Fist of cloud

For many of us, 2020 began on a hopeful note. The vigil service kind of hit differently on the eve of the new year. We had started the year with a resolve to have a great year. 2020 was destined, a year where we all could claim and indeed receive ‘double-double’. It did not quite appear it may turn out to be portions of double zero, double zero, but it literally was 2020.

It may appear, however, for the tissue paper man; he couldn’t have asked for a better year, not to talk about the sanitizer woman or the kingpins of the newfound face mask industry. For the likes of the ‘COVID-19 Kooko Aduro’ champ who sought to make gains, Anas seemed not to be chasing whales but the troublesome herrings.

For the social actors in the frontline of this pandemic, these seasons may have been some of their busiest, but for the majority of people, however, the last six months may have been some of the most uncertain and difficult times one has ever had to deal with. Whatever your narrative of 2020 is, this July, 1^st write-up may be beneficial.

A story has actively engaged my attention for the last few days and I wish to share it: A story is told about a powerful queen who believed in the superiority of her gods and on that conviction, influenced her husband, the king, to institute a law enforcing singularity of faith. All persons of other creeds and practices were killed, except for the ones who were hidden by a servant of the King, Obadiah.

There yet lived a certain man of national repute, resolute with an alternative conviction to the queen. He was an acclaimed leader of the prophets, a strong voice. He had gone into exile after he was sought in every city in the state as the king sought to enforce the queen’s wishes. This man cursed the land with drought and hardship following such cruelty of the queen and went into hiding.

His curse of drought had worked, the land had seen no rain in three years and extreme hardship had come upon the people of the land. No one had heard any word of him for years, except that, all of a sudden this Prophet sets out to meet Obadiah as the servant went out with the king to seek for still waters and foliage to feed the horse. He sends the king’s servant, Obadiah, to go tell the king, he had presented himself (classic Raymond Reddington fashion, voluntarily submitting to the FBI as in Blacklist).

This man then orders for a show of significant historic memory. He calls for faith to be validated by works, that we may allow a contest of the gods to prove who is mightier. Man, as he was, he sets the stage and invites the gods to a fight, a fight to send fire from above to consume a sacrifice. An invitation the gods seem to have obliged. At the end of the contest, the sovereignty of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel is without a question, His existence, power, and presence proved by a man to the nations.

The story to this point is fascinating enough, but the subsequent events reveal something far more reaching and enlightening. He sets off to lift the curse and to bless the nation with rain and his method is what I hope we may find strength in this second half of 2020:

1. He declares an abundance of rain even before there is wind of a cloud. He tells the king in all confidence, again Reddington style, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” Note that, at this time, there was still hunger, famine, and drought, yet bustling in faith of a God who is sovereign, in whom he had had victory, he orders a celebration of abundance, yet when there is no evidence of same.

2. He then sets himself upon his knees to cause the heavens to intervene. He does what he knows best. He invokes rains, calling on the great sovereign God of the fathers to harness the uncertainties for Himself. That he may bless the nation with abundance. Let us be reminded of faith of abundance, but in humility with our knees on the ground, let us travail in works that tears the heavens and pour down rain.

3. He then sets a watch over the sea, a man who understood the formation of the clouds as he, Elijah, engages in the work. He sought to find insight from others. For seven times, he battles in great work, yet without any sign of rain, until there was a word: “Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!”

The most profound thing for me from this story is his strong conviction that a cloud “as small as a man’s hand’ will be a mighty rain. After all the years of drought, the massacre and seven times of continuous travail, who will wish all the Creator of the Universe will bestow was “a cloud, as small as a man’s hand”?

Let me conclude by reminding ourselves, COVID-19 may have been like the drought, for some of us, we may have labored for years in the faith, prayers, work and insight and are still yet to experience the abundance of rain. I write this to affirm the faith of the faithful, to assure us that, In the seemingly insignificant clouds rests the mighty rains. 

Most importantly, however, I speak concerning rains. The rain comes. My name is Yaw Sompa. Good morning and happy new month. 

Pistis

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

The article 'Elpis' (http://theagleswingfoundation.blogspot.com/2012/07/elpis.html) remains one of my favourites. I had no intention of writing a 'Pistis' version but the memory of yesterday leaves me nothing, but an aching finger to type the events and share it.

'Elpis' was a writing of hope; 'Pistis' however is a faith talk. Before I dive into the Greek myth of 'Pistis' allow me to share the inspiration to talk about faith.  I had taught about Joseph, the biblical character to a small youth class in the morning, gone for a meeting all through the afternoon and had an insightful conversation about why men and women do some of the things they do sometimes. Not many inspirational droplets had jumped to me all through the day until I had the honour of being dashed a huge dose of inspiration by beholding the departure avenue of the Kotoka International Airport. Of course, departures in any form are as emotional as anyone could dream it. I was seeing off somebody I have grown to cherish and love. The kind of person I can be all I am with and still feel completely at home. I do not have many people in my life like this, so as the truth is, I do miss her. But it is in the memory that she will be away for a while that strikes the inspiration; the fact that she will always be with me until I see her again which hopefully will be soon. The use of hope borrows from 'Elpis' but the faith that she will always be with me is the 'Pistis' all humanity shares.

In Greek mythology, Pistis (Πίστις) was the personification of good faith, trust and reliability. The Greeks say, Pistis was one of the good spirits who escaped Pandora's Box and fled back to heaven abandoning mankind. So although, Elpis was the only gift left, Pistis was in the box at a point. I have gained new insights to faith and these are:

1. Confidence is an evidence of faith. The word confidence borrows from the Latin, 'Confidere' which is to have full trust and amply personifies 'Fides' the Roman equivalent of 'Pisitis'. How often does humanity claims faith but with little confidence? Elpis is the having of the dream whiles as Pistis is the evidence of the things not seen. Confidence is not wavering; it is the expression of feeling of certainty. My first lesson on faith is summed up by the famous American author, Mark Twain. He says, "To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence." I like this quote first because it is humorous but importantly because it sums up what faith is, the fact that we may not know all the future holds and promises, yet the firm certainty that what we hope for will happen.
2. Coming to faith is accumulating trust. Faith requires a significant level of trust. Humanity lives by trusting. Trusting vehicles, professionals, and entirely everything we use. The level of trust at any point in time is promoted by a judgment of competence. The judgment may be based on facts or gut. However the source of trust, trust remains specific with an expectation.  We only exercise faith when we are satisfied by our judgment of competence although sometimes, the chosen option(s) appear the only available choice. However the circumstance surrounding what and who we trust, we build confidence only by trusting the competence of the trusted to deliver on the specific expectation.
3. Faith is a prudent option. Preceding the second insight is the knowledge of why there is little faith and confidence by extension. Our culture has taught us very little about trust but I choose to learn from the reasoning of the notable French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher, Blaise Pascal. Pascal indicated of faith that it is a wise wager, and rightly so, it is! There will always be doubts, opinions and unknowns, faith however pursues with certainty to gain that which it wagers. Is it risky? Of course it is! But the truth remains that, 'The heart has its reasons for which reason knows nothing' (Pascal). Conviction in the heart is what must guide faith's course.

I end with a reflection from Pauline's thought from his popular love corridor (1 Cor. 13:13). In one breath, Paul indicates Elpis, and Pistis as two of the three most important things, he ices his thought nevertheless by saying, with all that Elpis and Pistis may be, they leads to LOVE, the greatest. Oh, my God!  I am in Love ...

A City in my Dreams?

I share an engagement with my imagination as I travelled through this town called Atimpoku in Ghana some few weeks ago. It was not my first time on this road, neither was this my first reflection of such greatness as we could build. My imagination however always slips towards the steep slopes of UTOPIA as I think of such gifts as nature has endowed this land. Sharing my reflections on utopia is a burden I carry, one guided by the touch of realism in order to prevent a wild stray into fantasies. Yet I pray you to indulge my dreams in the light of hope to building, and a passion to pursue such ends such as beauty may behold.

  

 John Keats, the English Poet, noted about beauty "A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness." Even eternal does Dante Alighieri, the great Italian Poet, think of beauty; "Heat cannot be separated from fire, or Beauty from The Eternal". Yet among us, we unfortunately taint the best of beauties; we paint poverty, ignorance and dirt into natures best designs. We bring to naught the many gifts and sorrowfully fail to see the beauty therein. In my reflections, I found:

1. The parable of the talent is more real than we want to believe. One of the common parables of Jesus is known to be of a master travelling to a far country. He gives talents to his servants and upon coming required of them returns. The gifts of each of the servants returned a fold of its own  kind but for the one with the least. He pays no attention to his talent and disregards it by hiding it. The master comes, requires of his talent and the returns and finds out that, this one servant bore no fruits. Such act of 'cautiousness' and 'safe-keeping' of the servant was regarded as wicked and unfaithful by the master who ceases his one talent and gives it to the one with the most. I am tempted to thinking in my wild minds that, this servant comes from my homeland because with all we have been given we do nothing with it. And scared more so, for what shall our judgement of these treasures and beauty be?
2. Fairyland are built from nothing anyway. Disneyland, a story that will always be told. An awe built from but an imagination of a man who visited a park with his daughters. In Walter E. Disney words about the land of his creation, he said,"To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relieves fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenges and promise and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world." In this story of Disney and the hard compelling facts of our reality of disregarded beauty, I still share hope because change starts with a mindset. Beauty is built with dreams and hopes as foundational Pillars.
3. The gate through which our shame may be rolled off is putting our imaginations to work. I could not imagine people found space within own imaginative space to heap rubbish by such beautiful water bodies. I could barely find something critically thought through that took my breath away, rather I gasped with surprise how much waste beauty has been put to. I do not intend to be unnecessarily critical about this town but to bring to bear the need to put our imaginations to work. This is but a case in point, and in many cases much more severe negligence are paraded with relish. We barely care least notice and do anything about it.

I pray we may find an inspiration to stretch our minds towards that which is of beauty and to press on towards making beauty happen for Africa.

Our faith should be our strength. Let us find solace in Paul's thought that, "God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or can dare to imagine, according to the power which works in us."(Ephesians. 3:20)Let us grow beyond being easily content with lowly things and let's press demand on grace far above mediocrity where it lies now.

I dare plead a cause that we may engage our minds to beauty, and to pursue and create all that is noble, pure and glorious. Let us find reason to press towards utopia for as in the Poet Victor Hugo's words, "To love beauty is to see light". 

Let us reclaim our righteous minds and put it to task!