The gospel is unique in that it thrives in all sorts of cultures and social classes. It is the most powerful force on earth for counter-acting and undermining oppression; in fact, the gospel flourishes most in places of poverty. Those who are physically poor reach out and embrace the hope held out by Jesus Christ, receiving riches far beyond the riches of this world.
This became existentially true for me as I sat in on Obed’s cell group last Thursday. Obed is reaching out and ministering to the Haitians in the community of Maria Auxiliadora, making an almost daily practice of playing soccer with them and also meeting
weekly for Bible study and worship. Because soccer and music are such great passions across the entire Haitian culture, it fits perfectly that they should be sharing in fellowship with Obed, a man whom God has blessed with magic feet and melodic talent.
Sitting up in Obed’s living room, the rain pattering on the roof above us, we sang “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” in Creole, Spanish and English (I felt rather lonely being the only one singing in my native tongue, but it was enjoyable nonetheless). The cell group sung amazingly well; like a choir that had been practicing together for years, singing with a sort of intuitive harmony and sense of rhythm that blew me away.
Obed is leading the cell group through a study of the Ten Commandments week by week, meditating on the liberty and joy of obeying God. Last week he spoke of what it means to love the LORD with all one’s heart; this week we looked into the subject of taking the LORD’s name in vain. Unfortunately, this is just as common in Latin countries as in our own, and is even widely accepted among those who go to church. One often hears: ‘Oh God,’ or ‘Holy Jesus’ or ‘Swear to God you won’t do it’ etc. Obed explained the concept of sincerity, looking back into one story of the origin of the word.
During medieval times, parties where the guests all wore masks made of wax were popular. It was difficult to guess who was who; the masks covered up the true person, and only by removing them could the person’s real face be revealed. In Spanish the derivation of the word follows quite logically from this. ‘Sin’ means without and ‘Cera’ means wax, so ‘Sincera’ means without wax. Obed mentioned that there are many who believe they are deceiving God, playing around with his name and such, but that it is important to remove our masks and be real before our Creator; he knows what’s going on in our hearts regardless. He cannot be fooled.
Obed went on to share that the Hebrews who wrote the Old Testament manuscripts- when they encountered a place where God’s name would be written- would stop, wash their hands thoroughly, and continue. This was a sign of reverence and respect, and he concluded by saying that we ought to show the same amount of care when speaking of God, out of the love we have for him in our hearts.
We wrapped up with some muffins and milk, praying for one another- that God would lead us into knowing him more deeply, in the same way that we know our early fathers and friends. After everyone had left, I could see that Obed was ecstatic. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to come on such a rainy night,” he said, “but it turned out to be a really awesome study!”
What I experienced that night has really become a cause for praise. It is my prayer that this unique ministry will grow and encompass many more unreached Haitians in the barrio.
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 11:14 am and is filed under Missionary's View, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply