Each year we try to provide a “mountain top” spiritual experience for our Christian university summer interns. This year we held our final worship together on the banks of the Zambezi River overlooking Victoria Falls. We sang, prayed, and were sharing our spiritual insights from the summer’s program when I realized that there was another face in the crowd. A large male baboon had decided to join us and was sitting directly behind Jordan, one of our interns from Abilene Christian University. We all froze. The baboon, perhaps sensing that our devotions needed a nudge to continue, decided to come forward. He seemed particularly interested in the sack that Sondra was holding containing the emblems of the Lord’s Supper. I whispered to Sondra, “…drop the bag…” As the baboon began a disorderly digestion of the Memorial Meal, the church at Corinth came to mind…
“Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.”
1 Corinthians 11:17 KJV
Fleeing persecution, we huddled in a corner of our hotel in order to observe the Lord’s Supper later that night. Relating this story to David Gregerson, missionary in Southern Zambia, he counseled, “Closed Communion should be seriously considered in certain cases.”
Suffice it to say, due to dignity issues, it is highly inadvisable to try and retrieve unleavened bread from a full-grown male baboon.
Brian, Sondra, Noah, & Bryson
Pictured: Jordan Hanson, intern from A.C.U., falling from our spiritual high.
For more information about Mumena, visit our website at www.mumenamissions.org.
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