Glimpses of the Kingdom

In several ways this weekend was a hard one. Jon had quite a few very sick little patients, one of which did not survive. One of my colleagues suddenly lost her 14-year-old child. I knew the boy, as he often was around at the office. He was a smart-looking boy, quite small for his age. I learnt his name and tried to make sure to greet him by name whenever he was around. He seemed to like that and I felt we bonded a little. The last time I saw him was when I came from Bo and he came back from a visit upcountry. For several hours we shared the back seat of the Save the Children’s vehicle. He seemed alright then, although he was coughing a bit. And now he is already gone. He didn’t die from Ebola, but I wonder if he might have survived if there had been better care. And that is simply not available at the moment. So many hospitals are closed and people don’t have access to good treatment.

This morning in church the tears came. I tried to stop them, but it was hard. After a while I was calm and able to concentrate on the service. When it came to the Intercession, we had a single prayer today: “Lord, have mercy on this country; let the Ebola epidemic come to an end…” At some parts, the man who prayed stammered: how do you express the deepness, the vastness of this crisis…

But the prayer was framed by stanzas of an old hymn: Amazing Grace. I listened to the strong voices of the people around me, Sierra Leoneans who have been through the war, through years of poverty, and now through an Ebola crisis. And we are not even talking about the personal tragedies of sickness, death, betrayal, unemployment…

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

This is what gives us hope. His grace is sufficient, even in the hardest of times. The church in Sierra Leone is holding on to this, and in doing so have been a great example and inspiration to us.

After the service, people didn’t want to go. They lingered around the altar and when the choir broke out in jubilant praises, they joined in: “I have no other God but You… You are the most high!” Soon many were dancing, singing, praising God. I noticed one of the directors of the National Ebola Response Centre, along with others in “high places”, dancing together with children who were delighted to get rid of some energy after sitting through a long service. I just stood there and watched and knew: this is a glimpse of the Kingdom…