YORUBA’S ODD FORM OF APPRECIATION- BY PASTOR ELKAN

_“…Is he the only one who came back to give praise to God?”_ – Lk 17:18 (ERV). 

I was forced to learn Yoruba as an adult when I temporarily moved to south-western Nigeria some years ago. I’m not much of a language person, and as someone who never spoke Yoruba before, my analysis of their words was clumsily literal. And a particular Yoruba term that came across to me as odd was their word for “Thank you”.

While there, if I helped someone to do something, they’d say to me, _“Ese”_ (eh-shay). 

I knew it meant “Thank you;” nevertheless, my overly analytical mind couldn’t help but observe that, rather than actually thank me for what I just did, what they said was – _literally_ – “You did (it)”. 

And if they had wanted to show how particularly grateful they were  with my act of kindness, they’d say, _“ese pupo;”_ which really wasn’t any better since it literally meant, “You did _a lot.”_  

How is informing me that I have done something gratitude? I obviously know I did something. Why would they then be repeating that fact to me?

All languages have their quirks, so I chalked the Yoruba way of expressing gratitude as one of theirs, and thought no more about it.

Only years later, upon meditating on the concept of our worship to God did it hit me how apt the Yoruba term for “Thank you” was. 

Becausethanksgiving= acknowledgement!

When we thank God, for example, for the way He made boiled eggs, we’re not telling Him something He doesn’t already know. When we worship Him for being a good God, we aren’t supplying Him with information He's not aware of. But worship is not information; worship is acknowledgment. We are acknowledging what He did and who He is. 

So, worship is our way of saying _“Ese (You did it)”_ back to God. But we don't just say _“Ese”_ for the BIG things; we also thank Him for the particularly mudane things as well. 

Look at your life today and think of something you've never really thanked God for. When you do, tell Him _“Ese”_ for it. 

AMEN...

PASTOR GREG ELKAN