Kenyan Pastor is Modern Day Abraham

I drove to Springfield, Mass. yesterday to have lunch with the Rev. Joseph Kimatu, pastor of the Tumaini fellowship in Springfield. This is a worshipping fellowship of Christians from different faith backgrounds who share the same heritage of immigration from Kenya. It seems that most or perhaps all of them are from the Kikuyu tribe. Pastor Joseph is from the Presbyterian Church, a member of our Presbytery as well as retaining his membership in the Presbytery of East Africa. I am serving on a team charged with nurturing this fellowship and helping them move from being a fellowship to becoming a Presbyterian Church.

As I listened to Pastor Joseph describe his travels to this country and then his call to minister in Springfield his journey seemed so much like that of Abram (later known as Abraham). Abram’s father immigrated to Haran with his family including Abram and Sarai where they settled and apparently led comfortable life. After his father’s death “The LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.’” (Genesis 12:1) Jews, Christians and Muslims all know the story of how this family led a nomadic life living in tents and moving from place to place, never owning any land except the burial plot that Abraham bought when his wife died.

After years of ministry as pastor of large Churches in Kenya Joseph came to the states for graduate theological studies and pursued several Masters Degrees from both Johnson C. Smith and Erskine Theological Seminaries. While serving on the staff of a large Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia he accepted an invitation to preach at this fellowship in Springfield. This led to the fellowship extending a call to him to be their pastor and after much prayer and consultation with his family the family decided that this was a calling from God to leave the comfort of their situation in Atlanta and to step out on faith and follow where God was leading them.

The Tumaini (the word means HOPE) fellowship in Springfield is small with just over 40 adult members and they are able to pay rent on the building where they worship, provide a home for Joseph and his wife and two children (a third child stayed in Georgia to continue her college education). They also provide a small travel allowance but are able to do no more financially for their pastor.

This dedicated man has supported his ministry and his family using personal resources (including proceeds from the sale of property they owned in Kenya) and still is making considerable sacrifice to be faithful to his calling. One son is in high school in Springfield and a second son was enrolled in a vocational/technical college in the area but has dropped out for lack of funds to pay tuition.

While we have hope that the day will come when the ministry will grow and become more stable financially at this point it seems that there is a need for individuals of good will as well as our denomination to provide some pastoral support as well as development funding. Any readers who would like to contribute can send contributions to the Presbytery of Southern New England, 123 Elm Street, # 200, Old Saybrook, CT 06475 and indicate that the funds are for the Tumaini fellowship.

Hannah Celebrates a Second Birthday

We went to our daughter's to celebrate Hannah's Second Birthday last weekend. Beside her parents her sister Abby was there, along with Papa Tony and Mami Myra and cousin Chantel.

We took loads of pictures, click here to see the whole set.

THE VALUE OF ONE

Our session sent two overtures to the Presbytery meeting held February 9 in Fall River, MA. Both were requests that the Presbytery send an overture to the General Assembly to change the constitution of our denomination to make it more welcoming to GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) people. Both were defeated, one on a tie vote. If only ONE more supportive person had made the long trip to Fall River, or ONE more supportive person who did attend had stayed until the overtures were voted on instead of leaving at the lunch break the motion would have passed. Why didn’t it happen?

I think in our mass society people have come to think of themselves as unimportant. What difference would my ONE more vote make? It is the same reason people do not go to the polls for elections. Only a few more Democratic voters voting in Florida (without hanging chads) would have changed the course of the 2000 election, perhaps would prevented U.S. intervention in Iraq, and prevented all of the injuries and deaths suffered by our armed forces and the people of Iraq. How can we believe that our ONE vote is unimportant?

We think my ONE can of beans, my ONE can of baby formula, my ONE pound of rice doesn’t matter when the food pantry hands out tons of food each year, but ONE can or ONE pound is very important to the ONE person who receives that food to feed her family.

An important message of the Gospel is that every ONE was important to Jesus. He did preach and teach crowds, but he also took time to meet and teach individuals, to touch and heal individuals. There is no indication that Jesus ever did mass healings, he always dealt with people ONE by ONE, in most cases laying his hands on individuals in need. Nicodemus was ONE person, the woman at the well was ONE person, and the man born blind was a single individual. When he dealt with the family in Bethany he met with Martha individually, then he talked personally to Mary, then he went to the grave yard and called Lazarus by name. If he had only called: “come out!” every grave in the cemetery might have erupted; he cried “Lazarus, come out!” When he was raised he first met with ONE woman, Mary, in the grave yard. ONE disciple, Thomas, was missing when Jesus appeared to them in the upper room. He came back to the upper room the next first day to meet with the ONE doubter.

Jesus is the good shepherd who goes out in the night to seek the ONE sheep that is lost, and seeks until he finds the ONE missing sheep. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world, and then goes on to speak of whosoever, what ever ONE individual, believes in his shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Every ONE of our church members is important, not just the largest givers, not just the officers, not just the most involved members, but every ONE is important. Every ONE’S opinion is important, not just the opinions of those in the majority.

God loves every ONE of us with an everlasting love. God loves you with an everlasting love. If you were the only person in the world in need of salvation Jesus would have lived and died and risen again for you. Every ONE matters, every vote counts, the family of God is not complete when ONE is missing or unwelcomed or unincluded.

Yours in Love
Pastor Terry

Presbytery rejects welcoming overtures

The session (governing body) of First Presbyterian Church, Hartford endorsed a proposal from the First Presbyterian Chuch in New Haven to alter language presently in the denominational constitution which requires ministers, elders and deacons to live in fidelity in marriage between a man and woman or chastity in singleness. The change would allow Churches to ordain GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) people as elders and deacons, and Presbyteries to ordian GLBT people as ministers.

......

On a twice counted vote the proposal failed to pass our regional governing body, the Presbytery of Southern New England on a tie vote. If just one more person supporting the proposal had made the trip to Fall River, MA the overture could have prevailed. Many people left the meeting at lunch before the vote was taken and one of our elders believes if we had voted before lunch the results would have been favorable.

.......

One more problem with the voting was that we dismissed one of our Churches to another denomination before lunch, but since the action was taken pending their reception into the other denomination their representatives were allowed to vote (and they all voted NO). Likewise new ministers who were received pending their dismissal from other Presbyteries were not allowed to vote. at least one of whom would have voted with us.

.....

Our session sent a second proposal (we call them overtures) to change a few words in four paragraphs in the directory for worship that would treat same sex couples in the same way as opposite sex couples when it comes to marriage and blessing civil unions. That proposal failed by a margin of ten votes, my memory is the vote was 42 to 52.

.....

I find this very discouraging. On at least two previous occasions the presbytery passed similar overtures to change the constitution by margins of 60%. Each time the change was rejected by the General Assembly. This was the first time the body had considered the marriage overture.

.....

It is extremely troubling to my conscience to belong to a denomination that is so intollerant and unwilling to welcome GLBT people as full equals and leaders in the Church. The Lord I serve through Jesus Christ certainly loves all of us and welcomes all people into the family of God. I have resisted changing to another denomination feeling that the only way to change this Church, which has so many good qualities, is to work from the inside. It took years and years to change the policy on women ministers, but we just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of that change. At this point it seems doubtful that I will ever see the change while I am still in active ministry (I intend to retire in January 09), and I wonder if it will happen in my life time.

.....

The woman who presented the marriage overture on our behalf is herself in a civil union with her partner of fifteen years was very personally hurt and says she will never attend Presbytery again. She did not come to Church either on Sunday morning. She is one of our most outstanding leaders, giving herself to many of our ministries, heading the revitalization committee for the Church. She and her partner are generous supporters of our Church and its outreach to the poor and needy.

Remarks to Legislative Prayer Breakfast

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (IMA) and the Greater Hartford Coalition for Equity and Justice co sponsored a prayer breakfast for Connecticut legislators on the second day of the session.

I was asked to talk about the ICEJ issues, and then get out of the way for a major presentation on youth violence. The press conference ended with a challenge to clergy and legislators to pledge to give as much attention to the 33 murders in Hartford as has already been given to 3 murders in Cheshire.

Here is the text of my remarks:

Remarks delivered at Legislative Prayer Breakfast February 7, 2008
By Terry Davis

I have been asked to speak briefly about work of the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice, and about those issues that have been and continue to be our primary concern. Most of you are familiar with the Interfaith Coalition which represents 32 Churches joined together to be A Faith Movement Acting For a Just Society.

One year ago we had great optimism that we were going to see progress on our legislative agenda which includes passage of a state Earned Income Tax Credit, improvements in our system of healthcare which move toward a universal healthcare system, and major improvements in the funding of public education including moving toward making preschool and head start programs available to all of the children of this state.

I must say that at the conclusion of the last budget we felt universal disappointment and more than a few of us felt some anger for the legislative failure to move this agenda forward.

Our keenest disappointment was the failure to enact the EITC. Prior to the final budget negotiations the passage of this much needed bill seemed assured, but when the legislative leaders went behind closed doors to hammer out a budget they came out with a budget that did not include the Earned Income Tax Credit. We frankly felt more than disappointment about the failure to provide this small benefit for the working poor. The working poor pay a much higher percentage of their meager incomes in taxes than any other segment of society. Even those who pay no income taxes still pay social security tax, sales taxes, gasoline taxes and property taxes. Many people are under the illusion that renters avoid paying property taxes, but let me assure you every landlord includes the cost of property taxes in the lease price for their apartments.

The EITC is not charity, but justice for the poor, and we expect this legislature this year to enact this into law and into the budget. We are pleased to see it put forth as part of an economic stimulus package, but I want to say to you that the working poor have needed economic stimulus long before the middle class knew we were headed into an economic downturn.

Everyone knows that the present health care system is broken from the presidential candidates down to those who personally go without medical care or who are forced into bankruptcy because of their medical bills. We need a system that is universal, accessible, affordable, and of high quality and further we know that the system must be sustainable. Improvements to the Husky program are important, but we remain a world away from these goals.

We are here today to describe a great healthcare crisis involving urban violence, but you will see us back here pressing for the balance of our agenda as well.

ASH WEDNESDAY

We had services in the morning with other congregations from Hands on Hartford. I brought the homily or meditation for this morning service which follows.

Lent of course begins today and when the average Christian thinks of lent we tend to think about what we will give up for Lent. Some Churches have carefully defined rules about Lenten fasting, but the trend is much more toward leaving it to the believer to search her or his own heart and to make some sort of sacrifice as a spiritual discipline.

The more I come into contact with our Muslim brothers and sisters the more I am impressed that they take the matter of fasting much more seriously than we Christians do. During the month or Ramadan they fast every day from any food or drink during the hours between sun up and sun down. I assure you that during this kind of fasting they become keenly aware of what hunger really is. They claim this is a spiritual discipline and that it brings them into solidarity with the poor and needy of the world who know hunger on a daily basis. Some members of our community will also engage in significant fasting by living for days, or weeks or even a whole month on a food stamp budget of $4.00 a day for food.

But the rest of us do well to decide what we will give up for Lent. One person says they are going to give up red meat for some or all of Lent’s 40 days, another will give up chocolate or perhaps even give up sweets altogether, some people will try to give up smoking or give up using beverage alcohol during lent. Many of us who have good intentions at the beginning of Lent find that our resolve has weakened long before Easter arrives, just as happens with our new year’s resolutions.

I suggested in my Lenten pastor’s column that if we took seriously the Isaiah passage we read for our call to worship we would not be fasting from food or drink, but we would give up narrow mindedness and prejudice; we would give up looking down on other people who are different from us; we would give up every jealousy and hatred. I asked our members and I ask you now to suppose we were to give up complaining and criticizing and instead resolve to do an act of kindness each day. Just think if we did 40 new acts of kindness, it might become habitual!

I believe my sisters and brothers in Christ that if we are really gong to grow in our faith during this Lenten season we need to go beyond giving up anything and instead begin to develop some new habits of faith.

If our Lenten discipline is only about “giving up” then we may end up like the soul from whom the unclean spirit was cast out. This person failed to bring anything new into the heart and as a result the unclean spirit moved back into the empty house along with seven others and the last state was worse than the former. I believe this a part of the reason that Alcoholics Anonymous and similar 12 step programs work. The AA member does not only try to evict drinking from his or her life, but puts something new and positive in its place. Going to meetings and drinking coffee takes the place of going to the bar and drinking. Instead of a drinking buddy you now have a sponsor. Self destructive behavior is replaced by working the program.

Giving up food is not enough; we need to share our food with the poor and needy. Giving up indifference to others as well as hatred and prejudice is not enough, we need to replace indifference, hatred and prejudice with love and empathy and kindness.

We need to give up complaining about how bad our Church is how bad our schools are, how bad the economy is and instead rolls up our sleeves and work for the coming of that kingdom where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness flows like an ever rolling stream. We need to be willing to go into failing schools and be willing to mentor our community’s children. We need to work tirelessly to change the failed policies of division and to work for reconciliation among people and nations, beginning in our own neighborhoods and communities.

Let us move beyond “giving up” and instead in this Lenten season to consider what new habits and disciplines we will cultivate that will bring us into a new relationship with our neighbors and with our God. When we do this then our light shall rise in the darkness and our gloom be like the noonday.

When we dedicate ourselves to rebuilding community and rebuilding lives in our city then our ruins shall be rebuilt; and this community in Christ shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

Here are a few pictures taken before the evening service.

Evening service included the imposition of ashes, a fellowship meal in the midst of the service, a sermon by Evan Harrison, Warburton Urban Resident with Hands on Hartford, and communion around the tables.

Evan, who attended the meal with his wife Emily, is a Presbyterian Candidate for ministry, a graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.