Maranatha is strange word. In the Greek New Testament, it stands alone as an Aramaic word used by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:22. Paul used it as a play on words, having just penned the word "anathema" in Greek to describe those who do not submit to Christ, he then employs the similar-sounding word to express the opposite, a hope in the return of Christ. Even though scholars debate the exact meaning of the word, the church has generally interpreted the word to mean, "Come quickly, Lord," referring to the second and final return of Christ.
In Haiti, a place where focussing on the present can be depressing and looking ahead to a bright future is a necessary posture of hope, many things are called Maranatha. Not just congregations, but lottery stops, beauty salons, and of course, water trucks. Seeing these around town brings a smile to my face as I think about the meaning of the word and of a congregation I used to call home.
In the rest of North America, many congregations, eager to name themselves after a posture of faith in the return of Jesus, and perhaps more with an eye to sounding spiritual than sounding relevant (there were many times in Cambridge I was asked why we were called Marathon Church), this word became the name of many congregations. There is a great congregation of Christ-followers in Cambridge, Ontario called "Maranatha." I had the privilege of serving them as pastor for the past decade and many of my closest friends join me in calling the Maranatha family, their family. Check them out at www.maranathacrc.com
Maranatha is our sending church as missionaries to Haiti. While there are a number of other congregations who have invested time, money, and prayer into our work here, Maranatha is the one whose members raised a full 25% of our funding and who held the commissioning service to send us here. Though our years together as pastor and congregation are over, our affection for and support of one another continues. This is a deep blessing to me and to our family as we follow God's leading while no longer being a part of Maranatha's daily life.
Given all of these "warm fuzzies" you can imagine our delight that a large part of these two months -- January and February -- involves working with short-term missionaries from Maranatha who come and join us in the work here. Let me tell you about this:
On January 5th, Clare Streutker joined us (wow! It is hard to believe he has been here nearly three weeks already!). Clare, who owns and manages SKC Construction in Cambridge, has taken nearly two months off from work and come here to Haiti to oversee work teams and manage the construction project of building a significant and strategic addition to the leadership training center used by "Ministry of Christian Development" to train pastors and church leaders around Haiti to do practical, transformative, community-building work. The first two weeks that Clare was here we had the privilege of hosting him in the apartment attached to our home and having him be a part of our daily life as he prepared for and then led the team from Immanuel Brampton at the work site. It was a personal joy and ministry to me to have a good friend from Maranatha here with me as I showed him around and oriented him and as he connected with and joked around with my children.
Last week Saturday, the 17th, when the team from Maranatha came, Clare, who was then joined by his wife Sandra, moved to the Ministry Center Guest House to be with the Maranatha team and to make space in the apartment here for the Prince family, also of Maranatha. While it was sad to see Clare move from our apartment to the Ministry Center Guest House, it was a new joy to have the Prince family stay with us. You might think that having another family stay with you for ten days would be taxing but our time with the Princes, too, has been a great time of joy as we show them around Haiti. While the rest of the Maranatha team is here for the work project, the Prince family with their three children aged 14, 12, and 11, are here on a "Look, Listen, Learn" trip spending each day with a particular focus -- history, children, poverty, education, markets -- learning about Haiti.
Some of our days are spent together with the two teams, like this past Wednesday when we all went to Restavek Freedom (www.restavekfreedom.org) to learn about the 300,000 child slaves in Haiti, and the afternoon when we toured the facilities of The Apparent Project (www.apparentproject.org) where the lives of 250 families are being changed as garbage is being turned into artwork and sold around the globe. This coming Sunday we will travel into the mountains south of Port-au-Prince to see the work "Ministry of Christian Development" as they partner with a congregation and community in Badyo. Next Monday, the Princes, Charles VanLingen, and the rest of the team return to Canada while Clare and Sandy head off to the Dominican Republic for three days of work there. By Friday the 30th, we will have Clare back in our apartment hosting a team of 12 people from Woodland Christian High School. These days are moving by rather quickly.
Despite the extra work of meals, laundry, shuttling, and lack of sleep all this extra activity brings, it has been deeply valuable to us as a family and we look forward with joy to the second wave of folks coming in February including the Woodland High group, a group of young adults led by Jon and Bethany Streutker, and a team including three young adults from Maranatha. Mere words cannot communicate how encouraging it is to have all of these friends among us. Like the return of Jesus, it has been worth the wait!
In Haiti, a place where focussing on the present can be depressing and looking ahead to a bright future is a necessary posture of hope, many things are called Maranatha. Not just congregations, but lottery stops, beauty salons, and of course, water trucks. Seeing these around town brings a smile to my face as I think about the meaning of the word and of a congregation I used to call home.
In the rest of North America, many congregations, eager to name themselves after a posture of faith in the return of Jesus, and perhaps more with an eye to sounding spiritual than sounding relevant (there were many times in Cambridge I was asked why we were called Marathon Church), this word became the name of many congregations. There is a great congregation of Christ-followers in Cambridge, Ontario called "Maranatha." I had the privilege of serving them as pastor for the past decade and many of my closest friends join me in calling the Maranatha family, their family. Check them out at www.maranathacrc.com
Maranatha is our sending church as missionaries to Haiti. While there are a number of other congregations who have invested time, money, and prayer into our work here, Maranatha is the one whose members raised a full 25% of our funding and who held the commissioning service to send us here. Though our years together as pastor and congregation are over, our affection for and support of one another continues. This is a deep blessing to me and to our family as we follow God's leading while no longer being a part of Maranatha's daily life.
Given all of these "warm fuzzies" you can imagine our delight that a large part of these two months -- January and February -- involves working with short-term missionaries from Maranatha who come and join us in the work here. Let me tell you about this:
On January 5th, Clare Streutker joined us (wow! It is hard to believe he has been here nearly three weeks already!). Clare, who owns and manages SKC Construction in Cambridge, has taken nearly two months off from work and come here to Haiti to oversee work teams and manage the construction project of building a significant and strategic addition to the leadership training center used by "Ministry of Christian Development" to train pastors and church leaders around Haiti to do practical, transformative, community-building work. The first two weeks that Clare was here we had the privilege of hosting him in the apartment attached to our home and having him be a part of our daily life as he prepared for and then led the team from Immanuel Brampton at the work site. It was a personal joy and ministry to me to have a good friend from Maranatha here with me as I showed him around and oriented him and as he connected with and joked around with my children.
Last week Saturday, the 17th, when the team from Maranatha came, Clare, who was then joined by his wife Sandra, moved to the Ministry Center Guest House to be with the Maranatha team and to make space in the apartment here for the Prince family, also of Maranatha. While it was sad to see Clare move from our apartment to the Ministry Center Guest House, it was a new joy to have the Prince family stay with us. You might think that having another family stay with you for ten days would be taxing but our time with the Princes, too, has been a great time of joy as we show them around Haiti. While the rest of the Maranatha team is here for the work project, the Prince family with their three children aged 14, 12, and 11, are here on a "Look, Listen, Learn" trip spending each day with a particular focus -- history, children, poverty, education, markets -- learning about Haiti.
Some of our days are spent together with the two teams, like this past Wednesday when we all went to Restavek Freedom (www.restavekfreedom.org) to learn about the 300,000 child slaves in Haiti, and the afternoon when we toured the facilities of The Apparent Project (www.apparentproject.org) where the lives of 250 families are being changed as garbage is being turned into artwork and sold around the globe. This coming Sunday we will travel into the mountains south of Port-au-Prince to see the work "Ministry of Christian Development" as they partner with a congregation and community in Badyo. Next Monday, the Princes, Charles VanLingen, and the rest of the team return to Canada while Clare and Sandy head off to the Dominican Republic for three days of work there. By Friday the 30th, we will have Clare back in our apartment hosting a team of 12 people from Woodland Christian High School. These days are moving by rather quickly.
Despite the extra work of meals, laundry, shuttling, and lack of sleep all this extra activity brings, it has been deeply valuable to us as a family and we look forward with joy to the second wave of folks coming in February including the Woodland High group, a group of young adults led by Jon and Bethany Streutker, and a team including three young adults from Maranatha. Mere words cannot communicate how encouraging it is to have all of these friends among us. Like the return of Jesus, it has been worth the wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment