Moving into the Neighborhood

This is my first full day aboard ship and have completed the Orientation tour, set up my email; established phone contact with home (even though everyone is away somewhere, I managed to leave some presonal reflections on the answering machine); checked out the latest AFM Starbucks pricing (yes, everything still less than $1) ; sequestered a few scrubs for work tomorrow; found my OR assignment lists; and changed a few US dollars into a great stack of Guinea Francs. I read a recent posting from Susan Parker and it really challenged me as to the impact that this ministry has in West Africa.

Gary

 Dr. Gary and Susan joined Mercy Ships in 1987. Gary is the Africa Mercy's chief medical officer and maxillofacial surgeon and Susan is an executive assistant to Donovan Palmer.


Moving into the neighborhood.

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood...” John 1:14 The Message

I (Susan) am taking beginning French for something like the sixth time. My Guinean tutor, Prof. Mohammed Kaba(i), first endeavored to impress upon me the importance of learning to conjugate four French pillar verbs (pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, and aller[ii]) back in ’98 when the Anastasis was last in Guinea. I still don’t quite have them, but with five more months in Conakry, this just may be the year...


Gary and I met up again with Professor Kaba shortly after the Africa Mercy docked in Conakry. We didn't remember this--but the Professor fondly recalled how fourteen years ago, as the Anastasis prepared to depart Guinea, Gary had thanked him by name during his televised “farewell to the nation” address. Prof. Kaba wanted us to know how honored he was to have been acknowledged publicly for his contribution to Mercy Ships’ Staff Development.

The Professor, a devout Muslim, prays five times each day, attends mosque on Fridays, and spends a great deal of time both studying and teaching the Q’uran. Finances permitting, he’s hoping to make the Hajj[iii] next year – so, It would probably be safe to assume that he’s not looking for a new belief system. Yet, the Professor mentions repeatedly that when he’s on board the Africa Mercy, he has this strange feeling inside--like he never wants to leave. Now, before you’re tempted to dismiss this as nothing more significant than the air conditioning, or perhaps the atmosphere at the Starbucks Café where we often share a café au lait, you should know that the Professor also teaches at the American and Saudi Embassies--and we’re pretty sure they have a/c.

Besides drinking coffee and discussing the basics of French grammar, we talk a lot about what’s going on in Guinea. Last month, the papers were full of this story:

CONAKRY, Guinea November 10, 2012, (AP) — The head of Guinea's treasury was gunned down as she was driving home in what her colleagues describe as a brazen assassination aimed at silencing [Mrs. Boiro} an official who had launched an investigation into the disappearance of millions in state funds... Guinea has a long history of allowing officials to pillage its treasury. During the last years of ex-President Lansana Conte's rule, employees of the treasury said they would routinely see the president's convoy drive up to their building and leave with bags of cash. Mrs. Boiro had zero-tolerance for corruption and was intent on putting an end to the mismanagement of state funds, say two of her colleagues. She had launched an investigation into the loss of 13 million francs ($1.8 million) which [recently] went missing from the state coffers...”

The Professor confided that following Mrs. Boiro’s murder, it seems to him that Conakry is becoming more and more lawless. He, who was an enthusiastic supporter of the highly educated and human-rights conscious, President Alpha Conde, now wonders aloud if Guinea might not be better off with a strongman--someone who is able to keep order with an iron fist.

On board the Africa Mercy, we’re observing Advent--the coming of God’s anointed One--that pin-point in time 2,000 years ago when “the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” Jesus “moved into” a Bethlehem neighborhood, just five miles south of Herod the Great’s Jerusalem Palace in Roman controlled Judea. If ever there was a strongman who ruled with an iron fist, it was Herod the Great, appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate. The Roman Empire established and maintained their rule over the land of the Jews through forcible external means. While this period known as Pax Romana, brought peace and prosperity to the citizens of Rome, it was neither of these for the working class Jew. Yet, this was the time and place where the God revealed in Jesus chose to step into our world. It wasn’t when Israel was on top of her game that He came. It was not particularly comfortable, nor was it safe. It was a time of injustice, of suffering and of great fear. And Jesus moved into that neighborhood.

German medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart, made this provocative observation:

“What good is it to me, if Jesus was born to Mary 1400 years ago, but is not born in my person and in my culture and in my time?”

Maybe the Professor was on to something significant when he said that he has this feeling on board the Africa Mercy that he never wants to leave. Could it be that the presence of Jesus is in the neighborhood? Gary and I are convinced that each and every one -- whether you work on board the ship, at one of the National Offices, or at the IOC—together we are establishing the presence of Jesus in this Conakry neighborhood, at this particular time.

And guess what? The neighbors are beginning to notice!

And so this Advent season, as we sing, “O come, O come, Emmanuel, as we bend to light the candles of hope, of joy, of peace, and of love, and as we ponder the mystery and wonder of the incarnation—may we not also remember to breathe a prayer, sing a song, or read a scripture over Guinea?

And to each and every neighborhood where we find ourselves, may we continue to collectively declare with our words and with our lives:

Peace on earth and goodwill to all humankind.

Grace and Peace,

Susan and Gary