The Family Comes Home

Following the closing worship service for the 229^th Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida, there was a second gathering of Brethren at Camp Ithiel in the Atlantic Southeast District.  The ZME Choir and a number of other EYN guests stayed at the camp for a week of rest and recovery following a demanding concert tour that took them to Church of the Brethren Congregations all across the United States.

My wife and I lived and served in Nigeria in the 80’s and then again from 2004 to 2006.  We now live in Florida and were delighted to spend some extra time with our Nigerian brothers and sisters.  The years we spent in Nigeria were brief compared to other missionaries who spent most of their lives there.  Nevertheless, we have a deep affection for the people and culture of Nigeria.  When our plane touched down in Abuja, Nigeria nearly 20 years after our earlier time of service there, it felt remarkably like returning home.  The fragrant scent of charcoal fires and kerosene lamps mixed with the reddish dust of Nigerian earth brought tears to our eyes.  It is said that certain smells can conjure vivid memories and emotions.  On our return to Nigeria we sensed the familiar fragrance of home.

The gathering of Nigerian and U.S. Brethren at Camp Ithiel provided a similar sense of coming home.  Following the closing worship service in Tampa, the Nigerians headed to the camp, about two hours away, and prepared for their final concert later that evening.  When they arrived at the camp they discovered that their drums and other instruments were in another vehicle that was on its way to Lancaster, PA.  No worries.  The concert went off without a hitch with the help of a couple of trash cans as drums, a set of bongos and a beaded shaker from the office of camp director, Mike Neff.  The dining hall at Camp Ithiel was seldom livelier.

The following morning was set aside for conversation.  The day began with impromptu conversations, followed by an open conversation moderated by John Mueller, Atlantic Southeast District Executive.  For nearly three hours the little white chapel at Camp Ithiel buzzed with conversation.  The Nigerians shared stories of tragedy and triumph, thanksgiving and praise.  They were generous in their appreciation for the financial aid and prayer support offered by U.S. Brethren.  

When the conversation concluded, the group prepared to celebrate Love Feast.  Brethren from Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Nigeria gathered in the dining hall for the agape meal and then returned to the chapel for foot washing and the bread and the cup.  The Nigerians significantly outnumbered the Americans, kind of like that first worship service in Garkida in 1923.  A bronze plague has been placed under the Tamarind Tree where that first gathering took place.  The plague is inscribed with the scripture lesson Stover Kulp read that day:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.  (Ephesians 2:19-22) 

That was the essence of the Love Feast service at Camp Ithiel.  We did not gather as strangers and aliens, but as members of the family of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as our cornerstone.  Mixed among the Nigerians were former missionaries, BVSer’s, Global Mission and Service staff and those who have never set foot in Nigeria.  I was amazed to discover that one of the Nigerians was someone who had been a boy when we lived in the Nigeria in the 80’s.  I still have the picture I took of him 30 years earlier when he and several other boys were sitting on our front porch.  

When we gathered that afternoon for Love Feast, we thought we had come together as strangers.  We were reminded once again that in Christ Jesus we are no longer strangers but members of the same family.  Our family may be scattered in many placed around the globe, but when we come together as the family of God, it feels very much like we have come home.