By Dr. Lani Wilson
Good Morning and my prayers are for you and our Deep East outpost as we stand amazed at how quickly the summer is going. We pray and fast for all students, regardless of age or educational destination as the back-to-school, back to college migration begins…off to a new environment, new people, new challenges…it’s an exciting time of year, isn’t it?
The word this week is “village;” again, I was not excited about it. In my mind, it was kind of trite (...so much for my thinking, right?). Although this African proverb is used in many variations, its meaning is clear and reflects the communal responsibility of raising children.
This Igbo and Yoruba (Nigeria) proverb exists in different forms in many African languages. The basic meaning is that child upbringing is a communal effort. The responsibility for raising a child is shared with the larger family (sometimes called the extended family). Everyone in the family participates especially the older children, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and even cousins. It is not unusual for African children to stay for long periods with their grandparents or aunts or uncles. Even the wider community gets involved such as neighbors and friends. Children are considered a blessing from God for the whole community. This communal responsibility in raising children is also seen in the Sukuma (Tanzania) proverb "One knee does not bring up a child" and in the Swahili (East and Central Africa) proverb "One hand does not nurse a child."
http://www.afriprov.org African proverb-of-the-month November 23, 1998
So this whole “it takes a village” thing is critical to the security of community, family, and ultimately, civil society. “Civil” referring “of or relating to ordinary citizens and their concerns, as distinct from military or ecclesiastical matters,” behaving politely toward others or manmade decorum as opposed to natural sources (Apple dictionary). The word “village” derives from Latin for “villa” for country house. It infers a small, intentionally but not necessarily biologically related, group of people. A village could also be called a “township:” Our most familiar townships are probably in South Africa. All of these refer to a small group living within the confines of a specific area with common tangible ties to one another.
What if we considered each Black church as a village? Not a new idea, I’m sure. If we did, how would we see other churches, other church members? I’ve always considered each Black church, regardless of denomination (or now, lack thereof) to be a village of the same tribe or people. In China there are intra-ethnic groups based on language, region, and or leadership: Mandarin, Hakka, Punti, Cantonese (all names from pre-pinyin Chinese or the modern Romanization of the Chinese written language). Japan is arranged into prefectures, an area governed by a prefect or local magistrate or administrator. African groups were not organized by nations but by people, i.e., the Yoruba or Igbo people. We know that after WWII European and neo-European powers divided up the modern world as we know it into nation-states, paying little attention to the historic, natural, socio-geographic alignments of the people they dominated post war or colonized pre-twentieth century. The same thing happened in the colonization of North America: The historic boundaries of the 500+ First People Nations were ignored and then destroyed in the European colonization of this continent. Human history is rife with this behavior and it is more common than rare. Given that one of the tactics of European slavers in the new world was the destruction of historic identity and memory in order to weaken slaves and forge a permanent cauldron from which to draw more slaves, it makes sense that Africans were thrown together and forbidden to maintain any familiar and familial bonds. In other words, all the identifying artifacts of a people were viscerally and violently denied: Language, dress, names, religion, anything that would give the transatlantic slaves a way to hold onto their place in the cosmos. Of course we know that “Africanisms” persisted and in fact, evolved with the development of African-American culture.
If we go with this idea of churches as villages, the African-American church, whether Protestant or Catholic, denominational or non-denominational, might be more cogent in its entirety. Personally, regardless of the birth of non-denominational mega churches I believe that denominations will persist because inherent in our experience as an evolved African-origin people is the need to distinguish each of our tribes or people from one another. To deny or suppress this need makes as much sense as saying “Africans speak African” or “Africa is a country.” The distinctions between the different peoples of Africa is one of the continent’s great beauties and tragically, great heresies. Much slaughter has occurred and is still happening in the name of these distinctions, now collated into new groupings best described as ethnicities.
The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common nation or cultural tradition: the interrelationship between gender, ethnicity, and class; the diverse experience of women of different ethnicities OxfordDictionaries.com
From what we have of the history of His life when Jesus walked the earth from birth to age twelve (12) of his early life and age thirty (30) to age thirty-three (33) of his ministry, we know that His life focused on villages. Except for His necessary forays to Jerusalem as an observant Jew in childhood with His natal family and during key points in His ministry, He shunned the cities. Of the sixty-one (61) times the word “village” is cited in the New Testament, fifty-nine (59) are directly related or attributable to His travel throughout Palestine: Throughout Galilee and Judaea. The following are but a few of the fifty-nine (59).
He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.
Luke 13:22 (TMB)
He sent messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements for his hospitality.
Luke 9:52 (TMB)
As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home.
Luke 10:38 (TMB)
As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
Luke 17:12 (TMB)
Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives.
Matthew 9:35 (TMB)
Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, "Don’t enter the village." Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, "Who do the people say I am?"
Mark 8:26-27 (TMB)
Caesarea Philippi
In the winter before His death Jesus Christ brought His disciples to Caesarea Philippi where He revealed to His disciples for the first time that He was indeed the Jewish Messiah. The city of Caesarea Philippi, also known as Panaeas was situated way in the north about 30 miles past the Sea of Galilee on a terrace at the foot of Mount Hermon on its southern slope, about 1150 feet above sea level. The area had an unusually beautiful setting, [sic] it was very lush and full of life and it has always been one of the main sources of the Jordan River, Josephus saying that it was the chief source. Bible-history.com
There does not seem to be a record of The Christ ever entering Caesarea Philippi, although it was a major city historically dating all the way back to the ancient Greeks (Ibid). It appears that Jesus kept to villages, towns, hamlets, settlements all throughout His ministry, coming into Jerusalem only at the most significant times for the purposes of His ministerial assignment on earth. It goes against the common grain of thought to stay away from the most populous centers if one is trying to establish any kind of movement, especially a liberation movement. The cities are where you confront and confound your enemies in an organized political state. It is usually where you finally gain your populous support and strength and yet this revolutionary steered clear. Monday-morning-quarterbacking is easy after the game’s over, the blood is shed, 2000 years of examination, war, and dissection has taken place. Even with magicians and charlatans reportedly performing so-called miracles all over Palestine, one had to wonder why this latest, curious Jewish prophet who never asked for or accepted any payment for all of his miraculous healings eschewed the power centers…and sought people in tiny villages.
The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done. They said, "This is the Prophet for sure, God’s Prophet right here in Galilee!" Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.
John 6:14-15 (TMB)
earth-lights-nasa.gov
Above is a night-time map of the earth shot from space in 2011. It shows where most of the world’s population lives – in urban areas on the coasts, near ports with access to global transportation and commerce. This phenomenon of living near centers of trade and business is not new and was true during Jesus’ time as well. And yet He kept to the countryside, even as His ministry attracted thousands at a time, such as the Feeding of the 5,000 that we now know was more like 15,000-20,000 people if you counted the women and children who were there with those 5,000 men. Of course we know that the poor were everywhere, in the cities and countryside; anywhere Jesus went He could find people in dire need, suffering at the hands of civil corruption. If Her motive was to make a final stand for humanity, to galvanize humanity against moral injustice and personal corruption, God chose the unlikely and mostly unlivable dregs of society in the outlands of a mostly desolate province, Palestine.
We know the descriptors of The Christ all too well: He took on human form, wrapped in rags, among animals in a cold cave, a child of poor parents, ostensibly destined to live a hard-edged life, barely eking out a marginal subsistence.
Until recently few archaeological remains that date to the first century were known from Nazareth and those mostly consisted of tombs. However in the last few years, archaeologists have identified two first-century houses in this town. (The other house was discovered in 2009 and is not thought to be where Jesus grew up.) [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds] The nuns' excavations of Jesus' possible home in the 1880s were followed up in 1936, when Jesuit priest Henri Senès, who was an architect before becoming a priest, visited the site, according to Dark. Senès recorded in great detail the structures the nuns had exposed. His work was mostly unpublished and so it was largely unknown to anyone but the nuns and the people who visited their convent. In 2006, the nuns granted the Nazareth Archaeological Project full access to the site, including Senès drawings and notes, which they had carefully stored. Dark and the project's other archaeologists surveyed the site, and by combining their findings, a new analysis of Senès' findings, notes from the nuns' earlier excavations and other information, they reconstructed the development of the site from the first century to the present.
http://www.livescience.com/49997-jesus-house-possibly-found-nazareth.html
Apparently, a house where Jesus may have grown up and was protected under Byzantine rule has survived the centuries and is actually a cave. We know “the drill,” right? He came to us a humble peasant. But do we truly grasp what first century villages were like, especially under Roman rule? By all accounts, residents of Nazareth rejected Roman authority and thus, Jesus grew up surrounded by Jews who were openly hostile to Roman rule. It must have made for a tense and edgy living environment. And although Jesus made Capernaum the base-of-operations for His ministry, the significance of His very earthy beginnings cannot be understated.
The fact that the house was protected explains its "excellent preservation," Dark wrote. "Great efforts had been made to encompass the remains of this building within the vaulted cellars of both the Byzantine and Crusader churches, so that it was thereafter protected," he said.
Ibid.
What are the characteristics of a village versus a city besides size? When you live in a city that is overwhelmingly manmade and condensed to blocks with traffic everywhere and virtually no natural open space, is there a place you can call “safe?” When illness or joblessness or erratic, irrational violence is in the air like pollen in springtime, where do you go to breathe?
Then the Judeans replied, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!” Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out from the temple area.
John 8:59 (TMB)
And when you approach “the Judeans” and make a case for reform, you’re liable to be rebuffed, rebuked, and attacked. There is nothing romantic about poverty, suffering or dreams denied, but when you are on the low end of the food chain in an image obsessed, material-lusting society, “up” is a pretty obvious destination. In such dire times as under abject Roman colonization or desperate and disparate economic imbalances, where would we find God? Where might God live? The God of the Christ? The God Who is The Christ? Does it make a difference?
We gravitate toward human interaction and small groups of kindred souls, whether biologically related or not, regardless of where we are on the planet. We are hardwired for interaction, seemingly any kind of animal interaction.
For 50 years psychologists have been trying to unravel the appeals of animal companionship in hopes of deciphering just why we invest so much in these creatures. In the process, anthrozoologists -- scientists who study human-animal relationships -- have discovered a window into human sociality more broadly. Our interactions with animals can be useful models for understanding how issues of identity, nurturing, support and attachment play out in a relationship. "It's all about human psychology," says anthrozoolo-gist Pauleen Bennett of La Trobe University in Australia."Pets help us fill our need for social connectedness." Daisy Yuhas, Scientific American Mind. May/June 2015, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p. 28-33
Americans spent 58 billion dollars on pets in 2014 (cbsnews.com, March 5, 2015). Are our villages in such disrepair to the extent that we have created new family units that have pets not “in addition to” but “subbing as” family members? And what about the church as the village? If Black churches are villages with distinct characteristics and unique bonds, what happens if you start to feel out of place in your village or that you just don’t fit anymore? Does citizenry in your village, regardless of denomination, require “fitting in” or “being fit?” Do we know the difference? Finally, how did Jesus handle these people in these unremarkable villages, towns, hamlets? They were all different in smallish ways with one glaring exception: Dire need.
Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession-a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don’t cry."
Luke 7:11-13 (TMB)
“His heart broke.” Is it possible that in our villages we have become inured to deep, traumatizing suffering? We know it when we see it. We are mammals: We sense danger, pain, fear, terror, sorrow. We can handle some tears, some disconsolation but heart-wrenching, gut-tearing pain? Do we remove them from the sanctuary because we don’t want to disturb our sanctuary? Disrupt our service? Is it too upsetting for us to experience someone else’s deep pain? Has our village become a fortress against the depth of human suffering so that we don’t dare hear the sobbing, feel the crushing despair? Isn’t that what a sanctuary is?!
SANCTUARY - safety and protection, especially for people who are being chased or attacked
• to take sanctuary in a place
• The government offered sanctuary to 4 000 refugees.
• She longed for the sanctuary of her own home.
• a place of sanctuary
a safe place, especially one where people who are being chased or attacked can stay and be protected
• The church became a sanctuary for the refugee
OxfordDictionaries.com/Advanced Learners
And Whose sanctuary is it in the first place?
Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." The dead
son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother. They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful-and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!" The news of Jesus spread all through the country.
Luke 7:14-17 (TMB)
We must protect our church property now because it is absolutely a dangerous, different world out there. But how do we know, how can we tell when our village is no longer a sanctuary but an inner sanctum: “The most sacred place in a temple or church. A private or secret place to which few other people are admitted” (Oxforddictionaries.com). Would Jesus be on the outside looking in, alongside the rest of the villagers we might be keeping out?
This is a tough one, LORD Jesus. We are at a loss to answer some questions because we know what You want but we don’t know what we want. We are helping, doing more, reaching out, and yet, the question remains: Are we also touching hearts within our village? Our children are growing and spreading their wings, but is there a gap in the village? Are we missing the center of some demographic? Is this a lull in village life or a necessary respite? We can’t tell and we can’t self-diagnose. Reach in and rouse the village embers. Reach in and pull out the live coals. Reach down and stoke the fire, LORD. There are fires burning all around us, but we keep dousing our own flames inside. Stretch Your village walls to bursting and throw open wide Your gates! It wasn’t ours in the first place.
Jesus said, “I am!”
And the ten lepers shouted, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
We prostrate our entire village - gaps and all - and holler, “Come, Holy Spirit, come!”
And the ten lepers shouted, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
We prostrate our entire village - gaps and all - and holler, “Come, Holy Spirit, come!”
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
O what a fortress of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchased of God
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.
O what a fortress of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchased of God
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior, all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior, all the day long.
Praising my Savior, all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior, all the day long.
All the day long.
Amen.
