…. and I’m back.
Yes indeed.
I have travelled back from the distant land of Lesotho back to good old Blighty. I have to say, I’m very glad to be back.
I did indeed have a good time in Lesotho, the people, by and large, were varied and interesting, but like a lot of placements, there were a few problems too.
I know that there is a lot of things that I have learned about myself. Spending 4 weeks (essentially) alone with nothing really to do other than think and read Theology books can do strange things to one’s mind. For example, I think I might actually want to be a Theologian. I realise, from varying perspectives, that we are all theologians, but right now I want to fully investigate what I think and believe I know about God, then write it down, and with the permission of the relevant authorities, get it published. I say with permission, because some of it might be a little.. out there, and all good theology should be tempered by someone who knows enough to say when you’ve gone too far, or too wide. You don’t want to go and accidentally explore heresy. (knowingly exploring heresy, on the other hand is fine, but it’s always good to know where the line is).
Yet what of Lesotho itself? What can I say? Well, most of my time was taken up visiting the churches in the Parish that I was sent too, with the aim of producing a report at the end of it. This was fascinating, seeing how they approach worship, church life, and other Christian activities. I have to say that they do seem to be doing more for those around them than most churches in the UK, though that may because there is a lot they CAN do. They don’t suffer from the rules and regulations that we do here in the UK which can, in some cases, make it impossible to actually do any practical help. For example, here in the UK, you need a food hygine certificate to make food for the homeless, there is no such barrier in Lesotho, and so it was relatively straight-forward for the to organise visiting people with meals.
That said, the church suffered from the “inward looking” point of view of churches here in the UK. They would visit the sick that were once part of the congregation, and have no real thought about visiting those that were not part of the congregation. Here in the UK, suffering as we do from very little knowledge about our neighbours, it would be difficult to know who of our neighbours are sick, and require our help. Lesotho, however, doesn’t really ahve that problem. They still (mostly) live in small villages, where it is conceivable to know everyone (or at least a major part of the village, and definitely enough to be kept informed). Though, I suppose, it’s all swings and roundabouts. Though it may be possible to be kept informed of all the sick, how many could the poor church rationally visit, and doesn’t it therefore make sense to look after the congregation first, and then the others?
A lot of the things that I saw in Lesotho raise a lot of interesting questions for me, and how I would be able to put some of it into practice in the future. Their strong connection with Guilds (like Mothers Union), meant that the church was already naturally split into different groups with different foci, which simply needed to be mobilised. Here in the UK I would guess we would need to do the forming of groups, and then do the mobilising. It would be interesting to see if something similar could work in the UK, to form people into groups with vaugue outline goals, and then to call on these groups to do specific tasks (rather than form groups specifically for the tasks). It would definitely work to build communities, but may run the risk of over-identification with the individual groups. Then, most things have a downside.
I suppose what I should mention here is something about the country. I guess going in winter that meant that most things were dead (as things do over winter). The landscape was mostly a mix of yellows and light browns, and went on as far as the eye could see. The mountains were quite impressive, topped with flat platoughs, but even that lacked something. As much as I’m glad I went, I’m not sure that I have the impetous to go back.
I will probably write more later, though that might be in the form of theological reflection.
~BX
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) or (as it is now more commonly known) “Bread of Heaven”. The kind of song that comes out with a few good-natured pints when the Welsh get together. Is it any wonder I’ve always wanted to sing?
