pews

I accidentally went on a short-term missions trip to Uganda this week.

I'm sensing confusion in the crowd, murmurings of "But I thought she lives in Uganda."

I do. Let me explain, it's a great story.

Count back exactly two weeks ago and I arrived in Columbus, Ohio, USA, to spend an extremely short but fantastically wonderful 7 days with my best friend of all time, her husband, and some friends.

My exotic tropical vacation to Ohio was soon over and I found myself in seat 13A at 6:15am starting off my 30+hour journey by flying from Columbus to Washington D.C.. I was just getting in my normally anti-social traveling groove -- window seat, ipod, book, avoidance of any unnecessary eye contact. I had my eyes closed doing some early-morning-world-traveling-I'm-leaving-the-USA-going-back-to-Africa thinking when my neighbor in 13C interrupted to ask me if I was okay. Though we hadn't even left the runway yet, I sensed slight apprehension in his question that I might upchuck and not have the lightening fast reflexes needed to grab the essential barf bag. I assured him everything was A-okay.

The conversation was officially started by then. He was pleasantly friendly (albeit a bit too awake for so early in the morning) and asked if I was from Columbus.

Uh-oh. This one is always a bit tricky to explain.

"No, I'm from California, but...I don't really live there right now."

"Oh. Where do you live?"

"Uganda."

I'm used to odd looks and statements of disbelief, but his was different - "Uh, I'm going to Uganda, too!"

Story goes my plane neighbor, Dave, is a pastor from Columbus, OH, on his way to Uganda with a group from his church to work in Gulu. We chatted more, shared stories, talked about Jesus, and found more connections - like how there is doctor on his team and how they are going to do a bunch of medical clinics during the trip.

To put things on fast-forward a bit, their team decided to "adopt" me en-route to Uganda (much to my initial stubbornly self-sufficient amusement). Somewhere in the middle of the timeless space of international air travel, I got to talk "medical stuff" with their doctor. They were scheduled to do several medical clinics with only one medical professional on the team so I mentioned the possibility of helping them out in Gulu. Who knows.

Back home in Kampala, I had a boxing match with some jet-lag, but kept having the nagging feeling that yes, I actually should go and meet up with these people (uh-oh, I've heard that still small voice before...). Weird. I'm usually such an introvert.

Somehow though, a five hour bus ride to see strangers of whom I didn't have the foggiest idea how to find once I got there didn't seem like too big of a stretch...in fact, it seemed to make sense. They are my family in Christ, they had a need....isn't that how it's supposed to work?

I won't launch into all the logistics of their team and trip details (read their blog! http://www.sportsoutreach.net/?page_id=433), but I joined them and we did several medical clinics in bush villages, saw hundreds of people. Amazing. Overwhelming. Exhausting and energizing. Crowded. Sweaty. Holy.

At some point during my time with the Ohio team I actually forgot that I wasn't really part of the team. In fact, I ended up spending just about every day of their whole first week in Uganda with them, inadvertently.

The point of this story is not really the details, but the big picture. The point of this story is that, for about 2 weeks straight, I felt like I was in the best church service ever.

What, you say? I thought church was all about uncomfortable pews, and long boring sermons and old-fashioned hymns? And I thought Christians were those people who go to those churches on Sundays, and sing those songs, but are really just hypocrites who hate gays and abortions?

I think this excerpt by Shane Claiborne from "The Irresistible Revolution" helps explain what I mean (bear with me, just finished this book, so I'll prob'ly quote it a lot):

A friend and I prepared a video clip once for a worship service. Our goal was to capture people's responses to the word Christian, so we took a video camera and hit the streets, from the trendy arts district to the suburbs. We asked people to say the first word that came to mind in response to each word we said: "snow," "eagles," "teenagers," "and finally "Christian." When people heard the word Christian they stopped in their tracks. I will never forget their responses: "fake," "hypocrites," "church," "boring." One guy even said, "used-to-be-one" (sort of one word). I will also never forget what they didn't say. Not one the people we asked that day said "love." No one said "grace." No one said "community."

I grew up going to church, but the words that describe my early memories of church would be "family," "sitting on floor," "laughter," and "loving." I went to a "church" that grew out of a whole bunch of college kids who met Jesus and started meeting together to figure out what exactly it meant to be a Christian. We met in homes, sat on couches and carpet, sang songs straight out of the Bible, and never had a pastor. It didn't matter that we didn't meet in a chapel or cathedral or temple because we were the church. Church = people, united together out of their love for God.

So when I said that I had the best 2 weeks of church, I meant it...

In Ohio my old friends and I ate food together, talked, laughed, played countless card games, took walks, and listened to music.

In Gulu, my new friends and I worked together, laughed, ate food, worked some more, laughed some more.

More than that I experienced this church in the eyes and smiles and thankfulness of the countless people in the villages we met.

Another quote from Shane Clairborne, explaining the meaning of namaste, a word he encountered while working with lepers in India:

"We really don't have a word like it in English (or even a Western conception of it). They explained to me that namaste means, "I honor the Holy One who lives in you." I knew I could see God in their eyes. Was it possible that I was becoming a Christian, that in my eyes they could catch a glimpse of the image of my Lover?"

So when I said that I had the best 2 weeks of church, I meant it...all of these people - new friends, old friends, and complete strangers - refreshed my soul as we lived and loved and laughed for Jesus and about Jesus, together.

"Perhaps we are just as likely to encounter God over the dinner table or in the slums or in the streets as in a giant auditorium." -- Shane Claiborne

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Quoted texts taken from "The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical" by Shane Claiborne

...and please do check out the Ohio team's blog: http://www.sportsoutreach.net/?page_id=433

...AND Sports Outreach, who led the trip (they're awesome!): http://www.sportsoutreach.net

...AND Silent Images, photographer/videographer team working with them (also amazingly awesome! You need to know about them!): http://www.silentimages.org/