Referendum: Clergy’s reconciliation role

The Clergy in Kenya has been at war with its flock. By the look of things the Clergy has miserably lost. According to the latest Strategic Research polls Kenyans will accept the Proposed Constitution with a big majority. No less than 66 % of registered voters will support the Proposed Constitution.Most of the voters are Christians who are telling the Clergy to keep off politics. Tempers are now high and instead of the religious leaders preaching peace, they have joined the YES-NO war of words; and unfortunately they have joined the losing side. Naturally they will lose face and a lot of respect.

The little support that is to be found in the “NO” camp is mainly made up of people who are unable to reconcile themselves going against the word of their church leaders. Yet some church leaders have forgotten a very major role they should be playing in the whole battle for “YES” or “NO” votes – that of reconciliation. It is not late for them to start preaching reconciliation according to the Bible which says:
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour,and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice"
--Ephesians 4:31
Throughout the referendum campaign period Kenyans were shocked to see religious leaders engage in words of bitterness openly through anger full of malice. The people who know the teachings of the Good Book looked at the leaders dressed in red gowns and realized they were not following the teaching of God. That is why the majority of them have decided to abandon their pastors and join hands to bring about the much needed change in this country. Kenyans know that among the leaders taking the “YES” stand are some very good Christians including 300 church leaders. Day in and day out the red-robbed church leaders have shown Kenyans that they can be very angry people; yet the Bible says:
"In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,"
--Ephesians 4:26
The sun in Kenya goes down every day with many angry church leaders setting very bad example to their flock. Because of the anger created by church leaders the country is torn apart. Without church leaders in the “NO” camp the people opposing the Proposed Constitution would have been just a handful led by William Ruto, Cyrus Jirongo, Daniel arap Moi, Naomi Shaban and Samuel Poghisio. The rest of Kenyans would have been in the “YES” camp as they did when they were giving their views to the Committee of Experts which wrote the Proposed Constitution according to the wishes of the people. Even if the religious leaders think the “YES” team is made up of sinners, they still seem to have forgotten what the Bible says about forgiveness:
"…and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us"
-- Matthew 6:12

Throughout the campaign church leaders in the “NO” camp showed very little willingness to forgive the people they thought were wrong. The stand taken by the Church leaders in the “NO” camp was so confrontational that people were moved with emotions with very little room for forgiveness. Even after the “YES” team is declared the winners on Thursday, Church leaders must come out as leaders of peace and preach forgiveness. The manner in which they have been behaving, as they moved in different groups to many parts of the country, they seemed to have very little room for forgiveness. Paradoxically, when the country overwhelmingly endorses the Proposed Constitution, it will be the Church leader who will need to be forgiven. The good Christians of Kenya must not be tired of forgiving each other for the Bible says:
"Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? [As many as] up to seven times? Jesus answered him, “I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven!"
-- Matthew 18:21-22

It is not too late to forgive. Even now when there are only three days left before the people of Kenya go to the ballot boxes to prove the Clergy wrong, religious leaders have an opportunity to bring the country together by asking both the “YES” camp and the “NO” camp to forgive one another. The new Constitution will drastically change the manner in which this country is governed but basically the country will remain the same. The people of Kenya will still be brothers and sisters. So the Clergy must seize the opportunity to preach forgiveness, for the Bible says:
"Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others."
-- Colossians 3:13

There are many stories that have been told about the real reason the Clergy in Kenya seems to have forgotten the word of God and started preaching hatred. American fundamentalist Rightist churches that want to use the referendum in Kenya to fight Barack Obama have openly said that they have given a lot of money to the Clergy in the “NO” camp. Despite all that, church leaders must now embark on the noble duty to make peace for the Bible says:
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
-- Matthew 5:9

Long after the country endorses the new Constitution the Kenya will need peace. Though the people have been taught bitter lessons during the post 2007 election clashes, there are still some leaders who have been threatening peace during the referendum campaigns. William Ruto and the retired President Daniel arap Moi have time and again warned that the endorsement of the Proposed Constitution would lead to chaos in the Rift Valley. So far the people of Rift Valley have behaved very admirably by refusing to be led to unnecessary confrontation with people they disagree with politically. Kenyans must always remember that peace is so important for us for the Good Book says:
The LORD blesses his people with peace.
--Psalm 29:11
Religious leaders should have been in the forefront to prepare the people of Kenya to vote peacefully on Wednesday; but listening to some of them leading prayers throughout the campaign period for the referendum was like listening to generals preparing soldiers to go to war. They were totally uncompromising.The future of this country will depend on peace. All the good things that are proposed by the Draft Constitution will not be able to be implemented in a situation that has no peace. Knowing the religious leaders well, Kenyans realize that they will be among the first to blame all sorts of people and institutions when the results are declared and they discover that they have been backing the wrong horse all this time. They must remember that with the New Constitution and peace the future is very bright for the Bible says:
Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.
-- Psalm 37:37
Even with peace the country will need unity to forget the animosity that has been preached by religious leaders. Even though the country will have a new Constitution in three days we are a divided people and the divisions have been brought about by what some religious leaders have been preaching. Despite all the animosity the religious leaders have been preaching, they still have time to obey God’s commandment which is found in the Bible:
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
--John 13:34-35
When all is said and done Kenya will remain one country with a new Constitution from Wednesday. The country must remain united and forgive the religious leaders because the Bible says:
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
-- Psalm 133:1