The Other Temples by Lovis Kwasi Armah

One day, a priest argued that a religious life demanded three tenets: one lives for others; one lives for what is eternal; and one lives for something bigger and better. Based on this, the priest challenged his congregants to form groups and exemplify these three tenets through the act of giving. There will be dedication, and the best gift that exemplify these tenets should cause a rainbow to appear in the sky during prayer session.

There were three of such group that were formed. Though coincidental, each group independently came to the decision that to build a temple for worship in villages with poor folks is the surest way to satisfy these three tenets. They discussed with their priest who loved their ideas and encouraged them. Gladly, they each produced ambitious and grand designs in building the best to ‘the glory of God.’

 The appointed day, when the groups will dedicate and unveil their gift, finally came. The first and second group, each, took the whole congregation to their respective villages. And though, each temple was beautifully built and marvelously decorated, they were no flush of rainbow when prayers were said.

The priest and his members drove to the village of the third group. While on a dam that granted access to the village, they saw multiple lightening in the clear sky. After the dam, they saw a series of wells with women and children happily filling their jars with water and here too, they saw lightening and they observed that the lightening seemed to increase each time a water fills a jar. When they drove a bit further, they saw newly-built-hut homes and places made for animals of all kinds to drink water, and here too they saw lightening.

They finally arrived at the premises that hosted the temple. To the surprise of the congregation, the temple was built with cheap bamboo tree and roofed with grasses and had an un-tiled floor.

The disappointed priest and the congregation decided to offer a quick prayer and leave the place – to them, even a glamorously built temple did not evoke rainbow, how much more a cheaply built one? But before the start of the prayer, every eye gathered could see a clearly drawn rainbow. There was no doubt that this was the accepted gift, so the priest called the leader of the group to explain what had accounted for their accepted gift.

The group leader started, “when we located this village, there was a dam-less river that one needed to cross- there were no motor able roads. The dam-less river, their only water source, was constantly dirtied by the road-users and rendered undrinkable. People around the village lived in slums not fit for animals.”

 “It then occurred to us that: if God is spirit and dwells in a bodily temple which is within man, will he deserve any better gift than improving the lot of any potential dwelling of his? We decided the best to do was to dam the river, provide drinkable water for the people and the animals and shelter for those that lived in slums- and after this was done, the rest is what we built the temple with,” the group leader continued. Just then, there was showers of rainfall.

The priest and his congregation then understood that: God sought not splendor of dwelling, but good deeds done for ‘one of the least.’ – those who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison.’ They prayed for forgiveness and asked the other groups to go and sell every item incurred in their expensive temples and take care of ‘the other temples.’

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Written by Lovis Kwasi Armah (MotX Ghana)
Author of The Limit of Human Goodness and The Wisest Man From the East.