Man of the moment: Rev. Reynold Mangisa

Rev. Reynolds Mangisa has, surely, become man of the moment the past five days.
Lauded by Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, Ministry of Information and Civic Education (through The Malawi Mail Newspaper and the Malawi News Agency), and hated by many- Mangisa has not been seen in public for five consecutive days.
Some say he may be hiding from the physical presence of people- critics and lauders- but all agree that he cannot run away from the abstract face of shame.
Shame follows us wherever we are.
Shame sees no boundaries, and can hit our memories even when we are bathing.
Shame forces us to scratch our heads.

The truth is that he has made history- which ever way we look at it.
He will remain, to us, a man of God whose intellectual reserves (just once) run out of logic.
Trouble is: He tried to marry his illogical thinking to an entire Church- the great Blantyre Synod.
Fact is: Blantyre synod has its fair range of characters. Remember former Blantyre C.C.A.P. Synod Secretary General, Rev. DanieL Gunya?
He surprised many when he announced during the 2009 Parliamentary Elections that he would run on a United Democratic Front (UDF) ticket.
He contested on that party's ticket and lost. He is now back, preaching messages from the Bible, as opposed to the UDF Manifesto.
One of these days, like Rev. Gunya, our Mangisa will go about his clerical job unperturbed. Forgotten.
But his gaffe will remain.
The man who shamed himself in the name of religion, and run away from the truth he himself tried to suppress.