Quick Blog - Mass

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Col 3:16

So I mentioned in my first blog that I might have things pop up that I really want to talk about before the week is out. Today the topic I got really excited about was Mass.

African Mass is awesome. The daily Masses aren’t a whole lot different than the US save for a few Swahili responses, but Sundays are just amazing. First off, the whole church was packed and everyone scooched in really tightly to make sure everyone could sit(remember the whole thing about them squishing people?). Secondly, the music is really good. I’ll get back to that. Thirdly, everyone in there cares. In the fourth, it is a celebration.

Somehow, and I haven’t the faintest clue as to how, but somehow there is room for everyone to sit. At first, it seems like there’s no room for anyone else, and then, all of a sudden, people come streaming down the aisles and disappear into the pews. Makes no sense. Also, every single person under the age of 7 was staring directly into my soul, and then I would look over and give them a surprise, quick smile and they’d start giggling and turn their faces into their parent’s bodies. It was fun.

Now to the music. My lord, it was so cool. I can’t help but compare some aspects of my trip here to my trip to Mexico a few years ago. People in Mexico can’t sing. It’s a statement of fact. In Kenya, it’s an entirely different story. People have incredible voices here. I seriously thought I was listening to Ladysmith Black Mombazo today at Mass. Also. Everyone claps here, and not the annoying clap that people do solitarily because they’re in their own little world. No, everyone here claps in time with the music. Even the people who are too cool to sing and wear jeans to Mass(yes they exist even here) clap. It’s not a gesture of extravagant emotion in Mass, but rather their participation in the musical side of the celebration. Everyone has a part.

To that last point of everyone having a part, one thing I found interesting was the behavior during the Our Father. In the states we have such a hard time about what we do during that time. Some people fold their arms and pray in their head, others hold the arms out, some hold hands. Over here, they extend their arms towards the priest who is lifting their prayers to heaven, and they all sing in unison. Basically, as a community they pray the same words out loud but underneath those words are their own individual souls being lifted. Anyways, I thought that was cool.

Lastly, it’s a celebration. I really liked the language they used in Mass. They didn’t limit themselves to just English, but also added Swahili and Latin. And they chanted every response. Even to the point where they sing Kyrie Eleison in response to the General Intercessions. They go all out every time. When they process the wine and water up with the gifts, the entire choir gets up and surrounds the gifts(water, wine, donations both monetary and not). Then they dance/sing with jubilee as the escort the gifts to the priest. It is truly gorgeous.

Now I definitely won’t blog until Saturday, but this just had to be spoken about!

-Harris Moriarty

Fun Fact: They process up for the collection. A few people hold collection boxes at the end of each aisle. More people go up for this than for communion. Food for thought.

Also, here are a big matatu and a little matatu: