WordToday

All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him.  I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. Songs of Solomon 3:1-2 Believe it or not, there is a deeper story here but before we delve into the details let us course through the story as it appears at first sight. On the face of it, this sounds like Solomon's latest catch pining for her lover-boy king. Now some would protest at the thought of King Solomon being labelled a Casanova but consider this; the man had 300 wives and 700 other women in his harem. It is possible that there were others not officially accounted for. By any standards his conquests trump many of our contemporaries. Not that this is anything to be specially admired. However he beat our extremely prolific Kenyan super-dad Akuku Danger who is reput...

I thought it rather unfortunate that at this time of the year my bible reading plan should take me to of all books, The Songs of Solomon! As I begin I am quietly wondering how it squares with the Christmas season since chapter 1 is clearly about romance. See how it starts; Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine. 2 However in the spirit of being a good, prudish and proper Christians during this season join me as I hypothesize that this first verse does mirror in a curious way, God’s love for you and for me-his love for humanity. I start by declaring that, "Christmas is God’s greatest statement of love!" Both the depth and broadness of God’s love  find ultimate expression in the events that occasioned the birth of Christ. When we celebrate Christmas we are in effect saying, “God we applaud you heartily and respond to this great love you have unashamedly expressed for us”. For God di...

  I once found myself in the company of our former youth pastor (now senior pastor of a medium-size church in Parklands). He is generally a very simple, humorous and approachable man unlike some of our raucous tele-evangelists. More than once I have visited the church where he pastors just to listen to him.  Having grown up in the rough in a tough Nairobi neighbourhood, his language is often tinged with heavy slang giving his sermons an authenticity that is both hilarious and refreshing. On this particular day I had arrived early for a training at some other venue and as I sat down to wait I spotted the man some distance away. All week, I had felt compelled to remember him in prayer. Now I felt a strong urge to tell him that I had been praying for him. As I approached him a sudden unease gripped me. By the time I was telling him that I had been praying for his safety, I was trembling like a leaf. However, in his usual genial ma...

Grace for many means freedom to do many things as they deem fit. It also means quick relief from guilt-inducing sinful acts. Grace is a bit like Panadol for quick relief from pain. “In the presence of God, there is joy. Even when you sin ” so says the FB post. My own judgement is that people who reason like this have either; Not studied the New Testament scripture keenly enough or Misjudged the character of God How so you may say? Read on if you enjoy a good debate. We start from the popular maxim; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!” This is gleaned from Hebrews 13:8. Many who triumphantly decree (yes, I hear nowadays people ‘decree and declare’) this scripture sometimes do not pause to ponder its deeper implications. To say that Jesus is the same yesterday and today and into the unseen future simply means, well what it says; Jesus does not change! He does not change in the sense that; He does not get any wiser-f...

A few weeks ago I chanced upon a Facebook post that generated several interesting comments a few of which I have pasted below. At some point I thought of jumping into the debates but caution got the better of me. It started off like this; The song in question is by Reuben Kigame and goes something like this: Tunaomba uwepo wako uende nasi (We pray for your presence to go with us ) Ewe Bwana wa majeshi utusikie (Oh Lord of Hosts, listen to us) Kama huendi nasi, hatutaki kutoka hapa (If you won’t go with us, we don’t want to leave) Hatuwezi pekee yetu, enda nasi ( We can’t by ourselves, go with us) Tu watu wa shingo ngumu tusamehe (We are a stubborn people, forgive us ) Hatufai mbele zako, turehemu ( We are undeserving, redeem us) Tusafishe ee Baba, tuonyeshe uso wako (Cleanse us Father, show us your face ) Twahitaji neema yako, enda nasi (We need your grace, go with us  ) Chorus: Tutavua mapambo yetu, (We shall remove o...