Why I was always embarrassed to tell my friends I attended Celestial Church when I was younger - Elizabeth Ayoola

Elizabeth Ayoola

While growing up, Elizabeth Ayoola who grew up in the Celestial Church of Christ sees the Church as too focused on physically spiritual activities, which she termed as ritual-based, thus was often too embarrassed to tell her friends that she attends Celestial Church.

In an article titled, "learning about my family heritage taught me what it means to be black", Elizabeth declared that "I was always embarrassed to tell my friends I attended this church because it was so ritual-based, and I grew up believing "rituals" and "witchcraft" were evil. I would watch my dad lighting candles, burning incense, and putting fruit at altars and wonder why it was necessary. 

She acknowledged that as an adult she went through some findings and found out that most of the practices in the Church were linked to the tradition of the Yoruba ethnic religion. 

"After doing reading and research, I now understand many of these practices are linked to the Yoruba religion. Singing, dancing, drumming, spirit possession, and ritual healing are a few examples of things Yoruba people do to honor their ancestors, carry on traditions, and make requests to their gods. 

I no longer see these practices as weird "pagan" or taboo — they're fundamental to who we are as a people. . . . . In our religion, it was a way to intercede for people and access God. These rituals were used to heal sicknesses, protect you from evil, or make room for blessings.