Archbishop (rtd) David M Gitari @76
I do pay tribute to my great friend, today rested and joined the church militant!
I grieve his death and pray for the family that he loved , the church he grew and the community cherished.
He always remained focused on his call to be a priest, but a prophet when called upon!
The Lord he served has plucked him, into the crowd of witnesses up above.
“There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so.
One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort.
For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it.
It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve — even in pain — the authentic relationship. Further more, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation.
But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.” (― Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Blessed be the name of The Lord.
Rev. Canon Francis Omondi.
30 September 2013
Basil Nyama
I pay my tribute to a great man, Rtd Archbishop Dr David Gitari. A man I came to know better while away at a Church-State relations consultation by the banks of the great River Nile. We talked and laughed and reflected over the true meaning of life, purpose of man here on earth and the place and role of the Christian and the Church in state and national affairs.
A very philosophical mind, he told me his story. From being “the stone that the Church rejected” to the very one that was yearned for to become a leader with roles at the All Saints Cathedral, NCCK and at the episcopate!
A man full of glamorous humor, Dr David Gitari tacitly confronted the ills of society with scriptural basis; he prayed and blessed. He walked with God and in God, just as part of this very fallen humanity and as part of the people of God, the forgiven sinners! He often upheld Anglicanism and Church tradition – true to which, and again in my presence – he was honored at the 1998 Pre-Lambeth Conference in Kent.
But perhaps best of all, he must be known for his ethical juggling of reason with scripture. This space is insufficient to enlist it all. I will miss my friend, especially when I will visit his Philadelphia Palace – a place of brotherly love.
I trust that the same name by which and in which and through which we who confess and profess our God-given salvation – the name of Jesus Christ, shall remain to be only means by which we will meet on that beautiful plain where “the sheep and the goats” of this world will eat and live in peace together for ever. Be there my friend, and say hi to my departed parents!
Fare thee well!
The Rev’d Capt. Basil Nyama.