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Cf. Press Release PR-04-04 of 5 April 2004
Cf. News Update UP-04-18 of 8 April 2004
In a world that seems to have become a prisoner of fear, the message of Easter is highly relevant today according to Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.
On the first leg (8-15 April) of his first visit to Africa as WCC general secretary, Kobia was speaking on Easter Sunday at the Lavington United Church in Nairobi, Kenya. The second leg of the WCC visit will take Kobia to Rwanda (16-18 April).
“Today we are living a broken world. A world where violence has reached most threatening proportions,” he told the Lavington congregation. And the consequence, he said, is that “humanity has become a hostage of fear”.
Noting that the start, the combattants and the end of wars were easier to determine in the past, Kobia pointed out that “victims of today’s violence are more often civilians, particularly women and children". In addition, nuclear proliferation causes enormous fear, while people have become more security-conscious than ever before.
Recalling Jesus’ words after his resurrection, “Be not afraid, you have nothing to fear”, he noted that the Easter message points to the fact that, through his resurrection, Jesus Christ has conquered death and also the "great curse" of fear.
Kobia also addressed the situation in Kenya, his home country. “Kenyans always wanted a leadership whom they could trust with governing this country. They got it, but suddenly, they are afraid of what might happen if internal squabbles continue to intensify to a point where things fall apart," he said.
A former general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), Kobia advised politicians to "refrain from their self-serving enterprises”, and to "stop the wrangling, get their act together and get down to implementing their campaign promises to the benefit of all Kenyans”.
Rape of children: a spiritual matter
Earlier, at a press conference held shortly after his arrival, the WCC general secretary had addressed the increasing incidence in Kenya and much of Africa of the rape of children.
This trend is “an abomination to the sanctity of life, an open disgrace to God and the human community,” he said. The abuse and molestation of children “is a grave crime, whose impact will have deep consequences in the soul and psyche of generations to come,” he added.
Kobia pointed out that in Africa “we have always had a sacred regard for children as a gift from God. It is not only un-African but also inhuman to see how the African girl child is helpless in the hands of rapists and murderers.”
Rape as a weapon of war “is not just an issue which can be faced with legal retribution, but must also be understood as a spiritual matter,” he stressed, adding that the worth of any given society is shown in “the way it treats the most vulnerable among its people, especially children”.
100 days in office
Last Saturday, Kobia marked his first 100 days as WCC general secretary by visiting his home and joining a festive celebration of Kianjai villagers in Meru district, some 200 kilometres east of Nairobi. Celebrating a unique achievement by one of their own, the villagers greeted Kobia with ululations and prayers, songs and poems.
“I felt that as I started my official visits, I should go back to my roots and receive blessing from my parents,” Kobia commented after the celebration.
The same spirit prevailed at the Lavington United Church in Nairobi, which for 10 years had been Kobia’s church. “Being re-united with my congregation is simply empowering and energizing,” he commented at the end of the Easter service, which was presided over by the Kenyan Methodist presiding bishop M'Impwii Stephen Kanyaru.
Originally expected to be part of the WCC delegation visiting Kenya and Rwanda, the WCC central committee moderator, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, was finally unable to join the delegation.
Free high-resolution photos of the visit available at:
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/kenya-rwanda-visit.html
An interview with Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia on the occasion of his first 100 days in office is available at:
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