to stand in solidarity with them, to learn about their struggles, and to start to determine how we might best work together with them to reach their goals for their homeland.
We began writing about our experiences in last week’s Be Still and Know, and we’ll continue for one more week. We hope that you will take something away from these writings that will inspire you to remember our Sudanese friends in their desperate situations. Somehow, some way, we must all learn how to live simply so that these friends may simply live.
Today’s scripture: Exodus 1:1-22 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Elizabeth Keller):
It was our third day of travel, bus-tripping from Kampala, Uganda to Nimule, Sudan. Most of our eyes were closed, attempting to catch some sleep, despite the car-sized potholes, dirty and dusty winds, and sweltering African sun.
Then the moment came and was gone so quickly. My eyes opened to a horrific scene that still haunts me. A bus turned over, grain scattered everywhere, and a young girl lying dead on the side of the road — her body broken, a limb missing. And she was alone. I mean, people were everywhere, surrounding her, but no one noticed her. No one held her in her dying. Our bus full of kawajas (white people) just drove on by.
I have never before seen such a shocking scene. But my African friends have been surrounded by death and dying, always. Stripped of their trees and homes, widowed and orphaned by war, the Sudanese people have too often been forgotten and neglected and left to die. . . alone.
Last month, we celebrated Black History and we honored our black sisters and brothers here who have known a different America, beaten and abused, whipped and hung from a tree to die. . . alone. And in the midst of Women’s History Month, we honor our women and girls who have known a different world, forced into marriage, denied education, sold for sex, bound by chores and children and culture, and are too often. . . alone. And in the midst of the Lenten Season, we remember the One who also died alone, as most of us passed him by. . .
Where is that place within each of us that finally wakes up and opens our eyes to injustice? The midwives Shiphrah and Puah found that place. When the king of Egypt became threatened by the strength of the Hebrew people, he commanded the midwives, “If it is a boy, kill him. . . and throw him into the Nile.”
Yet, these midwives refused. They refused! They refused the highest authority in the entire nation. Can you imagine their courage and defiance? These women — who held no power and who could have died — responded not with hatred or apathy, not with fear or concern for self, but they responded with that place within each of us that is the Divine.
It’s that place where the ordinary does the extraordinary. It’s that place where we see beyond ourselves to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the imprisoned, and welcome the stranger. It’s there, where we will meet the living Jesus.
Thought for the day: Consider the injustices happening in your own community and neighborhood, in your workplace and homeland, beyond our borders and across the oceans. Don’t allow the evening news or front page paper to fill you with indifference. Instead, watch it and read it with eyes wide open. Stop and pray for the things God brings to your heart. Stop and pray for yourself — asking God to free you from any apathy, and instead awaken you to the work we are called to do, in making heaven here on earth.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.