We have interesting discussions at youth. And working with
young people is good…they challenge you; they ask questions; they are sceptical.
So this Friday we were talking about culture and Christian. Being African,
being Christian and being African Christians.
“I don’t really feel included because the pictures of
Christian heroes and characters are all white. So, really, where are Africans
in the bible,” one young man said quietly, provocatively
It got me thinking…
In fact, where is Africa in history…where is Africa in
today’s global events. So I thought I would read you this, as a starting point…
The kingdom of the Zaghawa (Lake Chad) is said to the great kingdom among the kigs of the Sudan.
They are many tribes. Their houses are all of gypsum and so is the castle of
their king. Their cattle are goats and cows and camels and horses. Millet
chiefly is cultivated in their land, and beans and also wheat.
Of the Benin Kingdom was written by a Dutch traveler in 1602
The town seemeth to be very great, with streets which seen seven or
eight times broader than those of Amsterdam.
The houses in this town stand in good order, one close and even with the
other, as the houses in Holland. It seems the King has many soldiers; he has
also many gentlemen, who when they come to court ride upon horses.
So Africa has a great history, a great heritage…a good story
to tell. But it is for us as Africans to tell it.
Africa appears many times in the bible – it is a place of
refuge; a place of plentiful.
Abraham flees to Egypt with Sarah in a time of famine.
Jacob and his sons go
there when again famine stalks the land, and the Jewish nation is saved by a
child they had sold into slavery, Joseph, who rises to be a Chief Minister of
an African government.
Moses is an African. He is born in Africa. Later on he
marries Zipporah, a Kushite woman, an African Book of Numbers 12:1
Later, Jesus also finds shelter there. So Jesus encounters Africa
at the beginning of his life, and on his way to the cross, he is helped to
carry the cross by Simon of Cyrene, who is in fact a Libyan, and therefore an
African.
Thus God has been involved with Africans directly from
ancient times.
The core values of Christianity – loving thy neighbour,
forgiveness, respecting parents – are essentially the same as African values.
Being African is not being black. In fact, historically
there are three original cultural groups which are thought to have been the
first people of this continent – the Caucasoid semites (fair skinned people) of
the north, the Ethiopians (burnt faces – negroids) of East, Central and West
Africa and the pygmy / Khoisan of Central and Southern Africa.
Africa therefore is the most diverse mass of land,
culturally and linguistically rich. This diversity is surely an asset. That is
why we can claim Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere,
Barack Obama snr, Nelson Mandela, Moses
of the bible.
So what of Africa to-day? Despite the negativity which is real, there is
much to celebrate. Africa is at it’s most peaceful, and most stable in recent
history – there are fewer wars, fewer people dying in wars. Democracy is
beginning to thrive and there is a generational awakening. With the youngest
population in the world and 1 billion citizens, there should be nothing to stop
this juggernaut of a country moving forward. So let us continue to pray to God
to continue to choose Africa and Africans to a higher calling.
God bless Africa.
God bless her children, guard them, guide them.
God bless her leaders, guard them, soften their hearts so
they may serve their people.
Mwari Komoborerai
Afrika. Nkosi sikeleli Africa.
