Sunday in Byumba

It is wonderful to wake up to the sound of birdsong and African voices chatting and singing.
Particularly striking are the African sun-birds emerald jewels glistening in the morning sunlight drinking nectar from the flowers outside our door.

Breakfast is African porridge sweet and satisfying, boiled eggs, papaya and passion fruit.

Then to the English service African style singing to a choir and drum accompaniment such wonderful rhythms singing using all of there bodies they enter into joyful praise and worship.
Today is a quieter day now after the excitement of arrival having finally recovered from a very tiring journey to be flung quickly into long trips along bumpy roads to see various parishes and projects which have been started on earlier trips now completed and new projects to be considered and planned for; as we travel we see many very poor dwellings made of mud brick in various states of repair and decay, depending on individual luck and circumstances. Life in rural Rwanda is very hard. One of the biggest challenges is the daily carrying of water. People of all ages from tiny tots to youths and mothers can be seen toiling up long steep hills with yellow Jerry cans full of water. The water sources are often polluted streams in the bottom of boggy valleys every drop has to be carried up steep tracks in hot sun or pouring rain. Then the search for firewood to boil the water to make it drinkable or toiling in the fields to  pay for charcoal.
Our projects initiated by Rob and Jan Hoy is to collect water from the roofs of churches and schools to supply water for the community and to provide them with the Griffaid acquafilter   which is a small devise to purify water to drinking standards. 

    One of the most striking things is the genuine warmth with which we are greeted on these trips: together with the joy of meeting old acquaintances again. There is an exuberance about the whole country with many smiling faces even though so many have to endure real hardship and poverty with many daily struggles to just make ends meet. As I write this there is wonderful worship coming from the cathedral next door as they dance and sing their hearts out.

Mary went with a group to visit the Mother's Union, they organise most of the social work and care in the Parishes. They help people to save and make small loans through micro-finance schemes so that people can start small businesses like this basket weaving for example.

Jesus the Suffering Servant

Sermon the suffering servant Isaiah 53

Has anyone believed us or seen the mighty power, of the Lord in action?

2 Like a young plant or a root that sprouts in dry ground, the servant grew up obeying the Lord.

He wasn’t some handsome king. Nothing about the way he looked made him attractive to us.

3 He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering.

No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, “He is a nobody!”

4 He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God.

5 He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he healed us and made us completely well.

6 All of us were like sheep  that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the Lord gave him the punishment we deserved.

7 He was painfully abused, but he did not complain.

He was silent like a lamb being led to the butcher, as quiet as a sheep having its wool cut off.

8 He was condemned to death without a fair trial. Who could have imagined what would happen to him? His life was taken away because of the sinful things my people had done.

9 He wasn’t dishonest or violent, but he was buried in a tomb of cruel and rich people.

10 The Lord decided his servant would suffer as a sacrifice to take away the sin and guilt of others. Now the servant will live to see his own descendants. He did everything the Lord had planned.

11 By suffering, the servant will learn the true meaning of obeying the Lord. Although he is innocent, he will take the punishment for the sins of others, so that many of them will no longer be guilty.

12 The Lord will reward him with honour and power for sacrificing his life.

Others thought he was a sinner, but he suffered for our sins and asked God to forgive us.

John 13

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant[c] is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Philippians 2

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,[b] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Muraho

It is wonderful to be with you today and be given the opportunity to share something about the cross of Jesus Christ. As Paul said, I only want to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

In Lewes our home town in England every 5 years we perform a passion play in the busy streets and market place for everyone to see.  It is a wonderful life changing experience for all who take part but many in our town will still mock us; for them the story of Jesus is still a fable and an offence. However, we believe that it is the story which will save us from all our pride and wickedness and give us access to all the wonders of a life lived with Jesus Christ in this world and the next.

So is the story of Jesus just a cleverly made up fable or is it the wonderful truth that shows us how to receive eternal life in Christ Jesus?

Just consider the passage we have just read; Isaiah was a prophet who lived 700 years before Jesus yet he accurately wrote about His death. Who was the suffering Messiah who Jesus described? it was not the people of Israel or the prophet himself it could only be the one also described in Psalm 22 where it also accurately writes the story of the cross.

As the passage describes Jesus was born not in a king’s palace but in a humble stable to a poor couple soon to be exiled from their native land.

Jesus was nothing special to look at in fact when the guards came to arrest Jesus in the garden Judas had to point Him out with a kiss.

This was no warlike Messiah, He entered Jerusalem not on a war horse but on a humble donkey, again all predicted in the Old Testament.

The King of the universe had to suffer a mock trial he was stripped and totally humiliated in front of the whole crowd in Jerusalem then He was flogged having the skin stripped from His back in the most painful fashion, this was all part of God’s plan as Isaiah writes by His stripes we are healed.

Crucifixion was devised by the Romans  to be the most humiliating and painful death every devised by man but Jesus was quite willing to go through all this suffering and death the innocent dying for the guilty. Jesus hung on that cross not for His own sins, he was the pure Pascal Lamb. He died for my sins and for everyone of your sins. He

paid the price that we should not have to die for our sins but could receive eternal life if we believe and trust in His saving work.

He died between two criminals one cursed Him but one cried out for mercy, he was the first one to freely receive entry into paradise to be with Jesus for ever.  

God did not leave Him on the cross Judas of Arimathea, went to Pilate to ask for his body. He was tenderly taken down and wrapped and place in the grave of this rich man.

The good news is that when the women and the disciples came to the grave, they did not find a dead body there but the great stone rolled away and an empty tomb. Mary was the first to see the risen Lord Jesus then the disciples then hundreds of others.

So what does this story mean for us? It means that if we come to Jesus there is no more condemnation for our sins for, He himself has taken our sins and all our burdens on the cross. This is the story of the great transfer. He has given us new life by His death because Jesus rose from the dead everyone who believes in Jesus will be raised from the dead. We can bring all our sicknesses all our burdens and sorrows to Jesu for He has already carried each on the cross, by his wounds we have been healed.

When our thoughts or Satan accuses  us of sins we can point to the risen Jesus in Heaven, still with the nail marks in His hands and the spear slash in His side and say, "The Lord gave Him the punishment I deserve."

So how do we live our lives in view of all this. We too have to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus, it means the end of our pride and a joyful willingness to be a servant to all; willing to suffer many things in quiet servanthood for the sake of Christ.

So let each of us look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among ourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.