The Call Part 2

So the Call happened on December 6th 2008...sitting in the baking December heat, on the surprisingly plush grass of the Nyayo Stadium people began to gather to pray...and sing, and pray some more. The seekers surged forward, away from the stands, seemly eager to get closer to the elusive wave of spiritual connectedness that seemed to emanate from the stage...The numbers trickled in, one by one, soon the field was scattered with young men and women prostrate before God, with no prompting, no emotional manipulation, no promises of greatness and great wealth, but just hearts open and hungry, desperate for a move of God in this generation. Tears fell unchecked as leaders, pastors, fathers, politicians, sons and daughters turned their hearts one to another, for forgiveness, restoration and renewed relationships..One month later has anything changed? Do these events mean more than just fleeting yet heartfelt moments with God that fade away under the pressure of life and it's many challenges or get trampled beneath the next new exciting thing that comes along? Testimony Sunday at Nairobi Chapel 10:30am: young person after young person stood before the church declaring a faith that is their own, not their fathers or mothers...but a sincere steadfast desire to walk the walk and talk the talk for themselves...LORD You who began this good work, bring it to completion..

The Call Part 1

Today totally exhausted after spending the night in a Kesha with the Chapel Youth... Yes, I said it right... A KESHA WITH CHAPEL YOUTH!??! God is doing big things! It's not like these young people were totally heathen or something, but it's been amazing watching a small bunch of about 30 young guys come together for bible study in the BIG TENT last year at Impala Club, with most barely talking to one another or contributing to the conversation...then going to the BIG TENT which has now become the YOUTH TENT (dubbed CLUB XPRESSIONS...can I get a YEY YAH!) 2 weeks ago and seeing a sea of 200+ faces, with hands raised up to God in worship, dancing their hearts out to "I am a friend of God"...Actually heard an AMEN in the crowd when a sermon point hit home!!!! Then last night, hearing that special sound of sincere heartfelt worship, then that sweet silence, when the entire room was down on their knees, laying down every crown and pretension in the presence of the King...WHOA...God is definitely doing something new...It's a season of accelerated growth, that's like a very cool time warp...the before and after picture looks like one of those 'i used to weigh a 250 pounds, but I lost 120 pounds in just 1 month, thanks Super Yucky Spinach Diet Drink' type things...but this time it's a steady diet of the WORD, that's Sweeter than Honey from the Honeycomb:-)

Original Sin

So the quest for greater understanding continues...discovered last night that maybe I don't even realise what I am saved from...the law (curses of breaking the covenant- for Jews only??), 'original' sin, death...all the above..I think that maybe being Anglican, brought up Catholic may have something to do with my confusion...the importance of all this being, who I consider Jesus to be exactly..God, man, man-God, God-man, something else..did he have original sin? and if he did then doesn't that make our salvation nought...or on the other hand, what is 'original sin' is it the potential to sin, or spiritual death? Or is there no big concept of 'original sin' perse but rather we follow in the footsteps of Adam and his example (as the Eastern Church seems to purpose..or so I am told?) Many, many questions...guess the search continues tonight...

Every Mans Theology

'Every Christian is a theologian...Genuine theology cannot be reduced to a list of faith statements' (you know, the type you sign below when applying for a job, or a scholarship:)) Whoa! These statements were but a few that stayed with me long after I left my Systematic Theology class today. The teach was intense, the atmosphere in class seemed a mix between fear, wary confusion and nervous excitement, as we were bombarded by this crazy new guy, in his long flowing Indianesque garb, who happens to be something like an Orthodox, Complimentarian, Charismatic, Presbyterian, Paedobaptist, Evangelical, Calvinist, Reformed, Protestant Christian. Ok, he wasn't all that intense, but simply a 'little' overwhelming for some of us on the first day of class...He seemed a man driven to get us shook up out of our comfort zones. Whats so bad about comfort zones anyway? Anyway the point seemed to be 'get them shook up...get them thinking' then hopefully get us knowing and understanding and eventually being able to articulate and defend what we believe, and why we believe what we believe.
Realised, I have been ignorant of my Anglican roots, actually blissfully so...even though I am on the official 'roll'. Roots that I realise (though I often would like to deny it), greatly influence my faith and how I live it out today. Does it matter that much(as he seemed to imply)? When a time of testing comes(this time he did not imply but vehemently declared it would happen..just as it did about 8months ago I guess) will my faith stand...or will I be lost in the tide of confusion and compromise? Hhmm...excited/freaking out about this challenge to come!

New Hope

God has worked through history to fulfil His mission on the earth (to give people the opportunity to know Him, building a new people for Himself, restoring Creation and healing the Nation..as proposed by Chris Wright, The Mission of God, IVP, 2006), through the path of humility. It's amazing that though He is God, with all the power and might to do anything...He has chosen to take the path of weakness, turning what looks like hopeless situations into hotbeds of Hope...Abraham, an aging geriatric with a habitual lying problem to become the channel of Gods blessing the nations...Moses, a stuttering murder, becomes the deliver of the Israelites and leads them out of slavery..the Israelites, a bunch of grumbling, disobedient, rebellious ex-slaves, become the light and blessing to the earth...then eventually God comes into the earth Himself as Jesus, a carpenter…'conceived' out of wedlock, second guessed and disbelieved by many, utterly shamed and crucified on a cross, but later resurrected becoming the saviour of the world…revealing His great unfailing love for man...Peter...a coward, rash individual who was not always politically correct (Galatians 2) but become the Rock on which the church was built...The prosecution of the early and later church, brutal, gory, horrifying..yet acted as the impetus for the rapid growth and eventual Christianising of most of the known world over less than 500 years...The examples are endless, but for me what gives me hope is that if this is God's method, then there is hope for Africa. The ‘dark’ continent, the least of the least, often ridiculed…written off, shamed…could it be that the weakness of Africa gives her the unique privilege of becoming one of the ‘foolish things of the world…the things despised by the world, that confounds the wise..’ (1 Corinthians 1). I have hope for Africa, that from the ashes of suffering, this great continent will become a beautiful light, shinning in this dark world, a display of Gods splendour, a testament of how God can change and transform even the worst scenario. Africa, don’t be ashamed of your weakness, in the hopelessness of it all, the hand of God is lighting a spark. The impossible becomes possible in this place which was once called dark...Hope, Life and Healing are possible in the hand of God.

Time

They say time heals all wounds. Not too sure about that (very shallow I think), time gives us the chance to transform from what we were to what we want to be, but only if we use it to do so..otherwise time actually helps us gloss over all wounds, errors in judgement and mistakes...till we hopefully forget, or they fester and turn gangrene. Its amazing, the gift we have; transformation is a process that time avails us, but transformation is not necessarily deliberate. Like the inevitability of the appearance of wrinkles around your eyes no matter how many 'New and effective' eye gels you use, with the passage of time, transformation occurs for better or worse. We can either choose to be transformed, or transformation happens to us..either way it happens. Time simply passes, and we find we become what we hoped to be or what we hoped to avoid.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6 &11. There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven... A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away... God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end (NLT).

New Beginnings..Part Two

Hurrah! It's been a long time coming, the last two months have felt like...years! But now we not only HOPE, but we have an EXPECTATION of something good, a better brighter future! The deals been signed, the ink is drying, the first step has been taken. Now I pray we have the courage and resolve to take the next steps towards restoration and rebuilding, justice and democracy. This nation always had a future, maybe for some of us, we took it for granted. Now our home is again where our heart are. The pulse of the nation that had flatlined is revived...IT'S ALIVE!