Just an update for those who were wondering. The visit from the president of Madagascar was much worse than I thought. I won’t go into details, but the bilingual group was sent a clear message that we are second-class citizens, at least when compared to visiting foreign dignitaries. On the Sunday that we had more visitors than we have had in a long time, our class was interrupted, we were herded into the chapel, the main entrance to our meeting place was blocked by security and visitors and late-arriving members were given the honor of entering through a service entrance. Maybe everyone accepted it as the price you pay for being across the street from a University and being the “official” University church.
I took it as a reminder that these silly kingdoms of the world are not our kingdoms. Neither kingdom can fully understand or appreciate the other. I’m just sorry that in a building that is supposed to be “ours,” the people of the Lord’s kingdom were forced to play by the rules of the kingdoms of the world… with some of our people calling the shots.
I turn again to James 2:1-4 and cringe.
[In fairness, I got a response from our preacher. He told of the many ways in which the main auditorium was affected, including being asked to delay the beginning of their service by 5 minutes when the president was running late and being asked to end the service early! With his permission, I’ll quote this:
“The week before we had a family from Zimbabwe visiting for the graduation of their son. They were very poor and humble Christians. I was glad that they were treated with more honor and respect than even the president of Madagascar. So from one Sunday compared to the following Sunday we passed the James 2 test. Yesterday we got about a C on that exam. We will extend apologies all around. We did not mean to demean anyone or any group.”]