POLICE SUNDAY AND THE MOUNTAIN OF FIRE

A selfie showing me on my
newly borrowed  exercise mat
(from the PE dept)  trying
to keep my back in order

Lots of words today, but only a few pictures - sorry but the camera was not to hand for much of what I want to share with you.

This has been a very interesting weekend.  It began with an almost spontaneous decanting of the staff room into the Red Chilly backpackers lodge next door for an 'end-of-a-long-week-beer-or-two'.  As is often the case in these circumstances this ended up with my getting to know a few of my colleagues a little better as they relaxed more and shared their hopes and fears.  I personally left after my two beers, but I gather that it went on well beyond that, and may even have ended with some serious damage being done to Red Chilly's stocks of 'Squadron' - the local Ugandan rum.  However, I can only report that as hearsay as I was tucked up in bed well before 11pm.

Saturday night involved yet another social occasion, but this time as far up the other end of the sophistication scale as you can imagine.  The school held a first birthday party and invited all of the parents and staff to attend.  Everyone dressed up spectacularly for the occasion (as only the Africans can), and the whole function was free and involved food provided by Kampala's grandest hotel (the Serena), excellent wine, a live band, a superb African contemporary and traditional dance band and a fantastic Master of Ceremonies to make the whole affair run smoothly.  Well, almost all of that is true - all apart form the last bit in fact.  The truth is that they decided it was too expensive to hire a professional MC and that a member of staff could do it - and muggins was the only one asked who hadn't got the sense to say no.  Anyway, it meant that I spent the entire night sweating profusely in my white DJ trying to cope with the constant changes to an already under-planned programme.  Suffice to say we got through it and I think all our parents were impressed and enjoyed themselves.  As I left our Principal was being interviewed for Ugandan TV so I imagine the school considered it a success too.  Most of my colleagues moved next door to Red Chilly for an after party party, but I was too exhausted to do anything other than drag myself into bed again.  I think I must be getting old :-(

Church this morning was another extraordinary event, for completely different reasons.  On a normal Sunday there are four back-to-back services at the Cathedral, each lasting 2 hours and each catering for a slightly different style of worship.  They are all well attended by between 300 to 400 people (at a best guess - there may be more as I can never see how many are outside in the tents).  One problem that occurs is that as one service finishes there is a bit of a 'bun fight' at the main entrance as the first arrivals for the next service jostle for the best seats in the house.  This happens at the same time as the official procession from the earlier service is leaving, and occasionally there is a less than entirely gracious football crowd tussle as they try to get out whilst still looking serene and dignified, whilst everyone else pushes past to get in. Today, however, was Police Sunday.  This meant two things were different.  The first was that there were many more people attending both the 7-30 service (outgoing formal procession) and the 9-30 service (incoming ruffians - including me).  The second was that the police had so many prayers and talks going on that the 7-30 service overran by 15 minutes and the crowd gathering outside was both larger and more boisterous than usual.  This resulted in what was (to me at least) the hilarious scenario of about a hundred very smartly dressed football hooligans blocking the entrance to the Cathedral entirely, whilst the robed procession, led by the Cathedral cross-bearer, attempted to force an exit.  All this was accompanied by a badly out of tune police silver band playing Onward Christian Soldiers.  The sight of the cross-bearer preparing to make a final charge for freedom whilst the strains of 'Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus, Going on before' had tears rolling down my eyes.  Fortunately she was a large woman, with a determined spirit and a large crowd of choristers behind her, and as they sang 'Like a mighty army, Moves the Church of God' they finally burst forth and we surged into the gap, eventually taking our seats with only minor casualties on both sides (mainly wounded pride, and slightly ruffled dignity).  I am sorry if all of this offends any of my more traditional church going readers, but all I can say is that you had to be there to see it to really appreciate the humour of it.

The other bizarre thing about this morning's service (which was as enjoyable and spirit-filled as ever) was listening to the report of our assistant Bishop of Kampala diocese, Bishop Hannington Mutebi, on his recent visit to UK.  Apparently one of the people he met on his trip was a Swindon vicar and honorary Canon of Bristol Cathedral, a certain Reverend Raymond Adams.  I cannot tell you how strange it was to be sitting in the congregation in my church in Kampala and hearing the name of the vicar of the church that Ronnie and I attended over 16 years ago and where we were married.  It's a small world indeed!

From the Cathedral today I then drove across the city to find the church that Beatrice, my teaching assistant at school, attends.  It is called the 'Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries' and is  is committed to "the Revival of Apostolic Signs, Holy Ghost fireworks and the unlimited demonstration of the power of God to deliver to the uttermost".  Beatrice has been tasked by her pastor to start up a drama ministry in the church and she had asked me if I would help her with getting it going.  After being introduced to the pastor and some of her team, we agreed that Beatrice would aim to present a short piece of drama in their service on the 26th of October, and that I would help them prepare.  I then met the twenty or so volunteers who were very eager to learn about using drama in church.  They were a wonderfully enthusiastic and welcoming group aged from 10 to 60 - and that is how I ended up coaching a small, but hugely talented, group of African pentecostal Christians in drama ministry.  Who would have believed that this was what what God had planned for me even a 8 months ago!

Beatrice (in the orange dress) and me with some of the drama group

Running through the script for the first time

The church is a fairly imposing building, but is at the
end of a long dirt road in a very poor district of Kampala

To round off my weekend of unusual pursuits I came back home this afternoon to finalise my planning for the week and to watch Europe triumph over the USA in the Ryder Cup on satellite TV.  It doesn't get much better than this!