Heaven on Earth - Passion Week in Africa
April 10, 2007
Last week, the Coptic Church was living the holiest and most sacred week of the year. The entire focus was on our salvation and how we can be saved from the power of our sins and weaknesses, and how we can live all the richness of Jesus’ Kingdom; we are now able to practice a holy and fruitful life, which is God’s plan for us and which is in harmony with the high price Christ paid to make us in His image and glory.
But the same questions always arise about the Church in Africa during this season: What about the Africans who are new to the Church’s Traditions and all her riches? Can they understand and appreciate the deep meanings of the ancient spiritual traditions? If their daily worship consists of joyful African tunes, can they still taste and get benefit from the sad tunes of the Passion Week? Can they live in the atmosphere of repentance during Passion Week, and are they able to focus on the sufferings of Christ Jesus? These are all good questions that deserve our attention.
One must experience the worship in Africa to understand how the deep spirituality and tradition of the Coptic Church is rooted in African life through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments, which are practiced on a daily basis. Thanks to God, a successful marriage has occurred between the African culture and the ancient Coptic spirituality. Thus, the Coptic Orthodox Church has brought the treasured Mysteries and Sacraments of the Apostolic Church to Africa, in such a way that Africans can enjoy and embrace them as their own. In this way, a beautiful African Coptic bride has been formed which carries the marks and beauty of Jesus’ life and the spirit of the Early Church Fathers, not compromising doctrine, hymns or Tradition of the Coptic Church. Thanks be to God who is offering Himself as this Bride to many people in Africa, who are abandoning their adulterous relationship with numerous evil cultural traditions.
It is amazing when you enter one of the churches in a remote rural area and hear the beautiful Coptic hymns being sung in tribal languages such as Luo, Luya, Moccamba and Kikuyu, and find eyes full of repentant tears, hands raised asking for God’s mercy, and softened hearts pleading for Jesus to fill them with His love.
We believe that the spirit, life and presence of the Early Saints are there in Africa as they are in the holy desert of Egypt and the Africans are privileged to have the Coptic Orthodox Church. We can say not only “Blessed be my people Egypt” but also “Blessed be my people in Africa” who are drinking from the blessed water of the Nile that our Lord Jesus has blessed. May the Coptic Orthodox Church continue to be a source of life, richness and blessings to the entire world, through the prayers of the fathers and believers around the world, and the intercessions and prayers of all the saints. Amen.
