It is a mild and sunny afternoon in Nairobi, and we are taking a break from the first session of a historic event: The ICUU Leadership Training for Emerging Congregations in East Africa. Our opening ceremonies were last night, as 60 of us gathered from Kenya, Burundi, Congo-Brazzeville, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Great Britain and the US. Our goals–to meet one another, to provide information and training in theology, leadership, conflict resolution and worship, and to develop the ties between Unitarian Universalists on the African continent. It is nearly impossible to express how happy I feel today. I looked around the circle at the opening worship last night and saw dozens of dark faces just like mine–more than I had ever seen in any Unitarian Universalist service in my entire life. I heard “Come, Come, Whoever You Are,” sung in cadences that spoke of Swahili and Yoruba; I listened to my sisters and brothers in faith from across the African continent talk about the wonder of discovering our free religion, a religion they didn’t know existed. It was at once completely familiar and completely surprising.
And it has touched my heart to be so warmly welcomed by these men and women I am privileged to teach. More than one of the members of our Kenyan congregations have already invited me to stay with them after the conference, insisting that I am “back home now,” and must see everything! I won’t be able to accept their hospitality right now, but I am cherishing their delight in meeting an African-American Unitarian Universalist minister. It’s hard to tell who among us is more excited about it all!
