Rainbow Moments

Summary

For those of you who don’t know me, or not well enough, my name is Fundi Kayamba-Phiri. I’m guessing for some of you this is also an opportunity to learn how to pronounce my surname, as over the years I’ve heard all sorts of pronunciations, no hard feelings though, all is well. I moved to Norway, as a Master’s student, in August 2014 and have been a member of this congregation ever since. I have served and continue to do so in different ways, but today I am grateful for the blessing to share God’s word with you, while Pastor Joel is away.

Let us pray

I was recently elected into the church council, and last weekend I got to share a bit of my life story with my fellow council members. One of the things that I shared was that I am a private person, and so what I am doing today is the total opposite of who I am and what I stand for. I grew up as a member of the Baptist church, and being Baptist, never paid much attention to periods such as lent. It was only in my final years of college that I felt urge to commit to observing Lent. Over the years I have prayed and fasted and for all sorts of things…some too embarrassing to mention here, I still need your attention here. I’m not going to waste time talking about all my Lenten experiences…oh that one time when I fasted from this, or that time when I did that. I want to share with you my most recent Lent experience. Well almost latest, but this was last year. 2017. It was the second month of the year, most of you guessed right, February. Lent was coming up and for some reason, not clear to me now, I decided that I would fast before Lent to prepare myself for the season ahead. On the second day of my fast, early in the morning, I noticed that my mother had called me around 3am. Almost immediately, my sister, whom some of you have seen, called and told me my uncle, my mother’s older brother, did not make it home the previous night. He was missing. I got up and I prayed. As I prayed I felt a sense of hopelessness, and at some point I could barely complete my sentences. I went to class, and during the lecture my sister called again and told me my uncle was dead. He had been found abandoned in a field. He was murdered, the previous night. Uncle Cedric was my closest uncle, more than that, he was one of my best friends. We talked about everything, from making jokes about each other and our family, to football etc. During my stay in Norway if a month went by and we didn’t talk he would never blame me for it, he blamed himself for not calling HIS DAUGHTER, that was our relationship. I had never known him to ever get into trouble, and so to learn that he was murdered, and for reasons that are still a mystery today was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

I was hurting. I was bitter. I was angry. I was fasting. The combination of these things was something that I struggled with throughout Lent last year. For the first time in my life I felt the need for counselling and asked the student priest if my observing Lent was wrong because my heart was not right. His response was simple, something terribly bad happened, you lost one of the most important people in your life. It is natural for you to have these feelings. The question you should ask yourself is whether you can trust God to see you through this season.

Later on in the year I shared this with a friend, she expressed how my obedience to God through fasting saved me from worse grief. It was true. I tried to imagine what it would have been if I didn’t have faith that God would take me through.

Another friend of mine was at a Language cafe. Asked what their worst fears, one guy in the group expressed that it was the fact he didn’t feel like he had purpose. For both of us, that was unrelatable, but in my case I imagined how I had felt in my time of grief and how knowing that God has a plan for my life gave me hope. I learnt that there is always hope in the storm when you have faith in God, no matter how painful it may be.

But with God’s promise comes responsibility. Isn’t that what a covenant should be? A binding agreement between parties, in which each party has a role to play. We have a role to play. See, as we experience these rainbow moments in our lives, God expects us to share those with others, beit through our testimonies or our talents.

God’s covenant is for everyone. In the time of Noah God promised that He would never destroy the whole earth with a flood again. We are offered salvation, and unlike what the Jews had thought, salvation is for all. One of the areas where I have struggled is outreach here in Norway. We live in an individualistic society, where what “I” think or believe is truth and more important than the beliefs of others. How do you do ministry in such a society? For one, here I am, sharing. Seeking God’s wisdom and guidance on what to do and who to minister to is key. And they shall know that we are Christians by our love? How different is our attitude from our co-workers, neighbours and friends? At the core of our ministry is our ability to exude the fruits of the Spirit. I want us all to think for a second as I read them out.

love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

My parents are recent farm owners. And they plant everything! Anything really. I was once offered different vegetable seeds and they planted all of them! They find joy in this. I don’t. But that’s the attitude that God expects us to have, to sow seeds in people’s lives so that they should also experience God’s love like we have.

And so this lent I would like you to be encouraged that though we go through trials and hardship that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that even when we think we are alone God is holding on to us. I also want to encourage you to reach out to those around us. To demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit to those in our place of work, schools and those we meet along the way. I also encourage you to take part in the Lenten services here at the church to fellowship and be encouraged with others. Amen

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