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The power of Christ’s healing
Maridi Diocese January 2005
I travelled to Maridi Diocese in Southern Sudan in January 2005 just two days after the peace deal had been signed in Nairobi ending 21 years of bloody civil war. The people in Sudan have faced almost unimaginable hardships because of the war- the everyday violence and fearful uncertainty of militia rule, the total lack of development and communication with the outside world, all accompanied by the loss of control over their lives. My generation of Sudanese have never known peace and must learn to survive, and now rebuild their communities, without war. The Church in Sudan and its people have suffered in ways we can only begin to understand, but as I attended the pastors conference on Peace and Reconciliation, I realised this suffering allowed us to see the power of Christ’s healing at work.
One particular incident sticks in my mind as the most moving example of this. A group called ‘FLAME International’ was conducting a remarkable session on letting go of bitterness. At the end we were invited to write the name of anyone we were holding bitterness towards on a red paper disk and come to the front to nail it to one of three wooden crosses. This was a bold move, as the Sudanese do not readily express their feelings in such a public way, especially if they are leaders in the Church, but the reaction was amazing. Every single person brought their bitterness to the cross and the following day the disks were burnt. Often it is hard to gage the emotional reaction of the Sudanese, as decades of war have forced them to conceal their feelings of pain and anger just to survive. However this symbolic gesture had begun the process of healing, and during the rest of the conference we were given glimpses of the way God was working within these people.
The following day a senior bishop delivered a spontaneous and moving testimony of his personal struggle with bitterness and his faith. During the war his eldest son had tragically died in a plane crash due to an oversight by an Arab pilot. On the way to the funeral his second son was killed in a road accident. Both boys were in the prime of their life and the bishop was crushed. He was angry with God and couldn’t fathom how he could have let this happen to his sons after his years of faithful service. His pain was so much that he couldn’t let go of his bitterness and anger at the Arab pilot, and consequently prevented the healing love of Jesus from entering his heart for many years, and remained a broken man. It was not until the previous day, when he was touched by the personal testimony of a FLAME member, that he was moved to nail the name of the Arab pilot to the cross and let go. He confessed that he had sinned by putting Jesus second to his pain and thus loving it more than him (John: 21: 15-20). For an African bishop to publicly humble himself and confess his personal struggle like this was not only emotionally moving, but hugely significant as it set an example for the healing of the Sudanese Church as a whole.
I think when you have a church which is prepared to repent, a church which is prepared to look at its weaknesses and allow others to speak and ask for forgiveness form each other, you’re at a very good starting point.
I think when you have a church which is prepared to repent, a church which is prepared to look at its weaknesses and allow others to speak and ask for forgiveness form each other, you�re at a very good starting point.
(Taken from interview with Bishop Harold Miller- Northern Ireland- Maridi- January 2005)
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