Winds of Change - The Referendum and Faith

It's Sunday today. The southern Sudanese in certain areas will be winding their way towards their respective places of worship. In Juba, the large churches will be full. In Gordhim, where our team was based for the trip's duration, the church is being renovated and so the people will seat themselves on tree limbs assembled outdoors for morning Mass. It will be a Sunday morning much like one in Canada, only these churches will be packed. The southern people will have just concluded leaving their own image on history, having just concluded a significant referendum a few days earlier. Their prayers will be those of hope and reconciliation with their people's' broken path. Their faith only expanded in times of war and desolation; now it remains to be seen if it can maintain its fervour in the hoped-for years of peace.Regardless of how one feels about religious faith, you can't deny its vibrance and vitality to the people of south Sudan. Many Muslims in the south will have prayed on Friday, somewhat worried as to how their minority will be treated in the south but also excited at the various trading opportunities a new independent nation will bring. Animists will partake in their own tribal practices around the spiritual, likely excited at the future. But today is the day mostly for the 10% of the population that are classified as "Christian" in the south. In Gordhim, they'll show their adaptability once again by meeting out under the trees, singing their traditional hymns, reflecting on all those now departed due to the war, and embracing what appears to be a brighter future than at any time in recent memory.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KxH-1yJ2K0&w=480&h=390]