I feel greatly honoured to stand before you, giving thanks to God for this opportunity to be with you today. I came to the UK a couple of weeks ago to attend a short conference of new Bishops at Canterbury, and since we are hoping to develop a partnership between St Asaph and my Diocese, I thought I should visit the Bishop here and chart ways of this partnership.

Thank you for the generous welcome.

I bring very warm Christian greetings from your fellow sisters and brothers in Christ from the Diocese of South West Tanganyika, one of the 21 Dioceses of the Anglican Church of Tanzania. It is only 18 months since my consecration, serving a large Diocese of 35 scattered rural parishes, with over 120 congregations. I look forward to a fruitful partnership between our two Dioceses in the years to come.

Our three readings of today have a very interesting correlation: In Genesis is the account of creation of the first man and woman, and God saw that creation, it was very Good. Then in Revelation, we see the culmination of God’s redemptive work in unveiling the new heavens. Now in between these two episodes, is one of the milliards of accounts of man’s struggle in daily life.

St Luke tells us one of the most amazing events that took place during the ministry of Jesus here on earth. Jesus is telling his disciples “let us go across to the other side of the lake”, and they set off. Probably it was just a short journey, but it turned out to be a nightmare!

How often, when we face difficult times in life, it is as if God is not there!

1. A Haitian woman during the recent earthquake who lost everything, cried: God, why me?

2. Five years ago, my young brother died at the age of 40, leaving behind a widow and two young siblings. A year later his wife died. The young boy aged 9 came to me totally frustrated and said who will take care of us? I said, do not worry, God will take care. A couple of years later, both children died. The whole family was victim of HIV/AIDS. God where were you?

When we face times of trials like these , suffering, denial, it has seemed that God is sleeping. The disciples cry out, Master, Master, we are perishing! And Jesus’ answer is so simple…where is your faith? Again here I am reminded of young girl of 5 whose mother had died in hospital, and was told of the news. She was told, your mom has gone to heaven to be with Jesus. She asked, is she coming back again? She was told, No, but one day you will see her again. She believed.

How do we respond to storms of life? A family traumatized by the long suffering of a family member as a result of sickness, coping with the death or sudden loss of a dear one. Do we cope by running away from reality? By looking for excuses? By engaging in temporal pleasures? By pretending that all is well when in reality it is the opposite?

In Africa, people would go as far as consulting traditional magicians to seek answers to their calamities. Others still would, out of frustration denounce that there is God who cares at all. Others go even further and surrender and believe that whether matters are smooth or difficult, it is all the will of God.

I wonder how you and I respond to ‘storms of life’.

The boat we are travelling in may be in several levels:

i. Storms that rage on our personal lives
ii. Storms that rage on us as families
iii. Storms that rage on us as communities and nations
iv. Storms that rage on us as a Church.

Between Jan 27 – Feb 4, I was in Canterbury attending a conference of new Bishops from 30 provinces of the Anglican Communion. The climax of the conference was our meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace. In his address to us, he shared his pain of being a leader of a communion deeply divided on issues such as sexuality. But he also confidently shared with us his faith in Christ who is able to carry the Church through such a storm.

Yes, to us who believe in God, when storms come our way, Jesus is reminding us to respond with faith. He is showing us to put our trust in Him who is able to calm our troubles, for after all, He is ultimately in command of the world. And even with all our mastery of technology and science, we need to be reminded again and again that we need to be in a personal relationship with the one who is both our Creator and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Rt. Rev’d John Simalenga, Bishop of South West Tanganyika