The auditorium is full, packed like swarming bees in a hive. Mulandi Zabo is ministering today. I thought this guy was South African (Maybe he is) and he would start singing songs like Joyous’ – ‘Itshokwadi’ Solly Mahlangu’s – Wa Hamba Nathi or worse, Rufftone’s – Mwikhulu.
The guy is a Disney character, a funny old man who is much younger in his brain. If you met him in the streets you would think that this is the most boring living thing on the planet but as soon as he starts speaking, sloths will run in amusement.
I tucked myself well in my seat preparing myself to sleep. I started thinking of all boring memories, my high school haters, my game socks etc. I was so sure that this was going to be a boring sermon but I was mistaken. Moral: Do not judge a book by its cover.
A story is told of this lighthouse where all those involved in a ship wreckage are rescued. It had two rooms, one was for those undergoing immediate treatment and the other was for those who testified about how they survived previous ship wreckages. Different testify the ordeals of the year they got rescued. With time, they thought instead of having two rooms, they should have one major room to accommodate more survivors from the rescue missions in the sea. It was then that the smell of medical kits; surgical spirits, gauze etc was nauseating to the survivors of previous ship wreckages. As people were also testifying the same testimonies over and over again, it also became boring.
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This is what I call an intellectual sermon. This was enough to make me alert; like a teenager who mistakenly farted in a silent class and pretends to be nowhere in that world. Mulandi talks of how we sometimes feel so nauseated in our places of worship because of recycled testimonies; and the pungent smell of the sins of worshippers (compared to the gauze and medical kits in the ship). He says that Christian fellowship is not sanitized, it is washed by the blood of Jesus. He adds that the Church is not perfect; the pungent smell of our imperfections nauseates us but we are also not in church to condone sin.
Mulandi narrates the story of The Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14. ‘A king was preparing a wedding banquet for his son and he invited everyone. Well, because people traveled far and wide, they had dust on their feet and it was a custom to wash their feet. Because people also had dust on their clothes, one was clothed in wedding garments as they attended the wedding. It was then that the king came and noticed a man who was not in their wedding garments and he ordered that they be executed.’
The wedding represents the Church. Jesus already clothed us with clean garments so as to enter God’s presence. Though we look good in our wedding garments, we are still nauseated by our dirt. In the story of the prodigal son, though smelling like pigs, his father kissed him on the neck and ordered that clean clothes brought to him.
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Philemon was a rich master, a slave owner who dedicated his house for the activities of the church. Onesimus was his slave who fled to Rome with his money. Upon reaching Rome, he found Paul who ministered to him and he became a Christian. Paul drafts a letter to Philemon (The Book of Philemon) and gives Onesimus to take it to Philemon. Mulandi talks of how Philemon was a slave master yet Paul called him a brother. He talks of Onesimus a slave who stole from Philemon and also calls him a brother. He talks of another brother, Demas who abandoned him in 2 Timothy 4:9-10. He in fact calls them, my dear brother, my dear son and my fellow worker. Mulandi says that we as Christians should have each other’s back. We should oversee the dirt hidden under their Christian garments but also rebuke them.
But how do we rebuke them? Did Paul rebuke them or did he cover for their crimes? Mulandi Zabo will fully explain this on Tuesday 8th, be there! He also insisted that we read the book of Philemon three to four times. It is a small book
Why don’t you join us? We are a family of young believers who strive to represent Christ to the fullest. Find us every Tuesday at Nairobi Cinema as from 5.30pm.