amani ya mungu

After tea and some sweets shared, we sit in a circle in their living room in the early spring evening. The lights shine out onto the street and inside it is warm. We sing and pray and read some scripture. It occurs to me that sounds familiar to this baby will not just be the car radio, or the traffic passing on our walks in the park, or mama and papa talking. She will already have heard the voice of a friend reading Psalm 102 and the sound of others praying for the cares and concerns that are close to home and across the world. The sound of acapella singing of hymns will be something she already knows. A soft shuffling rhythm and a melody that stays with you through your day. "What is the Lord's peace? It is a mystery..."

But I do know that it is good to be part of a family.

***
Amani ya Mungu kweli ni za?
Ni za ajabu
Zaweza kwenda juu
Zaweza kwenda chini
Zaweza kwenda mbele
Zaweza kwenda nyuma
Upande, upande
Kwa mataifa yote
Upande, upande
Kwa mataifa yote

What is the Lord's peace?
It is a mystery
It can go up
It can go down
It can go in front
It can go behind
It can go all around
to all the nations
It can go all around
to all the nations

***

Ephesians 2:17-22

"17Basi, Kristo alikuja akahubiri Habari Njema ya amani kwenu ninyi watu wa mataifa mengine mliokuwa mbali na Mungu, na pia kwa Wayahudi ambao walikuwa karibu na Mungu. 18Hivyo, kwa njia yake, sisi sote, Wayahudi na watu wa mataifa mengine, tunaweza kumwendea Baba katika Roho mmoja. 19Basi, ninyi si wageni tena, wala si watu wa nje; ninyi ni raia pamoja na watu wa Mungu, na ni watu wa jamaa ya Mungu. 20Mmejengwa juu ya msingi uliowekwa na mitume na manabii, naye Kristo mwenyewe ndiye jiwe kuu la msingi. 21Yeye ndiye mwenye kulitengeneza jengo lote na kulikuza hata liwe hekalu takatifu kwa ajili ya B wana. 22Katika kuungana naye, ninyi pia mnajengwa pamoja na wote wengine, muwe makao ya Mungu kwa njia ya Roho wake."

"17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."

consider

A prayer waiting for the baby: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"