Advent: Urgent Waiting

Three Sundays ago began the season of Advent, the season of waiting before the birth of the Christ-child. Normally, this means a season filled with shopping, Christmas decorations, Advent wreaths, Santa Claus, poinsettias, carols, and liturgical color changes: my waiting is filled with doing and buying. The ironic thing is that all of the traditions and decorations fail to create in my heart the urgent desire for Christ’s coming. That doesn’t mean I love the Christmas season any less, but my waiting doesn’t usually focus on the coming of Jesus. Here in Nairobi, Advent feels a little different: the weather is hot, decorations are few, and the Church does not celebrate in the same manner, so I find myself waiting for the season to begin.
In response to the lack of Advent festivities, some of the volunteers and I created our own Advent wreath out of recycled materials: bottle caps, cardboard, and Safaricom phone cards. We hold our own candle-lighting services where we sing and pray and await the coming of Christ. It has become one of my favorite times of each week. Two Sundays ago we read Isaiah 11:1-9, we lit the Peace candle, and we talked of places where we have seen God’s peace breaking into the world.
Monday morning brought a rude awakening for me. I attended the launch of Picha Mtaani, a youth led initiative to promote dialogue and reconciliation in communities across the nation. On display in downtown Nairobi was an exhibition of photos from the post-election violence that ravaged Kenya in late 2007 and early 2008. The photos captured police brutality, charred shops, violent mobs, and tearful survivors. The exhibition is a graphic depiction of the worst that we as human beings can do to one another, and it offers a moving and disturbing cry for the peace that Yahweh promises where hurt and destruction will be no more. No more pangas, no more IDP camps, no more stones, no more tear gas. All of a sudden, the urgency of our need overwhelmed me, and the waiting seemed too much to bear. We need peace- real, sustainable, holistic peace. We need Christ to be born in our lives and in our world this day! As Advent continues, it is Christ alone for whom I urgently wait, and I thank God that this time of waiting can be filled with the shared work of peacebuilding here and now.

If you are interested in the exhibition, here is the website:
http://pichamtaani.com/home

Baskets of Grace

After rafting last weekend in Uganda, my friend Josh and I planned to stop in Kisumu on the return trip and spend sometime with our dear friend Anselm at his ancestral home. This is where he grew up and went to school; it is where his mother, sister, and niece still live. Because of some bus complications, our planned arrival at 10 pm Sunday night was delayed until 6:00 am Monday morning (loooong story). When we finally reached Kisumu around sunrise, Anselm met us in town, and we made the hour long journey to his home together. We walked up, up a ridge to his home where we were warmly greeted with smiles, embraces, and a beautiful mixture of languages. We had never met Anselm’s family, yet they embraced us as though we had always belonged with them. We were quickly welcomed in for a breakfast of roasted maize, bread, honey, sweet bananas, and tea. Everything had already been prepared for us by our hosts, and it was a delicious end to a long journey.
After breakfast, Anselm showed us where we could sleep, but I chose to sit outside with him and his family instead. The sun was warm, and we sat in the grass as his mother wove a basket nearby. The late morning brought with it a brief thunderstorm, so we gathered inside and listened to the sounds of the rain. For lunch, we had ugali and sukumawiki (my favorite Kenyan meal) and washed the dishes out in the front yard.
In the afternoon, we visited nearby relatives (uncles, aunts, and cousins) and were warmly welcomed into each home. Later, we climbed to the top of the highest ridge, looked out over the entire valley, and glimpsed Lake Victoria in the distance. When we returned from our hike, it was nearly time to head to Nairobi, but Mama Anselm insisted that we take supper first. She had already prepared a dinner of chicken stew and rice, which we happily ate. As we then stood to leave, she presented us with the beautiful basket that she had woven earlier in the day and proceeded to fill it with fresh pineapples, sweet bananas, and ground nuts to sustain us on the rest of our journey. She then said a prayer over us in Luo, and though I could not understand her words, I felt both embraced and protected by her care. I said thank you many times, but it hardly felt like an adequate response.
Throughout the day, I wondered: What have I done nothing to deserve such gracious hospitality, how can I accept it? There have been times in my life when grace seemed an abstract concept, yet at Mama Anselm’s, it became a tangible reality: Grace is a warm welcome; it is hospitality; it is woven baskets and fresh pineapple and roasted maize. Grace is walking up a mountain in the sunlight; it is a prayer for protection spoken over us. Grace is a Table that is already prepared at the end of a long journey. I am thankful for the reality of Divine grace felt in the embrace of Mama Anselm.

Rafting the Nile

This past weekend, I could not spend Thanksgiving with my family in South Carolina, so I decided to do something equally exciting: whitewater rafting at the source of the Nile River! It was a day full of laughter, excitement, and moments that felt completely surreal… I kept looking around and could hardly believe that I was whitewater rafting... on the Nile! We managed to avoid the dangers of the infamous Nile hippos and crocodiles, but we didn’t fare quite so well on the grade 5 rapids. Our boat flipped on 3 out of 4 of them, so everyone spent a lot of time swimming through the rapids (except for our guide who suspiciously managed to stay on top of the boat laughing at us most of the time). We spent almost all day on the river, and ended the festivities with a sunset barbeque back at the campground. It was a great time of fun and fellowship, and definitely worth the thirteen hour bus ride from Nairobi to Jinja, Uganda!

**Photos are courtesy of Josh and his waterproof camera.