As Sean and Joanne planned for their wedding, they remembered they needed someone to officiate.  Joanne’s sister-in-law remembered me from family gatherings.  After initial hesitation due to distance, I agreed.  Neither had any church background beyond infant baptism.  I recalled that every couple needs some preparation and this could also be an “evangelizing moment” for this couple.  Working by phone, after a prayer together, I began our first session with, “Let’s take a fresh look a what the church is here for.  It’s different from what comes across the media and it’s biblical.  We are here as part of God’s mission to make the world a better place – a more loving and just place.  Baptism is the way we join the mission.  Let’s look at the mission and then at the place of your marriage in it.”

“First, let’s look at what we mean by mission.  What are we doing right now to make the world more loving and more just?  [Here we used and discussed Basic Tools 2 and Basic Tools 3.] . . . Now, let’s look at how God may be real for you.” [Here we used #3 from Step One of Basic Tools 20.]   While Joanne could tell of such experiences, Sean needed help to see that the actions he described in Basic Tools 2 were times when God was present and at work.  They liked – and had needed – these activities.  We concluded with reading and discussing John 20:21-22, Jesus’ call to follow his example and his gift of the Holy Spirit to help us to do so in our marriages as well as everywhere else in life.

Along this line, I requested they visit a counselor they trusted to ask, “What are some of the situations we might face in marriage and how could we cope with them?”  They liked the suggestion.  I concluded with four things I knew that all couples needed to practice in living out their marriage vows: respect, understanding, collaboration, and love making.   – AWS

FOR MEDITATION

“Promote gender equality and empower women”: How can I become a missionary of love, compassion, justice and reconciliation?

During summer 2009, I led two teams of seminarians from CDSP home to Cameroon sponsored by the Evangelical Education Society (EES). Our purpose was to pilot test some Christian education methods and to conduct a needs assessment for women in Cameroon. The mission was a success. Listen to one of our stories. [View a sample of life in Cameroon in the picture of some  orphaned children in Bamenda, Cameroon in June 2009.]

This mission reaffirms that our call is grounded on love, justice and compassion. It reminds me of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25:35-36 where each one of us is called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, nurture children, be hospitable to the stranger, be stewards of God’s creation, share our love and strive for justice for all.

When I look at all those living at the margins of our society, from the destitute women, youth and orphaned children to those living on less than a dollar ($1) a day to those striving daily for the basic needs such as running fresh water, decent shelter, access to education and basic medical care, proper sanitation and things that every human deserves, I am thankful to God for myself and for all of us who are privileged. I wonder why we take for granted the ‘enough’ that God has blessed us with, and are always searching for the ‘more’ we hope to have.

I was struck to find out from the United Nations’ website how unequally income is distributed across the world: the richest 20% have 74% of the income while the poorest 20% only share 2% of the income.

I strongly believe that promoting gender equality and empowering women is at the core of addressing marginalization and oppression. Furthermore, empowered women will effect changes in her family and the whole community. In other terms, she will have enough means to feed the family, provide for her girl’s education and teach scriptures to the children. She will be able to care for herself, her entire family’s health, for the environment, build partnerships and relationships and aspire to leadership positions and well paid jobs.

We need to think and reflect on this: “I am empowered, I have power to change my world and you have power to help me do that.” How will I support women to achieve this vision?

I trust we all have the ability and power, and shall "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Says Margaret Mead

I pray to God to open the eyes of our heart to become missionaries of love, compassion, justice and reconciliation so that together we strive to make the world a better and just place through our daily lives and actions.

Clemence Ngijoe-Yanke,
Seminarian at Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP)