A Maasai-arific Easter

Our second trip to our soon-to-be hometown of Najile came during this past Easter weekend. The Najile POMC church was hosting an all-day Good Friday event where all the local POMC churches met together. Ron, Martha, Emily and Matt (visitors in Nairobi for a few months), Rachael (a friend of Emily and Matt) and Steph and I piled into the Ratzlaffs land cruiser and bumped our way into town. The road had drastically improved, perhaps due to the recent food for work program and we make it to the church in about 2.5 hours.
Once inside, we are shown to the only chairs (places of honor) and watch the service unfold. The first half was mostly made up of choirs from the different congregations. The main pastor (Stephen) would introduce "the young adult choir from Ewaso" and we'd all look around the sanctuary to see who was coming. Inevitably, there'd be a long pause before we'd hear a song begin outside. Each choir entered from a side door and would sing their way in. The songs were beautiful. The harmonies were rich and full of praise. It was amazing to hear a people seemingly so different from us sing to God in their own unique way. They would dance, shifting their heads forward as their body rocks back and forth. Choir after choir came to praise their God.
After about an hour of singing, all of the visitors were welcomed and our group was asked to come up and share something. We sang a 4-part arrangement of "Soon and Very Soon" and thought we did a pretty good job for coming up with it on the spot. Multiple sermon and prayer times later, the service continued on and on. The most striking time was during one prayer time for those "who have less." The pastor was referring to the local IDPs (internally displaced people) who had even less than the local Maasai. He called upon the congregation to give from what they had, and soon a woman came forward with a bag of flour. The flour was from the FFW project, so surely this was a large portion of her food supply for the week. Others started to come up giving clothes literally off their back, money, or food. How powerful it was to see those with seemingly little give out of a sense of abundance! We need to remember this lesson, that even the poor have much to give and that our riches are truly astronomical in the grand scheme of things.
At the end of the service, Steph and I were called up again. We were introduced as the couple who would be living next door and everybody cheered. We were asked to say something (in Maasai) and Steph said "Ashipai taata amu alotu te Najile" (I am happy today because I have come to Najile) and the crowd roars with smiles and cheers. Woman come forward and place their necklaces around our necks and greet us warmly. The service comes to an end and we head toward the universal receiving line. Each person greets every other person, shaking hands until you come to the end of the line and thereby greet those who come after you. The smiles, the joy, the welcoming were all a wonderful way to be introduced to our church family.

The following day, our Maasai exposure continued as we were invited with the Ratzlaffs to the wedding of the FFW manager, Daniel's, sister. He assured us that the wedding would start at 1030 and we should be there by then. Inevitably, we arrived at 10:30 and were alone with the DJ. About 30 minutes later, the pastor arrives, says he think the service will start at 11:30 and promptly lays in his car for a nap. People slowly trickle in by foot, seemingly aware of when things would get going. Around 1:30 the wedding party arrives and the service begins! The ceremony was in the dining hall of a secondary school, just south of Nairobi in Isinya. In many ways, the wedding was very familiar, vows, rings, sermon, praise songs, first kiss etc...
After two hours, the ceremony was over, and we were informed that we were now three hours behind schedule! As if we weren't aware! Anyway, the party headed to the groom's homestead a few kms away. As the wedding party arrived, the Maasai women surrounded the vehicle and sang a beautiful song of welcoming. The bride and groom were shepherded to the large tent set up with chairs were they would be fed. We also were giving chairs in the tent of honor and were served chapati, rice, meat, and vegetables. Next, the MC came forward with a MIC and started calling out family members to come forward. Beside him was a table with a man with a bag (for money) and a man with a book (for keeping the account). Each guest gave some money and as they gave, the MC shouted out how much the gift was. He'd even count out the bills as they entered the bag, "one thousand, two thousand, three thousand!" It was quite the scene. Ron went forward and gave the gift for the "MCC Family" and later we gave our individual gifts to the couple as well. We left soon after, much to Steph's dismay, as we wanted to get home before dark. We were told there'd be much dancing and celebrating for days to come, and hope that someday we'll be able to stay at the party all night long!

In retrospect, our Maasai weekend was very uplifting. We felt welcomed into the community and were greeted warmly. I think this experience (which marked the approximate halfway point of our time in Nairobi) moved us toward thinking about life in Najile and I think we are feeling ready to transition once again.