Part I - News from the Nuba Province

1.  Feb. 27 Update re Bishop Andudu, Prayers Requested

2.  The SOMA Conference, second week of March, Prayers Requested

Part 2 - Reflections 

1.  Thoughts on Development from Bernard Lonergan

2.  Bishop Light's Sermon given at the closing Eucharist of the AFRECS Conference, Alexandria, VA, Feb. 20, 2005

3.  Reflections on the Peace Agreement from George Tuto and Karim El-Gassai, submitted latter part of January 2005 

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Part 1 - News from the Nuba Province

1. News re Bishop Andudu, Feb. 8, 2005, updated February 27, 2005

Early in Februrary we reported the accident that Bishop Andudu had on his motorcycle and the injury to his knee requiring him to go to Nairobi for medical treatment.  He went, and by February 24th, had returned to the Nuba, arriving at Kauda, and from there he hoped to travel on the Kruchi.  However that required a two day walk and his leg was in no condition to do that.  Thus he waited for some kind of transport.  As of February 27, he was still waiting.  His hope was for either his motorcycle or the tractor to take him on to Kruchi.  Pray for Bishop Andudu's continued recovery.

2. A SOMA Conference in scheduled for the second week of March. Pray for its success.

Part 2 - Reflections

1.  An Excerpt from "Healing and Creating in History"

"For human development is of two quite different kinds. There is development from below upwards, from experience to growing understanding, from growing understanding to balanced judgment, from balanced judgment to fruitful courses of action, and from fruitful courses of action to the new situations that call forth further understanding, profounder judgment, richer courses of action.

"But there also is development from above downwards. There is the transformation of falling in love: the domestic love of the family; the human love of one's tribe, one's city, one's country, mankind; the divine love that orientates man in his cosmos and expresses itself in his worship. Where hatred only sees evil, love reveals values. At once it commands commitment and joyfully carries it out, no matter what the sacrifice involved. Where hatred reinforces bias, love dissolves it, whether it be the bias of unconscious motivation, the bias of individual or group egoism, or the bias of omnicompetent, shortsighted common sense. Where hatred plods around in ever narrower vicious circles, love breaks the bonds of psychological and social determinisms with the conviction of faith and the power of hope."

pp.106, Bernard Lonergan, "Healing and Creating in History,"

from THIRD COLLECTION, edited by Frederick E. Crowe,

Paulist Press, New York, 1985.

2.  Bishop A. Heath Light's Sermon, delivered at the closing Eucharist of the American Friends for the Episcopal Church of Sudan Inaugural Conference (AFRECS) at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Alexandria, VA, February 20, 2005

I asked Bishop Light if I might share his sermon from the notes I took. He has given me permission to do this.  They represent key points and phrases.  It is not an exact representation of his words, nor by any stretch, all of them.  Yet, what is here is sufficient I hope, for sharing with you a call and a challenge to us in the church in the U.S. for our opportunity and our being blessed in being joined with our brothers and sisters in Sudan. Rev. Ron Whitmer, Coordinator for the Nuba Christian Family Mission.

I awake every morning with a new sense of being alive in Christ, as a gift --- gratitude wells up within.  This is not easy, because it sets in motion a movement from safety to vulnerability, from protection to being at risk, from quietness to a very noisy world, from uniformity (union) to separation, from darkness to light, fragility and fear.

The Episcopal Church of Sudan, our Sudanese brothers and sisters, know this kind of birth and movement of soul.  They have been living it daily for many, many years.

Like Nicodemus, we come from darkness.  We come by night for a reason.  There is some fear for the exposure we will face.

Like Nicodemus, we come out of darkness, and the emptiness of our own lives.  Lent is as good time as any for such a conference at this.

We can pray to be satisfied for the hungers we know, and those we know not --- but there are these hungers of the heart, these hungers searching for new ways of collaboration, of being alongside.

Such was Nicodemus’s hunger.  It was a hunger of the heart.

I know I seek answers of the head that can only be found in the answers of the heart….

John 7: “There is no man who speaks like this man…”

Nicodemus now discovers courage and speaks out, all be it moderately, questioningly.

John 19: “After this Joseph of Aramathea came…. And Nicodemus came also, who ha first come by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight.” for the burial of Jesus.”

Now Nicodemus put his money on the counter.  He’s come a long way, from his beginning to this end.  How does one get to such a place?

How does one get born again?  I was told this story, years ago when I was young, now old, I tell it again.

There were these two old men who came to the mid week service, one was blind but otherwise in fairly good physical shape.  The other could see, but he was extremely frail.  So here you have it, one blind but strong, the other sighted but weak, but each Wednesday, through the door for service they came --- two examples moving toward the resurrection. Helping, offering each other what they could, each grateful for the gift each other had to give. 

Find your weakness.  Accept the gift of the other.  There in lies our call and our challenge.

Being born again (means letting) Jesus catch our attention.  Once we grant that, there is a process underway, a movement of soul, toward a time of witness and paying the price.  It is a movement that brings us to the place of the Cross, where we can be alongside the church of Sudan --- our weakness now joined with the gift of their Easter strength.

3. Views about the Peace Agreement from NCFM's Board Members in order of their appearance:

George Tuto, President of the Board, January 29, 2005

Karim El-Gassai, Secretary General, February 4, 2005 

(The) PA (peace agreement) is a part of the coming of freedom. It has come as a result of people coming together.

 

It first required a peace in our hearts. This took a long time to come because of the loss of many people. But if we are all believe that we are all Sudanese, all brothers and sisters, then we can have freedom. But if there are other people not fine with this peace, then something lies behind this peace, and there will be no peace. We see now the signs of peace. There is singing in the streets.

 

We lost many, but we believe freedom is not immediate. It does not come without loss.

 

We must not forget that God is important for this peace and its coming to Sudan and redeeming his people from their suffering. Many people are praying for Sudan.  This is a time that God has made.

 

When George Bush was coming to the election (this last November), there was prayer that the peace process would be completed. This is why people were praying for him to win this election. We praise God for what he has done to bring about this peace. We praise God for Senator Danforth and Colin Powell. In 1984, President George Bush's father came to Southern Kordovan, Sudan to bring help when we were starving. This we cannot forget. Khartoum was denying that we were starving.  We do not forget the good things that people have done for us.

 

If this peace is going to continue, with equal rights and freedom, then respect and honor for all will be part of the new Sudan.

 

Let us pray continuously for this.

 

God Bless Sudan.

 

-- George Tuto, President, Board of Directors, NCFM

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Congratulations and special thanks to the efforts of the United States and the rest of the world for assisting in this historic event in the history of Sudan. I pay tribute and thanks to Senator John Danforth and the chief mediator Lazaro a retired Kenyan General for their effort of 2002 ceasefire accord which is now became a comprehensive peace agreement. This peace agreement undermins the position of radical Islamist groups within Sudan, and ended terror and tyranny in Sudan. 

 

This comprehensive peace deal is a victory to all Sudanese citezens becuase it ends Sudan longest running war in the first place. This peace accord provides Sudan with real and last opprotunity to make an ideal shift from old exclusive Sudan to a new inclusive democratic state.  However, this changes will never happen without international monitoring. To emplement Nivasha protocols in reality, is a difficult road lying ahead, it requires hard work and sacrifices. Despite of all these challenges, I believe Sudan is heading in direction of democray. I call on African Union, European Union, United Nations, and United States to pay close attention on the Nuba Mountains. Also, I urge all Sudanese citezens in particular Nuba people to unit their plotical forces and build consensus around this comprehensive peace.

 

Thank you for the United States for spreading freedom and liberty across the Nations. Congratulations to all of you... Mabruk Ailkum... Wa Alf Mabruk Alikum. May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

 

-- Karim El-Gassai, Secretary General (NCFM) USA