You are here > Home > About Us > Curate Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy

The Reverend Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy

Curate

The Parish Church of All Saints Staplehurst
Tel: 01580 892324

Email:

Not available on Fridays

Rector's Page Assistant Priest John Walker's Page

Curate's Letter - January 2010

Dear friends,

It has been a long time coming, but now the beautiful game is heading South. In six months, long after we have all sobered up from the New Year festivities, the eyes of the world will all be focused on the African continent for the football World Cup. Soon, our radio waves will be invaded by our favourite World Cup anthems, our headlines filled with tales of past glory and future hopes, and our sport pundits will once more tell us why England has got the best chances to win. Let's hope they are right this time. It is just a simple thing, a ball and a goal, but, once every four years, that simple thing changes the world. It is a simple thing that fills us with passion and pride, giving respect and hope to countries and often achieving more than politicians ever could. This year, the nation of South Africa has the honour of hosting the event. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the Rainbow Nation to put on show what it has best.

When travelling around South Africa, one is struck by the beauty and diversity of the landscape. It is without any doubt one of the most exciting places I have visited so far. South Africans are a beautiful, passionate, hard working and proud nation. Despite the years of apartheid, the people of SA have been able to rise and own a new identity. There is in this country such a vital energy that inexorably attracts and mesmerizes whoever sets foot in it. For those like me, fascinated by cultural variety and diversity, South Africa will give you a good run for your money. Food, music, traditions, history, it is all in abundant supply for a starving mind. The Rainbow Nation really lives up to most expectations.

However, South Africa is certainly not the peaceful haven it often appears to be. Underneath this veneer of comfort, prosperity and unity, lies another reality to the African dream. A reality carved by years of segregation, abuse and injustices of all kind that have left a nasty wound on this beautiful part of the world. This ugly face of South Africa is too often encountered in a rampant violence that finds its way into people's lives through so many different ways. The efforts of the post apartheid governments to level the social divide through policies such as the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has certainly borne fruits for an increasing minority of blacks, turning South Africa into a land of opportunities. But for a great majority of the children of that land life is still a daily battle for survival.

South Africa has an uphill journey before it is able to bridge the racial and social divide deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of its people during those long dark years of discrimination. The inspiring ideal of a Rainbow Nation will, I am sure, become a reality in the near future, as most South Africans are willing to be part of this wind of change and embrace whole heartedly this amazingly crazy dream. Today, the Rainbow Nation may be true on paper only, but a new dawn of hope has risen on the land of the South and her children, blacks, whites, coloured and Indians, rich and rich to be, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Sotho, Venda, Tsonga, Ndebele, Swazi, and Afrikaners, all will be gathered in one, prosperous and equal society.-. somewhere over the rainbow.

The challenges faced by South-Africans is in fact not foreign to our own experience. In our streets, our churches, our homes we are constantly confronted by differences; social, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual orientation. Unfortunately, those differences often prevent us seeing and embracing the person behind the mask. My hope and prayer is that as we enjoy 2010 (and hopefully celebrate England's victory in July), we will not simply try to iron out our differences but, holding together, allow our own Rainbow to become a reality beyond which our humanity can flourish.

As the song says: There's a place for us, a time and place for us. Hold my hand and we're half way there. Hold my hand and I'll take you there somehow, someday, somewhere! (“Somewhere - A Place for Us” by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim).

Happy New Year. Bonne Annee. Gelukkig Nieuwjaar. Heri Za Mwaka Mpya.

Yours in Christ,

Lusa

Curate's Letter - May 2009

Dear friends,

The sight of flowers and bourgeoning trees, the warmer and longer days, and the beautiful birdsongs are all reminders of the transformation happening around us. I have no doubt that most of us are looking forward to enjoying yet another spring in the Weald. As for me, I'm ecstatic at the beauty of what I have been able to see so far, and feel quite fortunate to be living in such a wonderful part of the country.

However, we all know that the beauty of spring will soon be replaced by the joys of summer, before they give way to the enchanting autumn, and eventually we'll be back to the dread and cold of winter.

It seems that life always takes us through familiar patterns and the cycle of seasons brings a constant flow of surprises that we seem to discover in a new fashion every year. “The circle of life” is how the Lion King calls this unending dance of seasons, of death and birth, of transformation.

We know too that in echo of our dancing seasons our own lives are made of repetitions of past experiences and events. Every year, we celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, and every year we gather to mark special occasions (only recently our parish church was once more well attended for our Easter celebrations). Another thing that happens every year is the excitement brought to our doors by the Christian Aid week.

www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/christianaidweek

This year, the Christian aid week focuses on the Democratic Republic of Congo. For many, the D.R. Congo is just another unfortunate country torn by over forty years of mismanagement, dictatorship, and corruption; a country ravaged by over ten years of violent conflict; or again, a geological scandal. To me, the D.R. Congo is home. That's where I was born and that's where my roots are. This means that I naturally have a bias interest in this year's fundraising efforts.

It often seems that we are constantly called to give again and again, even when our own resources are dwindling. It also seems that all the past efforts have not brought much change. These are pertinent objections and deserve further consideration. However, what we are invited to do is more than giving money, it is more than an attempt to score a few more brownie points. What we're asked to do is to give people a chance to enter into the dance of change and transformation; it's a call to say a loud and resounding no to status quo and mediocrity, and a big yes to life for all in its fullness.

The memory of Easter is still fresh in our minds and the taste of chocolate eggs not forgotten yet. But Easter, for the Christian Church, is not merely the story of a Carpenter from Galilee rising from the dead; it is not even just about bells, rabbits and chocolate eggs. The Christian Church believes that Easter is God's music score to a new life, a melody that rings with accents of justice, hope and love. As God's Easter people we are invited to join the orchestra and play our part in allowing many to enter the dance.

I hope that despite the constraints of the current financial context we will, once more, display our generosity and offer a warm welcome to those knocking on our doors, digging deep and contributing to the possibility of a new beginning for many around us and in distant lands. I hope and pray that, this year again, many will join us in this unending dance of life.

Yours in Christ,

Lusa

Curate's Letter - January 2009

Dear friends,

It feels surreal to be talking about 2009 while the memories of 2008 are still fresh on our minds. Were we not cheering team GB just a few weeks ago at the Beijing Olympics? Don't we all remember Ingrid Betancourt walking out of that Colombian jungle after a lengthy captivity? Aren't we all still floating on that cloud of hope that carried that “skinny black guy with a funny name” to the White House?

The beginning of the year is, in some ways, a paradoxical and often confusing time. Our heads are still full of the sounds of Christmas carols and our stomachs still bearing the marks of an end of year celebrated in style, but it feels that we already have to set our sights on what comes next. It's as if we were caught up between two realities that could prove, at times, difficult to reconcile.

As we stand at the threshold of this New Year, I recall a metaphor used by one of my lecturers at university in Brussels. I still hear him telling us that life is a journey in which we all progress walking backward, facing the past and unable to see the future. However, some people, the prophets, are handed rear view mirrors that offer them an insight into tomorrow. I unfortunately have no such mirror that would allow me to peep into the future.

The report given to us by our prophets about the year to come does not sound awfully exciting or positive. But I believe that prophets are not only those who forecast doom and gloom. They are those men and women who have the ability of instilling a real sense of hope and purpose even when everything seems to conspire against it.

Hope stood at the heart of the wind of change that helped transforming America for good. An entire nation stepped into the footsteps of a man who believed that fear could not be the best answer to uncertainty, but rather offered hope as the alternative. In much of what Barack Obama says, echoes the teachings of another inspirational man who, 2000 years ago, sat up on a mountainside and taught those listening not to live their lives under the rule of fear, but rather set their hopes on the God who assures us that our lives are precious to him and that he will not forsake us. This hope is not a flight from the hardship of reality, but rather an invitation to embrace life in its fullness with the knowledge that, through thick and thin, God will stand by our side.

Words like credit crunch and recession are now an integral part of our language, not just as mere figures of speech, but a painful reality, crippling countless lives. Many of us might look at 2009 with dread and uncertainty and we all wonder whether we'll be able to hold on to that vital job, be able to repay the mortgage or merely afford the increasingly taxing cost of life amidst this recital of gloom, let us, hear again the encouraging words of Jesus: do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27)

So, let us be a people defined by hope; hope that redeems our fears and transforms our dreams, hope that causes us to stand together, to stand for one another, hope that carries us on the journey. A new year has started. It comes with its train of expectations and fears, dreams and challenges. I pray that 2009 may be to us all a memorable year for all the good reasons we can each think of, but above all, because we would all have experienced that “there has never been anything false about hope”.

Happy New Year,

Lusa

Curate's Letter - September 2008

Dear friends,

Not soon had I arrived in Staplehurst that I was already packing my bags to spend an amazing three weeks in Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference. I had been asked to help as an interpreter and rapporteur for one of the “Indaba groups”. In these discussion groups, each comprising around 40 bishops from all parts of the Anglican Communion, I was asked to translate the thoughts and deliberations of the group throughout the conference. This was an arduous exercise as it required of rapporteurs to hold in tension the faithfulness of the scribe and the freedom of the poet.

Many came to the Lambeth Conference dreading a nasty and bitter confrontation. But most left with the strong sense that in a world where differences often spark hatred and division, the church can commit itself to rise to the challenge of unity and offer an alternative way of living out differences through beautiful disagreement.

Bishops at Lambeth felt that it was important to give adequate attention to specific internal concerns. There was, however, a much stronger imperative for the Communion to engage with the proclamation, in words and deeds, of the Gospel of life, love and hope to a broken and hurting world. As one bishop put it, the church needs to adopt a more comprehensive self-understanding and view itself as the oikos (household). This household is shaped around economic, ecological and ecumenical dimensions. The household is more than the bedroom. There are other rooms, the roof needs fixing, and outside the land is parched, flooded, and at risk and the neighbour is in need of help. Our vocation as the church is to attend to all those needs.

The debates were not always smooth as they contended with diversity in culture, context and psyche. There was however something potent and inspirational in witnessing bishops wrestle together in respect, selflessness and love with these difficult and polarising issues. They have not all reached a common understanding and will probably share diverging views for a long time. What then has the conference achieved you might ask? It has certainly not produced a series of clear resolutions that would solve once for all the issues. But this Lambeth Conference has created a permissive space for a variety of voices and opinions to hear one another. To use a Maori concept, the conference has allowed all to kick up the dust outdoors then let it settle before returning indoors.

The rift might not have been bridged, theologies might not have been changed, but hearts were transformed and new relationships established. Is it not what our Gospel is also about? The African concept of “Indaba” has brought all to realise that it is not about “them” and “us”, but it is about all of us as the people of God. It is not about arriving, but journeying. This is the beginning of an ongoing process. I have no doubt that the way ahead will be paved with many joys and challenges. However, I move forward with the knowledge that it will not be a solitary journey, but one that is shared with many, each bringing their own theological, cultural and spiritual specificity in this wonderful mosaic that our church is called to become.

Yours in Christ,

Lusa

New Curate !

Lusa, our new curate, was ordained as a Deacon on 28th June. Lusa was recently at the Lambeth Conference where he was one of the principle translators. Lusa also acted as Deacon at the Communion on Sunday 20th July assisting Archbishop Rowan Williams.