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MAPC UPDATE

Vol. XXXIII, No. 3
March 2007

Holy Week Schedule

April 1 – Palm/Passion Sunday 9 am, 11:15 am & 7:30 pm Service of Word and Sacrament “Watching at a Distance” The Rev. Dr. Fred R. Anderson preaching 3 pm - Leçons de Tenebre - François Couperin April 5 – Maundy Thursday 7 pm Service of Word & Sacrament The Rev. J.C. Austin preaching April 6 – Good Friday 12 to 3 pm - The Passion According to Luke The Pastoral Staff preaching 7:30 pm Service of Tenebrae April 8 – Easter Day 9 am, 11:15 am & 7:30 pm Festival Services of Word and Sacrament “More than a Miracle” Dr. Anderson preaching Music for Organ and Brass by Bach, Handel and Molter and choral music by Rachmaninoff and Handel.

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921 Fund Ministry Exploration Team
Returns from Southeastern Africa

“Muli bwanji!” “Bweeno, kaye inu? “Bweeno, Zikomo!”

Such were our daily greetings as the members of the ministry exploration team for the 921 Fund moved among the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The language is “Chichewa” and comes out of Malawi, as do many of the people in the regions and places we visited. Africans, we learned, place great emphasis on greetings and love to shake hands, inquire about your well being and learn about your family. As we gradually acquired the ability to speak a few words of their language: “Good morning, how are you? Good, and you? Good, thank you!” their faces broke into wide grins of surprise and pleasure. Everywhere we went in southeastern Africa, we were greeted with warmth, welcome and generous hospitality.

We began in Johannesburg, South Africa, where we had a day to recover from the 17-hour flight and met up with the Rev. Ted and Sue Wright, the PC(USA)’s Regional Liaisons for Southeastern Africa. Ted had been one of Fred Anderson’s seminary students in Pompton Plains, NJ, in 1974-75, and Fred had delivered the charge at Ted’s ordination. The day in “Jo’burg” was given to getting a sense of what apartheid had been about, starting with a visit to the Apartheid Museum, which was absorbing but too short (we could have spent the entire day there). We then had a visit to Soweto, which was sobering and disturbing and included the opportunity to see Nelson Mandela’s home during his early days of political action, which is now a museum.

Still trying to absorb what we had seen, we flew to Zambia on Thursday for six days of visits, meetings, and conversations, while based at Justo Mwale Theological College in Lusaka, which is affiliated with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). Our time there was both challenging and inspiring, and the visits to orphanages and ministry to street children were very moving. Worship on Sunday (three hours) was terrific, especially the singing. Dr Anderson preached a dialogue sermon with Ted Wright (with a translator) and co-celebrated communion, while J.C. Austin was preaching in another congregation in a poorer district of Lusaka. The orders of worship were virtually the same as ours at MAPC, but the style was very different: five choirs singing magnificent African music, 45-50-minute sermons (Fred and J.C. were reminded that their 25-minute sermons almost doubled in time in translation—but then, that is the length of sermons Africans expect!). The people were enormously generous in their responses. And, of course, long prayers—the Africans love long prayers—and exuberant congregational singing.

The bus trip to Kitwe (about 200K north of Lusaka, through central Zambia) offered a good look at the countryside, past countless villages, lots of roadside markets, and children going to and from school. The conversations at TEEZ—Theological Education by Extension in Zambia, housed at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Kitwe—exploring a potential 921 Fund outreach project, were very productive and exciting. You will be hearing more about that ministry very soon.

The team left Zambia for Harare, Zimbabwe on the following Wednesday and took what was thought to be some “down time” in a wildlife preserve. Though the ability to see wildlife up close in its own environs was enjoyable, the visit had an even more important dimension to it. The owners of the game preserve we visited were white Zimbabweans who had been dispossessed of their farm in the land redistribution program of Robert Mugabe’s government but, miraculously, were able to hang on to the game preserve by a special court order, because the preserve was not a farm. The owners were quite forthright about things since independence in 1980, in a country where people do not talk openly about the political situation for fear of governmental reprisals, and expressed a vibrant Christian hope for a more just, more unified post-colonial Zimbabwe. Our subsequent four days in Harare, visiting ministries with street children and orphans, were eye-opening, and the Saturday, day-long workshop with the pastors and elders of the CCAP’s Harare Synod, investigating the possibility of an ongoing partnership between the synod and MAPC, was very helpful. Our overnight stays on Saturday evening, in the homes of local church leaders, were a deeper immersion into life in Zimbabwe and, given the financial circumstances in that country, acts of enormous generosity and hospitality on the parts of our host families.

Preaching Sunday in poor Harare congregations was a privilege and not very different from our experience in the middle class congregations we had visited the week before in Zambia. However, the situation in Zimbabwe is desperate, with 80-90% unemployment. People wonder how much longer the government can hold on. 1600% inflation since last December is leaving everyone but the most governmentally favored in desperate straits. What little money there is loses its value daily. But the people are amazingly hopeful and joyful and simply ask for our prayers.

The phrase “HIV-AIDS pandemic” has new meaning for team members and was the most startling and disturbing part of the entire visit. Some leaders in Africa are trying to discredit western medical treatment as racist, saying that the antiviral medications are actually what is killing people (see Michael Specter’s, “The Denialists; The dangerous attacks on the consensus about H.I.V. and AIDS” in the March 12, 2007 issue of The New Yorker). Suggested solutions by tribal shamans and traditional healers (“sex with a ‘pure,’ uninfected person is a cure,”), are actually exacerbating the problem, leaving three to four generations of people infected and on a path to death, and have led to enormous abuse among children. This was probably the most difficult thing to hear and absorb on the entire trip. trip.  Almost all of the churches’ ministries touch on prevention and care of some sort, but the challenge is all but overwhelming.

Conversations with the leaders of Harare Synod about the possibility of an ongoing partnership between the Synod and MAPC were very helpful. But the rule in such partnerships is to move slowly, broadening the base of participation on both sides, while being evermore clear about expectations and mutual responsibilities and accountability. The team will be reporting to the Session that we continue to explore the possibility of such a partnership, which will be ongoing and beyond the scope of the 921 Fund.

There is much more to tell, and many photographs to share. The team included Sarah Badavas, Allison MacEachron and Denise Welsh, and staff members Dawn Ravella, J.C. Austin and Fred Anderson (Denise was able to participate only in the Zambia portion of the trip). Team members are still processing what we have seen and learned and will be meeting soon to reflect on the two-week experience, develop a report for Session, and explore and plan other events to share what we have seen and learned more broadly within the congregation. Thank you for your prayers while we were away. Continue to pray for the church in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.

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Congregational Nurture

Calendar of Events for March/April 2007:

March 20, MAPC Knitters meet in the Hood Library, 10:30 am–noon.

March 28, Parents Prayer Group for parents of teens and young adults meets in the Phillips Lounge, 8:30–9 am.

March 30, 6:30 pm, Mid-Timers evening at the Morgan Library and Museum. The Mid-Timers will enjoy a guided tour of the highlights of The Morgan Library and Museum. We’ll learn about the history of the Morgan and its art and architecture and take a brief look at the exhibitions. The cost for admission and the tour is $10. After the tour, we will enjoy a time of fellowship over dinner at a member’s home near the museum. The Morgan Library and Museum is located at 225 Madison Ave. at 36^th Street. Sign up at coffee hour on Sundays, or by contacting Beverly Bartlett at 212-288-8920 x247 or bab@mapc.com.

April 1, 12:30 pm, Congregational Brunch/Fellowship Hour: Come enjoy brunch in the Parish Hall after the 11:15 am worship service on Palm Sunday. The cost for brunch is $10, $8 for seniors; children under 12 eat for free.

April 1, 1 pm, 20s/30s Group Bible Study/Discussion, 5^th Floor

April 10, MAPC Knitters meet in the Hood Library, 6:30 to 8 pm.

April 11, Parents Prayer Group, 8:30–9 am in the Phillips Lounge.

April 14, 10 am–noon, Families with Young Children in the Roof Garden, (5th Floor if it is too cold).

April 15, 1 pm, 20s/30s Group Bible Study/Discussion, 5^th Floor

April 16, 3 to 4:30 pm, Seniors Unlimited, in the Parish Hall
MAPC member Mary Anne Schwalbe will present a program about her experiences working with refugees in Africa through the International Rescue Committee. She will have slides to share with us, stories to tell, and much to teach us about the current situation of refugees, what the future holds for them, and what we can do to reach out to those who have been forced from their homes and country. A time of fellowship and refreshments will follow.

For more information on any of the above events or groups, please contact Beverly Bartlett at the church, 212-288-8920 x247, or bab@mapc.com.

News from the Hood Library

The Hood Library adds to its wide variety of books each month. Here is a sampling of the newest additions: American Religious Poems, An Anthology by Harold Bloom; Missing Mom, by Joyce Carol Oates; Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard; Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers, by Elizabeth Edwards; My Father, My President: a Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush, by Doro Bush Koch; State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, by Bob Woodward.

Please stop by to browse and borrow the new books available in the library. The Hood Library Committee has added more than two dozen new books this month!

The annual Library Evening will be on Wednesday, May 16. This year’s theme is New York, New York! Please save the date for an evening of good food and a wonderful program of readings from books and poetry about New York City.

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You are invited to join us as we Journey to Jerusalem! Vacation Bible School 2007 Wednesdays in June;  3:45 – 6 pm June 6, 13, 20 & 27 Open to children age 4 to children entering 6th grade in the fall Space is limited to 40 children. Registration begins April 1 and is open first to children who have participated in church activities this past year. Registration forms will be mailed soon. You may mail in your forms or drop them off at the church. There will be a registration table at coffee hour after both morning worship services on April 1, 8 & 15. Registration opens up to friends and neighbors on April 16.

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Easter Decorations

If you would like to contribute to the Easter decorations, with memorials listed in the Easter Day bulletin, please send the names for the memorial list and your check, payable to Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, before Palm Sunday, April 1, to Ana Mathieu, at MAPC, 921 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021 or phone her at 212-288-8920, x245.

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Additional Information

Also, see:

• MAPC Home Page
• Worship Services
• Christian Education Programs
• MAPC Calendar
• St. Andrew Music Society Concerts

 

 

 

 

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