June 17th, 2020

Wednesday Words       6-17-20

Psalm 119: 97 – 120      Numbers 11: 24 – 35      Romans 1: 28 – 2:11

Psalms 81 and 82      Matthew 18: 1 – 9        BCP page 971 bottom

Bernard Mizeki      1861 – 1896

Catechist and Martyr in Mashonaland (South Africa) June 18, 1896

Birth name:  Mamiyeri Mitseka Gwambe

In times of unrest and conflict, it is helpful to look at our history for examples of sturdy faith and heroic action.  We find both challenge and comfort in the stories of trials that other men and women faced.  We also learn how our faith has been tested and how it grew in geography and numbers of believers.

In 1861, just as our Civil War was heating up, a baby boy was born in Portuguese East Africa which we know as Mozambique.  As a young boy, he worked in a store that was owned and run by a Portuguese merchant, and he picked up a smattering of Portuguese as he worked.  By the time this boy was 15, he had moved with a cousin to the city of Cape Town, now a major city in South Africa.  There he worked as a laborer and house servant for close to 10 years.

During this time, he began to call himself “Barns”.  As Barns began to mature, he saw the troubles caused by drunkenness among his fellow workers, and he made the decision to abstain from alcohol.  Barns also chose to attend classes at night that were offered by the Anglican Society of St. John the Evangelist.  In 1886 at the age of 25, Barns became a Christian.  In his baptism, he chose the name Bernard Mizeki. Bernard, of course, from his use of Barns as a name and Mizeki from his African birth name. 

To say that Bernard proved to be an excellent student is quite the understatement.  While in the Anglican School, he became fluent in English, French, High Dutch, and at least 8 of the tribal African languages around Cape Town.  He became a valuable assistant to the missionaries there, eventually traveling with them into tribal lands as a teaching assistant, known as a catechist, and as a medical assistant. 

By 1896, Bernard was a teaching missionary in his own right and had married a

Christian convert named Mutwa, who took the name “Lily”.  They settled among the Nhowe people, built a home for themselves and their students, and Bernard began his work, witnessing for Christ and building a community of faith. 

The land on which Bernard Mizeki chose to settle was close to a sacred grove of trees where the local people believed that the living spirits of the tribe’s ancestral lions made their home.  Bernard, of course, refused to make the traditional offerings to the lion spirits – and that was the beginning of his troubles.  Bernard made the sign of the cross over the grove, began to carve crosses into some of the tree trunks and, worst of all, began to cut trees into to make a space to raise wheat to feed his community.

All of this happened about the time of the tribe’s rebellion against the British South Africa Company.  The Anglican Church ordered all missionaries out of the area, but Bernard refused to leave.  His Bishop had placed him there and he simply would not leave.  On the night of June 18, 1896, a mob came to his house, dragging him out, stabbing him and leaving him for dead. 

Lily, his wife, went to look for him and, finding him still alive, ran for help.  When she returned with others, Bernard’s body was not there.  They saw nothing but a bright white light over the whole area and they heard a sound “like many wings of great birds”. 

At only 35 years old, Bernard Mizeki’s work was done.  But it was not over.  Mizeki’s ease with languages had provided great assistance in the translation of Scripture into several of the local languages. He had won the hearts of many of his students who became Christians under his influence.  In 1930 a chapel was built on the site of his martyrdom that serves today as a celebration of his witness.  The Bernard Mizeki College was built near his home and continues to train students in academics and Christian service. 

Only God could see the future of a laborer who determined to stay sober and to attend night classes after the day’s hard work.  Only God could have shaped a life so perfectly suited to the needs of his time.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Collect:

          Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyr Bernard Mizeki:   Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love, that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.   Amen.