Aaron Rusukira - Kumbaya

Topic: Theology - Seventh-day Adventists
Adventists were spiritual descendants of the William Miller who used the Book of Daniel to calculate the world would end sometime between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. [1] His followers were disappointed when the sun continued to rise, but not all renounced his fundamental beliefs.

Hiram Edson had a vision that Miller’s only error was thinking Christ would come to Earth. Instead, Edson argued he entered a new, more sacred place in Heaven on 22 October 1844 [2] to prepare for his Second Coming. [3]

Edson’s ideas spread through the network of meetings and publications that had formed in the early 1840s, and were accepted by Ellen White, mentioned in the post for 29 November 2017, who joined a group of Millerites in Battle Creek, Michigan. The evangelistic group sent a missionary to Switzerland in 1874. The first to arrive in Africa were Germans in Tangyankia in 1903. [4] Today, 39% of all Seventh-day Adventists live in Africa south of the Sahara. [5]

Gary Land said, Adventist leaders saw health care as the attraction that brought potential converts to the missions. [6] Alvin Masarira, who grew up in Zimbabwe, would have dismissed that cost accountant’s view as too simplistic. He argued the appeal of the medical care came from the similarity of African and Adventist beliefs regarding the body. He noted, Africans believed "One’s physical, emotional and spiritual aspects are intricately intertwined." There was no separation of secular and sacred spheres: "religion and faith must speak to all aspects of life." [7]

Masarira thought the SDA attitude toward congregations was equally important. In Zimbabwe, the Shona saw church as an extension of their families with whom they spent "a lot of time." He wrote:

"It is common practice for us to spend Sabbath at church or in church activities (morning Sabbath school and worship services, lunch at church with fellow believers, afternoon program until Sabbath vespers at sunset). This is how Adventists in Africa understand and practice the concept of family and community: the Adventist family is a close unit that has an intricate role to play during moments of joy as well as times of sorrow." [8]

Nehemiah Nyaundi found in Kenya that Adventist preachers sometimes did not accept converts who maintained older beliefs. He said, many still consulted seers because "cultural beliefs lead society to turn to mystical personalities who are called upon to interpret situations, foretell the future, or to unfold secrets." [9]

Neither Masarira nor Nyaundi mentioned White, the woman whose visions were central to the formation of the church in Battle Creek. Michael Gelfand noted that, after years working in Zimbabwe as a physician, "The Shona accepts revelation through their mediums in a way that is not completely different from" Jews in the Old Testament. [10] Masarira also mentioned the similarities between Shona and Jewish beliefs as another attraction of Adventism in Zimbabwe. [11]

The Adventist attitude toward death also must been important. They argued the "person becomes nonexistent until the resurrection of the dead." Then the unsaved do not go to Hell, but are destroyed. [12] Gelfand noted:

"The Shona show no concern over retribution in the world to come. Punishment for ritual offences is meted out in this world. Once a person dies, no matter what his record on earth, his spirit does not suffer in the next world, except by being forgotten by the living." [13]

He classed the spirits into two large groups: the village and family spirits who were addressed through prayers and the ones controlling health and witchcraft who required more complex rituals. The prayers were led by the senior men in families or the sons of fathers’ sisters, and served to strengthen kinship ties. [14] He added:

"Such prayers are said with great decorum. While he prays, the minister’s head and shoulders are wrapped in a black cloth (jira) not unlike the praying shawl worn by the Jew." [15]

Shona rituals used a mbira [16] and drums to call the spirits, who only appeared "if the mbira music so moves them." [17] Aaron Rusukira, an Adventist minister from the Kangara region, used an organ and drum set in a similar way in a prayer he recorded using "Kumbaya" in 2011. In the first four and a half minutes, he spoke over the singing. In the last three and a half, only the organ and drums accompanied him. One would guess, the singing in English and his speech in Shona invited the spirits, and the last part assumed they had arrived and were listening in Shona.

Rusukira identified himself as a village preacher who was making a "plea to God on behalf of various people who are going through the pain and difficulties of life." Several of the viewers who commented on YouTube made clear he was praying for them. [18]

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Aaron Rusukira, speaking
Vocal Group: unidentified group

Instrumental Accompaniment: organ, or similar electronic keyboard

Rhythm Accompaniment: muffled drum on downbeat, cymbal on upbeat

Credits
YouTube Notes: "Kumbaya" is a variation of a word that generally means "Come By Here."

Notes on Lyrics
Language: Rurukira’s speech was in Shona, with only the final "amen" in English. The singing was in English.

Pronunciation: kum-by-YAH, with an obvious short-short-long rhythm

Verses: kumbaya, praying, crying

Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none

Basic Form: two verses and kumbaya, each repeated twice

Verse Repetition Pattern: ABBCCA
Ending: none
Unique Features: none

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderate to match his speech

Basic Structure: strophic repetition. Both the organ and singers began a phrase on one note, then continued in parallel thirds.

Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for final "Lord."

Speaking Style: Rusukira said he performed gospel poetry, or gospoetry. [19] Any poetic techniques were impossible to appreciate in a different language, but he did pause between phrases. His voice, like the music, maintained an even dynamic level.

Audience Perceptions:
Among the comments on YouTube that confirmed Rurukira was saying a prayer were:

"praying for others ,a great gesture pastor." (Oswald Mankanya. 2014. In English.)

"someone out there is praying for me, thank you God for hearing all our prayers..............Amen Pastor." (Tinotenda Chimanga. 2012. In English.)

"What a prayer, our world needs more preachers like hIm. My the Lord bless you pastor." (maz lala. 2011. In English.)

"Amen. You are there praying for me so I am there. You too are the one who is praying for you. Let’s all embrace each one worshiping the Worshiper together in heaven together. Amen the pastor." (Proud Mbano. 2015. In Shona translated awkwardly by Google Translate.)

Notes on Performers
Aaron Rusukira was raised in Masvingo [20] in southeast Zimbabwe where the Karanga were the dominant Shona group. [21] After earning a Bachelor’s degree in biology and theology from the Adventist’s Solusi University in Bulawayo, he did graduate work at the Sunnyside branch of the University of South Africa. [22]

His Facebook page on 9 November 2017 included a photograph of him visiting the restored White home in Battle Creek.

Availability
YouTube: uploaded by zimsda on 7 May 2011.

End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "William Miller (Preacher).

2. Samuel Snow refined Miller’s calculations to identify the exact date for Christ’s arrival. (Wikipedia, Miller)

3. Wikipedia. "Hiram Edson."
4. Wikipedia. "Adventist Mission."

5. "Church Membership by World Divisions." 2016 Annual Statistical Report. Silver Spring, Maryland: Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, revised 2 February 2017. 4. Adventists represented about 10% of the population over age 14 in Zimbabwe. Since the church requires full immersion baptism be given only after proof an individual understood the religion, few under 14 would have been listed as members, though they may have attended services with their parents.

6. Gary Land. Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-Day Adventists. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005. 145.

7. Alvin Masarira. "What the West Doesn’t Understand About the Adventist Church in Africa." Adventist Today website.

8. Masarira.

9. Nehemiah M. Nyaundi. "The challenge to ‘Growing in Christ’ in Africa." Ministry Magazine, October 2007.

10. M. Gelfand. "The Shona Religion." Journal of the University of Zimbabwe 1(1):37-45 plus unnumbered pages of photos. Gelfand was a Jew raised in South Africa. (Wikipedia. "Michael Gelfand.")

11. Masarira wrote: "the African culture tends to resonate more with the Jewish culture, which forms the background of the Biblical narrative. It helps to explains how Africans understand the Bible’s definition of gender roles in the family and church, as well as family structures or leadership issues (both in society and in the church)."

12. Land. 77. A former Methodist, George Storrs. introduced the ideas of Conditional Immortality and Annihilationism. They were too radical for some, who formed a separate Adventist denomination.

13. Gelfand. 43.
14. Gelfand. 43.
15. Gelfand. 43.

16. The mbira or thumb piano was mentioned in the post for 18 October 2017. Unlike Nina Simone, the Shona treated it as a sacred, not a secular instrument.

17. Stuart Carduner. "Shona Music and Shona Spirituality." Tinotenda website.

18. YouTube notes.

19. "Zimbabwe: ‘Village Preacher’ to Release New Album." All Africa website. 2 November 2016.

20. "About Aaron Rusukira Pastor." Facebook.
21. Wikipedia. "Masvingo."
22. Rusukira, Facebook.