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Who am I?

Bonhoeffer remembrance, April 2005

Ezek. 37:1-16, based on a Lenten devotional poem from prison

Theodore Gill, Ecumenical Centre Chapel, Geneva, on the 60th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's death.

I’m writing this text exactly one year after Brazil declared quarantine, on 16 March. Last year we went into quarantine thinking it would only be two weeks at home, and maybe a few months of wearing masks and sanitizing our hands. I’m the first to confess that I’ve underestimated the virus. However, we all know that is not how it went. Month after month went by - the internet joked about how could it possibly be August already, when last week was March?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the world functions and how people relate to each other. The whole of my life I never imagined a moment where the world would come to a standstill, people giving up travelling and their busy lives to stay at home leaving the streets and public spaces empty. This shows how bad the situation was, at its initial stages. The month of March 2020 is one in which the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt in almost every country in the world. Leaders and policy makers rushed in to stop the spread of the deadly pandemic.

The Greek word Koinonia, which Paul especially uses in the New Testament, translates as community, communion, union, fellowship, participation, among other meanings. The term "solidarity" expresses the meaning of Koinonia. The community based on solidarity seeks peace, justice, well-being, the Shalom of the people. The word "coexistence" can also be equivalent of Koinonia, because it means to live in unity for several generations under the same roof or house. The "coexistence" leads us to take care of the integrity of creation, to recognize that we are not the only inhabitants of this house.

I teach water law, especially the water laws of the western United States.  Every year we discuss the question of water marketing, which is a well-established practice now in the somewhat arid western portion of the United States.  Naturally, students and others ask about the recent development of a futures market for water in California. Here is my answer: the creation of a futures market for water is the ultimate act of commodifying water in California. It is dangerous, inequitable, and quite contrary to the rule in water law that prohibits financial speculation in water. 

While traveling from the border of South Sudan on a remote dirt road toward the Ugandan town of Kitgum, my companion and I were flagged down by two men. They were carrying their paralyzed friend to Kitgum Hospital and asked if we would give them a lift. Routine as the question may seem, the choice was not an easy one.  The year was 2007, and while the Lord’s Resistance Army had been mainly cleared out, sympathizers remained, and picking up travelers was risky. Pietro, the South Sudan country director who was traveling with me, turned and said, “You’re the logistics officer, what do we do?”

Patrick Matsikenyiri was born in Biriri, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and died in Mutare, Zimbabwe near his home village a few kilometers from the border of Mozambique, as a result of complications due to the COVID-19 virus. His career included virtually all aspects of church music — singing, choral directing, composition, hymnal editor, festival leader, professor, and enlivener of global songs in venues around the world.

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17)

Many verses in scripture accurately portray some of the emotions around cancer: pain and suffering, mortality and loss, comfort and redemption, faith and eternity.