Thoughts on “The Good Shepherd”
Listen to short clip from Tigoni Baptist Church Kenya Easter 2013 (Above) Don’t miss Dada Stella’s famous Shrill Swahili Spiritual Squeal. It’s one of my favorite parts of African worship! The clip below is an acapella Easter song from the Tigoni Adult Choir. Enjoy and Worship: TigoniEaster2 On the clip above, listen to each choir member humming their part. Also, choir director Lucas uses claps and snaps to keep the time. Simply wonderful! It’s Pasaka. Easter in Kenya. A day I’ll always remember. This is a long uncut audio from today’s Easter Service at Tigoni, Kenya2013 A Mchungaji named Petero “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11 It’s a sound my tongue may never get right. The mmm sound that many Swahili words begin with. You say it in the back of your throat with your mouth closed. As in Mchungaji. It’s become one of my favorite words in this new language. Mchungajii. It’s used interchangeably for two English words. Shepherd. Pastor Pastor-Shepherd. M-chun-ga-ji. It’s what I call my teacher Petero. Mchungaji Petero. He is a pastor/shepherd as well as one of our Swahili teachers. From the Turkana tribe of NW Kenya. We could call him Peter, but all Swahiii names end in an vowel, so he’s Petero. Petero. The Rock. Recently we visited Petero’s church. Had a wonderful service. He is a strong preacher. Strong in the Word and strong in the Lord. You would like him. You’d like for him to be your mchungajii. You’d agree that any sheep in his care would be safe. A strong Kenyan with a shy smile. Every morning as we dodge the potholes on the 3 km drive to school, we pass another mchungaji. He’s a real shepherd named Joshua. He’s young and only speaks Swahili. He faithfully stands over his roadside flock of sheep and goats. He leans on a shepherd’s stick and waves through the dust. He’ll be there in the afternoon as we pass again. Caked in the red dust of Kenya Keeping his flock safe. They’re not exactly a pretty flock and are grazing in a patch with more weeds than grass. But they’re safe because of Mchungaji named Joshua. Two Kenyan shepherds. Each faithfully watching over their flocks.
