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December 11, 2004
Partying with the poor
“A soodi baali di ginan naa?” Have you bought the sheep yet?
My Fulani friends always started asking the question about three weeks before Christmas. As Muslims, they know Jesus was born by the power of God, and honour him as a great prophet. So it was normal that we should celebrate his coming into the world.
Each year, Seydou and I would buy a couple of sheep, and invite as many of our Muslim friends as we could squeeze into our yard for a meal to celebrate the birth of Iisaa Almasiihu – Jesus Christ. Inevitably, everyone brought a friend, and then other passers-by would come and join us to. Year by year the yard grew more crowded.
As people arrived, we would start with the local tea, peanuts, and – believe it or not – prawn crackers, locally known as “noppi tubaaku” (white man’s ears)! Then we would fetch out the bowls of rice and sauce and meat – a luxury for most – and bottles of pop. Gathered round the bowls of would be a cross-section of Gorom-Gorom society. The imam, the beggar, the local schoolteacher, and the herder would be sat next to each other.
After a short explanation of the meaning of our celebration, I would pray for the coming year, and for God’s blessing on Gorom, and people would eat. Afterwards some headed off, while others hung around to drink more tea and chat late into the night.
I always found it a headache to prepare for, but it was important – not only to celebrate Christmas, but also to celebrate and bless the friendships that were central to my life in Gorom. I think we could have done it better, and reflecting on it now, I think there are lessons for life here too.
Jesus said: “when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Lk 14:13), and he immediately followed it up with the parable of the Great Banquet to illustrate the kingdom of God (Lk 14:15-24). We can’t fail to notice the echoes found in verse 21: `Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
Partying with the poor is one way that Jesus illustrates the nature of the kingdom of God – it is a place where the poor and powerless get priority and find blessing. And so this should be reflected in our own lives, churches, and parties. This is not just charity – you can’t do this at a distance. It means making ourselves vulnerable and uncomfortable, entering into their lives, sharing with them, and feasting together.
This is what Jesus did, and what he’s telling us to do – because that is where the xenophilic God delights to be. Kingdom people are people-people. They like to party with the poor. And doing it enables us both to experience and demonstrate the reality of the kingdom of God. This is of course not just about Christmas, but about living in the kingdom of God here on earth.
DCI are sponsoring parties for the poor this Christmas with lepers in Thailand, in a slum in India, and in a Ugandan war zone. We could always support them. But I also wonder what this looks like in the UK, or the US, where our churches are…
Tags: burkina faso africa missional church burkina church fulani mission
Posted by Keith at December 11, 2004 11:27 AM
