Kigali in the Morning Kigali is a city of many hills--which means it is also a place of valleys. Our first day began with mists rising from the low places, as people, animals and machines awakened to greet the morning. The days are long here, with the Muslim calls to prayer beginning before [...]
Each time I travel to Rwanda I experience a movement of transition--the need to ease into a different place, and I'm learning that its important to do this well. Its a physical and time/space transition, but also a cultural one. A shift that is both external and internal. It takes a re-orienting of posture, perspective [...]
Its been over a year, but soon those from Redeemer will be connecting once again with our friends in Rwanda. Of course, Redeemer is always present in Rwanda through our ministry families there (the Hanlons and Abrahams), but this fall our clergy return to greet friends and forge new relational connections. Canon Jay, Deacon Amanda [...]
On Thursday May 23rd 2013, we traveled to a reconciliation village that was founded and is led by Pastor Deo. In this village there are ex prisoners and victims of the genocide, who work together in fields growing crops and tending to animals such as cows and goats. They live together in houses in close [...]
Jay interviews Pastor Maurice on his work of healing and reconciliation in the church. One of the things that I'm doing in Rwanda is research for my .MLitt dissertation at St. Andrews, due to be completed this summer. It's been an interest of mine for some time to write about the ways [...]
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Today was a special day at St. Etienne Cathedral--at least for me. It was the Feast of Pentecost, and there were many languages, cultures and backgrounds represented. I also preached one service with a translator, testament to my lack of the ability to speak in the needed tongue of the hour. But it was only [...]
On the day that I departed the US (Sunday the 12th), Vestry member Michele Becker presented a timeline of our relationship and connection with Rwanda. We wanted to do this because many of our newer folks at Redeemer are not aware of how these relationships began and developed, and its a good reminder for all [...]
The sun has set behind the Kigali hills, and the smoke from fires in the valleys rises to hang, weightless, on the horizon. It's the end of another day and a reminder that I finally made it. I hit the ground running Wednesday night and have been busy since, while still trying to adjust to [...]