SELAH
Dialogue or monologue?
I had some fun with my translator today. Pastor Kennedy (Mathare School
overseer) is a top shelf translator. But, he couldn’t find the Swahili word for
Selah. I let him flounder a bit until I got the crowd involved in trying to help
him translate the un-translatable. Selah doesn’t translate. It is a musical
term in Psalms. It is instruction to the musician, worshipper, or in today’s
sermon the one praying to…pause and listen.
The safari of my soul
The pace of life in Kenya is hectic. As we crawled through Saturday afternoon traffic jams, the constant “hooting” of car horns and the auctioneer-type hawking of the matatu drivers (transportation vans) set the cadence for the march.
Everyone going somewhere. And, in a hurry. Problem is, you don’t go anywhere in Nairobi in a hurry. I marveled once more at the magical manuring skills of George, my driver. It was as though our vehicle had been coated in Crisco and just slipped in between the jammed busses, vans, and cars. Little by little (poco a poco) we eased down into the slum and the Tasia church building packed with waiting pastors, evangelists, and church leaders.
I preached on prayer today. I believe it is the conduit to the power source for ministry and the life source of the universe. But today was not technical teaching. No three points for powerful praying for preachers and prophets. Today, was an open ended question: when you pray, do you do all the talking?
Kenyan churches are known for all night prayer meetings on Saturdays. Fasting and praying is a regular discipline of the Kenyan church. But, if you walk up on a Kenyan prayer meeting, you might think you had just waked into a mass rehearsal for auctioneers. Clenched fists, sweat soaked faces, shouts and pleads that can be heard blocks away. Prayer in Kenya is exercise. You will need rest after a prayer meeting. But, most Kenyan prayer meetings are a lot of energy expended and not much intimacy exchanged with God.
I taught what God has shown me about the difference is prayer as a dialogue and a monologue. Pastor Harrison said it was a teaching that he nor his church had ever heard. And, he said…I believe you have shown us the difference in praying in a Kenyan culture and creating a culture of prayer for God to speak to His people.
If that is true…that is a good day one! It’s Saturday night—Sunday’s comin’.