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Which is good, because the rest of 2013
represents a certain amount of upheaval of a different sort – lots of travel.
I’ll wind up this term’s classes at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of
Theology a bit early at the end of February, then spend March and April in
Ethiopia teaching Advanced Hermeneutics at our former school, the Ethiopian
Graduate School of Theology. It’s been five years (!) since we lived and
worked in Addis Ababa, with only very brief visits back since. I’m grateful for
this more extended opportunity to reconnect with people and ministry in
Ethiopia. And after that it will be time for our biannual ‘home assignment’
(furlough) from May till early August. I’ll be in Cambridge, UK, the
first week or so in May, then Bill and I will meet up in the US in time for
Caroline’s graduation from the University of Virginia. Looking forward
to seeing many of you along the way!
But first we have lots of teaching to do. I
have my usual two masters-level courses this term, along with supervising two
PhD theses and the usual committee work. Last year’s low student intake is
showing up in small sizes in the upper-level courses I teach. I only have two
students in Exegesis of Greek Narrative and seven in my 1 Corinthians
class. Fortunately they’re all quite good students, so at least we can keep
some lively interaction going in the classroom. (Keeps the teacher interested
as well as the students!) And with fewer students I can focus more on the
specific needs of individual students in a multi-national, multi-ethnic classroom.
In Greek class one of my two is a woman from DR Congo who speaks Swahili
as her mother tongue, plus French. The other is an Ethiopian man who
speaks Amharic and struggles in English. So I’ve found that I can have
them translate from Greek into their mother tongues and if they speak ve-e-ery slowly
I can check to see if they’ve understood the passage correctly and get the
translation basically right, even though I can’t always hear the details. We’re
enjoying our Greek-English-Swahili-French-Amharic lessons and I think all three
of us are learning something.
In 1 Corinthians class this week we
got to chapter 7. I usually anticipate a good bit of student interest when we reach
this chapter since it deals with marriage, singleness, divorce – and of course,
sex. But no, they surprised me. The hot discussion topic in class was what I
usually consider Paul’s ‘throw away’ comment at the very end of the chapter: “A
wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is
free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.” (7:39). That’s because three
of the seven students in the class come from ethnic communities where ‘wife
inheritance’ (levirate marriage) is still the normal practice. As
Christians they’re trying to figure out how to respect their cultural context while
mitigating the worst abuses of it. So they were saying things like, “Paul seems
to think marriage ends at the husband’s death. But in our culture a woman is
still considered married to a particular man even if he has died. On what basis
is Paul saying this?” “Is this one of Paul’s ‘commands from the Lord’ or one of
Paul’s ‘opinions’? So do we have to apply it exactly as he says, or is this
just his own preference?” “Traditionally we let the widow decide which of the
husband’s brothers she want to marry. So in that way she’s ‘free to marry
whoever she wishes’. Is that OK?” Tell me, as the teacher what would you have
said in this discussion?!
Lots of other good stuff going on as well.
A quick summary: Bill is teaching Systematic Theology and Church History
to undergraduates and History of
Monasticism and History of Eastern Christianity to masters students
at the St Paul’s main campus this term, plus Research Methodology at the
city-centre extension site, along with supervising several students in
independent studies and thesis work. He’s pleased to have finished the first
draft of plans for new PhD programmes in Church History and Theology at
St Paul’s – now waiting for the next round of feedback
from his colleagues. He preached last week at the Orthodox ‘cathedral’
(a small one!) in Nairobi. And he’s really enjoying the weekly
rehearsal-cum-dinner-parties for the renaissance music group he sings
with. For me perhaps the greatest joy is still the biweekly women’s Bible
study I lead at my local church – such an amazing fellowship of women with
an astounding variety of cultural backgrounds and ages. I’ve also started a new
group of women at church who are reading through the Bible chronologically
together in 2013. I continue to serve as ‘Ministry Head’ for the team of SIM
missionaries seconded to higher-education or healthcare institutions in
Kenya. And last but certainly not least in terms of time commitment, I started
my online MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes last month. I’m
definitely feeling that disorientation of trying to find my way in an entirely
new environment (my first online course, my first School of Education course,
etc., etc. – makes me more sympathetic to our own new students!), but I’m
finding the content extremely useful.
In our
world this month…
Bill’s
new wheels – a 1995 Toyota Rav4. It’s sort of purple. He loves it.
SIM
Kenya ‘Institutional Partnerships’ Team
The
Nairobi-based portion of our team gets together quarterly for lunch and a good
chat – here we are on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in January
As
Ministry Head for the team, I was leading the discussion. The person with the
camera said, “Look animated”!
Such
a great group of colleagues on this team, multiple nationalities, a wide range
of ministries: theological educators, physicians, nurses, a physical therapist,
psychologists, a computer programmer developing a system to digitalize patient
records in Kenyan hospitals, a neuropsychology PhD who teaches and does brain
research, another colleague involved in
both youth education and national politics, and more.
Bill
with his undergraduate Systematic Theology class during afternoon break at St
Paul’s University
Students,
faculty and staff leaving last Friday’s morning chapel service at St Paul’s
St.
Paul’s Anglican chaplain speaking during chapel
Back
at the NEGST/AIU campus here’s the faculty building, my office marked with a
star so you can see where I (Stephanie) spend LOTS of time
Except
I’m not actually there at that moment because I have rushed over to the campus
café in time to grab a plate of rice and beans…
…to
carry to the Ladies Fellowship Committee meeting where we are planning our next
monthly gathering – women students, staff, faculty wives, and I’m the faculty
rep
A
lot of our ministry takes place outside of class, in individual mentoring and
in campus groups like this
Here’s
my on-campus ‘Grace Group’ (weekly spiritual formation group) visiting a
member’s home earlier today to welcome a new baby in culturally appropriate
ways
Cake
Chai
(Kenyan tea)
Listening
to words of wisdom and encouragement from the only grandmother in the group
(not me – my assigned tasks were to bake the cake, pray over the baby and take
photos!)
Gifts
And
an opportunity for each person to have their photo taken with the baby (that’s
me!)
