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Easter: God’s own story
Easter is here again. And once more, we will go through the motions as usual. In Ghana and most parts of the Christian world, Palm Sunday opens the Easter season by reminding us of the triumphal entry of Jesus to Jerusalem days before His crucifixion.
Triumphal in the sense that even though the Jewish religious leaders were planning to kill Jesus, He boldly rode into Jerusalem where He knew they were waiting for Him. At His appearance, the multitude who wanted to enthrone Him king, cut off palm fronds which they strewed before His donkey while others waved theirs.
Ghana, however, has a unique way of marking the day. Instead of the date palm fronds, Ghanaians have adopted the oil palm leaves which may be excusable because date palm is not as abundant in the country as oil palm. And trust the ingenuity of the Ghanaian! Palm Sunday has become the occasion when people who, for one reason or another, have not eaten palm nut soup for a long time, make sure this chance does not pass them by. Of course, it must be complemented by fufu, otherwise the trouble you take in preparing the soup would not be worth the while. All this is part of Easter.
After Palm Sunday, all attention shifts to the following Friday, that is Good Friday, a day set aside the world over to commemorate the crucifixion and subsequent death of Jesus Christ. Most Ghanaians, especially, those of the orthodox faith, wear funeral clothes to go and mourn the “death” of Jesus in church.
Then Sunday comes, and people troop to their various churches in all-white attires or something with a touch of white to celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus. The songs commemorating the momentous event vary. The Methodists surely have a lot to sing but one that they would never miss on Easter Sunday is Robert Lowry’s hymn that goes like this:
1 Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Saviour,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!
Refrain:
Up from the grave He arose;
with a mighty triumph o’er his foes;
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
and He lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
2 Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Saviour,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! [Refrain]
3 Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Saviour;
He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord! [Refrain]
The Pentecostals would prefer something like this:
Owuo anntumi no, w’adi asaman so;
Nkunim di hene, cne Awurade;
Y3ma wo mmo Yesu, y3ma wo mmo Messiah;
Nkunimdi hene cne Awurade.
In translation, the song declares as follows:
Death could not beat Him, He has triumphed over hell;
The King of Victory is the Lord;
We congratulate You, Jesus, we congratulate You Messaiah;
The King of victory is the Lord
For most people, including so-called Christians, the “real deal” is yet to come. After church, the boozing and revelries must be allowed. After all, the Bible says: “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God, what is God’s.” For many, that is all Easter means. But what is the real meaning of Easter? What really happened at Easter?
The following story provides a clue. A very rich man called Mr. Emmanuel Love was celibate and childless. He had a sweet spirit and showered gifts on all the kids in his neighbourhood. But he took a special liking to a particular boy, Manson, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Man.
One day, Manson’s parents travelled and left him in the care of Mr. Love. As naughty as children are, he sneaked out of the house for a splash in a nearby stream. Unknown to him, the flow was fast and upstream, compelling him to swim against the current. He was drowning gradually.
Just in the nick of time, Mr. Love discovered that Manson was nowhere to be found. By intuition, he dashed towards the stream and found him struggling to make it ashore. Without thinking, Mr. Love dived into the water and did his best to bring the boy downstream as both of them gasped for breath. But the rescue came at a great cost. Mr. Love was left crippled. After a few days, Manson’s parents returned from their journey and went for him. They heard what had happened and felt extremely sorry for Mr. Love but there was no need crying over spilt milk.
About a year later, the family relocated to another city, perhaps unable to process the thought of seeing Mr. Love like that. But they kept in touch with him while Mr. Love frequently sent letters to Manson encouraging him to study hard and be the best that he could be. About a decade later, with Manson in his late teens, Mr. Love realised he was deteriorating in health. So, he decided to go and visit his little friend before the inevitable happened.
On reaching the city, he began to trudge across a community park to Manson’s house close by. As he hobbled along due to his condition, some youngsters enjoying a game of football on the field started hurling insults at him for delaying their game. Finally, he reached home and immediately asked for his boy.
Mr. Love was told Manson was playing football nearby, apparently on the park Mr. Love just crossed. His parents sent for him and when he came home, he recognised the visitor as the handicapped man who just struggled along the field. He questioned his parents why they should entertain such a wretch in their home. When they explained who he was and reminded him how the man ended up maimed for life, Manson could not hold back his tears.
He dashed to call his friends on the field to come and see his hero. When they came, they were also snubbish but in tears, Manson explained how the man’s condition evolved. Mr. Love asked if they got the money he had been sending in his letters. To their shame, they never opened them, and when they did, they were amazed at the amount he had sent their boy over the years without their knowledge. The best was yet to come. Mr. Love told them he had come to inform them that he had bequeathed his estate to Adamson and left.
Do you get the picture?“He was wounded for our transgressions.” Our sins took Jesus to the cross. Yet, we despise Him. The Bible prophesied before He appeared in human form that when people set their eyes on Him, there would be no comeliness in Him that they should desire Him. Just as Manson forgot all that Mr. Love suffered for him, so do we treat Jesus with contempt. We only pay lip service to Him.
Perhaps, we treat Him with disdain because we do not really know Him. Let me show you an open secret. Jesus is God the very God! Period. Yes, Easter is God’s own story. The Creator of the universe stripped Himself of all His glory, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and allowed sinful men to kill Him so that He would shed His own blood to cleanse us from our unrighteousness.
The blood of bulls and sheep was not pure enough, neither was the blood of any man deemed righteous enough to atone for our sins. So, God became a Man to have blood in Himself to shed for us. That is the true Easter story.
Yes, the Ancient of Days became the Babe of Bethlehem, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, became the Lamb that was slain; He is the Consuming Fire yet, the Living Water; when Mary held the Infant Jesus and kissed her Son, she kissed the face of God. He is the Mighty God, Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Great I Am. He can be anything He wants to be.
C.S. Lewis, a British author and speaker who was an unrepentant atheist until he found Jesus Christ, said this about Him in one of his discourses.“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
“He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God, or a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Contact: teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
By Tony Prempeh
Today, I focus on the Apostolic Church International in Finland, as I continue with my description of institutions and personalities and their accomplishments as members of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Finland.
The Apostolic Church International, Finland (or, Apostolic International Association Ry) was established in October 9, 2023. The Church in Finland has seen significant strides and accomplishments within the short time that it has been established in Finland, which must be highlighted.
History of the Church in Ghana
The Apostolic Church Ghana originated from the 1904–1905 Welsh revival, officially established in Ghana (then called Gold Coast) in 1935 following connections between a local prayer group in Asamankese (a town in southern Ghana), led by Peter Newman Anim, and the Apostolic Church, UK. There were historical splits in 1939 and 1953, but the Apostolic Church attained autonomy in 1985.
Today, the Church is headquartered in Accra. Last year (2025), it dedicated its new 10-storey headquarters, “The Apostolic Church Tower,” in Frafraha, Adenta West in Accra.
Activities of the Apostolic Church in Finland
The Apostolic Church in Finland conducts church service on Sundays. The service starts at 11a.m. in the morning and closes by 1 p.m. in the afternoon. There are no other activities during other days for now.
The Minister in charge of the church in Finland is also the Area Head of Italy Area. He is Pastor Daniel Kofi Addison who is the new Italy Area Head, and has just been transferred from UK South Area to Italy Area during the just-ended Council Meeting in March this year. Italy Area comprises Italy, which has 13 Assemblies, Germany, one Assembly, and Finland, one Assembly.
Elder Ebenezer Amoaning-Coffie is the Presiding Elder in charge of the Assembly in Finland. A Presiding Elder is responsible for day to day activities of the church (Assembly) and reports to the District Pastor, or in the absence of the District Pastor, reports to the Area Head.
Achievements
The Apostolic Church International, Finland was officially registered under the Finnish Law, guaranteeing freedom of worship and providing legal foundation for future growth. The church service is conducted in both English and Twi.
The church opens its doors to all people of every nation, especially Ghanaians who are in Finland and other African nationals. Now, the membership comprises Ghanaians, Nigerians and Sierra Leoneans.
The Church and the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland
The Apostolic Church in Finland plays a prominent role as a religious group that serves Ghanaian migrants and others in the Finnish society.
Thus, the Apostolic Church is a religious body for Ghanaian migrants in Finland and other nationalities who want to worship with them for diversity and better intercultural and multicultural understanding.
Elder Amoaning-Coffie said that the main and primary aim of the church is to bring people closer to God. “We aim to win souls for Christ. We aim to preach the gospel to the world. By propagating the gospel to the people, we are hopeful that they will turn away from any ungodly ways and be good individuals in the community and in society in general”, he stated.
He said that everything is going well so far. A key challenge, however, is how to get more members especially the youth. As a new Assembly, we are in need of instrumentalists, for example. We pray to God Almighty to help us do His work, the Elder disclosed.
Integration
By its activities, the Apostolic Church is helping to ensure integration of its members well into the Finish society. This is important since social interaction and citizens’ well-being are an important part of the integration process in Finland.
As I mentioned some time ago, the role of migrant associations and groups such as the Apostolic Church acting as bridge-builders for the integration and inclusion of migrants through participation in the decision making process and by acting as a representative voice is highly appreciated in Finland. Thank you!
With Dr Perpetual Crentsil
The landscape of the Ghanaian palate is shifting, and not necessarily for the better. In our bustling urban centres, from the streets of Accra to the suburbs of Kumasi, a quiet culinary revolution is taking place; one where the mortar and pestle are being replaced by the pizza oven and the deep fryer. This transition from traditional staple foods like fufu, banku, akple, kenkey, tuo zaafi, and ampesi toward “continental” dishes is more than just a change in appetite; it is a reflection of a deeper social struggle with identity and prestige.
The illusion of modernity
For many, “stepping out” for a meal has become synonymous with consuming foreign cuisine. There is an unspoken social hierarchy where a bowl of Abunuabunu is relegated to the village category, while burgers, pizzas are branded as prestigious choices. We have reached a stage where we equate foreign with modern and local with primitive.
This perception is a dangerous illusion. Our traditional dishes are marvels of culinary engineering complex, nutrient-dense, and deeply rooted in our history. When we choose a processed foreign import over a meal made from local tubers or fermented maize, we are not just changing our lunch; we are eroding the indigenous knowledge attached to our local ingredients and foods.
We need to turn the consumption of indigenous grains and tubers like millet, sorghum, and plantain into a statement of self-worth and national pride.
The cultural and health erosion
Every time a local dish disappears from a restaurant menu to make room for foreign fast food, we lose a piece of our cultural fabric. Traditional Ghanaian cooking is an art that requires patience and skill. By choosing the convenience of foreign fast food, we are raising a generation that may know the taste of a pepperoni pizza but cannot identify the rich, earthy profile of Prekese or the subtle tang of well-fermented dough dishes like corn porridge, banku, etew, abolo, agidi or kamfa, and kenkey.
Furthermore, we are at the crossroads of a nutrition transition. Replacing high-fiber, indigenous crops with calorie-dense but nutrient-poor foreign fast foods is driving a rise in lifestyle diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and liver disease. We are trading our longevity for 15-minutes convenience or unhealthy diet.
A call for culinary patriotism
It is time for us to appreciate, preserve, and promote our indigenous foods and culinary traditions. We need to be proud of our local dishes, ingredients and cooking methods, rather than relying heavily on foreign or imported foods. We must stop viewing our local delicacies as low-class and start treating our culinary heritage as the high-end gastronomy it truly is.
True sophistication does not come from imitating Western fast food; it comes from innovation and adding values to our own resources. We see glimpses of this potential in the rise of branded Sobolo and the creative use of gluten-free plantain flour in modern baking of flour-based dishes such as bread, cakes, biscuits and others. This is the path forward. We must elevate our local dishes, making them as accessible, affordable, presentable and trendy as any foreign alternative.
To the hospitality industry: Innovate or stagnate
Our hotels and high-end restaurants must lead the charge. They must stop relegating local dishes to the “traditional corner” of the buffet, and apply the same culinary finesse given to imported dishes to our Fante Fante, apapransa, aborbi tadi, fetritoto, akple, abolo, yakayeke, fufu, ampesi, kokonte, wasawasa, tubani, apapransa, mpotompoto, kelewele, aliha, brukutu, pito, and other local dishes. The industry must enhance customer experiences making eating local dishes the ultimate luxury experience for both tourists and residents alike. We must elevate the presentation of our foods by using modern plating techniques to show that a bowl of light soup can be as visually stunning as a French consommé. We need to reclaim our Ghanaian plate before it is too late.
To the policy makers: Let us encourage buying of local ingredients to promote the local food industry and economy. There should be educational programmes and talks about the nutritional and cultural benefits of local foods so that people understand their value.
We need to encourage serving traditional dishes at school programmes, parties, and celebrations instead of only fast foods,
To the Youth: Let us value and appreciate our traditional dishes instead of always choosing foreign foods. There must be balance in our choice of local and foreign dishes. Confidence in our culture encourages others to respect it too. Our local dishes can also be promoted by sharing pictures, recipes, and videos on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp to make them attractive and trendy.
Young citizens must learn from their parents and elders how to prepare local meals to keep the knowledge and cultural relevance alive. Local dishes can be modernised to appeal to younger generations and tourists.
Conclusion
We cannot afford to trade our heritage for foreign cuisines which are gaining grounds across the country at an alarming rate. We must disabuse our minds of the perception that anything foreign or imported is better than those locally made. Our health, economy, and identity are tied to the soil. It is time to stop apologising for our local flavours and start celebrating them. It is possible to embrace modernity without losing ourselves and our cultural identity. Let us make the Ghanaian kitchen the heart of our modern identity once again.
By: Marilyn Gadogbe
