Is Lazarus Really Rising?

Sometime in 2004, J. Peter Pham wrote an interesting article in the International Journal of Not-for-profit Law, entitled, "Lazarus Rising: Civil Society and Sierra Leone's Return from the Grave." Did he see it happening? I ask that question only because if he saw Lazarus rising, then he was witness to a miracle of Christ. Wait! Knowing everything that I do about the miracles of Christ, everything in me says we should not ask whether the miracle was completed; I personally will not be caught faithless. Indeed, "rising" implies "in the process of." If anything, we should question what Pham saw.

I went back and read the Pham article. While it might have been well-intentioned, it boiled down to nineteenth century prose/pontification dripping with hideously rich paternalism, viewed with great suspicion. The narrative goes: the country was founded by the British, Freetown was founded as a settlement for slaves driven out of America for being loyalists in the American War of Independence. At Sierra Leone's independence, they were given the ball (great economic reserves) to run with, they didn't do it. They failed as evidenced by a decade of civil conflict! You are welcome to quarrel with my reading of Pham.

But wait! Pham states: "While the forceful intervention of an international military force, seconded by a not inconsiderable civilian presence, ultimately turned the tide in the protracted Sierra Leonean conflict, the groundwork for recovery had been laid by the patient—albeit at times seemingly ineffectual—efforts of the country’s civil society organizations. This gives rise to the hope that Sierra Leone might indeed break free of the endemic cycle of frustrated expectations, economic stagnation, social alienation, government collapse, and communal violence that has plagued it and many other African states since independence. If it can fully avail itself of the rare opportunity that the fortunate juncture of international attention, donor interest, democratic politics, and civic spirit has given it, Sierra Leone might not only return from the dead, but also live up to the aspirations of the liberated Africans who endowed the very name of its capital with its true meaning two centuries ago."

Look, there is a profoundly positive note in Pham! Something of a soft-heart view. I love it. I am a dreamer. I am a believer in possibility, even the conscience of language must be awakened and celebrated. But the question is still critical: did Pham see Lazarus rising? I know Jesus can perform the miracle, but what did Pham see? Could it be that Pham saw something rising because he projected his point of view into the distance (not the soft-heart view, but one covered in messy paternalism)? Can Sierra Leone rise in the spirit of the "liberated Africans" and be itself? Is that the best resurrection for that country? Perhaps. You let me know.

In March 2009 Africa News reported the return of civil unrest in Sierra Leone. The two major political parties were at each other's throats again: All Peoples' Congress party (APC) and The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). According to the report, people were killed and others injured. There has recently been international intervention. Here, again, I'm not sure what Pham saw in 2004, but I'll ask Christ Himself!


My deepest thanks for stopping by. As always, change begins with you!