Ordination Story
Posted on December 11, 2008 - Filed Under General News | Leave a Comment
About 15 minutes after arriving for the ordination service, I was sent on an errand. It seems they had run out of sufurias (cooking pots) and would I please go to the house and bring ours?
Armed with Charlies mountain of keys to various gates and doors on our property, I set off. Forty-five minutes later, I returned with the 2 extra large and 3 large aluminum pots. Even though they were covered on the bottom in black soot from previous charcoal fires, I had managed to keep my dress clean and with that one thing accomplished, I was happy. While I was at the house, I retrieved a couple other forgotten items, one of them being Charlies hat! I have never known him to go off without his hat, so you can imagine how distracted he must have been this day. I expected that by the time I returned, they would be about midway into the service. I was wrong. They had not even started. Things soon got underway and as the people filed in, the place was completely packed with standing room only. Charlie counted 150 adults and there must have been over 60 children. Joseph and I had a seat on one of the primitive wooden benches at the back. Children milled in and out and were occasionally shushed and told to sit down on the concrete floor. After prayers and introductions, the choirs from each church came forward to perform. One was a small group of youth in matching bright yellow t-shirts, complete with one boy in the modern style of sagging black jeans. Another group was comprised of small children, another of young women and another of women of mixed ages. With concrete floors and walls, a corrugated metal roof and no ceiling, the singing and drumming mixed with the sound of crying babies in what I kept thinking of as controlled chaos. It was loud, but it was Samburu, from the traditional dancing of the mamas, to the youth in their western inspired jeans and t-shirts. Joseph said it made his heart feel funny. If youve ever been to a rock concert, you understand. And then, there was a transformation. What had been loud and uncontrolled suddenly became quiet and reverent. These people have chosen to be Baptist amid lots of pull and competition from other denominations. The reason we hear over and over for this choice is that we teach the Bible. As the men came forward to have hands laid on them, people hushed to see this particular Biblical teaching of separating chosen men for ministry come to life. Necks strained in the congregation and all got quiet as they watched their pastors kneel. One by one, the BCOK leaders and the 2 missionaries laid hands on each and prayed for them. It was an incredibly touching and solemn moment. Ill speculate that those in attendance had never witnessed anything like it in their lives. And for me, to know all the trials these men have endured and all the ridicule they have suffered from others and to watch them now receive this affirmation was so moving. Samburu do not express much emotion and I have not seen more than 2 or 3 cry, but when the pastors turned to face the church, I did notice more than one of them wiping their eyes. What a glorious day it was indeed. —sandra
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