Mariana Sirtis as Cleopatra

actress Mariana Sirtis as Cleopatra

I visited a church my friend, Sinclair, was preaching in. The pastor of this church asked him to take over his church for the month of January due to his physical condition. Sinclair, a pastor himself, agreed and the whole of the month he has been ministering there. The church is a shared one. I have seen this church for years, and never thought much of visiting it until a couple days ago I went to be with Sinclair. About four different pastors have their congregations there: Catholic, Baptist, and some other denomination. The interesting thing that arrested my attention was the images, the paintings on the wall. The paintings were done in the style of Ethiopian artistry. Dark, old whimsical depictions of life in Biblical times hung on the walls facing the right and left sides of the small congregation. In the middle, high above, and behind the pulpit was a circle of a white feminine Jesus in beautiful stain glass. The energy of African spirituality imploding on the walls weakened, and mocked the false image of Jesus high in the air above us all.

The pastor showed me a large painting of Jesus Christ's tear streaked face up close on the wall of his personal office. It was a dark skinned man obviously in pain on the cross talking from his soul to the God he served, and the people he loved. That painting faced another dynamic contrast to the traditional depiction of the white Jesus from the 'Dark Continent', as European Christian missionaries were fond of waxing our ears to distort truth, and alter images. The pastor was excited about the images of Africans on the walls of the church, but in the same breath an apologetic commentary fell out of his mouth many Christians say to save their place in the religious kingdom. I cannot recall the exact words but they would be familiar to any thinking person. There is a tendency to renounce the importance of the color, and the ethnic identity of Jesus and other characters of the Bible. The contrast and fact of the joy within the pastor identifying with the best interpretation of Jesus, and Moses, catching himself, lest an unseen panel of white critics judge him harshly, and softly saying it is not of great importance to see the dark images of Biblical characters, struck a sad note within me. These things stand in the way of millions of Christians around the world. Not only are they standing there these contradictions intimidate people of color the world over into a strange ritualistic disembowelment of identity, soul-strength, and courage to tell and embody whole truths.

He said three different pastors share Sunday in this part of the church. The congregation before his service is Catholic. They remove the paintings before each service or turn them backwards. At the end of their services they return the paintings to their places, and leave the strong scent of frankincense lingering in the air: reminder of the spiritual significance of cleansing rituals.

Gregory E. Woods,
Keeper of Stories
2010