A Spirit-Filled Day

Wow. Today has been the best day so far. This morning, I began my day preaching at the Sukari Parish Secondary School (SPSS). This is the boarding school started by this parish for high school aged boys. That service had the most joyful noise I've ever heard. They had students playing piano, electric guitar, drums, and even a recorder! Don't worry - none of them were playing in the same key. They also had three young men singing (also not in the same key). However it was joyful because every person in that room was singing and dancing without reservation - a true representation of what worship looks like in it's purest form. I preached later in the service. It was the first time I have ever preached in church and it went surprisingly well (please see Wednesday’s post for why this sermon was such a struggle). My technology failed (go figure) and I didn't have a pulpit, but I stuck to my message and truly enjoyed the experience. I ended up doing a lot of extemporaneous additions and felt more so than ever that my preaching was spirit-led. I ended up speaking for 25 minutes (PTL - I was supposed to do 30 and there's no way that was going to happen). My manuscript can be found at the bottom of this post. It was an exhilarating experience. After I was finished, the liturgist said "I didn't know women could preach in church until today, and now I think I prefer women preachers over men." Dang. In the midst of all the ways I'm struggling in this culture, moments like these remind me that my presence here isn't about me. Simply existing here as a white female soon-to-be preacher is speaking volumes even before I open my mouth to share what I've prepared. What a humbling experience. I never would have guessed I'd be a seminarian right now. I also would have never guessed that my first sermon (in church) would be given to 80 high school boys. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

After that I went to the GWAV Service. GWAV stands for Growing With A Vision and is for the Youth (youth here means college age through mid-thirties). This service was also quite an experience. There was a lot of contemporary music that I was familiar with and being with people my own age was a breath of fresh air. I also preached at this service. This time my technology worked and the pulpit was as tall as I was. Since I couldn't be seen from behind the pulpit, I stood beside it and did the entire sermon extemporaneously. This is very different from my normal style. As a result I missed a few things and the sermon ended up being a little shorter. The folks in the congregation didn't seem to mind because they are used to 45-minute sermons. One man approached me after and said that it was the most profound and the shortest sermon he had ever heard. He didn't know those two things could go together, but he said he hopes I get to preach for them more while I'm here. What. A. Compliment.  

After church, I accompanied Evangelist Steven Kamau to his home where I spent the afternoon with his wife Beatrice and their two young daughters. I spent a lot of time reading to, playing, and singing with them. I was treated to a lovely lunch and some quality time with my new favorite family in Sukari.  

Later in the afternoon, Beatrice took me with her to the Women's guild monthly fellowship. There was lots of singing and I even got recruited to lead a hymn. The hymns they sung were all old favorites like What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Rock of Ages, and many others. Those filled me up too! Then, a sermon and many prayers were shared. We returned to the Kamau home for more fun with the girls and dinner before eventually coming back to the Manse.  

Every aspect of today was Spirit-Filled. Thanks be to God for this day. ~ Much love from a spiritually nourished Nell in Nairobi 

and as promised.... here is the manuscript of the sermon I prepared. It's not flawless and I did go off book, but this will give you a general feel for what I preached about today.  

Bwana Asifiwe! Amen. Praise God. Amen. For those of you who haven’t met me yet, my name is Nell McNeely Herring and I profess that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I am a current student at Columbia Theological Seminary in America and I’m studying to be a Minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). I bring you greetings from Shallowford Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, from Columbia Theological Seminary, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). As part of my education, I’m spending the next eight weeks here in Sukari doing an internship under the supervision of the Pastor Kahuho. I’m here to learn about the very real ways in which God is at work in this community of faith and am excited to get to know each of you in the coming weeks. As part of my internship I’ll be around for the next eight weeks observing, teaching, and preaching. It is my honor it is to share the word of God with you this morning. Our scripture comes from Luke 17:11-19. If you have a bible, go ahead and open it up, if not, the words will be up on the screen. Listen now for the word of the Lord.

Luke 17:11-19 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Will you pray with me?

Prayer of Illumination

​Almighty God, in the name of Jesus, open our hearts and open our ears to receive what you have to speak to us today. May your word be found in my words. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

​What is leprosy? (change slide) Well, I thought I knew, but looked it up anyway because I wanted to paint a clear picture for you. Leprosy a contagious disease that affects the skin, membranes, and nerves, causing weird colors and bumps on the skin. Sometimes it can even cause your body parts to move out of place. Leprosy was common during Biblical times and is still around today. I’m going to show you a few images of what leprosy looks like so you can imagine what the lepers in Luke 17 might have looked like. Feel free to look away if this makes you squeamish. (change slide)

In these pictures, you can see that leprosy affects all parts of the body. These bumps often ooze pus and blood which made these folks “unclean” by Israelite standards and cleanliness was highly regarded in Ancient Near Eastern Israelite culture. (change slide) The Old Testament outlines a strict holiness code for ritual purity. Leviticus records laws that require Israelites to be ritually clean. These are some things that could make a person impure: childbirth, sexual relations, menstruation, and skin disease among many others. A person could even become impure by touching another person who was ritually unclean. To become ritually clean, a person had to perform purification rituals so they could enter the temple. This was important because the Ancient Israelites believed that Yahweh dwelled in the temple. Those who were ritually impure were not allowed into the temple and therefore not understood to be in the presence of God. These rules for ritual purity were still practiced in the temple during Jesus’ time. We know this because the Pharisees tend to be very wrapped up in the laws of the Torah.

According to Leviticus 13, leprosy would have made lepers ritually impure. No one would want to touch or even associate with them out of the fear that they would also become unclean. Even if the lepers were practicing Jews, they could not enter the temple to pray and be in the presence of God. So, people who had leprosy and other diseases existed in the shadows of society. People who were ritually pure (or trying to be) would not have interacted with lepers at all because they were outcasts.

The fact that Jesus is close enough to interact with a group of lepers in this story speaks volumes. One of the many names given to Jesus is “Rabbi” which means teacher. As a teacher and a lifelong Jew, Jesus would have been familiar with purity laws and what behaviors were expected in the presence of lepers. Instead of following the expected behavioral norms, Jesus interacts with the group of ten lepers – people who lived their lives alienated from the rest of society.

It is worth noting that the leper in this passage is called a foreigner. Other translations, like the King James Version, use the language of stranger. This language indicates that this leper who returned was not a Jew and would not have been a normal member of Jesus’ entourage. Verse 16 specifically notes that this person was a Samaritan. Many of you probably have heard of Samaritans before. You may recall the story of the Good Samaritan a couple chapters earlier, found in Luke 10. The reason this parable was so shocking to those who heard it is because the terms “good” and “Samaritan” were not often used in the same sentence during the first century. Samaritans were not well respected in society – especially by the Jews and other religious people. This aspect of Luke 17 makes it clear that God is working in the lives of not only Jews, but also in the lives of Samaritans, Gentiles, and other non-religious people. This is a miraculous message. God is working in the lives of people who don’t have faith – even the ones who have obvious afflictions like leprosy. This is yet another reason why the action Jesus takes in this passage is so profound.

Jesus is doing something that nobody else will – he is engaging in dialogue with people who aren’t usually heard. These societal outcasts lived in isolation so they would not infect anyone else with their disease. The only people who would have normally heard the lepers’ voices were the ones who were living with them in isolation. The fact that Jesus hears the lepers cry out is a big deal. The lepers call out to Jesus in verse 13 saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Calling out wouldn’t have been abnormal for the lepers. They were most likely used to begging for food or money and might have called out to people who passed by. What is abnormal, is for someone to answer their call – especially someone who had a significant social status. Jesus wasn’t just another face in this society. Jesus was someone who had attracted attention and developed a reputation. Despite this status, Jesus noticed those in need. Not only did he hear the call of the lepers, but he also acted on it to heal them of leprosy. Because Jesus heard the lepers, he hears us too. When we pray in the name of Jesus, our cries are heard, recognized, and responded to. We know this is true because it is exactly what Jesus does in this passage and it is what happens time and time again throughout scripture.

In the gospels, we see several examples of Jesus healing other people. In Matthew 9, Jesus heals a woman who has suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. While in the middle of a crowd, the woman reaches out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment and she is healed instantly. In Mark 2, a man who has been paralyzed is healed after Jesus commands him to get up and walk away. John 9 depicts the story of Jesus rubbing mud on a blind man’s eyes which gives him sight as soon as the mud touches his face. All of these are examples of how Jesus heals those who need healing because those who need to be healed believe that Jesus is capable of healing them.

When I think about it, we aren’t that different from the lepers in Luke 17. While we may not have actual leprosy… and thank goodness for that, we do have our own afflictions – things that prevent us from being in the presence of God. Whether they are literal illnesses, afflictions, sinfulness, or personal hardships, each of us has our own form of metaphorical leprosy in this life. Our own versions of leprosy inhibit us from fully embracing what God has called us to do.

Scripture makes it clear that God is capable of healing, but healing manifests itself differently in each of our lives. The ways in which we were brought to faith and healed spiritually are different from one another. If I asked every person in this room how they came to know Christ, each person would have a different story. Jesus heals us in different ways through our own personal circumstances. We may not all be healed from our afflictions in the same way, but Jesus is capable of healing each one of us. As we’ve seen in the gospels, healing was a major component of Jesus’ ministry and is still a major part of how God is at work in the world today.

In Luke 17, Jesus heals the leper’s physical health, but he goes on to do more than just that. Seven chapters later tells the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we too have been saved; we too have been healed. As believers, we know the extent of what this kind of sacrifice means. Like the Samaritan who had leprosy, we have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Bwana Yesu Asifewe! Amen. Praise be unto Jesus! Amen. Through Jesus, God healed the leper in this passage and continues to heal lepers like us every day. Maybe we don’t have skin bumps, but like the lepers we need to be healed. This healing doesn’t just take place when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We need to be healed much more often than that because despite knowing the Lord, we are still sinners. Jesus came to heal us so that we could be saved – not just from our afflictions but also from our sins. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, our sins are forgiven and we are healed of those things that make us lepers too.

In this text, Jesus hears the call of ten lepers and heals them from their afflictions. Although ten lepers were healed, only one returned to give thanks to Jesus. That’s one tenth. As much as we would like to think otherwise, this percentage is probably still representative of how often we thank God today. How often do we return to God to give thanks for all that has been done for us? I would be willing to bet that it’s not as often as is deserved. So, how do we even begin to thank God for what God has done for us? The Samaritan who returned demonstrates a pretty good place to start. In this passage, the Samaritan thanks Jesus in two important ways. The first is that he returns to Jesus praising him with a loud voice. How good are we at doing this? My guess is that we are pretty good at thanking God when we are in worship or around other Christians. But, do we thank God in the same way when we are in the privacy of our own lives? How often do you thank God when you’re at home or by yourself? When God provides for you, do you give thanks by praising with a loud voice? Whether we do or not, we are called to give thanks no matter where we are. The Samaritan’s loud praise demonstrates his thanksgiving for what Jesus did to heal him. Our praise should be the same way. We should praise loudly and unapologetically. We should lift up the divine name because this kind of praise is well deserved. We should praise God because we have been healed. 

The second thing the Samaritan does to thank Jesus is in verse 16 which says he laid prostrate at Jesus feet (change slide). How often do we do that? Now, I’ve only been here two weeks, but it seems that lying prostrate with our faces to the ground is not something that happens very often. Don’t worry, my culture doesn’t do that either. However, what if this is supposed to be metaphorical? What if we humbled ourselves so much before Christ Jesus that it is as if we are lying face down on the ground? We may not need to dig our noses into the rich Kenyan soil, but we are called to this kind of humility. The kind of humility that shows we know we are in the presence of God. This kind of humility demonstrates our desire to thank God for all that has been done to heal us. This kind of humility shows that we acknowledge what has been done for us.

The leper who returned had lived a life of humiliation. He had lived as an outcast because of his affliction. In his newly-healed body, he could have gotten a big head and been excited to live the life he had always dreamed of. Instead, he returned to Christ and humbled himself by laying on the ground and praising Jesus with a loud voice. It’s not very often that we lay prostrate on the ground. But, what would it look like if we laid down everything at the foot of the cross? If we truly surrendered every part of our lives to God? Would we live lives that reflected the freely given love and grace we’ve received from God? Would we serve more faithfully? Would we live our lives like we’ve been liberated from our sins? Would we be any different?

The last verse of this passage (19) reads like this: “Get up and go on your way.” This is the benediction that Jesus leaves with the man whom he healed. “Get up and go on your way.” There is still work to be done for the kingdom. This is how we can thank Jesus for what he has done to heal us – by getting up and going. Get up and praise the Lord, go on your way to proclaim the goodness of the Kingdom in all you do. Get up and go walk along the path to which you have been called. Get up and go live a life that reflects the love and healing you have received from the almighty God. Get up and go on your way.

​Amen. 

PPS: I finally got a picture of the monkeys today. Consider it your reward for making it through this long post :)