wfn.org | [ACNS] Melanesian Religious Communities Come to Lambeth

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 4011     |     LAMBETH	|     28 JULY 2005

Melanesian Religious Communities Come to Lambeth

By Robert Bergner, ACNS Intern

Photographs for this article are available here:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/40/00/acns4011.cfm

O Christian women, Christian men,
All the world over, seek again
the Way disciples followed then:
Alleluya, alleluya, alleluya.

Tuesday afternoon's Eucharist in the Lambeth Palace Chapel began
appropriately with George Bell's Christ is the King, O friends rejoice!
The hymn was followed, as tradition dictates, by the confession and
absolution, the collect and a reading. Then, at the point in the service
when the appointed Psalm would normally be recited, someone quietly
hummed a simple melody. A pause. Suddenly, music - rich, confident,
joyful music - burst forth from the mouths of twenty-seven white-robed
Melanesian congregants. Brilliant sound filled every corner of the
chapel. Deep, swirling harmonies transported the heart. The Canticle of
the Sun, a hymn reminiscent of Saint Francis' Canticle of All Creation,
praising the beauty of the land and people of Melanesia, rose
heavenward.

Members of the Melanesian Brotherhood, joined by members of the Sisters
of Melanesia, the Society of St. Francis and the Sisters of the Church,
were visiting Lambeth Palace as the special guests of Archbishop Rowan
and Mrs. Williams. The Melanesians have been in England since April,
sharing their ministry of drama, music and dance with the Dioceses of
Chester and Exeter.

The Melanesian Brotherhood is an order of lay brothers, founded by Ini
Kopuria, a Solomon Islander, eighty years ago. The Brothers take vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience, which last for a period of five years
and can be renewed. Their mission and evangelism serves Christians and
non-Christians of the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and
Fiji. In addition, the order, which includes 450 brothers and 270
novices, has recently opened houses in the Philippines and New Zealand.

True to the vision of the order's founder, the Brothers live and share
the Gospel in a Melanesian way, bearing good news to the people of the
Pacific islands in their own communities. Barefoot and dressed
distinctively in black and white, they travel two-by-two between
villages, carrying only their Bibles and walking sticks. They work
alongside local residents, tending fields, casting fishing nets and
repairing roofs; they visit the sick, lead bible study and present their
own dramatised versions of the Gospel stories.

Unfortunately, the work of the Brotherhood has not been without danger.
As the principle catalysts for peace in the recent civil war in the
Solomon Islands, the Brothers camped between the barricades of opposing
militants in Honiara, the Solomon Islands capital. When a tenuous peace
agreement was finally reached, the Brothers went from home to home
collecting guns. A few extremist groups refused to disarm. One of these
groups captured, tortured and killed seven of the Brothers in April
2003.

But, even this tragedy has not muted the exuberant spiritual fervour of
the Brotherhood. For the past three months, the Brothers and their
Melanesian compatriots have presented their energetic, original Gospel
dramas in dozens of churches, schools, community centres and prisons
throughout the Dioceses of Chester and Exeter. They carry with them what
Brotherhood Chaplain Richard Carter calls a "message of hope, love and
joy." They are living witnesses to the fact that the "light of God
cannot be put out."

That light shone brightly at Lambeth Palace, Tuesday, as the Brothers
performed The Lost Son, their version of the Biblical story of the
Prodigal Son. With a captivating combination of innocence, craft and
conviction the Melanesians recast this well-known tale as the story of a
young Melanesian man named Cheeka - played by Brother Joseph Tamisay.
Cheeka, bored by his life at home, convinces his father to distribute
his share of the family's wealth so that he can set off for London to
find "sophistication". Cheeka's London adventures are exciting, but
quickly turn costly and then ruinous. Like his Biblical counterpart,
Cheeka ends up feeding a herd of pigs for little pay and, ultimately,
finds himself obliged to join the pigs in their meals. The Melanesians'
tale follows the Biblical narrative through the Prodigal Son's return
home, his father's welcome and his brother's outrage. There, the
Melanesians add a moving scene of reconciliation between the two
brothers. This, Cheeka's father tells the audience, is how the Father in
Heaven loves them - with infinite mercy, compassion and forgiveness. A
great cry of "Celebrate! Celebrate!" erupts from the stage. The ensuing
celebration takes the form of several minutes of jubilant dancing and
panpipe playing.

At the show's conclusion, the Brothers and Archbishop Rowan, who is an
Associate of the Brotherhood and spent ten days in the Solomon Islands
and Vanuatu last year, exchanged thanks. One of the Brothers expressed
the Melanesians' delight to be in "this place we never could have
dreamed of coming to in our lives," and declared: "We are one with you
in this big family, God's family."

The Archbishop, embracing the Brother, pointed out that the Palace's
Garden Room had never seen anything quite like the performance which had
just taken place. Those archbishops whose portraits hang on the walls,
he said, "who were at the beginning of the life of the Anglican
Communion, never in their wildest dreams imagined that what they had
begun would come back to speak to us as you have, today." Heeding his
own admonition from the afternoon's homily - that, even if the world
were to end tomorrow, we would still have time, today, to proclaim our
love for one another and our trust in God - Archbishop Rowan conveyed
his love for the Brotherhood and for the Church of Melanesia. "We think
of you often," he said. "Think of us sometimes as we work together for
God's kingdom as best we can."

On a more private note, one of the visiting nuns confided that her
favourite aspect of this, her first, trip to the United Kingdom was the
English flowers. "They are beautiful," she said. "There are so many
wonderful colours."

The Melanesian Brotherhood will be leading the liturgy for the Sunday
morning Eucharist at St Martin in the Fields Church, London on Sunday,
July 31. That evening, they will be performing their drama entitled The
Passion of the Lord there, beginning at 6:30PM.

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