Mothers ‘Day was most memorable and special at the Covenant Child World Ministries last Sunday. To make the women of the church feel special, the men delivered a surprise by cooking for them and serving them to mark the occasion.
Co-Pastor Leeroy Wilfred Kabs-Kanu said that few days before the occasion, he called all the men one by one and suggested to them that the women of the church should be given a special treat on Sunday as part of their Mothers’Day appreciation . He suggested that all the men cook something and bring it to church and serve the women in a role-reversal designed to express appreciation to the women for cooking for them throughout the year. Those who could not cook should provide money. The idea was overwhelmingly welcomed by the men and it was decided that the cooking be done secretly to make the whole treat a complete surprise to the women.
The surprise was delivered last Sunday when the women came to church and found delicious foods of categories lined up in trays on a long set of tables by the side. The women were stunned and thrilled. Previously, the women had prepared the food while the men gave them beautiful red roses. This time, it was different. The women of the church were told to just sit down and be served this time by the men.
Pastor Kabs-Kanu told the church : “Today, we have decided to reverse the roles and cook for you and serve you because you are special and we the men want you to feel precious and special today .You do not have to do anything today. After the service, just sit down and we the men will serve you ”
People did not know some of our men of valor were so proficient in the kitchen. Brother Alex Fallah’s cassava leaves was so delicious the women were teasing him whether he was sure he cooked it. He surely did. Pastor Gibrilla’s groundnut stew was also delicious . so were the foods cooked by Brothers Sanpha , Hudson Koroma and Keldron Pollo Sesay.
Delivering the Mothers’Day sermon, the Rev. Kabs-Kanu admonished men not to make it a one-off experience, but rather they should always cook for their wives. If they cannot cook, they must pay or beg somebody known to the family once on a while to cook their wives’ favorite dishes for them as surprise treats. He said that all of these things help to strengthen marriage and show the wives that they are loved and treasured.
The thrust of Rev. Kabs-Kanu’s message was that women are very precious and should be appreciated and treated as the precious people they are. He said that today was the day in the U.S when honor is given to a specie of human beings who unselfishly give their time to their families and society without asking anything in return. Using his late mother and wife as examples, he outlined how women would sacrifice tiredness and exhaustion after work to toil in the kitchen just to ensure that their families had something to eat.
Joyfully, the Pastor said, Mothers ‘Day was being celebrated at the time when the status of women has improved dramatically over the centuries.
He recalled hundreds of years ago when women were considered so inferior that there was a veil in church separating them from men and they were not allowed to talk in church. Family slaves and women had the same status. Women did not have a say in their families. During funeral processions, women were made to walk in front and right before the casket because they were believed to be responsible for sin. Women could not take legal action against cruel and cheating husbands , but the men could sue their wives. It was forbidden and a curse to teach women the torah.
Rev. Kabs-Kanu told the congregation that , Thank God, things have changed so dramatically he was delivering today’s sermon in a church where a woman is the Senior Pastor and across the border from his native Sierra Leone , a woman is the President of the Republic of Liberia . He outlined the achievements that women have made in arts, sciences , business , religion and politics which showed that they were on an even keel with men and in some cases even far smarter than men.
Rev. Kabs-Kanu used Genesis 1:27, 2: 18 , 21:12 etc to prove that God did not create women inferior but that he created them in his own image as he did with men. Though the husband is the head of the home, God created women to be their help mates and not inferior subordinates. He concluded that women were considered inferior because of misapplication of Biblical passages like Genesis 3 : 16 where God told Eve that “Your love shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you ” . God, he said, was not talking about dictatorial and driving, negative leadership where the women had no say and were pushed around like zombies. He was talking about loving and understanding leadership based on mutual respect and consideration for each other’s interests. If not , God would not have told Abraham in Genesis 21 : 12 : “In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice for in Isaac shall thy seed be called .”
The preacher called on society to continue to support women’ s empowerment and advancement because man minus a woman was equal to zero and he challenged women to continue fighting for equality with men in all things.
Using bible passages from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Rev. Kabs-Kanu highlighted how Jesus Christ treated women. They were part of his delegation and were treated as persons in their own rights . Jesus Christ never treated women as inferior beings and he set the model for the way women should be treated in society, with love and respect. Jesus even taught in Mark 10 and Matthew 5: 32 that a man should not divorce his wife and the only reason that he should ever divorce her was for adultery.
As a matter of fact, Jesus so respected the rights of women that a woman was the first ever evangelist ( John 4 : 5-30) while the first persons Jesus sent out to tell about his resurrection were women – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome ( John 20: 1-18).
It was a sermon to make all women proud .
