A while ago I visited friends at Spurgeons Academy in the Kibera area of Nairobi. It's humbling to experience the fun and hear the aspirations of children facing incredibly difficult situations. On this particular visit I was reminded how great Kenyan gospel music is. It makes break time at the school quite an occasion!
At the time of Jesus, the meaning of the word 'gospel' seems to have been closer to 'manifesto'. It held political and theological meaning for the Roman empire before it was co-opted by Jesus. The different vision and many promises flowing through Scripture reads as a revolutionary manifesto of a very different 'Kingdom'; a very different Way of running the world.
This song is my attempt to articulate this vision, and it's the most comprehensive statement of the 'gospel' I believe in: the Manifesto that we're all called to take part in. This is not just a Manifesto for the future, but something we can enact and see increasing glimpses of now.
Having taught music in an immigration removal centre for years, I'm familiar with different kinds of music, but this song (in style and substance) is directly inspired by, and is dedicated to, my friends in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia. I was really pleased to have my friends from Rwanda join me on vocals.
This song is dedicated to Kenyanito Dudi and Spurgeons Academy in Nairobi; Greg Valerio, a good friend who was and is instrumental in our journey; Dr Jember Teferra, a remarkable woman who continues to teach me that 'justice' is really about People; and James Sharp and Paul Sanderson, great friends who have shaped and learned with me along the way.
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Coming home to you, coming home to you;
Life begins anew, all will be renewed;
All the good we see is just a mirror to what will be,
So let it all begin, celebrate and sing because…
The brutal voice of violence
Will be silenced finally
Will be silenced finally
And broken bones and mangled flesh
Will be set and fully healed;
Will be set and fully healed;
The violated victims will no longer be afraid,
And the ones whose crimes have terrorised
Might bow the knee and pray.
Might bow the knee and pray.
We’ll turn shotguns to shovels,
And knives to garden shears;
And knives to garden shears;
What was meant for mass destruction
Will transform to tools of peace;
Will transform to tools of peace;
And the governments whose orders
Have oppressed and raped and killed
Have oppressed and raped and killed
Will fall to face the judgment
While the celebration builds
While the celebration builds
The forgotten and abandoned
Will be honoured and embraced,
Will be honoured and embraced,
The broken and rejected
Will have their tears wiped away;
Will have their tears wiped away;
The lonely will have families
And the friendless will have friends,
And the friendless will have friends,
And those who seek asylum
Will find their home again.
Will find their home again.
And the hopelessness of poverty
Will turn to hope again
Will turn to hope again
As the desperate and the landless
Will have a stake to claim,
Will have a stake to claim,
And children won’t die
For a lack of things to eat
For a lack of things to eat
Cause everyone will have enough
As we share and eat the feast.
As we share and eat the feast.
All the tribes and nations
Will be gathered equally,
Will be gathered equally,
And take joy in their differences
And learn new ways to be;
And learn new ways to be;
And ‘us and them’ will be transformed
As kindred become one,
As kindred become one,
And all of those who’ve been oppressed
Will shine again like diamonds.
Will shine again like diamonds.
The groaning of creation
Will turn to joyful song
Will turn to joyful song
As humankind begins to care
As it should have always done,
As it should have always done,
And the healing of the earth
Will see us take our rightful place:
Will see us take our rightful place:
Creation
our cathedral,
An eternal place of praise
An eternal place of praise
The suffering of poverty
(Swallowed up, swallowed up)
The suffering of the lonely (Swallowed up, swallowed up)
The suffering of slavery (Swallowed up, swallowed up)
The shame of the guilty (Swallowed up, swallowed up)
The suffering of addiction
(Swallowed up, swallowed up)
Painful afflictions
(Swallowed up, swallowed up)
Brutalising violence
(Swallowed up, swallowed up)
Death and dying
(Swallowed up, swallowed up)
Death will be swallowed up (Swallowed up, swallowed up)
Death will be swallowed up
(Swallowed up, swallowed up)
Death will be swallowed up (Swallowed up, swallowed up)
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