Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! Psalm 133:1
A while ago I had planned to invite some of the Pastors from our sister congregations in the KCLC to come up and meet the folks who gather for worship at Holy Cross Lutheran Emmaus. These are the fellows I have been working closely with over the last several months at the seminary down Chotororo way. They were excited to come and see the goings on up here in the far north and extend the hand of fellowship and explain more about the CLC and its history in Kenya.
“Will we be able to understand them?” some of the church members at Milimani queried. “Yes, their Kiswahili is quite excellent.”
You see, the Kisii people have a reputation of being, shall we say, exuberant, when they converse. In other words, if there are more than two Kisiis in a house, you can hear them a few kilometers down the road. To the unaccustomed ear it may sound like they are vehemently arguing and will at any moment break into fisticuffs. This is just their way. Two or three can talk simultaneously and at high volume and still understand each other perfectly. Whenever I travel to Kisii I can’t understand a single word that they’re saying. Thankfully our pastors know Kiswahili and English quite well.
I hosted Pastors Enosh, Fred, and Joseph for an extended weekend up here in Matunda. The first thing they told me when I greeted them at the junction near my house, “Matunda is very far!” (You’re preaching to the choir…I thought to myself, as someone who makes the journey on a monthly basis). Don’t worry, I’m sure Enosh is reading this and having a good laugh.
It was a wonderful weekend, our brothers from down south conducted the service amid a standing-room only congregation in attendance that day. I even joined in with them, sharing a familiar hymn in the Kisii language.
We spent the nights here up late, discussing, planning, and plotting many things regarding the seminary down in Fred’s home place of Chotororo and the ongoing work there. Speaking of which, I’m headed there myself in the morning.