My ears were assaulted on a recent visit to our local supermarket by an appalling song with the repetitive chorus, “I love myself, and I don’t need anybody else”. It’s a sad reflection of the self-obsessed outlook being widely encouraged today.
By contrast, however, it was very heart-warming to see some of the child recipients of the Pride of Britain awards1 who had acted with amazing bravery and selflessness. But I did notice that they all appeared to be part of loving families! And yet it is the family that is under such fierce attack by the media in general.
Amidst the gathering gloom of approaching winter, meanwhile, we northerners are hearing the regular sound of fireworks disturbing the peace, presumably to provide a little light relief for residents bored stupid with being confined indoors. Dark relief, more like, since it seems to relate to Halloween as much as to bonfire night these days.
Love in the midst of war
Those feeling hard pressed by the lockdown restrictions should spare a thought for the people of Burundi during the protracted civil war that has wracked the poverty-stricken country in past decades, where firecrackers were for real and an entire generation has been traumatised and uprooted by murder and mayhem.
And yet in the midst of this utter devastation, the lives of many have been totally transformed by Jesus. Through a selfless and sacrificial life dedicated to bringing hope and restoration to these shattered communities, British missionary Chrissie Chapman has rescued dozens of orphans from certain death and raised them up herself.
Her orphans ... have been soaked in the love of Jesus, which has brought life and health and peace into their lives.
Through a project called CRIB (Children Rescued in Burundi), she has personally mothered 53 babies and young children who were torn from their parents and relatives by machete-wielding butchers terrorising vast swathes of the country.
Writing of her experiences in a book2, she recalls two occasions when she was held at gunpoint but, undeterred, she refused to leave her post, believing that God had called her for this purpose.
Angels Book
She also founded a Christian school, with help from Christians in the UK and elsewhere, through which all her adopted boys and girls have passed, with some going on to attend universities in the USA.
The miraculous works of God
Surrounded by death and destruction, it would have been natural to expect fear and trepidation to mark the course of their lives. But Chrissie brought a supernatural element into the equation, believing that Jesus was as alive today as he was when he walked the hills of Galilee. Miraculous intervention in the form of healing, provision and protection was often the result.
She and a colleague even saw a host of huge angels guarding their premises on one occasion. Walking the streets or countryside was always dangerous, while staying inside their compound failed to prevent an armed robbery from which Chrissie narrowly escaped being killed.
Her orphans, often barely alive when brought to her and always severely traumatised, have been soaked in the love of Jesus, which has brought life and health and peace into their lives.
Some of the children at the CRIB home, by Benjamin Chapman
Her story resonates strongly with me as my family owes their survival to the compassion of Dutch-Afrikaner Christians who rescued my orphaned great-grandfather (also Charles) and his siblings from the South African veld (wilderness) after their father was murdered.
In the Bible, the Apostle James writes: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)
Jesus is everything
For many in Burundi, Jesus is everything, whereas sometimes in the West even Christians tend to see him as an optional extra. This came home to me when I read of Chrissie’s encounter with an old man in a crowded refugee camp – he had been walking for five days after losing his entire family and house to brutal murderers.
As she handed him a cup of ubuyi (porridge), he looked at her and said: “Madam missionary, I never realised that Jesus was all I needed, until Jesus was all I had.”
What would it take for our largely overfed populace, dedicated to self-serving lives of personal enrichment and entertainment, to appreciate the beauty of Jesus over and above the superficial pleasures of partying?
I never realised that Jesus was all I needed, until Jesus was all I had.
And yet Jesus too invites us to a feast – a wedding banquet, in fact, where he (the groom and not the bride) is the focus of attention. We are all invited – by the King of Kings no less – to this greatest of all occasions. Yet the Bible tells us that many will refuse (see Matt 22:1-14).
As the props of our lives continue to be withdrawn, I pray we will begin to demonstrate an increasing reliance on the only lasting hope there is – Jesus, who paved the way to eternal life for all who trust him.
As medics and government ministers urge strict adherence to lockdown rules in order to reduce the R rate of the spreading virus, Christians should be doing all they can to raise the Redemption rate as they spread the life-giving gospel.
Endnotes
1ITV, Sunday, November 1st 2020
2The Night the Angels Came (published by Monarch in 2016)
Images by Benjamin Chapman, Chrissie's son
