Saturday Night at the Vineyard

Before you get excited, Karen Vineyard is a church. It’s primarily made up of ex-pats and more affluent Kenyans. It’s where I go when there is a combined service at my church, which means it’s all in Swahili. They have a Saturday night service the last Saturday of every month. Judie and Esau (Judie’s friend from school) and I went on March 31.

I had been to three Sunday services at Vineyard but never a Saturday evening service. The service was held at a fancy prepatory school in Karen. The people who attend Karen Vineyard are from all over the world and represent many different protestant traditions. Karen Vineyard itself is more evangelical in nature.

First was the praise and worship, (modern gospel sounds from an iPod with the words projected on a screen), then we were asked to pray for one person as the spirit moved us as a group. Then we broke into small groups and prayed for one another. It was a very intimate and moving experience.

During the large group prayer one woman said of the woman we were praying over that she saw a tapestry, and that the woman was wrapped in it. The tapestry had a beautiful picture on the outside. But the woman who was wrapped in it only saw the knots on the back of the tapestry. The woman praying said, God see’s the tapestry, He sees your beauty and potential, He sees your heart. You see only the knots – your flaws and failures. It’s time to see what God sees. I know she was talking to the woman we were praying over, but she could have been talking about me. Maybe even most of the people in the room. Maybe even herself.

Don’t we all get blinded by our flaws and failures and fail to see what God sees… the beautiful creature He made!

Thanks Karen Vineyard… prayer is powerful!