Welcome Home!
Today is the Kakumba Home Coming Sunday, and we welcome in a special way those who are ‘coming home’. Many people from all over the world have associated with this day by sharing memories and testimonies. Looking back, some remember the strict discipline of choir leaders who forbade eating ‘mpafu’ during practice, then a very tall Sunday School teacher, others remember beginnings of youth groups. This special edition of the Bulletin samples some of the memories shared recently through various media channels. At the end of it all, many of us can well say, God Almighty has led us safely through it all.
The children of Israel were finally gathered into the Promised Land, after going through many challenging years of hard life in the wilderness wanderings. Many didn’t make it there, but those who arrived were full of testimonies and memories of all that the Lord had done for this chosen race. It was too much to tell in one event, and that why by law they had to celebrate the arrival into the Promised Land (the In-gathering) every year with a one-week long Feast; this was also called the Feast of Tabernacles, which reminded them that as they went throught it all in the wilderness, they dwelt in temporary shelters. At such a feast, Jesus taught many things and multitudes put their faith in Him. But some sinners were also there! One woman caught in the act of adultery towards the end of the feast was brought to Jesus and to her and to those who brought her Jesus preached covertly and overtly, ‘go and sin no more’. Many lives were thus transformed.
The fulfillment of the Feast of In-gathering in Jesus Christ will be when the children of God will finally be gathered into the final Promised Land in heaven. The Revelation goes,
Behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes…, Then one of the elders … said to me, “These are the ones… They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.” (Rev. 7:9-15)
The promise is sure and the hope is living. There will be great celebration and it will last endless ages. The Lord himself will receive us and say, “Welcome Home!”. The joyful feast today is a foretaste; Welcome Home!