“THREE ARE WE THREE ARE THEE…”

Sitting in fellowship on a Sunday morning, just as the Pastor started to minister on the Holy Communion and its importance (it was a communion service), I remembered a story a friend and senior colleague of mine told me.

The story is about a catholic Bishop who sailed across the world. In one of his journeys, he came across an island which his sailors and ship captain told him was occupied by three men who were very, very holy, but these men haven’t had any contact with the outside world. On hearing these, the Bishop disagreed with them that since these men haven’t had contact with the outside world and so long as these men haven’t been ministered to about Jesus Christ, they couldn’t be holy.

So in good faith, the bishop’s ship docked and he went to the men of the island. There he taught them as much as possible and also the Lord’s Prayer because before then, the prayer of the three men was “Lord, three are we, three are thee. Bless us.” and when the sun was down the bishop retired to his ship for the night. The next day the bishop climbed into a small boat heading ashore to see his new converts, it was then that he saw the three men… running… towards him… on... water. The men were screaming and saying “master, master, please we have forgotten the prayer you thought us yesterday”. On hearing this, the bishop returned to his ship and left the island for good. When asked by his sailors he said “they are holy enough, they don’t need me.”

This story made me reflect on religion and how we take it. But then, what makes one holy? Is it religion? Or is it the rituals we accord to religion? We live in a time when religion and its rituals have been over emphasized. The problem now does not lie with the religion (be you Christian, Muslim or pagan) but rather, the problem lies with the rituals and ceremonies attached to the religion.

Most people see anybody who does not partake in their religions ‘rituals’ as infidels. This makes me wonder how spiritual and truthful those who are seen partaking in these rituals are. Rituals, like the Lord’s Supper, Christmas, Ramadan, Sallah, or other festivals, have taken up more spaces in the hearts of worshipers than the religions themselves.

Sitting there in the fellowship I couldn’t help but wonder what would be in the hearts of people if I (a worker and usher) don’t take part in the communion. A backslider some would think me, forgetting that “when purpose is lost, abuse is inevitable”.

As I stood up to get inline and partake in the ‘ritual’, I couldn’t help but wonder how much the Bishop would have complicated the simple lives of those three men. And as I returned to my sit (after taking my portion of the ‘ritual’) to pray, the prayer of the three men kept ringing in my head “three are we, three are thee. Bless us.”

Ekejiuba Innocent