Welcome to the #18daychallenge movement.
This is a movement committed to take 18 days to pray for Kenya in the words of the Kenya National Anthem using the KENYA NATIONAL ANTHEM DEVOTIONAL.
I know what you are thinking, the Anthem has 18 lines? Yes, it does. 18 lines to one of the most well thought, well articulated and potent prayers I have ever come across. And guess what, it is Kenyan through and through!
For many Kenyans the Kenyan National Anthem was introduced to us as law, as a compulsory component of the syllabus. We were taught to sing it since lower Primary School all through every education institution at the raising and sometimes at the lowering of the Kenyan flag. Not because we like the anthem, not because we even understood the anthem; but mostly because we did not have a choice.
Allow to reintroduce the Kenya National Anthem to you.
This Anthem is many things but for now I will let us in on two: It is a symbol of unity and it is a prayer.
The Kenya National Anthem is a symbol of unity. We only have one National Anthem for every tribe, every county, every individual in Kenya. When we sing it with pride, mostly during sporting events, we all sing one anthem. It brings us together, it binds us together.
Second and most important the Kenya National Anthem is a prayer, yes a prayer. If you sit down with the composers of the Anthem, yous see it shining in their eyes. The passion they have for the Anthem, and how sacred they hold it. How important they deem it, how precious they perceive it.
The Kenya National Anthem is a prayer. And the first line sets that out, just incase you are in doubt:
O God of all creation
We begin this potent prayer by raising our eyes up, our voices high to the God of all creation.
My challenge to you today, look for the words of the Kenya National Anthem, read through them slowly, reflectively. Then learn those words by heart: all three verses, the entire 18 lines. And next time you have an opportunity to sing the Anthem, pray through it. Pray to the God of all creation.
This is just the beginning of a journey for us as Kenyans, a journey of prayer, a journey to patriotism and nationalism.
Welcome to the a conscious singing of the Kenya National Anthem using the KENYA NATIONAL ANTHEM DEVOTIONAL.
