A sermon for the deaf

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Kenyan Deaf Prayer and Learning
Siriat, Kenya

When I left Abilene a week ago, I didn't plan on preaching to a large group of deaf Christians in Kenyan Sign Language (KSL); it just kind of happened. Stephen Greek told me yesterday, after we had already spent a few hours at this conference for deaf Kenyan Christians, that I had four options:

1. I could continue working behind the scenes as I had been doing.
   
2. I could participate in a skit with him.
   
3. I could preach one of the conference sessions in English with Stephen translating into KSL.
   
4. I could preach one of the conference sessions in KSL by myself.
   

I was really leaning toward option 1. It was my job to make sure that all the conference attendees got registered as they showed up at the conference, and that was no easy task since they were all deaf, so it's not like I was feeling useless here. But my adventurous side thought it would be a good experience to do the skit with Steve, and I had resolved that that is what I would do.

But Reepicheep would have nothing of it. Reepicheep (the very honorable talking mouse from the Chronicles of Narnia) is sort of my own personification of the virtue of courage, and he just wouldn't shut up about option 4. And I finally realized that the mouse was right. The only reason I wasn't considering the preaching options was due to my own fear of failure and embarrassment, and that sounds a whole lot like cowardice, the brave mouse pointedly reminded me.

So, with a squeaky little voice admonishing from one shoulder and the Spirit of God gently urging from the other, I told Stephen that I would preach a sermon in KSL. Apparently Stephen wasn't as conflicted about the whole thing as I was because he told me that he had assumed that's what I would decide and he had already written me into the schedule for 3:15 the next day.

So, then the challenge became figuring out what message to bring to these deaf Kenyan brothers and sisters that would be both relevant to them and within my limited KSL vocabulary. I eventually decided to channel Dr. Seuss and do a "Green Eggs and Ham" style sermon on the topic of emptying our hearts so that God may fill us with His Spirit. The trick to giving a talk (or writing a book) with a limited vocabulary is to repeat certain patterns that use the same words (like Green Eggs and Ham does). So, I double-checked my few signs with Jerry and Stephen first, (which wasn't a whole lot of help because they each told me a different way to do each sign), and then I asked Stephen to interpret my signing into spoken English during the sermon so that I could make sure I was really saying what I thought I was saying. And, of course, they were always available during the sermon to help me out if I got stuck.

It was really nice that I got to preach the second day of the conference because I already had the chance to observe Jerry, Vernon, and Carl delivering their own talks. If I hadn't done that I would have thought that preaching a sermon in KSL just involved standing in front of the congregation and making signs with my hands that correspond to the English words I wanted to say, and that is absolutely not the way it works. Delivering a deaf sermon is more like a pantomime routine with some signs thrown in to convey the more abstract concepts. It is much more an exercise in theatre than in rhetoric, and it was lots of fun. We have some really amazing teachers in our group that I have learned so much from.

The rest of the KDPL conference has been a continual learning experience as well. The deaf Christians here are so patient with me and continue trying to communicate with me even when they have to finger spell every word. One guy just tried to tell me "Hello" last night, and when I didn't catch the sign at first he had to finger spell it three times before I figured it out. It was rather embarrassing.

Also, I somehow ended up with the job of interpreting for Nina Moore (one of deaf members of our team) as she was teaching a ladies Bible class. All of our real interpreters were otherwise occupied. There was a hearing woman in the class who didn't know sign language, so I was supposed to interpret Nina's signs into English for her. Nina was going very slowly, but even so, I could only catch about half of it. Fortunately, most of the class time was spent reading various Bible passages, so I just whipped out my Bible app on my iPod and let her follow along herself, and I think she did just fine. I wondered if she had ever seen an iPod before, but I didn't ask.

I am supposed to preach another sermon in Eldoret next Sunday, but it will be for hearing people. I think, though, that this experience today may help me with some of my anxiety. (Actually, I journalled on the airplane about my anxiety over the Eldoret sermon. Maybe I'll post that eventually.)

Lord, thank you for being faithful and for guiding me over my fear today and for loaning me your courage. Amen.