English service today at P.C.E.A (The Presbyterian Church of East Africa)! Here’s how the morning went:
I’d been told we would need to leave around 8 am to start walking to church, where service began at 9. I saw a group of kids at the washing station around 7:45 and figured they were ready to leave….wrong! I was told we didn’t have to leave until 8:50. Ok, I’ll go back inside and read for bit.
At 8:45 I went to the children’s home and waited and waited and waited for everyone to get ready….considering they normally go to church each Sunday this shouldn’t have come as a surprise they needed to be dressed and ready to go. Finally around 9:10 we left, meaning we arrived at church during worship, oh well, this is Kenya.
Now for the “English” service:
Worship songs were sung in Kiswahili and opening prayer was spoken in Kikuyu (a tribal language). I wasn’t following much of the service so far, but then the offering, a time of praying over the children of the congregation (loved this part) and the actual service were all in English.
The pastor talked on thanksgiving….why should we give thanks to God, how to give thanks to God and it was a sermon which touched my heart. He stressed to the congregation not to simply give thanks during good times, but anytime. There is always something to be thankful for even during difficult times.
Thank you pastor for this reminder and for the opportunity to ask God to cleanse my heart before coming to His alter to give Him thanks.