Welcome to A.C.K. St. Peter's Kairi! I was made to feel most welcome as I came to concelebrate with my friend The Rev. Isaac Njemga Mwangi (standing to my immediate left in the second photo, the first photo showing the sanctuary) who was priested (ordained) just three months before I was. We wore matching handwoven green stoles from Guatemala. My home church, Church of Our Saviour, Cincinnati, had given one to me as an ordination gift and I likewise had given one to Isaac for just such as an occasion as today! What a joy to be able to celebrate the Eucharist together in the local Kikuyu language! Let's just say Isaac did most of the speaking!
Isaac had also invited me to preach, though with only a few days lead time, I was a bit anxious as my prep time was minimal. But lo and behold when I saw the scriptures included the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians I breathed a sigh of relief. This is one of my favorite passages in all of the scriptures for it includes St. Paul's beautiful discription of love. to which I added a bit from St. John's first letter that proclaims that God is love.
My main point was that any relationship that fits Paul's description of love is of God because God is love. As I explained to the congregation not all such love is readily understood or accepted by others. By way of example, I shared the story of how I became a son to an African American woman named Sandi. Our relationship is undeniable one of love and each time our introductions raise a few eyebrows, we have another opportunity to give a testimony!
I was a bit less than satisfied with the sermon as it came to a close. It didn't unfold quite the way I had planned and it didn't flow all too well because of the pauses for translation. Isaac, however was singing its praises after the service. He explained how over the past several weeks he had invited guest preachers, all of whom preached on love; a message he said was just what the congregation needed to hear. Then I remembered the prayer often said before one preaches: "May the words of my mouth and the meditaions of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our rock and our redeemer." Today, the Holy Spirit was busy in the House of the Lord!
When finished preaching, I sang "They'll Know We are Christians by Our Love." When the service was over, I was approached by a choir member requesting the words for the song. They had heard it on the radio and wanted to teach it to the choir, but didn't have the words. This Sunday, the Lord provided the words to them.
I didn't leave before several people invited me to bring Sandi to their church. Just so happens, she is planning to travel to Kenya with me on my return visit in 2011! You can be sure we will visit St. Peter's.
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