When Pilgrimage and Carrying Crosses to Namugongo Contradicts Calvary.
“So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown”
About eighteen months ago, I conducted a hybrid survey (physical and online) for my Masters Dissertation research. I was digging for Indigenous Perspectives on Suffering and Pain among African communities, and whether, if they existed, they aligned with the Biblical view on the same. Karamoja was my Case Study. Knowing that I would have Christian respondents, one of my questions was on which bible Books or personalities helped and comforted them when processing personal suffering.
Though I had anticipated it, I was shocked to find that while majority of the respondents mentioned Job, Joseph of Genesis, Daniel and his friend, and the Psalms, none of them mentions Jesus Christ on the Cross. This statistic heartbreakingly spells out our shallow Christianity – our religionism!
While driving my little ones to school one morning, they were mesmerized by the number of pilgrims on the road (of literally all age groups) who had slowed the traffic. They asked, “Daddy, why are there so many people walking on the road? Why are they carrying those things (jerrycans, banners, crosses, luggage … rosaries …)?!” It is such a spectacle towatch as thousands of religious enthusiasts plod their way to Namugongo for the 3rd June annual Uganda Martyrs’ Day Festival. For over a week the media has been awash with images of the trekking masses causing traffic mayhem, as pilgrims get priority over vehicles on our country’s infamously narrow highways.
“Yet for me, it still begs the question: What exactly is the spiritual value of this annual trek and gathering?”
As write, a group of pilgrims is heroically being received back in their village for returning with jerrycans and other such containers of holy blessed water, rosaries, anointing oil, and other spiritual souvenirs from Namugongo – that holy pilgrimage site. Others are returning home spiritually optimistic about the future, having delivered their prayers to the respective Martyrs’ sites and given the relevant financial gift to God. Others might be lingering around enjoying scenery – free tourism. Particularly, a 10yr-old girl is out there crossing her fingers, hoping that the days of her dad’s returning home are numbered, now that she made that crucial walk to Namugongo
Yet for me, it still begs the question. What exactly is the spiritual value of this annual trek and gathering? Is there heavenly value to the week-long festival and its climactic public holiday? It may all make sense politically and economically, but spiritually, I’m personally not convinced. If there be any spiritual value, I would confidently argue that its negatives grossly outweigh its positives.
Positively, though farfetched, one may argue that when onlookers caught in pilgrim held traffic ask themselves, “What’s this all about?” and be duly informed of the tale of the Uganda Martyrs, potentially, a story of the Gospel and the Cross may follow. The opportunity to share the good news is always a plus. But do we require an annual festival to hold Gospel conversations? And where does scripture recommend that Gospel conversations must first meander via pilgrimage sites before making it to the Cross?
“It is only in constantly ignoring Calvary and sound Biblical teaching, that masses will religiously trek to Namugongo at all costs. Religionism!”
As former Archbishop Henry Orombi once said of our Christianity being “miles wide, but just inches deep”, it’s no surprise that many of these zealots have the whole story and list of the Uganda martyrs by heart and mind, but hardly have the same grasp of the story of the Cross of Jesus. Of course if they did, they wouldn’t be trekking hundreds of kilometers, endangering their health and lives, abandoning their duties (to family, society, and state) and livelihoods for a significant period of time, to go to Namugongo only to collect 5 litres of ‘holy water’. They would not spend hard-earnedmeagre savings on a trip that will leave their spiritual lives malnourished or at the very least, dented. It is only in constantly ignoring Calvary and sound Biblical teaching, that masses will religiously trek to Namugongo at all costs. Religionism!
Friends, how much more damage should be done before we acknowledge wrong and falsehood? Even without getting into the uncompensated inconveniences on the lives and livelihoods around Namugongo (I know that firsthand as a former resident of Kira, Kito), there is so much that is wrong about 3rd June. But for the masses to wallow and suffer in such gullibility, they need motivation – a hook of sorts. Someone has to keep the hard truth from them, while captivating them with an age-old lie. It is said that telling a lie a million times doesn’t make it a truth, even if the liar has come to convince himself that it is. Decades of pilgrimage to Namugongo have fostered a cultural belief that it contains some spiritual value and comes with blessing.
The Martyrs, also known as the “Namugonogo or Uganda Martyrs” did not die so that we could someday set up monuments and museums to gather at and bow before them requesting them to plead for us before God. Their death, if indeed was because of their faith (because there remains some contention as to whether it was religion/faith or the political factors that shaped the events of 1887), only serves as an example to emulate by also standing firm in our faith in the face of all threat, even death. But in a country where there is no religious persecution, I dare say, we need to stop pretending to be looking for inspiration from the Uganda Martyrs.
Saying the kinds of things I’m daring to say is risky in many ways, but in a country where you can be hit by a bullet at any time, I guess it’s only prudent that one voices out their convictions before a bullet catches you – intended or stray! Someone has to tell the Roman Catholics and the Anglican Church in Uganda respectively, that they are already the largest Christian denominations in Uganda (though not statistically growing at the same rate as the Pentecostals and independents). Consequently, they have to stop using Namugongo and the Uganda Martyrs’ Day Festival for their religious politics of showcasing numbers. It’s a tough one, but the same numbers can still be showcased across the country without bringing the lives and livelihoods of other Ugandans to a screeching halt for close to a week. All because of a day whose value shouldn’t be in gathering thousands at Namugongo, but rather in emulating the faith of the said Martyrs
If it’s not false teaching, and indoctrination, what do you call the theology that rallies masses to a Centre of spiritual pilgrimage and power? Unless you deny the masses truth, you cannot have a hold of them or control them. Of which you can’t run or sustain religion without having a hold on the masses. If you must, you have to do whatever it takes to convince them that there is Power and a Blessing from God if they can make that annual trip to that Blessing and Power Centre called the Pilgrimage Site. You demonstrate that by investing huge sums of money into such a center and gather them for an annualfestival to showcase your numbers, collect some more money, and pray some “powerful” prayers. We actually already have miniatures of such power centers in firm or magnificent cathedrals and mini-cathedrals. Why not use those at a significantly lesser cost, and perhaps greater productivity?
“If it’s not false teaching, and indoctrination, what do you call the theology that rallies masses to a Centre of spiritual pilgrimage, power and blessing? ”
But wait, politically, and religiously, these numbers make a restatement of your status and power! The same moneyused in setting up these “spiritual power and blessing centers” like Namugongo in order to enslave people by drawing and holding them to institutional control, can be used to extend services to them in their different regions by building a hospital or more each year or every two years. For example, in Karamoja or Bundibugyo. Or even improve Church schools … among others. You could even dare to invest in income generating projects, that would free the church from depending on the government or the western donors whose support has strings attached.
I am strongly persuaded, that there is only one pilgrimage site where every Christian must go – the Cross of Jesus Christ. Not only once a year, but every single day. Raised by God Himself at Calvary. Christ walked to that hill, that you and I, Indian or Chinese, Karomojong or American, Australian or Musoga, would never have to walk to any inconsequential pilgrimage site erected by the hands of men for their religious and political gains. But that in following him, our lives would be patterned after His. Transformed by His Spirit, returning and pointing others to the same Cross. However, it does appear as though we have found more meaning in the crosses we carry to Namugongo than the Cross of Calvary when it comes to the big questions of life – like suffering?
“I am strongly persuaded, that there is only one pilgrimage site where every Christian must go – the Cross of Jesus Christ. Not only once a year, but every single day. ”
Difficult as it may be, it would take turning in repentance, away from ourselves, our religious indoctrinations, and away from Namugongo. So that we can take another, personal and focused look at the Cross of Calvary, where Jesus invites us to come and surrender, deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him – ultimately dying to self. He calls us not to earn it in the labours of our pilgrimages, but to receive by faith from wherever we are, what He has accomplished at the Cross – the Blessing of God’s Salvation. The kind that cannot be found at any pilgrim site like Namugongo or Jerusalem.
~ Raymond L. Bukenya ~
Speaker & Director Tru Tangazo Uganda