First Folk Dance

Oren convincing David to jump in 60F pool.

Rebecca starting this week: One of the challenges of moving to a new place or a new country is finding the right ways to really be connected in a new community. Having moved a lot in my life, I have learned that this process usually takes about a year. And I’ll be honest – it’s always been a tough first year, any time I’ve moved. This first 9 months in Arusha has been challenging in all the expected ways – people are nice, but we are just not known well by people here yet. We are still working to be connected regularly to a community we are part of here.

It’s not all bad. We have really focused on trying to make sure we have good family times, with certain rituals each week. We really enjoy our Friday evenings at Gymkhana to relax as a family, take a swim or walk (these days the water is cold!), and then have family movie night. We’ve played a lot more family games this year on weekends when we don’t have many plans. We often take walks together around our compound.

We continue to work on building community. I have made friends with some women in the expat mission community by going to a bible study with them (but we honestly rarely see one another outside of that context because our kids are in different schools, we go to a different church and we live far away from all of them). It has been helpful to get advice from them, to share prayer needs and to hear how they have handled challenges. We've also enjoyed getting together with one family that attends our church, as well as several others we serve with as Sunday school teachers.

And recently, there are a few other ways we are growing in a sense of community. Because of being part of the church council at our church, I am getting to know a group of very diverse people. Paul is also becoming active in the church, by serving in the Christian Ed committee as well as the Evangelism & Outreach committee.

And because of that, we decided that we would take a chance and help to facilitate an international folk dance for the church this past weekend as an outreach/fellowship opportunity. We were glad for a partnership with another American couple; she teaches swing dance locally and is an accomplished dancer, and they both really enjoy social dance. They were able to bring several dances to teach, and we also prepared a long list of easy folk dances, remembered from our Bujumbura days. We cleared out the center section of chairs in the sanctuary, hooked up our iPod to the main sound system, and waited to see what would happen.

We really didn’t know what to expect – we invited a number of the expat families we’ve gotten to know here. But in fact, the people who came to enjoy folk dance were mostly young adult Tanzanians. We knew some of them from choir; others we met for the first time. They were really delighted to try line dancing, two Israeli dances, and several American squares or cotillions. They loved the circle Swing dance, and the Virginia Reel was a blast. After almost 2 hours of dancing, we all enjoyed a nice Swahili dinner outside in the courtyard. Many of them asked, “You’re doing this every Saturday, right?” 😉 We will try again after the school holiday season, but it seemed like a very positive way to build community across cultures at our church.

Making music with people at church has also been a good way to be connected. We’ve mentioned choir before. I also often get to help lead worship music in church. The last time I did, I was able to involve several young adults who are part of our church youth group, and who were really interested in contributing to the music (they’ve been hoping for something a little more up-tempo). I am especially grateful that I’ve gotten to know them because I give a ride home to the youth group leader after each church council meeting (he lives quite close to us). I really value what this guy talks about on those rides home, as the youngest council member and a young, professional Tanzanian; I wouldn’t get that perspective without being invested in some way in the church.

Finally, I was able to connect a bit more with a very different group of people on the other end of town. I’ve been waiting all year to see if there is any kind of parents’ association at our kids’ school and finally they held the Annual General Meeting last week. Only 14 people showed up to the meeting and they had 12 new positions to fill. Just about everyone was drafted to do something. I will now officially serve as secretary for the next year. We shall see what that means, but I was glad for the few conversations I could have even on that one evening.

On less fun health issues, David has been complaining of a sore ankle for the past few weeks. I finally took him to get it looked at and x-rayed. It turns out that he must have broken the end of his fibula (in the ankle) sometime in the last year, and it hasn’t healed. This was a total surprise to all of us, and it will mean at least one more unexpected doctor’s visit when we spend a month in the US in July/August. Also, Oren was very unwell on Sunday night, and so I needed to stay home with him Monday. He rested most of the day, but we also were able to get some studying done in advance of his comprehensive exams next week.

Another big event this week: Paul preached on Sunday. He felt very good about the sermon and it was very well-received. Sadly, I didn't get to hear it first-hand, as I was teaching Sunday school. He will give a synopsis here. 

This is Paul, I put in a link to a recording of the sermon below. One of my best, I think. If you get a chance give it a listen. The theme came from Samuel's rebuke of Saul in which he rebuked Saul saying "Obedience is greater than sacrifice." The conclusion went something like this:

When we divide the church because of our disagreement on doctrine, how can we not stand condemned, like Saul, who disobeys Yahweh’s word for the sake of his piety?

Samuel reminds us: “Obedience is greater than sacrifice,” Jesus said: “This is my commandment—that you love one another as I have loved you.”

And yet, like the Pharisees, we create hedges of piety around our unloving disobedience.

I am not pointing fingers here. It is a place where almost all of us fail. I confess I often find myself more sympathetic to the rationalizing heart of Saul than the moral consistency of David.

But obedience means that we remain in communion--in the same congregation, with those with whom we disagree. Can you worship with someone with whom you disagree? And not consider them morally inferior or reprehensible in some way?

Pastor Tim Keller famously asked the question Do you dare to worship a God who can contradict you? His question challenges us to worship the true Lord rather one we have created in our own image.

But I would ask: Will you dare to be part of the same body of Christ with those with whom you disagree? Or are you in danger of making his body into an image of yourself?

We are called to love out of obedience---even at the cost of our most preciously held prejudices!  

On this Sunday, as we celebrate the many cultures who are gathered here today, lets remember our unity in Christ, and celebrate our differences as well. 

Click this link here to listen to the whole thing.

Paul's sermon.