Vocation

Recently, I have been thinking about my “Ebenezer moments” the big moments that led me here. I’ve been very lucky to have the opportunity to travel and I’ve realized that most of my piles of stones are around those experiences. They introduced me to my best friends, they stretched me, showed me new opportunities and taught me about God.

From Zimbabwe to Costa Rica, South Carolina to Jerusalem, India to Johannesburg to Geneva I have found God in traditions and languages with which I was unfamiliar. When I think of the moments when I felt God clearest, I think of the 4 hour Shona service outside Victoria Falls and how we understood little but felt much.  I remember taking communion at 1 am on New Years in a Bangalore church while fireworks went off outside. Sitting on the floor in a Buddhist temple in Coorg. I think of the Spanish language church I attended in Geneva. I think of the Ebenezer revival in Harare and the songs our hosts taught us. I think of praying in an Orthodox Ethiopian Church in Old Jerusalem on Christmas Eve. I think of listening to friends pray in German, Danish, French, Spanish, Shona, Russian, Portuguese. In all of these instances, I had no idea of the particulars of the prayers, words and traditions, but the essentials were in clear focus.

Looking back, these experiences taught me that content is more important than language. That spirituality is about feeling and connection with God and one another, not the words we recite so often we sometimes forget their meaning. I found God in the space between words, the hands we clasped, the sky, the windows. When I couldn’t understand, when I was unfamiliar, I was able to step back, take off my shoes and experience God in new and unexpected ways. It was incredibly meaningful. I remember all of these moments, and the people I lived them with, and the ways I have experienced the world since. I cannot help but think “this far the Lord has helped us”.

Tinotenda, Mambo Jesu– Shona for “Thank you, Lord Jesus”