I am still partially convinced that it was the year 2012, November the 23rd that the king Uzziah died, because on that day, I saw the LORD, high and exalted, seated on a throne and the train of His robe filled the temple.
It was such an awesome evening of worship at the ONE Worship Experience, hosted at the Nairobi Baptist Church, and if you missed it, you missed out...good thing is that God is infinite, He never runs out. He's no quitter, He never walks out. *that line will mos def be in my next piece.*
It was such an awesome evening of worship at the ONE Worship Experience, hosted at the Nairobi Baptist Church, and if you missed it, you missed out...good thing is that God is infinite, He never runs out. He's no quitter, He never walks out. *that line will mos def be in my next piece.*
I must say that the team was smartly dressed. Now, I am no fashion blogger or fabric enthusiast (though I am known to...*I bind you spirit of pride*...) but it was obvious that colour-blocking, (if it is the phenomenon where contrasting colours are worn at the same time, say yellow shirt and purple pants) was the theme, and it worked out perfectly, for the ladies of course. The men, save one or two who were really bold and brought out the colours well, shunned from the bright outfits. In not-a-fashionista's words, there was a lot of yellow, orange, green, red, blue, purple and other very bright colours on that stage and any two of these would be found on any one of the ONE Worship team members. The colourful sight was accentuated by the vivid lighting and decor of the room, which I am fairly sure missed the attention of many, not only because the whole team was composed of very beautiful ladies and handsome men *one would think that looks were a criteria for joining the team* but also because most eyes were and would be naturally closed during the intimate moments of worship.
On to the singing, which started on an upbeat with fast paced songs, commonly referred to as Praise songs. Then there was the throwback session that lead worshipers in some old praise jams that we (I am not young) did back in the day, jams such as "Nimetafuta milima mabonde na sikupata mwingine, Eeh!" and "Mimi siachi neno la bwana" among others of our time. The vocalists were on key, the instrumentalists knew for sure that their audience was God as one would tell there was unity amongst them with none trying to outshine the other. Time to time, a keen musician would notice the Keyboardist looking at the drummer and base guitarist as they did breaks together. The subtle violinist would play as if in her own world, yet united with the rest of the team in an unction that could only be divine. Same for the guitarists and the effects keyboard. I didn't see a tambourine guy though...
Each of the leaders (of the various songs that were building up to the theme, Holy holy holy is the Lord almighty) was immensely talented with vocal abilities that would only be described as angelic and the crowd would appreciate by interrupting their solos with whistles and "Eish!"-es.
The crowd did not disappoint as they gave in to dancing and singing along, freely worshiping God. Of course there never misses one or two who just stand unmoved yet reached by the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit. The tempo changed to the slow, otherwise known as worship songs and soon hands were lifted in worship.
Then came the ethereal moment when the Revelation song was sang, the moment when He was clothed in rainbow of living colours, flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder...That moment, when the need for Oneness with God was truly felt as the house sang the Agnus Dei which was followed by a brief word broken by Pastor Pinto in pieces assimilable for any worshiper, after which the singing continued.
The night was ended on a celebratory note with popular throwback songs such as "Yesu wee nakupenda" and "Nibebe, nibebe nibebe nibebe, nibembeleze nibebe...*Ghai!! Somebody stop me*..." And it was evident that folks didn't want to leave.
The experience, (on a personal level) was for me a foresight of the day I will become One with Christ when He presents us (the Church) to Himself, a glorious bride, without spot, wrinkle or blemish, Eph 5:27, and I cannot wait for that day. In typical high-school-composition-ending, it was the night I will never forget.
Benjamin Sulle.
