Our Journey

Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat began his address to the writers, editors and publishers at LittWorld in Nairobi by greeting us in his native language, Naandi, “Do you love yourself?” “Yes,” he taught us to respond. But the traditional greeting does not end there; it goes on to ask, “Do you really love yourself?” “Yes,” one responds, “I really love myself.”

And the gentleness and depth of his concern expressed in that simple greeting would have left me satisfied, but we were privileged to feast on more of his words.

He went on to say that in his native tongue there are two distinct words for conversation. One simply denotes “chattering about” but the other refers to the deep conversation of old people sitting under a tree. The word for that deep conversation literally means, “we are eating words”. And, he said, as Christians we have a responsibility to feed each other words that build one another up, that nourish and feed because we are, after all, people of the Word. And as writers and publishers we are the people who prepare the words that others eat.

Ambassador Kiplagat’s career has been in peacemaking, a role he sees as central to the gospel and Christian faith, http://tinyurl.com/ydoznot. He followed the same metaphor of “eating words” to explain the process of reconciliation. When he mediates two sides of a conflict, each side must be allowed to vomit out all the words of hate, discrimination and anger that have poisoned and wounded them. And the opposing side must listen, allowing the to land in between them and on them without rebuttal, explanation or apology. Then the second side will have the opportunity to vomit all their words.

The second stage of reconciliation is the rebuttal. After all the vomiting is done, each side has a chance to correct, amend or refute. Then, and only then, can the two sides mix with one another, on the condition that they will choose their words carefully, words that nourish. And after an agreed upon blessing or ceremony to seal this reconciliation, all the persons have the responsibility to take these new words, words of peace, back to their communities to continue the work of healing and reconciliation.

Kiplagat explained the current situation in Sudan as he understood it and described the complexities of the conflict. But the greatest moment came when he was asked how he brings his faith to bear on his public life and how he keeps his faith alive in light of the violence he has seen. With the slightest pause, he responded gently and matter-of-factly, “I do three things. I spend time in my worshipping community every week – even if I’m bored, if I don’t like the preaching; I go every week to hear the Word of God read. Secondly, I read scripture every morning, ‘eating it’, moving from Genesis to Revelation. And I live my faith the whole week long, integrating it into my life.

“These things I do because I believe we are all children of God, from the driver to the President. We can say that we care about the world, but it means nothing if we do not care about the person next to us… every human encounter is sacred.”

The Ambassador stood tall, trim and at ease, speaking without rush or need to impress. His wiry gray hair brushed back but poofy. He never raised his voice but it was never monotone. He didn’t use superlatives because tone made them unnecessary. He didn’t romanticize people or glamorize his role. He simply bore witness to the power of the human word and the Word.

I made a point to shake his hand afterwards. All I could say was, “thank you”. He hugged me and smiled, as if knew what I wanted to say and that was enough. Each human encounter is sacred.