Jesus Mafa Art – Northern Cameroons, West Africa

We arrive at two revealing scenes this Sunday in our journey through the Gospel according to Mark.

In the first, Jesus is rejected by the people of his hometown (Mark 6:4). Might familiarity be an enemy of faith? For many of us raised in the Church, this possibility comes as a challenge.

In the second, Jesus sends his disciples as partners in his mission of extending the healing and embrace of the Holy One. And he declares that they need to travel light (Mark 6:8). For many of us in the Church, accustomed to frameworks of support from creeds to physical sanctuaries, this exhortation comes also as a challenge.

As I consider these scenes, I find this painting by the Jesus Mafa community in northern Cameroon helpful. It is just one of dozens that date back over 50 years and an initiative to make the gospel real in a particular region of this West African nation. A team of a church leader, a theologian and an artist would read a particular gospel passage and invite people of various villages to enact what they heard. Photographs were taken of the skits and tableaux, and the artist would eventually paint a canvas. It was a tremendous project, one that prompts the question … what might the gospel look like in my community? What does it mean for me/us to go in the power of the Risen Lord ‘lightly’?

If you are in the area, we warmly invite you to join us. Certified child care is offered during the service and a programme for young children also. After the service a time of fellowship over tea or coffee, so please linger if you can and allow us to introduce ourselves more fully. 

There is free parking on the streets around (please note that the time-of-day restrictions on Clergy Street north of Queen are not in effect on Sundays) and in the surface civic lot just behind the church off Queen Street. There is a wheelchair lift inside the doors to St. Andrew’s Hall from the church parking lot mid way along Clergy Street, and hearing assist devices are available upon request from an usher. 

Have a look at the Order of Service and bulletin below, and consider each hymn and prayer and announcement a personal invitation to join us in Christian worship, community and service.

Download (PDF, 547KB)

Next Sunday, we welcome the Rev. Prudence Neba of the Presbyterian Church in the Cameroon to St. Andrew’s.

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