Spirituality and prayer: My experience

OPINION

'Spirituality and Prayer: My experience in EOC and Mamre International Prayer Centre'

By Francis Xavier Bbosa

It is exactly fourteen (14) months or so since Very Reverend Fr. Jacinto Kibuuka now bishop-elect in the Evangelical Orthodox Catholic (EOC) Church and the head at the Mamre International Prayer Centre declared to have joined the EOC.

This was after the congregation that had fallen in love with his preaching for a couple of years had mobilised funds among themselves and bought land to enable him continue to pray and shepherd them. Of course, we cannot dwell much into what is now a remarkable religious history in Uganda in the recent period because this is still fresh in everyone's minds; but here below I will enumerate the way I see things through my own lenses prior to this history, around the time these events unfolded and the future.

The times

There is always time for everything and always there shall be time to tell the times. Gone seem to be the times where some religious sects were referred to as the only recognised religious sects in this motherland. Gone still are the times when the heads of such denominations were almost worshipped and immortalised on top of being seen as though they are siblings to the Omnipotent. The guarantee of rights and other freedoms in this country did not spare freedom of worship thus what used to be "sacred" for selfish reasons is now an "open secret". 

The way I see it, There seems a turn of things around this time; where man shall have to turn to match the matching of the time or else the matching may match passed man and he may never match to match the matching times again.

There is no longer any scare for commission of sin or fear for hell if man found out the truth and matched with the truth. An individual walks out of any denomination freely and there is no more scare for failure to find a school for children, discrimination in society and fear for being an out-cast or even fail to be decently buried. I am seeing free movement into a religious sect and a free outage which was a taboo in yester years.

Determination

Freedom of worship is often hindered by ignorance, intimidation into submission even when your mind is conscious of the truth. Social dependency and lack of independence of the mind, indoctrination and fear of the unknown, plus lack of intellectual thirst by man greatly contributed to religious enslavement. Mathew 10:26 where Jesus reveals that; "Do not be afraid of people, whatever is now covered up will be uncovered and every secret will be made known"

The way I see it is; Jesus was predicting the current "information age" and that time was coming when there shall be free flow of information and discovery of the unknown shall be made easier. There is nothing much that is now "Sacred" and secret as some are still being led to believe. The determination for knowledge search and the need to tell it is unstoppable.

Therefore, the pride and esteem of some circles hoarding information in the name of 'sacredness' is in the past, time of holding masses hostage because everyone thought that 'Knowledge' was a reserve of a few is instead past. There is now high an unstoppable quest for knowledge and high-level intellect for reasoning.

Conservatism is a thing of the past. There is desire and determination for identity with reason and not by 'decent'. That's why in the way I see it; religion is by reason someone would want to know why some things must be what they are in reality.

In Mathew 10: 34-36; Jesus goes on to say that; "I did not come to bring peace but the sword……" therefore there must be determination to stand up to tell the truth and preach the word of God. Swords shall be drawn against those that preach the word of God but there must always be determination to withstand such wars. In Mathew 10:40-42 he reveals the reward for withstanding the persecution and this reward is for the determined. The way I see it is; that there is no turning back to consequently miss out on the reward.

Further to this, in my own lenses, if it were not determination and the focus on the reward by the faithful in EOC to boldly come out and pronounce what they want; and the boldness in the decision by Reverend

Kibuuka to decide on what his mind was dying for; Mamre Centre would not be existent with all the swarm of believers and followers now in tens of thousands. The truth is that these masses are not shy; they are strong, determined and unstoppable.

The Love of prayer

Despite all the efforts to portray the Kibuuka as a 'rebel' and the claim to have withdrawn all faculties from him; it is amazing that masses continued in day light to trek and attend prayers with him. If it's not craze of the people to continue to pray with an out-cast, then there must be something appreciable about this servant of God.

The answer is; the way I see it lies in the prayerfulness and the love for prayer by the followers guided by the clergy at this EOC-Mamre International Prayer Centre.

Everyone is entitled to reason and to interpret the day light multitudes of masses that endure to leave their work and continue into prayer on the allotted days of the week at the various Mamre Centres which are currently spread over the country and in my own lenses; I see the new wave of love for prayer by the people and therefore the Clergy must respond to quench this thirst.

The testimonies

Evidence of testimonies is rife and people bear witness that God continues to perform miracles even in these times. True testimonies are given before congregations and thus dispute or even argument against these claims of miracles may be indicative of high level of ignorance. The mentality that one to have seen and claim a miracle is only for and through a certain procedure or a monopoly of the clergy or only to the 'convent confines' no longer holds and the way I see it; it could be true that "the miracle performer" to our dismay may have abandoned these previously gazetted 'Holy places' and He may be working from where He is least expected.


The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Empeke ya Kalidaali)

Least could one think of what could come out of a really a small seed. This was the parable of a Mustard seed as written by Luke 13:18-19. The Mustard tree grows from an insignificant seed but it is one of the greatest trees in size among trees. It is claimed that, the grain of this seed may not be seen by naked eyes of man; but one wonders how such can be transformed into such a giant or a master tree so to say. The way I see it; what starts as negligibly small may develop into something significant to the disappointment of the onlookers.
 

The spiritual evolution

Spirituality is a gift given only by God though it requires a lot for one to remain Spiritual or maintain this special gift. Spirituality requires endurance and is not a common endowment. It is not revealed to all and it is not something acquired through any form of training. It is not a free attainment but it comes through an anointment from God. Like I mentioned that it's a free gift and thus should not be envied at all. Like it is said, God works in ways that are not easily understood by man, God's way are not the same as man's ways. God can pick a one small young herds man David to finish off a Goliath; he does not pick anyone from the Synagogue leaders. God picks a poor and unknown Moses to lead his people from captivity though there were many of the Synagogue elders.

Moses who had led God's people for all the period of dedication to everyone's wonder he was unable to finally lead them to the Promised Land! The way I see it; could be that at a certain stage in Society God picks and raises new leaders with Spiritual endowments and He consciously knows where they should lead his creation. Therefore Spiritualism and responsibility before God has never been a preserve of those in robes but God has preferred the least thought of and the humble and has made them great in the history of religion. The way I see things is; Spiritualism is not acquired and thus should not be envied, but has always been a gift since time immemorial. It is still the principal and thus Man shall always find where it lies and from who is anointed.  

From the way I see it; what is currently important to man is to identify and establish a place where one can receive an understanding of his/her own issues or challenges and gets over them. In other words, a place where one encounters God and goes away satisfied and, perhaps, where solace prevails, be it in the open or previously places referred to as biwempe. It could perhaps be that God is no longer or less appears in the Cathedral or Basilicas.
 
The writer is the chairperson of the EOC Laity in Uganda