A Lovely Sunday

We had a very interesting and lovely day today that seemed worthy of a blog post. Earlier this week, our friend Robert asked us if we would go to church with him on Sunday because he was helping to lead the service and he wanted to invite us. He informed us yesterday that service starts at 9 o'clock sharp and because he was participating in the service he needed to be there at 8:45. He called us at 8:55 this morning to come downstairs and meet him to walk to church, and off we went.

I had been to Robert's church once before when I was here in 2009 and it is pretty much as I remembered it. We walked over a nicely shaded portion of the stream that divides Kalaban Coura (our neighborhood) from Niamakoro an into an otherwise non-descript compound where the church is located. The structure itself is a corrugated metal roof with some ceiling fans on the inside with a smaller roof alongside where the children sit. The congregation is divided by gender, but of course Job seated us both on the men's side (to insure our proximity to a translator), which left me a bit confused during the hymns with different parts for men and women. Below is a picture of us with Robert in the choir section after church ended.

The music at the church is great, with lots of hymns in Bambara accompanied by drums. The lyrics are actually written down so we were able to follow along and participate. Reading the hymns and listening to the service gave me the chance to appreciate lots of fun linguistic things like the fact that God in Bambara is “Ala,” there by making matigi Yesu (Lord Jesus) Allah's son. Also, Christians and Muslims use different words for prayer, because apparently “seli” means the specific motions of Muslim prayer rather than the act of prayer itself. Anyway, after presenting ourselves to the congregation in Bambara we sang hymns, put money in the collection plate, prayed for various people and listened to announcements before all of the children suddenly got up and left and the sermon began.

Although the man sitting next to me had been reading from Leviticus all morning, when the preacher took the lectern everyone in the church, men and women alike got out their Bibles and notebooks. I wonder if anyone has ever studied the literacy rate among Christians in Mali, I would imagine it to be slightly higher than the abysmal national average. Christians are also much more likely to interact with written Bambara than other groups because of the effort various missionaries have made to translate hymns, the Bible, etc. Robert, who plays a variety of roles in the church including choir director and drummer, today also had the impressive task of translating the sermon line-by-line into Bambara as it was being given. Apparently the October sermon theme has been sin and repentence, and the preacher today continued to emphasize the fact that Christians who acted just like everyone else (aka Muslims) outside of church, and/or committed sins such as adultery and lying corrupted their relationship with Jesus which in turn prevented them (and their church) from achieving wealth both physically and spiritually. We were informed that Jesus had been “simple” (in French this refers to a simple life rather than a lack of intelligence), not poor, and that anyone who was right with Jesus would be able to achieve wealth for themselves, their family, and their church. The proof of this is that all of the world's richest countries are based on Judeo-Christian values. While I am all for truly trying to live in accordance with one's beliefs, and do not believe that God wants anyone to be destitute, I was somewhat disturbed by the idea that the wealth of the US and Europe was being held up as an example of the outcome of good Christian behavior. I am quite certain that every person in that church could be exemplary Christians and that (in large part due to events in the US and Europe) the vast majority of them would still be poor. I also was disturbed to hear the preacher repeatedly disparage the modest appearance of the church, as compared to the local mosques, as evidence of the congregants' spiritual failings. The God I believe in would love to come to a place where people gather to celebrate their faith in community and with great hymns.

Anyway, after church we greeted everyone in the courtyard and then went to Robert's family's house to greet his parents. The Berthé compound is a very simple place, with an outdoor kitchen, a hutch for the rabbits, a coop for the chickens, a latrine for each gender and 3 or 4 rooms, where everyone is extremely generous and great. While we waited for the mid-day meal to be ready we had tea with three of Robert's older friends: a doctor, a post-law student who wants to run an arts school or study international relations, and a physicist. In response to their very pointed questions, I attempted to explain NATO policy in Libya, defend my opinion of Qaddafi, predict Obama's chances in the next election, explain the points of tension between the federal and state governments in the US, etc. It was exhausting.

Back a the Berthé compound, we ate a very tasty lunch (see picture below) followed up with watermelon and papaya (Neal was overjoyed), did children's puzzles with Job, chatted with Robert and his parents, and otherwise enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon. Now we are back at the apartment resting and preparing to go to the cyber. It has been the kind of day that makes us really happy to be here meeting these wonderful people.