Celebration of Kwanzaa

Good morning, happy Thursday and blessings my dear Holyrood family.  Today we begin our celebration of Kwanzaa.

This is a gathering to celebrate Afro-descendant cultures and held between December 26 and January 1, with each day focused on one of the seven core values ​​or “'Nguzo Saba”, a candle is lit every day. 

Today I invite you to meditate in the first Kwanzaa candle and let’s meditate in the principle or value Umoja (Unit). And let’s recognize the need we have as individuals and as a church in general to cultivate Unity in diversity.

From chapter 4, in the book of Ephesians the apostle Paul expresses in his letter the new values ​​that are required for unity in the church. That is, we must not only hear and see what values ​​are expected but we must also put them into practice. Paul explains this through the book of Ephesians by telling us the four fundamental bases of the unity of the church: The unity of the church based on love; the unity of the church based on God; the unity of the church based on the diversity of ministries; and the unity of the church based on maturity and growth according.

After expressing these wonderful spiritual blessings, Paul urges believers to walk as is worthy of those who have been called to discipleship because this calling is a useful demonstration of Christian ethics. However, this does not mean that this diversity of functions causes disunity within the church, since it is usually thought that in order to be united an organization, its members must seem as close as possible to some kind of uniformity, but the apostle teaches us that all this diversity helps the church to complement itself in all its areas so that its members benefit each other.

Being together is not synonymous with unity, or in other words, it does not mean that by being together we will necessarily be unanimous. The Book of Acts 1: 1 shows that unity is the key to getting out of the crisis and moving towards sustained progress.  Jesus is giving us that key through the phrase "about anything."  In this sentence we find an important call to unity with purpose.  Jesus urges us to aim for the same goal, not to disperse our efforts, not to squander our talents, to focus on something that drives us to achieve a laudable goal and that is consistent with our reason for being.  Finally, it should be said that of all the above, it is only possible to emphasize the priority of a life of prayer.  There is no activity other than prayer.

For all this we will meet in community on Wednesday, January 1 at 2:00 pm to light the seven candles and reflect  in prayers on all these principles and thus continue to revitalize our church with unity in diversity.

Blessings

Tf. Luis +