After 20 hours of travel, we arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya and settled in at the Norwegian Scripture Mission for a day of body "adjustment and recovery".
The only casualty, besides our days and nights being upside down, was a travel lock that wouldn't open. However Samuel, also known as "Kim the Welder", just happened to be walking by with the right tool in hand.
Fair warning and notice to all guests staying at Scripture Mission.
Monkeys on the roof but no monkeys jumping on the bed.
After a day of recovery, we wound our way around the Ngong Hills and headed down to Lutherans in Africa's School of Theology in the Rift Valley. The Rev. James May, executive director of LIA, helped us settle in for the next couple of weeks.
Though the first level of the library is finished, the floors still need to be sanded and sealed. And so, for the next couple of days, and into next week, we will be teaching in the "Banda".
"Karibu Kenya" (Welcome to Kenya).
But on a nostalgic note, the Banda is a nice reminder of last year's seminar. No worries.
As we arrived at the Lutheran School of Theology, Rev. James May was in the middle of the third intensive class of the Fall semester, Lutheran Worship and Liturgy.
The mission of Lutherans in Africa is "to form African Lutherans to be Teachers of the Faith". One of the key components of training and delivering the faith to the saints is a right understanding of worship. The Lutheran liturgy beautifully explains how the Triune God in the Divine Service delivers His gifts to his people and how his people are to respond.
Some of Rev. May's key points about Lutheran worship were:
- Lex Orandi/Lex Credendi (a Latin phrase that means) ... "the way one worships reflects the substance of what one believes" OR "what one believes about the Triune God is reflected in the way one worships God"
- The Church is a hospital for spiritual healing and salvation not a "disco tech" for entertainment.
- We enter the "Holy Place" in the name of the Triune God through the washing and waters of our Baptism (just like the wash basin in the Old Testament - Exodus 30:17-21)
- Baptism is a living reality ... "I am baptized".
- Confession and Absolution returns us to our baptism.
- In the processional we don't "follow" the pastor into the church, we follow the cross.
- We enter into the sanctuary speaking God's words back to God and to one another ... the Psalms.
- The crucifix is placed next to the pulpit to constantly remind the pastor that he is to preach only Christ and him crucified, dead and risen for the forgiveness of sins.
- As the people of Israel were healed from the serpent's bite when they looked to the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:8-9) so also, when the people of God, look to Christ on the cross, high and lifted up, they will be saved from Satan's venom (John 3:14-16).
- We receive from the altar, in the Holy of Holies, the body and blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, for the forgiveness of sins.
- In the Divine Service, we join the angels and all of the company of heaven, the communion of saints, in worship.
The site plan for LIA's 15 acres is daunting, but it is doubly ambitious considering all of the construction challenges of the terrain, the limited physical materials of the region and the rugged African environment. However, the staff of LIA are faithful and work with whatever God provides. In this case, it happens to be lots of rocks.
As part of the cooperative nature and sustainability model of the Lutheran School of Theology, the students who attend the seminars also help with the care, maintenance and construction of the site. Many of the students have collected and piled rocks that have been used for the library, the visiting professor's cottage, the May family home, and eventually, the school, student dormitories and Chapel.
The Lutheran School of Theology's physical site is also self-sustaining. It has solar power, a freshwater well with a gravitational distribution and drip irrigation system, a massive garden, poultry and cows. All that is physically needed is contained on the site and is cared for by the participants of each seminar and the students at the Lutheran School of Theology.
Everyday there's much work to be done. The past couple of days, hundreds of cucumbers had to be harvested for pickling. We brought the brine from the United States and over the weekend the cucumbers will be cleaned, sliced and canned.
Next week I'll start to teach the seminar on "Finding Christ in the Psalms". Pray for me and the students. We trust that the Holy Spirit is the Real Teacher of the Scriptures and that He desires us to see and find the Lord Jesus in the Psalms.
Every prophecy and every prophet must be understood as referring to Christ the Lord, except where it is clear from plain words that someone else is spoken of. For thus he himself says: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5: 39). ~Martin Luther
If you would like to learn more about Lutherans in Africa and how to financially support the formation of African pastors in the Lutheran faith, you can visit their website at ...
Credits:
PAUL ARNDT AND LUTHERANS IN AFRICA