Events
SERVE GOD THROUGH YOUR OWN IDENTITY!
Over the Weekend, I joined members of the Etherian Mission to mark their 40th Anniversary at Sakaman.
Hitherto, my impression about the church wasn’t positive; thinking it was one of those which had their own version & interpretation of the bible. I left their premises, however, with a realization that I have all along judged the church unfavorably.
The simple message I got from their service was; practice religion through the lenses of your own culture & not that of an alien like the West.
Below are a few points I kept from the key note address delivered by its founder, Brother Ishmael Nii Nyarku Oblitey Tetteh, which left me in a state of sober reflection.
“There was an infamous belief that if you meet a Whiteman on your way to church, you must return home because you have seen God.”
***When you pray inviting the souls & good will of the departed like Borketey Lawer & Konfo Anokye, it is called Ancestral worship, but it is okay to pray through a Saint like Ss Peter & Paul. Additionally, there is an All Saints Day but a move to have an All Ancestors Day is likely to be ignored.
“To pray with water or a drink is condemned but the bible commands us to do the same thing and calls it Drink offering.” Numbers 28:7; I Sam 7:6.
Our place of worship is called a shrine but theirs is the Alter
***For several years during Independence Day celebrations at the Black Stars Square, the high priest of the Gas (Nai Wulormor-High Priest of the River Nile) was invited to join his counterparts from the Christian & Islamic religions to pray. In recent times however, the NaI Wulormor has been ignored leaving only the Imams & Pastors to pray during independence day commemoration.
Our worhii (Deacons) & woryei (deaconesses) are termed fetishes but those of the West are the priests & priestesses.
I left the premises with an admiration for the church, as well as a lesson: that we can make our cultural practices and values reflect in our relationship with God, provided they do not conflict with the tenets of God.
Source:
Gabriel Torgbor Obodai
