The dedication page for Lamin Sanneh’s book Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West. Sanneh is a native of Gambia, theologian, and professor at Yale. I read this in January.
To the memory of my mother
And to that of other victims of cultural oppression
Not as we knew them any more,
Toilworn, and sad with burdened care –
Erect, clear-eyed, upon their brows
Thy name they bear.
Free from the fret of mortal years,
And knowing now Thy perfect will,
With quickened sense and heightened joy,
They serve Thee still.
Nor know to what high purpose Thou
dost yet employ their ripened powers,
Nor how at Thy behest they touch
This life of ours.
