This picture was taken in Dec. 25, 1974. From left to right we are: Susan, Jacktone (deceased) Mom, Osborne (deceased), Pennina (deceased) and I. My dad would not take this picture with us.
My dad is a good teacher and student. And so tomorrow morning, the Moshi Town Church will have a wide open door. We will have breakfast together at the Church and we are bringing our friends along. Then we will talk a little about the significance of Jesus’ birth. At Winyo, the Church door will be open too. They will treat the community to Bible based dramas and worship. And, yes my dad will be ushering people in. And so the members of the Church will not be fed to half cooked spiritual food served in the stew of syncretism.
And so things have changed. Once this was a day for us! But now it is a day we show love and concern for others. We are not guests on this day, we are hosts. Earlier it was a day we disapproved everybody else’s theology at the expense of exploiting the opportunity to the advantage of the Kingdom of God. Now we use it to glorify God, to plant the seed of the Gospel in people’s hearts.
Yes, Jesus wasn’t born on the 25th of December. No, there is not a record of Jesus celebrating his birth day. Yes, Jesus is before he was born in a manger. Jesus created the manger. His parents were created in his image. His birth was not his beginning. Before Abraham was He is.
But there is another truth. The truth that GOD re-made himself into an infant and humbled himself to be born of human parents. He sought to be like us to save us. If He came as God in His dazzling glory and awe-inspiring holiness, we would run away from him. He took a common name –Yoshua. If he was born in Rongo he would be called Otieno. If he was born in Moshi he would be called Masawe. If he was born to Maasai parents he would be called Ole-Mollel. If he was born in the USA, he would be called Josh. He could be called Hussein too. He came as a missionary.
This is worth celebrating. There is nothing important about the day, there will never be an accurate day but there is everything important in the event. The birth of Christ was an important event in the salvation of man. We celebrate the event.
What event? A Boeing 707 leaves DFW to Amsterdam. And then to one of the KIA’s of Africa -Kilimanjaro International Airport or Kenyatta International Airport and when it touches down, a missionary family comes out into the mission field and kisses the ground. He has brought the Good-news but he must not say it quickly in a ten point sermon outline and then leave. He must live it. He will live it among the people. He has come to stay, and to identify and to relate. His grand goal is to influence them and to coach them towards godliness. He cannot do so unless he becomes one of them. He will eat their food, play their games, speak their language, dress as they do and enjoy their jokes. But all he would do in authentic sincerity and genuineness. Christmas is a missional event. Christ is God arriving in the mission field. And so he would be called ‘Immanuel’-God with(in) us.
God in our flesh,
God with our name,
God with parents –uncles and aunts.
God on our diet,
God who would be spanked,
God who would respond, ‘yes sir’ and said ‘shikomoo’
[1] to those older than him,
God who slept under a mosquito net …
Jesus is God in our context.
No wonder he is the most influential man that ever lived.
This reminds me of Joel Ambugo. Ambugo was a domestic servant to a British family during the colonial period in Kenya. They did not treat him well but hey paid him well. Well by local standards. However, they would not shake his hands. For the 16 years that he worked for this family, he never stepped into their living room. They talked to him out in the verandah. They did not call him Joel. They called him ‘boy’ to which he responded, ‘Yes, sir/ madam/master,’ even though he was older than them. He served them. They paid him. There was no relationship.
Then came church of Christ missionaries to the village. Joel Ambugo had retired some 20 years ago. He was friends with my dad because my dad too had served a British family as a servant –garden boy. One day he invited Joel Ambugo to come meet his new friends and Joel was thrilled. When he came, he experienced what he didn’t believe he would ever experience in his life-time. For the first time he sat across the table with white people and ate from the same bowl with them. The white men talked to him kindly, friendly and respectfully. They recognized his age and addressed him
as ‘Jaduong’ elder.
The picture of my dad and mom. Dad turns 70 next year while mom turns 60.
After the guests left, he talked about them for hours and how they were different than his former employer. My dad simply said, ‘They are different because they are Christians, they have been tamed by God.’ Joel’s response was conclusive, ‘I believe in their God… Who knew a white man would share a meal with a black person?’ With that Joel gave his life to God and was baptized. He thereafter did not refer to them as ‘white men’ but as owadwa (brother) Ojemo, Okoth, Akinyi, Ochieng’, Aoko, Bungu, Olang’ Malo, Otieno, Dwe, Oduor, Daudi, et al. They were accepted by the Luo people who dramatized that by giving them Luo names so they would relate with them as family. Only then did their influence on the Luo people become evident. And a large number of people were baptized.
If God became a baby to reach the world, we must go into the mission field as babies. It is childlike spirit that was in God and manifested in Christ that made Christianity the most influential movement in the history of the world.
Lawrence Barr described part of their initial preparatory effort to work among us as follows:
‘As our work among the Luo progressed, we became certain that we needed to learn the Luo language… Dholuo, as their language is called, would not only allow us to be understood by all, but would also give us the ability to participate in their conversations and, consequently, know their thinking. Therefore from July, 1975, until January, 1976, and then again during August, 1976, we spent five days a week in language school repeating endless and sometimes meaningless phrases with the efficiency of babies. The time was well spent! The people could now be taught in their own tongue!’
[2]Although Christmas is controversial. The person it is dedicated to is not controversial. December 25th has its roots in an ancient pagan religion. That is one reason my dad would not observe it even at family level. But today, that god of ancient is not in the minds of the people. Christ have completely made a conquest and on this day, instead of thinking of an idol, people think of Christ, people the world over looking to attending Christian worship tonight. That’s what a missionary God does. He makes us see Christ in the ordinary. And he turns curses into blessings.
What about the cross? Previously, it was a symbol of a curse. But now the cross is a symbol of victory – a blessing. Wherever the cross has gone has gone development, civilization and above all salvation.
I see a missional theme in Christmas. And so, I dedicate this holiday greetings to all missionaries. We are who we are because of the efforts of missionaries of the gospel. My family salutes you all. Many of you have come to the mission field and met us. Some of you met me as a baby and bent to shake my hand or speak a good word to me. We thank you! To some of you, I wasn’t particularly a great boy and I am sorry for that. Sorry to you Ken Bolden (Ochieng’) and Anna –I scratched my name into the metallic paint of your car. During those days, I didn’t know the value of a car. But you did not take offense and for that I love you the more. It is a tall-order you set. I must not take offense when little children in the mission field scratch their names in something I love. By so doing they scratch their names in my heart that I may not forget them. That I may be keen in equipping and in empowering them so they may take over the mantle from me. That is what you did to me, Ken.
Some of you met me as a student at NGCS. My teachers! I know it wasn’t easy teaching me. It cost most of you patience, tolerance and understanding. Some of you met Florence as a student at the KCITI -Nairobi Church of Christ –Eastleigh. To you who taught her, she is thankful and honors you this holiday season.
Some of you met us as after we became a missionary family. As co-worker you left in our family a mark and so we remember you this Christmas. To the interns, it has been great working with you. All of you have been extremely helpful in championing the Great Commission.
Missionaries would not be there without the sending churches. Thank you for making it possible for our colleagues and us to serve in the mission field –Three Chopt Road Church of Christ, Forest Home Church of Christ, Ankeny Church of Christ, Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ and several others who have sent missionaries to East Africa.
Special thank you to mission minded organizations – Let’s Start Talking, World Radio, Missions Resource Network, Christian Chronicle, Intensive care Ministries, Great Commission School, Children Relief Fund and many more. May God bless you all.
Have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
[1] A Swahili greeting. A younger person would greet an older person ‘shikamoo’ to which the senior person would respond ‘marahaba.’ It is a pledge of humility and respect to anybody older than you are even by just a few months. Shikamoo means ‘I kiss your feet, or at your feet I fall…’ and marahaba means ‘I accept it… thank you.’
[2] Church Planting Watering and Increasing. p. 103-104. By Kenya Mission Team
