“Preach Jesus always, use words only when necessary.” St. Francis
The last hours of my time in Sierra Leone was filled with uncomfortable noise of deaf and dumb woman preaching on the ferry ride to the airport. I was actually not sure at first what she was doing. She was making a wretched noise in her throat but there were no words…not even Crio words that were discernable. Someone told us that she could not hear or speak but that she was preaching Jesus. At that moment, I was speechless. I asked myself, how can she preach Jesus without words…she must be crazy. As I asked the question, I realized that my whole time in Sierra Leone had been a message, a sermon that is only understood in the heart, a message with out words…a message of hope…a word no one said but everyone lived.
I was speechless many times and many situations in Freetown. It all began with a walk through a slum, called Kroos Bay. The children called to us “alle, alle” and Cami told us her response was “halleluiah.” Beautiful. We walked through the streets to the greetings of little children…they all knew Cami and they knew why she was there. She came to Freetown to announce the good news…her life lived with them…their sweet greetings announced to all the Christ has come, even to a slum. We then arrived at the “church”, a largish room, that serves a school during week and a church on Sunday…Saturday’s at 4:00pm is reserved for the Good News. I watched almost 200 little children file in to their spaces on wooden benches to sing praises and talk to Jesus. It was beautiful…some of you may have seen this reflection before but this is my response first being with the children…
I feel in love with boys and girls in a program called “lighthouse.” The boys and girls at light house announced the good new with their lives…what was lost has been found…what was stolen from them is being redeemed. Their lives are a testimony to Hope. From a history of hurts to committed students and apprentices in professions like tailoring and woodworking, these teenagers are a miracle. They live without much accountability besides a faithful woman (cami) who loves them. They do not have family accountability to push them to attend school or go to work at a tailoring shop all day and then spend the evening in night school to read and write—yet they go and they excel. This is a testimony to hope.
I have lost my voice and can not express the absurdity of hope in a place such as Freetown with both it’s recent and not so recent history. From slavery to civil war, hope has emerged and crept into the hearts of the people. People who should be without hope…street children, child combatants, and the poor in the slums of kroos bay…they all seem to have a deep contagious hope in the way that they live their lives. Because they know that the labels that I have given them are not who they are…they are sons and daughters…princes and princessed in the kingdom…they know what was lost and know that there is so much to be found in the embrace of Jesus. The lives in Freetown are a miracle!
The woman on Ferry in my last hours announced her brokenness…the harsh throaty noise that came out told us she could not speak...yet she still preached…a message that I somehow understood. I do not think is it so strange to announcing the coming kingdom and your brokenness in the same instant. They somehow go together…christ’s broken body brought the kingdom to earth and he will bring it again through our weakness. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. In Freetown, I saw the weak, say “I am strong, because of what the Lord has done for me.”
Hope for the future of these children and pray for the coming Kingdom in places like Freetown, Sierra Leone. My prayer is that your soul will be nourished and that you too will find hope in dark places!
With love and a hopeful heart...
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