Redemption Story: Five Things I Saw

Christer, Njeri, Wangari and Nelson just before we missed seats at Lavington.

1. The pulling power of music

I have been a small time church hopper in a different life but even with such experience, I had never been to an Adventist youth event as well attended as yesterday’s Redemption Story concert at Lavington. There were people from as far as Ruiru, Athi River, Limuru and…you guessed it, Rongai. While it helped that the concert was held on a Sabbath afternoon and was free of charge, it’s also worth noting that it was held in the rainy season when most people, like chicken, don’t want to go far from their immediate neighbourhoods. There’s also the small matter of Lavington not being exactly in the middle of town so any attendee must have purposed to be there. The flipside to holding an event free of charge at churches like Nairobi Central, New Life or Parklands is you can’t really tell who’s come there for a date, who was just passing by and heard people singing or, in light of current affairs, who is there as a serial witnesser.

In the event, Adventist youth from all over Nairobi flocked to Lavington like moths to a source of light. In a church that can seat upwards of 1500, all seats were taken a minute after doors opened. To say the place was packed to the rafters would be an understatement. I got a spot up near the roof together with my crew and we had to make do with sitting on the floor, thereby losing sight of the pulpit. Listening to the whole concert without catching a glimpse of the singers was like listening to your neighbor watch an action movie through a mabati wall. Others weren’t so lucky having to seat outside the church like cars at a parking lot.

If how fast people leave a concert is a measure of its failure, then the Redemption Story concert was an unqualified success. Sitting on the floor, we eagerly waited for the first wave of people to get bored and vacate their seats for us. In retrospect, we would have done well with the patience of vultures for not until two hours were done did the first few people leave more because it was getting dark than getting bored of proceedings.

2. Why music is such a magnet

The other day Edwin Abuga, a philosopher friend of mine and a member of my kitchen cabinet told me the church disproportionately favours those talented at music at the expense of those with other gifts. “You are more likely to be recognized in church if you sing well either individually or in a group,” he says.

It’s easy to know why. Music gets to everyone regardless of their station in life. It mellows both the elite and the rank and file. It’s the one instrument that can get an engineer, a plumber, a lawyer and a hawker on common ground. Other gifts like teaching only sell to those who are teachable. That’s why if you invited youth to a prophecy seminar only those who have a liking for books will show up.

But a music concert affords most people a relaxing afternoon, can double up as a date and participants can run their own discussions while the concert is running without losing a great deal.

3. Lavington the church

The church building at Lavington is like a beautiful woman in new clothes and heels – she gets your head turning. Located in an upmarket gated estate, the church chimes with its privileged surroundings by being modern and spacious. The building is storied, with an upper tier to take care of an overflow of visitors. It’s a pity they opted for plastic seats as opposed to the good old wooden pews a la Nairobi Central.

Unlike most Adventist church buildings, Lavington is topped off with fine finishing. Those who painted it must have been under the tutelage of Peter Marangi the Dura Coat professional painter. Even the guard rails at the entrance and even in the top tier are of high quality. The slabs on the floor still maintain their hardware luster and they made it easy for those who missed seats to sit down on them.

More than that, the church has a cathedral feel to it. The roof rises to the heavens and the majesty of the space above you would make you want to worship even if you were alone in the building. I also saw strobe lights like the ones you find at discos but it wasn’t immediately clear what their purpose in church was.

4. High school never ends

The way youth turned up for the concert at Lavington is proof that high school really, never ends. As I entered the venue before the doors opened and found people chatting and catching up, I ran into former classmates from high school and I couldn’t help but roll back the years to the time in high school the social aspect of academic congresses superseded their intended import.

There’s no running away from the fact that we go to church as much for worship as it is for social reasons. Humans like to connect and church offers us the platform to meet up with people we can’t set up dates with on a normal day.

Later in the evening as the concert came to an end, the open court just in front of the church was full of dudes and dudettes exchanging numbers, hopefully, for evangelism.

5. Love comes alive in the night time

It is at such events that you know who is loving who. Perched at the top near the roof where I was closer to God, I had a bird’s eye view of how participants came in and sat down. In truth, I couldn’t help but draw parallels with the Bible story of Noah’s ark and how the animals went in in twos, male and female.

In the four things that amazed Solomon, one was the way of a man with a woman he loves. I’m not as wise as Solomon, but I was amazed nonetheless at how two lovebirds will always find space to sit together even where seats and space come at a premium.

Most pairings were expected. I won’t name them but there are guys you meet and you know Ms Right is just around the corner. There were surprise pairings – the ones you wonder how they even start a conversation. And then there were those that pose more questions than answers  – “ So they are still together…I thought they broke up.” “I always see her with another dude…form 34 ni gani hapa?”

While the Bible tells us how the animals went in to Noah’s ark, it’s silent on how they came out. If yesterday’s concert is anything to go by, it’s safe to assume they came out in the evening holding hands. Mo, a member of my crew, wondered why lovebirds don’t come in holding hands but automatically hold each other once the night sets in.

There’s something about darkness that stirs romantic feelings to the surface. Perhaps it’s the sense of cover it affords couples to give up their inhibitions safe in the knowledge nobody is watching. Or the sense of fear that makes two lovers want to protect each other. Whatever it is, holding hands in the dark is a reassuring vote of confidence each party gives the other in the lines of the Jubilee motto, tuko pamoja.

6. Nyemelearing Unavailable Girls

Ever since I announced on the Parklands youth WhatsApp group that I’m keeping tabs on 91 babes, girls don’t look at me the same anymore. No sooner do I start chatting up a babe than she says, “I hope I’m not part of the 91.” Some even fear telling me their names, “I fear ending up in your list of 91 babes,” they say.

Consequently, like a man in a dark room, I’m left with no choice but to hit (on) anything that comes my way. The rate of my misses and near derailing has me reconsidering a withdrawal of my infamous list and going back to the drawing board. The nature of my misses is I seem to only run into girls already taken by church officials no less.

I hit the buffers twice yesterday and would have come off with my tail between my legs were it not for hawk eyed girls who have my back giving me the 411 on particular chicks. “Huyo ni wa (insert senior church official),” they whispered.

I pity church officials with girlfriends at Parklands. When you’re busy working in the Lord’s vineyard some foxes who are none the wiser are busy making attempts at watering your own vineyard. Now I know why church elders never pass up the opportunity to let their wives in the crowd greet the congregation when they serve at the pulpit. It’s their way of marking territory, just in case a fox in the congregation entertains wild thoughts.