Holy week tales

Here I was, a young boy starting the week in eager anticipation of the week ahead. This week gave us a mini holiday of sorts, no wonder it was called the ‘HOLY’ week (We called everyday holy, holy Monday-Thursday). True to its name, the week would flash by and leave you wondering why you hadn’t felt as tired as you normally would, as everyone in the Catholic setting would have that unexplainable joy for the festivities ahead.

Thursday was the day it all began, HOLY THURSDAY, a day when Jesus has his last supper with his disciples and washed their feet. I must admit, the Catholic Church’s rendition of this day is spot on. Imagine having a priest physically wash your feet, your spiritual leader, a man you often met and talked to with uttermost humility as he was God’s servant planted in our midst. PS: I was an alter server from a young age but with time, this season grew to be one of the fondest memories I have of the Catholic Church, the rest not so much.

The mass: If you had been attending mass you’d definitely notice the difference, Priests clad in purple cassocks and church attendance was quite high for a week day. The hymns were often sung in a melodious tune and though some would put you in a somber mood one would not fail to appreciate the harmonies. The INCENCE often hit your nostrils, entered your system, and gave you a surreal experience of being in God’s throne room experiencing what Prophet Isaiah experienced. This set the tone for the entire week till Easter when we would rejoice again at Jesus’ Resurrection.

Many of these hymns still capture me; one I will always remember was singing the hymn “Were you there” covered in a cloud of incense. The questions asked in this hymn often hit me, asking “Were you there when they crucified my Lord, Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree…” hence forcing me to paint a picture of the crucifixion even though I wasn’t there physically.

Revelation 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.

I won’t claim to still be a fervent attendee of these services but will surely make time and do so one day, just to bring back the memories, and enjoy the songs. These experiences were what introduced me to experiencing spirituality.

With that, have a lovely Holy week and A happy Easter to you.

Peace talks

To my sister JustynLove And to those friends who stick closer than brothers, regardless of our flaws

When the sound of silence rocks your life like a hurricane, leaving you lost in thought, your mind a warzone cordoned off for the safety of the humans who might want to get in oblivious of what lies within

Sometimes contemplation needs company

Sometimes we build the great wall of china around our brains, whose security is hightened by watchtowers in the horizon, all intended to shield us from the world without, and holding captive the thoughts within

She penetrated the wall with the bravery of David, wisdom of Solomon, strength of Samson and Boldness of Paul. She chose the hard way and let herself into the warzone, dodging bullets like ‘the matrix’, surviving the hit.

Can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods without first binding the strong man? I wonder
Having bound the string man, the enemy lines are compromised. This opens the floodgates of dialogue which eventually blossoms into something beautiful like a butterfly coming out of chrysalis, geared up to take off

Many times people enter what we call our “safe space”, not knowing it never was safe, and that their entry makes it safer. I’m glad you breached the enemy lines and unknowingly restored my peace within.

By Martin N Kyaroki

Maybe I’m growing too old

So my niece celebrated her birthday on the 8th of this month, and as the norm is these days, her WhatsApp status was piled up with reposts from the numerous birthday wishes from her friends and family.

True to it, since I was born, I haven’t really been a birthday enthusiast. Maybe because I was raised by a single father who always forgot my birthday, well, I always forgot it as well, probably because November is a month I always did or prepared for my exams so I was always caught up in the examination fever.

Cutting cake with a workmate recently

So my niece’s birthday celebration is slated for tomorrow and yes, she invited over 20 girls from her class 😂. Sad thing for most folks, your birthday (and later your funeral), is the one day a bunch of people, even those you least expected say a nice thing or two about you. Sort of congratulating you for edging one year closer to your death.

Generation of enjoyments

So in a house full of girls recording Instagram and Snapchat videos, buried in their phones making endless filters, taking pictures and letting the whole world know how they are enjoying a friends lockdown birthday party, I couldn’t help asking myself if I would enjoy such felicitations in my name. Maybe I’m just one boring introvert who hates attention.

Probably I’m growing too old and failing to blend in with this post millennial generation. I will definitely do my kids birthday parties but i will have them know that every year added is a whole set of things to deal with, new challenges, goals, etc… We’ll enjoy the enjoyments for them but they should never let us forget the underlying significance of the implication of the extra year, why not just celebrate new year’s and forget the birthdays? One may argue that a birthday is a new year added, so what do we call December 31st? Food for thought… I remain yours truly…😎

Brooke, Me and You

Just a few thoughts (Or Poem) on what Brooke Fraser’s (Brooke Ligertwood) songs meant to me in my failed relationship. Every paragraph begins with her song titles and a few lines from the song..

Sailboats
We’re adrift on a sailboat, my love was the sea, with waves swaying back and forth, your love on the other hand was the horizon, constant and steady, regardless of the sea turbulence it was constant and steady

I wouldn’t be the same without you
Indeed i wouldn’t, learnt so much from you, about you and with you, and that’s what ought to happen, learning, unlearning and relearning. With that you’re rest assured of progress

Ice on her lashes ..
The lone man waits on a platform, for his train to come and take him somewhere to start all over again
Didn’t want a day without you but somehow I’ve lived through another one, didn’t want a year without you but somehow I’m living through one, didn’t want a life without you but here i am living one

Who were we fooling
Funny how sad the funny things get, as we grow older, for better for worse we were tethered but the rope was cut, we both agreed on where we should go, but not how to get there, our failures and faults couldn’t hold us together

New Year’s Eve It’s been a loud year and we really need the quiet
For silence cannot be quoted, on new years eve, while the whole world rejoiced, we stopped to listen, we needed the quiet after a loud year, to help come to terms with the fact that we are no more.

Arithmetic
I realized you’re so much more than arithmetic, coz if i add if i subtract if i give it all and try to take some back and realized i couldn’t apologize my way to you even if the heavens stretched that far

Cc: Brooke Fraser