David Rowe 8/20/2006
Grace Baptist Church in Bountiful, Utah

Introduction: Here’s the grandkid story of the week–Allayna, then Preston say “Pick one!”... So many are the adventures and joys and lessons from our trip, I feel that same sort of frustration about this “sermon.” Of the myriad possibilities, I’ve chosen to share just a few bullet-points under 4 headings–settings, servants, stories, sermons; maybe more fully described as settings of wonder, servants of Jesus, stories of faith, and sermons to take home.

Let me encourage us to hear these four coat-hangers for my journal notes against the backdrop of Paul the Apostle’s words from our text: he speaks of his readers in Thessalonica being “imitators of God and of us” (unblushingly no dichotomy here...); he speaks of his team being “gentle among you, like a mother” with her children; and he speaks of giving not only “the gospel” message but also “our own lives as well” because these people had become “so dear to us.” It’s all great missionary stuff, stuff we saw embodied in people we met in this land across the pond.

Settings (of wonder)
• cities–crowded, exciting, poor infrastructure, great disparity, Kigali pretty, Milles Collines
• savannah–vast sea of tall brown, many breathtaking animal adventures, e.g. fresh kill, lion
• hills–Rwanda is “land of 1,000 hills”, mostly cultivated, green (trees, crops), towns
• Lake Kivu–huge and deep, scenic like Tahoe, old world fishermen!...“all night long,” sing

Servants (of Jesus) —many, but I’ll name three
• Gary and Laurie Scheer–2 we know and love; wise, long-term; MNC focus; visits pastors
• Silas and Clementine–Rwandese couple Gary trains; hosted dinner; pastor dying of AIDS
• Meg Guillebaud–single, Anglican priest in Rwanda, grandfather transl. Bible..., committed

Stories (of faith) –-I’ll just tell two of the many I could
• Scheers: It took great courage to follow Jesus and return after the genocide (so risky and foolhardy did it seem, one close family member would not speak to them for 10 years!) We drove to the MNC campus one morning, by the site of a school yard...2 UN guards, 2-3,000
• Silas and Clementine: their “marriage beyond the borders” because of [her] faith in Christ

Sermons (to take home)
• How can we keep from singing God's praises when we see the wisdom He displays in the created wonders of nature?
• Jesus may call any one of us to risk all by giving “the gospel” and “our lives”–are we ready to do this? Is the soul depth of our love of the Lord Jesus great enough for this?
• Could I hear and follow the call of Jesus with the same passion and compassion as Clementine, with her “marriage beyond the borders”.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us your Spirit so we too can live fully and joyfully as your disciples. Amen.