🙌 It's the Friday Call to Worship! 🙌
Happy Heritage Day, South Africa! 🇿🇦 Many South Africans will fire up their braai's today, and some will don traditional clothing and dance as we celebrate the cultural wealth of the nation. Cultural celebrations resound with belonging as we come around shared history, songs, food, and clothing that remind us of where we came from.
I remember tearfully leaving my grandmother's house the day I moved to South Africa in 2010. My friends drove me to the airport because neither my family nor I could bear to say goodbye to each other there. I was breaking all of my culture's norms by moving away and starting a family on the other side of the world.
In a sense, I was leaving one culture for another. I wasn't exchanging American culture for South African. I was leaving the culture I was born into for the one I was created for. As I flashed my passport at the security checkpoint, I remembered that my true citizenship is in heaven.
The heritage of heaven surrounds you with family even when you have to leave your own. The culture of God's Kingdom chases after you when you stray and always has a spot saved for you. Jesus died and rose again so that you would always have a place to belong, grace to come home to, and healing no matter what you've been through. The cultural norm of Christ is unlimited love, unquenchable grace, and abundant life. You don't have to leave your culture to receive this heritage. It's a gift to you right where you are.
God gave us a taste of belonging through relationships and cultural heritages on this earth. They highlight our design to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. I pray that as you celebrate today, your gatherings remind you of the eternal place you have in the Kingdom of God. I hope that while you feast, "you to taste and see that the Lord is good"(Ps 34:8).
Start your day with the Lord, the author and perfecter of the culture you were created for. Listen to "God You Are" by We Are Messengers and Josh Baldwin to celebrate your heritage in Christ.