"Gbaya Stories and the Gospel"
From the Archives
Each month, our blog features articles from the archives of Liturgy. Our goal is to share the wisdom from decades past so that we might celebrate the work and insights of these excellent ministers and scholars.
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In 1983, volume 3 of Liturgy included an article by Thomas G. Christensen entitled, “Gbyana Stories and the Gospel.” Out of his ministry in West Africa, Christensen draws a portrait of people who have seen the gospel of Christ Jesus in the tools, patterns, actions, rituals, and healing practices of their village. Jesus’ proclamation of forgiveness is translated into the power of the villagers’ sore tree so that when healing is needed, its wood becomes the wood of Jesus’ cross. “Here in the hunting and killing and washing and peace are images of salvation, clues about the way of salvation. And these images, from the binding of the powers of evil, to doing works of compassion which mend creation, to the gospel of forgiveness, grace and gift, symbolized in washing, or drowning, and accomplished on a tree, are re interpreted by Jesus’ life and healing of the nations.”
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“On a threshold called the kingdom of God we put our trust in God, who first trusted us. A threshold is a hopeful place; it precedes but also promises fulfillment. It is a temporary place, still not free from the danger of wild beasts, but a place where, in the midst of ambiguity, we can cling to the promises of salvation.”
- Thomas G. Christensen
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Thomas G. Christensen, a pastor of The American Lutheran Church, served the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic from 1967 to 1981. He is currently the Director of the Ecole de Theologie, Meiganga, Cameroon, and has a teaching ministry in West Africa. His best known book is An African Tree of Life (Orbis, 1990).
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