Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Psalm 94

O God, by the blood of Christian martyrs you planted in the heart of Uganda the seed of a strong and living Church, and you confirmed its growth under the hand of tyranny by the witness of your servant Janani Luwum. May we who cherish their remembrance before you be valiant in our witness against the terrors of unjust rulers and remain steadfast in the love by which you bind us to yourself; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

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Martyrs of Uganda  1886

Janani Luwum

Archbishop of Uganda, 1977 — Memorial

The nation of Uganda lies in equatorial Africa; its south- eastern border runs along the shores of Lake Victoria. Euro- pean explorers and missionaries first came upon the peoples of the area in the 1860’s. Especially along Lake Victoria, in the region known as Buganda, they found a highly sophisticated society, a federation of kindred tribes under an hereditary monarch called the kabaka. Christian missionaries, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, found a ready hearing among small but important groups of the Bugandan nation. The growing strength and influence of the Christian presence led the kabaka, Mwanga, to launch a vicious persecution in 1885. This persecution culminated in a holocaust of Anglican and Roman Catholic converts at Namugongo on June 3, 1886. All told, some forty-five Ugandans suffered death for the sake of Christ. Their witness proved to be the seed of the Ugandan church, and by the time Uganda gained independence, it was the most Christian nation in Africa. Indeed, there were more Anglicans in Uganda than in any other church of the Anglican communion.

But history has a way of repeating itself. In 1972 Colonel Idi Amin overthrew the elected government of Uganda, and his regime soon became infamous throughout the world for its atrocities. But there was one structure which Amin could not control by means of terror — the Church of Uganda. The Anglican archbishop was Janani Luwum — a gentle, cheerful man, whose instincts were all toward loyalty and political non- involvement. But Amin’s injustices finally moved Luwum to protest. On February sixteenth, 1977, he was ordered to meet Amin in a personal interview. That same night, after presenting a formal protest on behalf of the Church and in the name of Christ, Luwum was murdered. So we remember Janani Luwum with the Martyrs of Uganda who perished in 1886, for he shared in their witness to the love and inviolable justice of God in Christ Jesus.

[From For All the Saints, Toronto: ABC Publishing, 2007]