All Kenyans are praying, but for different things

NAIROBI: 'No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil; not that he practices it, but he suffers from it' - Guy H. King

There is this little story illustrating the two-dimensions of prayer I came across many years ago. There is this man who got lost in the forest for days. Hungry, thirsty and tired he knelt to pray for God's help.

A lion that had gone without food for days caught sight of him and also knelt nearby and prayed. His prayer went like this: "Oh God you know I am your creation, you know the number of days I have gone without food and water, please do not let me die...Amen."

The lion's went like this: "Oh God, you know how many days I have gone without food or water, thank you for the meal that is before me." What followed is left out for your imagination. I am among those who have taken interest in the surge of prayers. If it is not about the crimes against humanity cases facing Deputy William Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang in The Hague, it is about peace and prosperity for the country.

 We know how fervently our people pray for Kenya and its leadership in churches and mosques. I have often, eyes closed in supplication, listened to my mother pray whenever we visit her. Hers always starts like in other homes, with prayers and good health wishes for the family, for the well being and wisdom for those who lead us - from the sub-chief to the President - (in my mind, I call this bureaucracy the highway of corruption), then for the neighbours and those either bereaved, hungry, or sick.

The same prayers are repeated in church as well as in mosques. Kenyans submissively subject any difficulty they face to prayer. Even the drunks are not left behind in praying to God even if incoherently. Those who don't know how to pray do so in silence, for they are taught God listens to and understands our silence.

The object of today's piece isn't The Hague-induced prayers, even though it is true that even as we pray for the fast, just and sentence-free end to the Ruto-Sang case, the men and women of God should also not forget to pray for those who were killed, displaced or dispossessed in the post-election violence.

But this prayer would not be complete without asking for justice for the victims of this crime. This is not to suggest that Mr Ruto and Mr Sang may be guilty for what they are accused of, but rather that we should be gracious enough to pray that justice not only falls from heaven for them, we must also extend to exhortation for God's revenge against those who 'fixed' them for "thirty pieces" of political silver.

Today, I veered off to prayer because it is what is dominating our national discourse. In church and every home there is a prayer for Kenya, for the economy and for 'wisdom' and 'strength' for President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto and other leaders. Kenyans trust in prayer as a powerful key to Divine intervention in hard times. It is also always accompanied by prayer for forgiveness. But wait a minute, then why are we witnessing all these ills such as corruption, tribalism and a leadership busy stuffing bank accounts?

I got a philosophical answer to this question from Reverend Reinhardt Bonke when he was asked why sin was abundant in the world, yet Jesus Christ shed his blood for us and died over 2,000 years ago: "There are many folks who work in a soap factory and are still dirty. Why? It is because you cannot get clean through proximity to soap. You must take and apply it on yourself. So for Christ's blood, you must go ahead and immerse yourself in it!"

We must remember therefore, as we pray like Zambians for economic recovery, that benediction has two sides; lying somewhere in the thicket is always another man saying the lion's, not the Lord's prayer. They pray for example for prosperity by whatever means and go ahead to literally chase their dreams. They pray to reach the citadel of their political career in a week, not four decades, and do not mind spilling blood to reach there.

My concern today, however, is just one; that the clergy - Muslims and Christians, Hindus and followers of Zoroaster - should widen our national prayer list to include the survival of the nation under the suffocating weight of corrupt leaders, unbridled borrowing, economic assassins and merchants of corruption at all levels of politics. We must also pray for institutions of governance such as Parliament and Judiciary which live every day as if to prove to us it is not the honourable place we think it is, to repent.

But even then, they must remember they too are praying, for something else. Apart from trusting that God will accede to the right prayer, which means less harm for the majority, we must also live up to the threshold and demands of prayer so as not to mock God and beckon his wrath.

Finally, a little regret; if only our leaders could listen to the good and truthful prayers said for them in their absence at homes, churches and mosques, maybe their consciences would be pricked to action!