Sunday at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Nairobi

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We have back through Nairobi on our way home. Thanks to arrangements by my friend from the Lambeth Design Group, Bishop Joel Waweru, we received an invitation to pray and preach at the Cathedral, with a bright and able young dean, a remarkable choir, and plans for an ambitious community youth center.

I was especially struck, in the middle of each service, a celebration of young men graduating from ‘Man Enough,’ a program of encouragement, challenge, and formation for Christian young men. I believe we too could use just such a program, adapted to our circumstances, for a generation struggling to find its way. We too need to make initiation in Christian manhood tangible.

Peace,

+GRS

 

Posted by The Rt. Rev. George Sumner with

Complete the Race (II Timothy 4:17)

At the end of our vacation we find ourselves in Chicago for its Marathon weekend (the fastest, I have read this morning, perhaps because it is cool and relatively level). Marathons offer many good things. You can see world-class athletes from places like Ethiopia and Kenya. There is a feel of fiesta with signs by family members, getups by some for-fun runners, and food for sale.

But as I looked out my hotel window at 7:30 a.m., I watched the race of competitors who have lost legs or their use. Wheeling vehicles by arm for 26 miles means serious fitness and determination.

Those competitors were to me, this morning, a symbol of the Church too. For each is wounded. The larger family cheers them on. Each by grace has risen up to run the race. Ahead is the goal, the prize, the welcome home. We find the companionship of Jesus the Lord, there, and along the route too.

Amen.

GRS

 

   

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