I Must Preach 2010:9

Wael is a student who is new to seminary this year and new to English as well. Like Atef, he is in my Level 1 class. Wael’s English is difficult to understand – he struggles with basic grammar, his vocabulary is quite limited, and yet he wants so much to learn and to communicate. Sometimes when I am explaining something in class I’m certain that he has no idea what I’m saying. And yet at other times he surprises me with what comes out of his mouth.

On Saturday as a reward for their very hard work so far, I showed a short DVD to the students in Level I about prayer. After the video we had a discussion. It was difficult because while they have many ideas, they struggle to find the words and grammar in English to communicate. In the course of the conversation I noticed Wael take out a piece of paper at one point and scribble some words At the next lull in the conversation he spoke two relatively clear sentences about his ideas about prayer. It was amazing.

At the end of study hall on Monday Wael surprised me again. For the last week the more advanced students have been offering homilies in English in the daily mass. This is one of the things that I work with them on each year. They’ve done very well. Wael said to me, “Pastor Amy I want . . . no I NEED to preach in mass. Next week I preach?”

“Wael if you work on your English very hard in the year ahead maybe next year you will be ready to prepare a homily.”

“No. I must do.”

“Wael preaching is very, very difficult. You must know grammar and you must know vocabulary and you must know correct pronunciation and you must be able to put your ideas from Arabic into English that is clear. This is very very hard.”

“No. When Jesus go up, he send Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit send apostles to all nations and use all languages. I will preach. The Holy Spirit here.”

The conversation continued for some time. The truth is that Wael is not ready to prepare a homily in English just yet. He has a lot to learn. Through their hard work, his brothers in Level 4 have made it look easy and Wael and other students want to try as well. What Wael doesn’t know is that he preached a sermon for me today.

“I must preach. When Jesus go up, he send Holy Spirit. . . . I will preach. The Holy Spirit here.”

This is good news indeed spoken to me by a young man who doesn’t know the proper usage of the verb “to be” but who trusts with all his heart that the Holy Spirit has been sent to him to preach the good news of Jesus to his brothers and sisters in Christ. He has every confidence the Holy Spirit will use his broken English. Oh to have such confidence, such determination, and such faith!

Thanks be to God!