Boa Constrictor and Mouse

If you go to church (and maybe even if you don’t) there are probably one or two things that you are totally convinced that are essential for a church to be a church.  One of those things for me is the communal meal.  When everybody gathers together to eat something wonderful happens.  Conviviality. Life together.  If I had my preference we would gather every day at church for a common meal and everyone would be welcome.  The hungry would be fed and the lonely would find companionship.  The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  Sweet.

That’s one of the reasons I really enjoyed our potluck dinner and time of focus on the continent of Africa.  We brought food.  We ate together.  We talked and celebrated birthdays.  We listened to music and stories.  We prayed and we played.

Bonnie and Jenny did a fantastic job of bringing Africa (and especially Swaziland) to us and our children.  The were flags and pictures from Vince and Katinka’s trip there.  There was mealie-meal (rough corn flour that’s a dietary staple) and we learned how to grind and cook it.  We also had the privilege of being read a wonderful book, “Learning to Swim in Swaziland: A Child’S-Eye View of a Southern African Country” by Nila K. Leigh.  It was a great book and I learned a lot about the country.  One of my favorite parts was the story that explained why dogs chase cars.  But I’m not going to tell you.  You have to read it for yourself!

Then we played two African games that were just fantastic.  The first was called “Boa Constrictor”, a game from Ghana.  In essence, you mark out a large square 0n the ground.  Then everyone stands around the edge of the square and one person is chosen to be the head of the boa constrictor (we all took turns).  That person goes into the middle of the square.  They then chase the people around the edge of the square and try to tag one (the people on the edge aren’t supposed to stray very far from it and the snake cannot leave the square).  When someone gets caught that person joins them in the square and holds their hand.  This process is repeated until everyone ends up part of a long, winding snake.  It reminded me of crack the whip, because when everyone is running together you can really get jerked around.

The second game was called “Mouse”.  Azama taught us this one.  She’s from South Africa and it was great to have her take part in our African cookout.  For this game everyone stands in a big circle holding hands except for two people, the mouse and the homeowner.  The mouse begins inside the circle and the homeowner outside.  The people in the circle spread out as much as possible while holding hands and lift their arms up to make arches or doors.  Then the homeowner calls “Mouse, will you get out of my house?” and the mouse replies “No!”  Then it becomes a chase game very like duck-duck-goose.  The mouse darts out an arch and then the homeowner darts in.  They have to weave in and out of the arches until either the homeowner catches the mouse or the mouse completes the full circle.  When I was the mouse I was ALWAYS caught.  But it was still a boatload of fun.

This is church – celebrating our differences while realizing our unity in Jesus Christ.  More than even eating together (although it pains me to admit it).

Peace, Dave

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