Youth Sunday in Mbarara

~ Several high schools worship w/ Grace Lutheran Church ~ After a weekend of TEE, I traveled with some of my students and a Lutheran Media Ministry Uganda representative to Grace Lutheran Church in Mbarara, about 5 hours south-west of Kampala. We arrived just after dark and checked in to our "regular" hotel, the Tripple-A Guest House. My friend Norbert had come to Mbarara from Iganga a few days ago to learn about agriculture in this part of the country, so we enjoyed catching up a bit more with what he had learned and observed here.

Sunday worship at Grace was pleasant and full. I enjoyed sitting in the back and was wonderfully amused by a small girl who sat just in front of me. After minutes staring at my hairy arms (most Ugandans don't have hair on their arms) and white skin, she finally ventured a hand to touch my arm. ~ My little friend ~ When she found that I wasn't all that strange or scary she grabbed onto my hand and turned back around to attentively participate in the rest of service. She hardly looked at me again except for occasional smiles but never let go of my hand behind her. After service I gave her one of our postcards that has a picture of me and Krista. Within minutes she was showing it off to her little friends until one of the boys grabbed it and ran with the little girl chasing after her precious postcard. Since I had several postcards I eventually gave her a replacement.  But enough about the universal truth that children are cute and precious.

First, it was a special Youth Sunday service. One of our TEE students who is also a regional representative of the LMMU had been visiting with many of the high schools in the area and had invited them to come for this special Youth Sunday Service. Each of the 7 or 8 schools was introduced in the course of the service and shared a song.  After the service proper I shared a few words with the youth, encouraging them to be confident in Christ, using those well-known words from 1 Timothy:

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. - 1 Timothy 4:12 NIV

I moved from that message to Timothy (who was probably in his 30s) to Paul's 2nd letter to Timothy where we see how and why we can be confident through Paul's poignant words that end with a strong Gospel message:

God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. - 2 Timothy 1:7-9 NIV

~ Participants read some LMMU literature after worship ~In addition to my brief address there were speeches by various important special guests and some introductions. Since this was also an LMMU Sunday, the Bible Correspondence Course (BCC) certificates were awarded by a representative of LMMU and a note was made about the offering being sent to support the LMMU's work.  Finally, a special offering was collected to begin the process of bringing electricity to the church. Because it was such a special day, a few crates of soda had been bought for some of the guests and two little Ugandan cakes had been purchased for the occasion. After all the celebrations, the congregation went out to share "The Grace."

The Grace is a tradition in our congregation in Kampala as well. As the congregation exits the church, the first person shakes the pastor's hand and then immediately stands next to him, adding on to the receiving line. ~ Circling up to share The Grace after worship ~ The next person does the same until every person in the congregation has shook hands with every other person in the congregation and you've formed a large circle. Then we all join hands and say together Paul's parting words from 2 Corinthians:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with [us] all [now and forever more. Amen.] - 2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV

After some time visiting, we set back on our way to Kampala, grateful for God's work in this place. -Shauen