3/11/10

Elder Leon Gilchrist honored at the church in Abidjan

Pastor Georges had a surprise for Leon at the Wednesday evening church service tonight in Abidjan. Leon was officially entered into Ivorian society; as the pastor said, "He is now an Ivorian." I'm not sure if Pastor Peter (from Ghana) approved, but everyone else did!

They dressed Leon in a gold colored robe in the style of African elders, and they put on him a pair of sandals, a ring, an elephant necklace (elephants being the national symbol of Ivory Coast), and a crown. Everyone enjoyed seeing Leon dressed in his new Ivorian identity.

In a much more serious note, Pastor Georges asked Leon's forgiveness for the fact that generations ago, his ancestors were sold into slavery by their fellow Africans. Pastor Georges likened Leon's return to Africa, and his presence in the church in Abidjan, to Joseph's brothers meeting Joseph years after they had sold him into slavery. How painful and embarrassing it must have been for them to meet up with their brother again. And it is painful to many Africans today when the descendants of those who were sold into slavery return from America to visit Africa and to trace their roots. At the beginning of our trip, we saw a plaque of repentance at the old British Slave Castle in Cape Coast in Ghana, where the chiefs of Ghana expressed sorrow for their part in the slave trade.

After these things, I preached in the evening service. I took three stories in the New Testament -- the story of the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15, the parable of the fruitless fig tree in Luke 13, and the story of Eutychus who fell asleep in church in Acts 20 -- and wove these three passages together to tell the story of Israel's rejection and the revelation of the grace of God for us today. We had a good time of Bible study.

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