If Jesus was born in Nigeria…….

Dear God,

What if Jesus was born in Nigeria?
(Laughter)
Aaah, Dad, I got that movement of your eyes……..Why not? Okay, wait for it!
So the women will be discussing………..
1st Woman: Mama Freeborn, Are you seeing what I am seeing? (she pointed her nose towards their neighbor’s house)
2nd Woman: Ha, it is not from my mouth you will hear that the Pastor’s wife is a witch. Abeg shift oo.
1st Woman: How will I shift? Is Maria not pregnant? Am I the only one seeing it?
2nd Woman: Hmmm, you are still asking? Oh, you have not heard the crux of the matter? You are not aware that not only is she pregnant but also by the Holy Spirit.
(Malicious laughter)
1st Woman: Father Lord, No, please don’t be angry. Say that again.
2nd Woman: Say kini? Yes, Maria is very pregnant, and when she was asked who she committed fornication with, she said it’s the Holy Spirit! American Wonder!
1st Woman: Abasi mbok! That spirit is not holy at all….
2nd Woman: My dear, there is nothing Musa will not see at the gate. This one is beyond comprehension.
1st Woman: Ha, that is sacrilege riding on abominations. Was she raped?
2nd Woman: Was I there?
1st Woman: I am trying to make sense of the stupidity.
2nd Woman: And I am trying not to think so as not to offend the gods.
(Mama Grace walks in on them as they discuss)
3rd Woman: My sisters, peace of the Lord be with you
Chorus: And also with you
Mama Grace: What is the matter? What is with this baffled look on your faces?
2nd Woman: She is the one baffled (pointing to the 1st woman). I am grinding pepper (pointing to her mortar)
1st woman: My sister, my head is trying to process what I have heard. These children will not kill us? Do they think we are stupid or what? What kind of cock and bull story is this?
Mama Grace: Which story, please?
2nd Woman: My dear, I told her about this dreadful Spirit that is roaming about the village impregnating our young girls.
Mama Grace: Hmm, poor dear Maria
2nd Woman: At this age, I thought I had heard it all. This one? Tufiakwa!
1st Woman: The wind has blown, and the fowl’s butt is all over the place……..That goody-two-shoes Maria has shown her true colour….
Mama Garce: Aaaa, Mama Sikira, tender judgment with mercy, Maria has always been a very good girl….she is a virgin….
2nd Woman: And I am the harlot! Are you whining me? 4 months gone and still a virgin, ni?
1st Woman: …..Exactly why the Holy Spirit would visit her…….
(Laughter)
Mama Grace: What if it is true? Maria has never told a lie in her life….why now? What if? No man in the village has come to claim the pregnancy…….
2nd Woman: Abeg Abeg, spare me. If no man in the village is responsible, they should try other villages….someone must fear the gods enough to own up…..
1st Woman: Maria is a good girl. Yes, she could have made mistakes. Yes, but Spirit… Holy or not? I beg to differ. Virgin with 4 months pregnancy? Aaah!
1st Woman: Poor John, the gentleman, is the ridicule of the whole village. I heard the priest went to their house yesterday to get his confession.
2nd Woman: I also heard that he is impotent, and that is why he borrowed manhood for his betrothed.
Mama Grace: Haba, my sisters…..
1st and 2nd Woman: God forbid this abomination in our land.
Mama Grace: My sisters, for your information, that same roaming spirit ( as you called it) visited John and warned him to accept the child. That was what his family called the priest to discuss. The family will accept the child, and they believe Maria.
Chorus: Tufiakwa! God Forbid.
Mama Grace: No, God didn’t forbid it. He actually sanctioned it.
(Silence)
2nd Woman: I still believe that all of this is Hocus-Pocus.
Mama Grace: And I still believe that God’s hand is in this.
1st Woman: Wait, in this village, if a girl gets pregnant outside marriage and does not fully confess, she will die at childbirth, right?
Chorus: Right!
2nd Woman: And that is why I don’t understand why they want this girl to take this risk. All she has to do is tell the simple truth and get it done.
Mama Grace: So we already have our test. If she is lying, we all know she will die at childbirth, yes? But if she is telling the truth, she will birth that child successfully, and we will all accept God’s will for her life, right?
(Silence)
Mama Grace: Anyway, I am going, don’t overthink it, sisters, from where I stand, God’s ways are not our ways. He uses the stupid things in life to conform to the wise. I leave you with God’s peace.
Chorus: God’s peace to you, too.
2nd Woman: Shhhmm. Na them them. Goody-two-shoes.
1st Woman: God’s Peace, Jari. I am going. My ears have heard enough.
2nd Woman: God’ Peace dear. We wait and see. This drama is not over yet.

(5 months after)

Mama Freeborn: Have you heard? Maria gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.
Mama Sikira: (jumped dramatically). Ewooh, she is dead?
Mama Freeborn: Dead ke? She delivered like a Hebrew woman without a single help. Baby and mother are doing very well. But what is this?
Mama Sikira: Ukpabi Ukpabi! She was telling the truth all that time?
Mama Freeborn: Father, Lord, I can not explain it. The joy and the celebrations happening today at their home are unprecedented. All the priests in the neighborhood are there. They named him Emmanuel – God with us.
(Mama Grace joined the team)
Mama Grace: Yes, oo. He is the Messiah, the long-awaited Son of God.
Mama Freeborn: I tremble with wonder
Mama Sikira: I fear for my life. That the son of God was that close to me, and I did not know it?
Mama Freeborn: And I doubted and criticised. What do we do now?
Mama Grace: Our beliefs and unbelief never deter God. Go join the celebration. Our Messiah is here.
Mama Sikira: I am heading there. There is no repentance in the grave. I am a changed woman now.
Mama Freeborn: Aaah, my sister, wait for me, let me go and drop my basket at home.
Mama Sikira: Carry it and come oo. I am not waiting. My eyes must see the Messiah today.
(Mama Freeborn put her basket on her head and raced after Mama Sikira)
(Mama Grace smiles, shakes her head, and joins them)
Hmmm.
Have we said thank you enough, Lord, for this awesome birth? Have we accepted you well enough to know that you use the simple things in life to conform the wise?
We welcome this awesome birth, salvation, and restoration with open hands and open hearts.
Emmanuel – The God that came to live with us.
This is your daughter, and I am checking in in love.