Today (Sunday), the whole PNG mission team went over to the village to worship at Ba’e Church. About a quarter of the team had not been there yet, but we were all ready for a new experience.
As usual, we were greeted graciously by the people of Ba’e as we gathered in the old church. There were seven or eight rows of pews on each side of the little church, with the aisle running down between them. The pews were simple and made of rough hewn wood, but worn smooth by years of worship. At the end of the church was the pulpit. Pastor Hamm led the congregation from in front of the pulpit, standing on the stony, dirt floor.
He spoke in Tok Pisin, which we were able to decipher partly from context and partly from the words themselves. His worship team, various members of his family and the congregation, led us in songs of praise to God with the theme of unity in Jesus scattered throughout the service. Though most of us had already met many of them, our team was invited to come to the front of the church, introduce ourselves and share whatever God might have given us to share. No worries about the time!
Later, Tony was invited to give the message, which was based on Matthew 18:21-35 – a message on forgiveness. It was a simple, but challenging reminder of the basic gospel message: none of us is without fault; we are all sinners. And because of this, Jesus gave himself on the cross, taking on our sins and dieing in our place so that, through faith in his saving work – and not by anything that we could ever do ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9) – we would be forgiven. Therefore, since God forgives us so graciously through faith in Jesus Christ, shouldn’t we who are Christians graciously forgive others as well? It was an appropriate message for this little congregation that had recently experienced division; it was likely an important message for the rest of us to hear as well.
It was, throughout, an emotional service. Our team gathered a second time to present Bibles in Tok Pisin to a number of people who didn’t already have God’s word in their own language. Among those gladly receiving this “tok bilong Papa God” were Gana and Pi’i, two men whose bigheartedness had already been made evident to me.
After the service, we celebrated with a mu-mu, a special meal of chicken, kau-kau, pit-pit, potatos and leafy greens – all cooked in an underground “oven.” What a shower of blessings it was, even with the rain that would soon pour down on us. And it was a special day of worship and fellowship among men, women and children who were different in skin color, wealth, education, technology and geography, yet united as brothers and sisters through a common faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
