A letter from Bob and Kristi Rice serving in Congo
Christmas 2014 - God is for us!
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14).
According to Greek philosophers of John’s day, the Logos or Word was the essence of all creative elements in the universe. This “Word,” declares John, made his dwelling among us. The incarnation of Christ tells a tale too good to believe, yet true to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. As God came to tabernacle among us, God shows partiality toward the overlooked and marginalized. Jesus spent most of his time with humble fishermen and forgiven tax collectors. He welcomed women. He embraced children. He proclaimed a kingdom beyond all expectation. The world eventually woke up, and continues to awaken, to the reality and to the severity of Jesus’ personhood and of His Godhood.
The continent of Africa weaves its way into his story. Refugees and parents of the infant Jesus, Joseph and Mary flee there. Simon of Cyrene, an innocent bystander, is recruited to carry Jesus’ cross. Phillip baptizes in Jesus’ name a eunuch and court official of Candace of the Ethiopians. Augustin, a Christ-follower and the most influential Early Church father, hails from Hippo in North Africa. Yet as history wags its long tail, we find the gross stigmatization of African peoples. Notions of superiority and “enlightenment” erect a Western cultural wall of hegemony and exploitation that plagues Africa to this day.
Sadly, we from the West still find ourselves marginalizing our sisters and brothers of darker complexion. One American woman recounts that she was handed a well-worn Smartphone by a member of her church to give to a woman leader at a children’s home in Kenya. However, en route to Kenya, she discovers that this cell phone has little charge and no value. This “gift” is a non-gift. Therefore she gives her own phone to the Kenyan woman and upon returning is offered $500 for the “inconvenience.” “But why,” she asks her church, “do you offer me (an American) money for a new phone while giving this Kenyan sister of ours an old useless phone?”
Despite our often-subconscious cultural biases, Jesus continues to reach out and touch the stigmatized and marginalized persons, peoples and cultures of our world. Esteemed missiologist Lamin Sanneh* writes: “Taboo cultures regarded through time and eternity as outside the pale of salvation came thus to qualify as among the first fruits of God’s impartial dealings with humanity”(1993: 135). Thus, we find in Acts chapter 2 God is concerned not only for the Jewish nation, but also for the peoples throughout the Mediterranean World and beyond (Parthians, Medes, Arabs, etc.). Jesus himself did not turn away the Syrophoenician woman and he praised the faith of a Roman centurion. All cultural groupings and categories of persons stand on equal footing. This reality is most prized by the marginalized, the exploited, the poor and the needy.
Hence, our African sisters and brothers who have felt marginalized, stigmatized and victimized by colonial overlords, financial opportunists, global institutions, transnational corporations and even by well-meaning short-term groups and missionaries can know with complete confidence that God is committed to them, just as God has been committed to all peoples at all times in all places. Skin color, place of birth, ancestral descent, mother tongue, and cultural practices do not disbar one from the Word made flesh who dwells among us. Kwame Bediako*, the famed theologian from Ghana, writes that perhaps the greatest legacy of missionaries in Africa over the last two centuries is the translation of scripture into mother-tongue languages. With the Word of God written in their mother tongue, Africans can know with absolute certainty that God is for them. They can know that they have inherent value.
As you have read in previous newsletters, Tshiluba Bibles sell like hot cakes here in Congo. Jesus is known by the Tshiluba-speaking tribes of Congo as “Mukelenge” (King), “Mfumu” (Chief), “Munganga” (Doctor), “Mvidi Mukulu” (Elder Spirit), “Mulami” (Shepherd), “Musungidi” (Savior), and “Mupikudi” (Deliverer), among many other superlatives, titles and designations. He is known for having “bukole buonso” (all power) and “luse lunene” (mercy beyond measure). He is “Mufidi wa muoyo” (Giver of life) and “Muenzeji wa malu” (One who works out his plans and purposes).
Friend, do you know this God? If not, please know that God plays no favorites and he welcomes those who are in need. Jesus died. He arose from the dead. He sits at the right hand of God Almighty. He offers life abundant and life eternal. God dwells among us. He will not turn away any who honestly seek Him. This reality is the Christmas message. It is the message for those who have found themselves broken down by illness, disease, broken relationships, injustice, and simple disdain for human dignity and value. God’s incarnation is the best news you or I will ever hear. God is for us!
Thank you for reading our end-of-year letter. For all who support us through prayers and financial gifts and read our communiqués, may we say to you…
“Tuasakidila wa bunyi, Nzambi anusankishe!”
(Thank you so much, may God bless you!)
Bob and Kristi
* Sources
Bediako, Kwame. 1985. "The Missionary Inheritance," in R. Keeley (ed.), Christianity—A World faith (Tring: Lion Publishing), 303–11.
Rice, Bob. 2009. The Banana Tree Leader. M.A. final writing project (thesis). (Pasadena: Fuller Theological Seminary).
Sanneh, Lamin. 1993. Encountering the West, Christianity and the Global Cultural Process: The African Dimension. (New York: Maryknoll).
http://wearethatfamily.com/2014/10/dear-world-lets-stop-giving-our-crap-to-the-poor/
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 138
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