Excelling in the grace…
Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift (Deut 16:16-17).
You are warmly welcome to Kakumba Chapel!
This is a new month and the beginning of the last quarter of the year; it’s time to start taking stock of the year’s performance: in school, students are warming up for decisive exams, while choirs and worship teams have begun preparations for Christmas celebrations with drama, dance and music. In this particular month, the Jews will observe their holiest day – Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and also the third feast of compulsory pilgrimage – Sukkot (the Feast of Ingathering / Tabernacles) which will end on 23rd October; in this feast, the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land is celebrated, especially the grace of God that sustained the Jews while they dwelt in tents during the wanderings in the Sinai desert. In the same spirit, Uganda celebrates her 54th independence anniversary. We also have the Kakumba Chapel Home Coming, to celebrate our journey and look ahead with hope. It is a new season indeed.
How do you observe such a season? Seasons come with challenges and opportunities, thus demanding spiritual alertness; enter this season with special prayers for direction to avoid needless panic. Some of you will take stock of your achievements and check where you are excelling and where you are lagging behind; there will be areas where you desire to excel. In his second letter, Paul describes how the Macedonian churches were excelling in their generosity in spite of their limitations. He observed on the other hand that the Corinthians were excelling in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in enthusiasm for the gospel, and in love for the servants of God and for one another. He then encouraged them to also excel in the grace of giving (2Cor 8:1-7). They had an opportunity and reason to be generous in that season.
Seek to excel in the grace of giving and generosity. This is another important way to observe this season, for many reasons: for the far God has brought us in the year, for our progressing children, for growth in career and the hope for more; and most importantly, for ultimate salvation that we access through Jesus Christ who visited us in body – full atonement achieved! And that’s not all; these ‘wanderings’ in the world (not my home) will culminate in the ultimate Feast of Ingathering when Jesus returns to usher his own to the ultimate Promised Land of eternal life.
God bless you.