This past Sunday we were invited to a pastor friend’s baby naming ceremony. He asked me to preach and then announce the name. The child’s name was to be Beatrice Moyoom. Moyoom means “unity” in Bimoba, their ethnic group.
Being Bimoba, their worship service was a bit different from our typical Mamprusi ones. For one, we couldn’t understand anything since Bimoba is very different from Mampruli. They also have some unique dances – most notably the one we refer to as the Bimoba Booty Dance in which they keep their bodies as still as possible while shaking their butts very rapidly. It’s impressive.
Another thing they did was rhythmic bursts of six handclaps at moments throughout the service. They clapped that way to greet each speaker, to praise the Lord, to segue between parts of the service and so on. It was very interesting.
Before announcing the baby’s name to the congregation, I preached on John 17:20-23 where Jesus prays that all believers will have unity “so that the world may believe” in Him. Then I charged them to have unity in raising the new child so that she may one day also believe in Christ.
