I write this as I return from the annual ALMA Sunday celebration at St Paul’s Cathedral. No, this isn’t a celebration of all things ‘Coronation Street’, but rather an opportunity to celebrate our link, as a parish, with the parish of Pemba, Cabo
Delgado in Mozambique with whom we are partnered through the Angola London Mozambique Association (ALMA). It was a service of celebration for a warm and reciprocal friendship with Fr. Bulaki and his people, and to pray for a region of Africa that is currently subject to unspeakable violence and the oppression of Christians. Recently, the school was destroyed by insurgents and the church robbed, with many of the residents fleeing into the bush to survive these incursions.

As we gathered in the pomp and circumstance of one of the finest cathedrals in Christendom, I wondered how far we were from the blood and dust of Pemba, where people worship in fear of their lives. Bishop Filomena from Angola preached a sermon on persistence in the quest for justice and I was reminded, in my clean robes and safe cathedral, sitting at the ‘front’ as an undeserved 'dignitary', that this fight and this persistence for justice can begin anywhere, even in London (and perhaps especially so).

It was a glorious service in both English and Portuguese (the language of Mozambique), and I come away reminded that the God of white marble tourist attractions is the same God in the desperate circumstances of lands I cannot begin to comprehend. I return home humbled because in relative terms, my faith is easy. For our friends in Pemba, theirs comes at a high price.

 

ALMA, which means “soul” in Portuguese, helps develop friendships between Anglican churches and communities in Angola, London and Mozambique. More information is available at http://www.almalink.org/