Give me the Good News

Today we study the effect of the media on public perceptions. And how bad news sells and good news is “not in the media interest”. And so I am choosing to tell some good news stories: the stories of how people of Belfast are actively crossing the walls that divide their society.


Fr Gerry Reynolds inspired the Clonard Reconciliation Project. This is run from the Clonard Monastery in the heart of troubled Shankhill/Falls roads neighbourhood. Here is a Roman Catholic initiative that reaches out to the other churches in their neighbourhood. They invite their congregation members to “become a unity pilgrim in your parish for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel. …join in a Sunday morning pilgrimage to a Protestant congregation which is willing to welcome us.”. They go in small groups to visit the morning services of Shankhill Methodist/St Matthew’s Shankill Road/Woodvale Presbyterian, and another 37 different congregations.

We met Robbie, who is one of those who has made this pilgrimage. Who wondered why people found the divisions so important. Who was able to say that when a person has met Jesus they can see beyond the divisions. And who is completely perplexed at the theological differences that become a stumbling block to Christian unity. “Get rid of all this rubbish that keeps us apart. We belong together”.

Peace Walls

Yesterday I went to Belfast. And found huge walls/fences separating the city. They are called "Peace Walls".





The community divides into Protestant/Catholic, Loyalist/Republican, Rangers/Celtic, Sinn Fein/DUP. These ancient divisions are traced to economic, religious and political roots – and are loosely referred to as “the troubles”.

Somewhere in the dim and distant past, people of Celtic and Roman religious roots had to live on the same land. People who owed loyalty to Great Britain, and people who wanted independence had to live side by side. And people who were indigenous to the land and people who were brought in from Scotland had to live side by side. And people who were traders and people who were workers had to live side by side. And they all slowly coalesced into two competing groups of people. And for generations the only way they have lived together was in conflict. Northern Ireland divided their communities, and their religious observances, and their political perspectives, and their football teams.

And then the glimmerings of a miracle: the elected leaders of these groupings have shaken hands and taken up seats side by side in governing Northern Ireland. But this is only the beginning. Because there is so much work to be done on the ground. There are “Peace Walls” separating people from one another. What an abuse of the English language! The lesson of South Africa’s history is that walls never bring peace. Walls keep people apart. And at some point the walls need to come down and people will have to find each other as neighbours.

So pray that these security separations may come down, and that spaces between people may be filled with peace.

Where?

and in case you do not know where Corrymeela is - it is just outside Ballycastle.

Corrymeela

I am now at Corrymeela. And waiting for the students to arrive from the airport. They fly in from different parts of England. Corrymeela is a Christian community committed to bringin healing in society - and we hope to add to this dream.

Cricket

York vs Kent at Scarborough.
John and Sue Culver took me to a day of county cricket. Scarborough Cricket Ground is small and intimate. £15 for a day of ribald commentary from the old gents sitting at the back on their deck chairs, passionate crowds who clearly wanted York to win, dark threatening clouds overhead, and beer. Oh yes – cricket.

We sat on the wooden benches and joined the comments on the performance of the cricketers. We also ate hot chips, and drank a variety of beverages. In the afternoon the heavens opened and everyone scurried to the bar to shelter from the rain. More comments about the weather, and the game, and the weather, and the state of the pitch, and the weather, and the calibre of the players, and the weather. Until it became clear that there would be no more cricket because the outfield was collecting water.

A cheerful crowd wound its way out of the grounds – the old timers to the nearby fish and chip shop where they will get a pensioners discount. Local cricket is just great.

(Wouldn’t it be wonderful if local church was as good?)

Silence with St Benedict

I have spent three days at Ampleforth Abbey. This Benedictine Abbey is set in beautiful Yorkshire countryside, which I both ran and walked in exploration. There is a 4.8 tonne bell to summon us to worship, offices are accompanied by a 5000 pipe organ; Vespers are in Latin; and the food is a new adventure: rice pudding must have some jam mixed into it.

I used this time for preparing for the Summer School in Northern Ireland. I am to present information on the Truth and Reconciliation process of South Africa. I also lead some Bible Studies, and preach at the closing Eucharist. The Bible Studies will be looking at Conflict (Luke 9:46-55) and Leadership (John 18:33-38) while my closing word will be one of encouraging the students to discover the call of God to bring healing to our world.

I loved sitting with the monks at 6am Matins – and knowing that around the world there are people praying as the sun rises. I ask that those who pray might know that God holds us together, irrespective of how we pray, what words we use, or what images we need in order to assist our prayers.

Row your Boat....

My friend Rory Dalgliesh treated me to the rare privilege of a trip down the River Ouse. The Romans sailed up this river and built York as a fort, complete with wall and gate. And when they left, the Vikings sailed up the river and made their acquaintance with the locals.

Rory belongs to the Canoeing Club and took out a canoe for the two of us. We set out in the rain, but this English rain is soft, without wind, and not cold. We paddled with the stream (river) and soon were passing through the town of York. The city looks completely different from the water. The flood water mark is visible on the walls of buildings along the river – and Rory told me that one bar stops serving when the water comes over the bar counter.

Past the Archbishop’s Palace (yes it is huge) and past beautiful riverside homes with large manicured lawns and the boat moored at the private dock outside. There was a dinghy race, with sailors vainly seeking wind, river cruise boats with the rich clutching drinks, and river house boats where people live.

We ended in glorious sunshine, at the lock, where the first effects of the sea-tide are felt. Thank you Rory for a great day.

Oh yes – not everyone is as happy as I am with the water.
Please pray for the many, many people along the western side of England who are suffering from too much water. Floods have driven people out of their homes, and thousands are without drinking water.

Mary and Martha

Yesterday I preached at Haxby and Wiggington Methodist Church. I believe it is always a privilege to be invited into people's lives, and I do not take this lightly. It is also amazing to cross cultures and still be asked for a religious opinion. I do not believe that I have any right to presume to know about York and how Christian people in York should live. So the best I could do was to reflect on what it means to be a Christian in South Africa. I have included an edited version of the sermon so that you can see what I said:

Text: Luke 10: 38-42

The story, of Mary and Martha seems seems to be a story about laziness:
Here is Martha working hard in the kitchen to prepare food for guests.
In the middle-eastern culture of hospitality there were probably more
than just Jesus the 12 disciples. It is no wonder that Luke tells us that
Martha ‘was distracted by all the preparations.’ The one person who could
have helped her was her sister Mary. But Mary is sitting in the lounge with all the guests – and so Martha is angry.

You would be too!

At first glance this seems to be a family squabble (which we all understand), But why write this story into our Holy Scriptures? There were plenty of other stories that never made it into this book – so why this one?

The fact that what seems to be a minor incident is remembered, tells us that there is more going on than we understand. I am convinced that this is one of the great moments of the New Testament. This is far more than a spat between sisters: This is a moment where Jesus challenges human prejudice.

We need a little background to this story.
Jesus lived in a culture where only the men talked about religious matters. Each man was expected to talk to his wife about the religious practices of his family – but only men would talk in public. It was thought that women were incapable of understanding the things of God. There is a well known prayer of a rabbi who prayed: “I thank you Lord that I was not born a dog or a woman” .because he would not be able to pray to God.

So here is the situation:
Jesus is sitting teaching about the things of God. And in a good middle-eastern household the women would have withdrawn to the kitchen and left their men to talk with the rabbi….And the kitchen here was probably a fire outside the home. So Martha withdraws, but Mary stays to listen to Jesus. Mary breaks the cultural taboos. She wants to hear the teachings. Martha then marches into this male circle and demands that Jesus should tell Mary to take up her culturally ordained place. And Jesus refuses to do this.
“Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her”

I believe that if it were not for moments like this, then all the women here today would have been back at home preparing Sunday tea while us men worshipped God.

Some thoughts:

1. Jesus did not make distinction in the religious participation of men and women. Gender was not an issue to Jesus (In fact let us be clear that Jesus did not have 12 men as his disciples. If you read the first few verses of Luke Chapter 8 you will find a list of the women disciples who accompanied Jesus too).
Let us get beyond the idea that somehow men are spiritually superior to women.

2. This is a story that speaks of Jesus welcoming people into his circle:
This particular instance it was a woman: but the underlying principle is that “All are welcome – and in particular those who our culture send to the kitchen of life”

I don’t know how things work here:
But South Africans have had to hear Jesus challenging our cultural habits that want to include some people – and send other people to the kitchen. We are learning to include people:

As you know, we had a cultural norm called Apartheid – where literally white people would sit in the lounge, and black people would be in the kitchen. And sadly this was part of the culture of the Christian Church. But the Gospel of Jesus has challenged us to repent of our ways. And we have learned to share the lounge together.

But there are other categories of people who we are still learning to include:
Such as
- Gay and Lesbian people
- refugees and asylum seekers
- poor people who do not live in formal housing and have regular income.
The issue is not one of whether we will be nice to people: I am convinced that my congregation will welcome anyone who walks through the door of the church.
My question is about what we do after this.

I know my members buy copies of the ‘Big Issue’ – but I often wonder if they actually stop to ask the seller her name. You see, when you ask a person’s name you bring them from the kitchen into the living room.

I know my congregation prays for countries that generate refugees – but will they invite a refugee family into their home for a meal: bring then from the fire outside the door into the warmth of a family.

The fact is that it is far easier to drop some money into a box than to make the effort to engage people. And while we might be kind to dogs and strangers, we only become Christ-followers when we make the effort to get up off our comfortable chairs and go to speak those who are in the kitchen.
Si I am inviting you to aks yourself - "Who are the people in my kitchen?"

Impermanence

King Henry Vlll resented Bolton Abbey – and burned it down.
He was afraid that it would become a place of opposition to his rule. It was independently wealthy, and supported many any people in the region. And he wanted the people to depend on the King’s charity – so that he could consolidate his power.
But despite the destroyed building, its community continued to worship. Today there is a plaque to commemorate 850 years of continuous worship on this site.

Who would have thought this when the Abbey was burning!

The Buddhists speak of the impermanence of everything in life: the rulers shall pass away, the buildings will decay, and the plans will become history. Our power as worshipping Christian communities is not vested in our buildings, or our connections to the rich and powerful, or our capacity to plan for the future. The only power we have lies in our capacity to let go; to renounce; to give up. When we are able to give up control, we have power over our fear; when we choose not to accumulate, we have the power to appreciate what we have; when we opt for humility, we deny power to the arrogant and proud; and when we choose to be peaceful we gain the power of love.

And all these are available when we allow the Spirit of Jesus into our dreams, our living, and our dying.

I've been to London and...?

...saw that the Church and the Parliament are right next to one another.
Of course the only reason this enormous church stands across the road from Parliament is so that the Government can keep an eye on the Church. This is not a new idea. Constantine did this 1700 years ago, and England’s King Henry Vlll followed suite. Parliament appoints the Archbishops, and the other Bishops, Canons and Deans. And the Queen is head of the Church.

As a South African this is familiar: the Apartheid Government understood the usefulness of a close relationship between church and state. At one time two brothers shared this responsibility – one as Prime Minister and the other as Moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church. The political ideology of Apartheid was blessed by the religious leaders of the Christian church.

As I watch this proximity of church and state I am acutely aware of how my Methodist colleagues revel in the close relationship between our Church and the current South African Government. A former Presiding Bishop, was overjoyed to be the pastor who presided over the marriage of Nelson Mandela to Graca Machel. Another former Presiding Bishop left our church to become the leader of the Pan African Congress. And many, many Methodist Ministers currently revel in their close relationship (often by blood and clan) with members of Parliament.

In London the members of Parliament could walk across the road to Westminster Abbey and talk with God… which I suspect would be seen as a novel concept.
Actually asking God about affairs of state…why, it’s preposterous!
Probably as preposterous as the Methodist leadership challenging Thabo Mbeki’s government about the silence on Zimbabwe’s crisis; and Hiv/Aids; and the hardships faced by refugees/illegal aliens in our country; and the greed of the upwardly mobile who are steadily increasing the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Pray for us to find the courage to move the front door of the church a little further away from the front door of parliament – so that we make some space for the perspectives of God to come between us.

Leaving

Tomorrow morning I get on a plane to London.
I have been invited to share in people’s lives:
• Saturday 21st I lead a workshop on “Reconciliation” with my good friend Rory Dalgliesh. This is organised by the York Institute for Community Theology.
• Sunday 22nd I preach at the Haxby Methodist Church
• 23-25 I spend in Ampleforth Abbey preparing for:
• Participating in a seven day retreat at the Corrymeela Community Centre in Northern Ireland. This is a Summer School programme and I will be leading some Bible Studies, reflecting on the South African lessons in reconciliation, and leading the closing Eucharist.
• 6th – 13th August will be spent with my daughter Jessica. Where this will be will depend on her mood: right now we are possibly going to Scotland.
• And then a weekend with another good friend Debbie Dargan.

I am honoured at the opportunity. And I am really excited….I really cannot maintain a ‘studied air of indifference to it all’.

So please pray for me – and for those who will put up with me.
I will keep you posted via this blog.

Changing Brands

I confess that I have changed allegiance.

After great joy at getting a new bike, I discovered that I had been sold a bike with a cracked frame - which caused great unhappiness. Needless to say I gave the bike back to the shop and after some delay got my money back. I then had an opportunity to buy another Tiger, but the owner was extremely rude to my wife, and I chose not to pursue this any further. Then my brother-in-law in Johannesburg persuaded me to look in Jo'burg. And with his assistance, the rest is history. See the attached photograph of my new bike.

The only problem is that it is in Johannesburg. So Jenny and I plan to fly to Jo'burg and ride the bike back over the September longweekend (22-24). Yahoo.

the only true church

And just when I thought it was safe to be with Roman Catholics….

This week Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church. He corrected the “erroneous interpretation” of Vatican Two that had dropped the Catholic Church’s insistence that there is no salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict writes that other Christian denominations are not true churches but are instead ecclesial communities and, therefore, do not have the “means of salvation”.

Asshole.
How can he think that belonging to his church guarantees salvation?
When will he discover that God loves all people - irrespective of the church, mosque, temple or tree they sit under?
And that God comes in search of people.
And that God does not require membership of a religious organisation to befriend human beings.
And that God chooses to save anyone God pleases - without first examining a membership card.
Asshole.

Neighbours

Yesterday I participated in a service celebrating the 70th birthday of the local Roman Catholic Church. Father Sannu was gracious in his welcome of the clergy from other church traditions. He concluded the service by presenting us each with candle to take back to our churches as a sign of our unity in Christ.

Then it was “tea after the service” in the Roman Catholic Church Hall. The four old ladies sat together. They had each collected their cup of tea, and an accompanying plate of eats – cake, scone, sandwich, koeksuster and samoosa. Now they were watching the crowd and passing comments between themselves. One was from the local church, the others were her neighbours: a Dutch Reformed member, an Anglican, and the third a Methodist. They shared one another’s churches. Whenever there was a function they all went together: “Today is the Catholic turn” they explained.

As I light the candle this Sunday I will remember the unity of these neighbours….and pray for an increase in neighbourliness between Christian traditions.

Questions and Answers

Johnny Nash is a singer of my youth. Using Bob Marley’s backing band, The Wailers, he gave me infectious reggae melodies that brought some style to my walk. Two of his songs describe my life over the past two weeks.

I have been in the mountains seeking God. I learned from a Buddhist teacher how to sit, and how to breathe, and how to be still. I spend two periods of five days each in silence, with a guided reflection in between the two times of silence. I became aware that my mind seeks distraction so that I can avoid facing the real issues deep inside of me. I found both challenge, and refuge in the silence. I have become quieter and my head has less buzz and chatter.

I am also aware that contemplating God is a bit like the flea describing an elephant. Somewhat brashly I thought that this could be a time of encounter with God and that I could come down from the mountain with clarity. This has proved to be illusive – hence the Johnny Nash song:

There are more questions than answers
Pictures in my mind that will not show
There are more questions than answers
And the more I find out the less I know
Yeah, the more I find out the less I know…..

I do not have answers for all my questions. In fact I have discovered some new questions. There is no shadow of doubt in my mind that God loves me. And that God is to be found wherever I struggle for justice, and work to alleviate human suffering. I do not have the answers for why people suffer, or why we seem to struggle with life, or why George Bush claims to have God on his side.

But at the same time my Creator encountered me. I sat in silence on a snow covered mountain and God came in search of me. I had glimpses of a Call on my life re-affirmed. And I knew moments of absolute trust in God. Above all I return to life convinced that following Jesus is the only way for me to live an authentic life.

Hence the second Johnny Nash song:

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun shiny day

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun shiny day

A Time to Pray

I have run dry…..worn thin……lost momentum.
I have given so much that I have nothing left to give.
So I am going to the mountains.
I will be at Dharmaragiri for the next two weeks.
This is a place of prayer located deep in the Drakensberg Mountains.
I will spend time in silence. And in reading. And in reflection and journalling.
And in walking the mountains.
Pray for me.

Now and then, set aside for yourself a day on which, without hindrance, you can be at leisure to praise God and to make amends for all the praise and thanksgiving you have neglected all the days of your life to render to God for all the good he has done. This will be a day of praising and thanksgiving and a day of jubilation, and you will celebrate the memory of that radiant praise with which you will be jubilant to the Lord for eternity, when you will be satisfied fully by the presence of God, and the glory of the Lord will fill your soul.

- Gertrude the Great
Spiritual Excercises, Quoted in "Essential Monastic Wisdom", by Hugh Feiss.

1976 June 16

This day is etched into the history of my country.
It is the day that the education of our children became the battle ground for socio-political change in our country. Schools closed, people marched in the streets, police and army units tried to restore order, and politicians and preachers pontificated.



The past two weeks - 31 years after the first June 16 protest - my country sees teachers on strike, children at home, people marching in the streets, politicians promising, and police and army units trying to keep the peace.

And I wonder?

• I wonder at how quickly the 1976 activists, now turned Cabinet Ministers, can forget what it is to struggle for life.
• I wonder why these cabinet ministers are so eager to accept their 30% pay rise, but insist that public servants should not even get a 10% increase.
• I wonder how the struggle veterans can be so dismayed at the militancy of the unions.
• I wonder why these “representatives of the people” should lock the doors of parliament last Friday when a peaceful march by the people reached parliament.

I wonder why we do not learn from the past.
And I wonder at the silence from the Christian clergy. Why do we not preach of these things, and pray publicly, and stand with our people. But in 1976, despite the outstanding leadership of a religious few, most of the local church was silent too.

Pray with me for our land….
God bless Africa
Guard our children
Guide our leaders
And grant us peace.

A Good American

Jen Tyler shared her day with me.
Jen is a student at Garrett Theological Seminary in Chicago. She is spending her summer (our winter) in South Africa to reflect on her inner promptings to live and work in Africa. And I have set up a programme that introduces her to the variety of cultures and people that make up our land.

So Jen spent the morning with me worshipping with “coloured” communities. These are people who walked to church in the pouring rain; people who choose to go to church because they need strength to cope with the harshness of cold wet winters; people who are currently on strike for better wages; people who sing for courage, and who huddle together for shared support.

And next weekend she will be in the Xhosa community of Masiphumelele. These are people who live in shacks made of corrugated iron and wood; rural people who have come to the city looking for the mythical “gold paved streets”; people who bring melodious songs and vibrant red and black church uniforms; people who will welcome this American export with warmth and joy.

And I want to believe that there are more Americans like Jen: because from the tip of Africa, most Americans appear to be insensitive to people who think differently, are unable to see their desire for world domination as sinful, and are unwilling to share their wealth – unless you think like an American.

Jen is not like this.
She is warm, caring, and genuinely interested in the people she meets. I believe that she will find a warm welcome here.

the Lord God made them all...

They are children trapped in old people’s bodies.
They are Joan, and Sharon, and Paddy, and oh so many others who live in a home just around the corner from me. Their bodies have lived faster than their minds. So they have inquisitive, playful, irresponsible, naughty, short tempered, kind, easily distracted childlike thoughts. But these thoughts are contained in bodies that have lived for fifty, sixty, seventy – and in once case ninety-three – years.

Life has been difficult for their families, as their parents have had to come to terms with a differently-abled child. And then the worry about providing for the future of a beloved child/adult. And then the heart-sore decision to place them in a home that can care for them in ways that an aging parent cannot. So there has been sadness.

But today was a birthday party. This home from home, Adam’s Farm, was turning ninety years old. I was invited to share cake and tea. I was invited because I have come to know them on Sunday Mornings. They come to church and sit in the pew halfway down on the right hand side of the church. This is “their” pew – and beware anyone who sits here by mistake. They will be told to move up, probably by Paddy. And when it comes to the part in the service when we celebrate special occasions one of them will claim a birthday (I am convinced that they decide in advance whose turn it is). And then Sharon will thank the congregation for praying for her family, and Joan will ask to sing “All things bright and beautiful”.

But they are good for our church. They remind us that God loves “all creatures great and small”. And their presence helps to knock the arrogance out of those of us who believe that our intellectual abilities can bring us closer to discovering God. And their participation is a wonderful reminder that we do not have to be “perfect” in order to be loved by God.

And so I shared in today’s service of thanksgiving. We sang “All things bright and beautiful”, and some prayed short uninhibited prayers about people we did not know but who were clearly loved by the child/adults, and then the happy clatter as we scrambled for the tea. And many pushed and shoved to get their pictures taken.

And I came home grateful for the blessing they brought into my day.

Dying

I am dying.
I think I have known this for some time.
I look in the mirror and see cells that are dying: my hair cells have given up trying to produce colour. My skin cells have slowed their regeneration. My knees ache when I run, my shoulders hurt when I play tennis. And my aging sinuses give me headaches when the weather changes.

I am reminded of dying when my beloved dog dies.
I am reminded of dying when I have one too many funerals for people I have loved.
I am reminded of dying when the Middle-East/Dafur/Iraq explodes once more into death and destruction.
I am reminded of dying when the Church I have worked for, and loved, for nearly 50 years shows (yet again) her capacity to squeeze the life out of me…
And I wonder what lies beyond death.

I choose to believe that the relationships of this life will reconnect after death.
I think that all of life is so sacred that death is not life’s grand destruction.
And so I believe in resurrection…..
….a resurrection of every life that has been lived – human, animal, plant, insect.
And I believe in redemption: that all of life is valuable and that no life is lost.
And that there will be things I still need to learn.
Some may have more to learn than others.
I imagine that Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe will have much more to learn about valuing life than say Desmond Tutu or Mahatma Gandhi.

This means that there are no harps and clouds, or 1000 virgins for every righteous man, or eternal rest, or thrones and golden crowns, or rewards for good behaviour. These are clearly projections of human longing. And heaven is not “above” and hell “below”. In fact there is no hell. Hell is probably meeting the one you called “enemy” and having to learn to be friends; or discovering that the one you condemned as an unbeliever is compassionately welcoming you to your next life.

I believe that God calls me to follow the way of Jesus as the most helpful way of learning my lessons, and living my life. And I will share the wonder and the passion I have found in the Jesus way of life with other searchers, in the hope that they too may grow in their spirits. And I will honour those who hear God calling them to follow a different spiritual path.

So this life extends beyond death. And the things I learn in this life will become useful in another life after my death. There is never a moment in this life that is wasted – because everything is useful. Both good and bad alike.
So bring it on.

Sheena 1/11/2000 - 19/05/2007

An Irish Setter.
But much more……
A running companion who would hop and skip while waiting for the lead to be clipped to her collar. True to her breed, she had endless energy and loved exercise.
A truly messy dog. She loved to lie in the sand, or rub herself through the bushes, coming into the kitchen with sticks in her feathering, and her long hair messed up like a nutty professor. Her permanently optimistic disposition was never put off by obstacles such as rain or wind. She would stand in the rain, or pant into the wind, until called inside.
A gentle spirit who loved being scratched behind her ears, or stroked on her face. She tried barking, but her “yip” was not enough to frighten anything – not even the tortoise.
An everhopeful spotter of squirrels in the back yard. Her task was to spot the squirrel so that Nugget, our Labrador/Great Dane, could set off after them. Together they prowled the garden keeping the small furry creatures in the tops of the trees.
An inquisitive, intelligent girl, who learned how to snatch a sandwich off the kitchen table, and to sneak down the passage in search of the cat’s food. She managed to look so contrite and bashful when caught, that Granny never thought her to be guilty. She loved fruit such as apples, banana and grapes. And biltong. In fact she loved eating.
Thank you for bringing joy to our lives for a time.

Winter is Coming

The rain is falling against the window pane next to my computer. Rain driven by the North-Westerly wind. The television weather woman has told us about the cold front marching on Cape Town from the South Pole, bringing heavy rain and gale-force winds. She added that there was a good probability of snow on the mountains that ring our city. Winter is coming.

The leaves on the grape vines are changing colour. Golden yellow orange turning to brown. So too are the oak trees. But their leaves are falling to the ground. Great heaps of them. I recently walked through them, kicking my way forward with the exuberance of a young boy. Remembering leaves as a sign that winter is coming.

The tortoise in our garden has slowed up. We fetched him a year ago from a farm near Carnarvon, where he was called Bloukrans. The family have taken to calling him “Tortie-boy”. All summer he ate his way voraciously through lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, and the back lawn. He would make his journey down the long driveway to stand against the back gate with his head through the bars peering across the road while he absorbed the sun. But now he emerges reluctantly from his home in the dog kennel to lie in the sun for a while. After nibbling a bit at his breakfast, he returns to his kennel. Because winter is coming.

And Sheenah, our beloved Irish Setter, is lying on the kitchen floor. Her red coat is matted with sweat and her eyes are exhausted. She has suffered from epileptic seizures over the past 18 months. Which have curtailed her enthusiastic, madly hopeful barking at the squirrels in the garden. But the fits are increasing in severity - 10 seizures in the past 24 hours. And the medication is not helping. I fear that her winter is coming.

And I sit like a rock in the grass, waiting for winter to wash over me.

Seven Secrets

I’ve been tagged by Denise to write seven things no one knows about me. It's blog tag. And I'm IT. And Denise is a wonderful writer (who is really worth visiting for her evocative writing)who has no problem with spilling the beans... Okay, little known facts about me…



One: I wish I was 10 kg lighter. I weigh 90kg, and used to weigh 80kg. That was when I was running 100km per week. But right now I am not running at all. I pretend that I am a runner by reading running magazines. But I am over my running weight and after more than 100 marathons the knees are sore and the spirit is not as disciplined as it used to be.
Two: I love writing. I feel free when words are being shaped, prodded and pushed through then ends of my fingers. I wish that I could take a year off and just write. But the responsibilities of a family, and of putting a roof over our heads and getting bread on the table are ever present. So I snatch at moments in between other things.
Three: I take great delight in initiating my daughters into the ways of men. Because they have no brothers, they need to discover that men burp loudly, that we swagger with style, that we turn up the sound when rugby/cricket/golf/tennis (in fact any sport) in on the television and we turn down the sound when Days of our Lives or Generations comes on. I take great delight in the collective groan when I begin my “manly” act.
Four: There are songs that make me cry: like when Katie Melua sings The Closest Thing to Crazy, and when Eva Cassidy sings Songbird. I cry when Ralph McTell sings Streets of London, and Johnny Cash sings Orphan of the Road.
Five: I sing to myself when I am driving. Often I sing along with the song playing on the CD or the radio. I also curse other drivers. And plead with God to open a space in the traffic for me.
Six: I have bookshelves filled with many, many biographies. I am inspired by reading the lives of other people. My favourites are the lives of Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu: Mr Mandela has autographed his book. Archbishop Tutu has inscribed his book to me and signed it. These are my heroes in life. I absolutely admire their integrity. And their unswerving commitment to justice. And their capacity for forgiveness and grace-filled living.
Seven. I hate it when someone says to me “I support your position” and then they are not willing to be with me when I act on my beliefs. This last weekend I was asked to leave my church’s Synod because of my support for blessing same-sex unions. Some of my friends and colleagues joined me in a public declaration of faith. But then some who kept quiet said privately that “they were with me”. No – you were not with me. I was in the water, and you were on the river bank. (as you can see I am just a bit raw at the moment).

So who to tag? I have some wonderful people who visit this site from time to time. And would love to discover more about you. Dion is a wonderful scholar and Vesper addict; Wessel has a beautiful wife and family; David lives in the north of Scotland, inspires my dreams of an emergent church – and of birds; Murray writes from England and plays an amazing new guitar; Gus reads books, plays guitar, and loves his wife/dogs; Steve runs a wonderful blogsite to challenge Stupid Church People; and suddenly I realise that this is very male…...so Becky the master’s English scholar, had better come to the party.

McD Christian Churches

Our consumer culture infests the Christian Church.
We who are deeply shaped by the need for instant gratification, want to use our Church as a place to buy instant happiness. I encounter new church members who want to join my church “because of the friendly atmosphere”, or “for the great music”, or “because of the excellent preaching” (I have colleagues who preach very well).
David Fisher writes that

The church is often seen as a place to receive goods and services rather than a body whose purpose it is to serve….Consumers of religion decide church affiliation on the basis of the best services available.
David Fisher in the 21st Century pastor p.77

I long for people who will say to me that they have come to us because Jesus has called them to be here. And that they are called to serve in our street people project, or to visit the retirement homes we care for, or that that they want to participate in our summer Youth Holiday Club.
I pray that we will resist our lust for spiritual orgasm. And instead be willing to commit to a lifestyle of obedience to God’s call.

3:00am

So it is the middle of the night.
And I woke up to see the light on and the computer running – well it hums away to itself. And upon further exploration found my daughter Lisa working on an essay in her room. And I despair of the modern youth. Because she has to submit a University assignment by tomorrow. And so last night (Saturday) she watched a DVD with the family in the lounge and painted. She is working on a trilogy of canvases depicting a girl dancing. And this morning (Sunday) she watched another DVD with her sister Amy. Then she went out to lunch to celebrate the birthday of a friend. They just had to go to Nandos in Camps Bay….in the pouring rain nogal. Then she came home and told the family she is stressed out because she has to submit this Religious Studies Assignment. “And I will be working all night so don’t ask me to do anything else”…like drive to the rental shop to return the DVDs that she had watched!

So now I am awake. And I went through to her room. And I read through her work and helped her make sense of what she is writing. It is an assignment of mysticism within the Muslim tradition. And what do I really know about Sufism anyway? But I tried, because she is my daughter and she is “stressing” and it does not really help to berate her now for socialising her weekend away. Although it is very tempting to say “But why did you not begin this on Friday?” I guess we were all young once. Except that this stuff makes me old. And once I am awake it is harder to get back to sleep than it used to be. So I sit and write

Imagining God

I grew up with a God who was on my side.
God helped me with class tests and conversation with girls. God was this Magical Male in heaven who had blessed me with a stable family, opportunity to study, and a wonderful (White’s only) beach to play on after school. I was dimly aware that things were not well in my country, but thought that if Black people really believed in God then they would stop rioting and knuckle down to gain a good education. And they would discover the joy of serving the Lord.

I have since realised that this was a God of my imagination. I projected my needs onto God – and viola: a God in my own image. Richard Rohr puts this well “God turned into a mirror image and projection of our own self”. (Simplicity: the Freedom of Letting Go New York, Crossroads Publishing 1991 pp21-22) Rohr continues:

In the end we produced what was typically a kind of tribal god. In America God looks like Uncle Sam, or Santa Claus, or in any case a white Anglo-Saxon. In England, God evokes the British Empire. A Swiss God, perhaps, resembles a banker or a psychologist….we find it very, very difficult to let God be God who’s greater than our culture and our projections…..and so we’ve created “God” to go on playing our games: a God who fits our system. A God who stands outside our system and who calls to us is something we can’t endure. Thus, for example, we’ve continually required a God who likes to play war just as much as we do. We’ve required a domineering God, because we ourselves like to dominate.

Once we realise that God is a projection of our own need we have one of two choices: either we reject the notion of “God” and plough our own furrow in life. This allows me to live life as I please, choosing my own beacons for direction. The other option is to seek a Divine Being larger than my personal imaginings. This option asks me to dissolve my personal ego-driven life into the possibility that there is more to life than I will ever understand. This asks me to allow for a God who is beyond my explanation. This asks me to submit my life to a Divine Will that is beyond my manipulation. A God who will take me to places that are alien, that will make me uncomfortable, and even afraid.

I choose to be drawn into life by the Unknown God.
And ask your prayers that I can occasionally glimpse signs of the promptings of the Divine Spirit.

Freedom Day

Today is Freedom Day for South Africa.
We were once a people divided by race, oppressed by hate, and trapped in fear. A miracle of transformation saw those who were once oppressed become the rulers of this land. Desmond Tutu coined the phrase “a rainbow nation” to describe our dream that this land should be a home for all who live here. We have eleven languages, people with roots in many different parts of the world, and a variety of social and political cultures.

But are we free?
The short answer is that we are only free when our neighbours are free too. Our Zimbabwean neighbours are (mis)ruled by a despotic President Robert Mugabe. Slightly further north are the fearful people of Darfur, who are terrorised by other Sudanese citizens intent on driving them off their land. And then there is the Congolese struggle for power between government and rebel forces. So we are not free while their citizens flee to find refuge in our country.

But are we free?
Another answer suggest that we are not free while some South Africans live comfortably with access to education, work, and healthcare, and many others struggle to survive. While people face the ravages of HIV/Aids, TB, hunger, rampant crime, and homelessness, we are not free.

But are we free?
I see the greedy self-interest that drives many of the newly elected Parliamentary representatives and Government officials. I note the lucrative bonus incentives given to the newly appointed board members of large corporate business – the same businesses who pay minimum wages to their workers. I despair at the consumer society that traps our children into thinking that PS3 and Motorola, Disney and MacDonald, Paris Hilton and Beyonce, are the desired objects of their affection. And I am aware of the passion for sport that drives our nation to national despair when our teams lose. We do not live live with joyful freedom.

So what is it to be free?
Richard Rohr observes that true freedom is when we learn to let go. We are free only when we let go of our limited image of God, and discover a God beyond our controlling explanations. We are free when we abandon our self-centred individualism, and embrace the community around us. We are set free when we discover that the rule of God is far bigger than the Christian church. And we are free when we abandon prayer as a spiritual duty and discover the gift of silence. (Richard Rohr Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go).

Pray for me that I may be free.
And pray for my land – that we may never abandon the dream to be a Rainbow Nation.

The People formerly known as the Congregation

Let me introduce you to Bill Kinnon The People formerly known as The Congregation.
He wrote a comment on the church that has swiftly spread across the bloggosphere:

There are millions of us. We are people - flesh and blood - image bearers of the Creator - eikons, if you will. We are not numbers.
We are the eikons who once sat in the uncomfortable pews or plush theatre seating of your preaching venues. We sat passively while you proof-texted your way through 3, 4, 5 or no point sermons - attempting to tell us how you and your reading of The Bible had a plan for our lives. Perhaps God does have a plan for us - it just doesn't seem to jive with yours.
Money was a great concern. And, for a moment, we believed you when you told us God would reward us for our tithes - or curse us if we didn't. The Law is just so much easier to preach than Grace. My goodness, if you told us that the 1st century church held everything in common - you might be accused of being a socialist - and of course, capitalism is a direct gift from God. Please further note: Malachi 3 is speaking to the priests of Israel. They weren't the cheerful givers God speaks of loving.
We grew weary from your Edifice Complex pathologies - building projects more important than the people in your neighbourhood...or in your pews. It wasn't God telling you to "enlarge the place of your tent" - it was your ego. And, by the way, a multi-million dollar, state of the art building is hardly a tent.
We no longer buy your call to be "fastest growing" church in wherever. That is your need. You want a bigger audience. We won't be part of one.
Our ears are still ringing from the volume, but...Jesus is not our boyfriend - and we will no longer sing your silly love songs that suggest He is. Happy clappy tunes bear no witness to the reality of the world we live in, the powers and principalities we confront, or are worthy of the one we proclaim King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You offered us a myriad of programs to join - volunteer positions to assuage our desire to be connected. We could be greeters, parking lot attendants, coffee baristas, book store helpers, children's ministry workers, media ministry drones - whatever you needed to fulfill your dreams of corporate glory. Perhaps you've noticed, we aren't there anymore.
We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We have not stopped loving the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nor do we avoid "the assembling of the saints." We just don't assemble under your supposed leadership. We meet in coffee shops, around dinner tables, in the parks and on the streets. We connect virtually across space and time - engaged in generative conversations - teaching and being taught.
We live amongst our neighbours, in their homes and they in ours. We laugh and cry and really live - without the need to have you teach us how - by reading your ridiculous books or listening to your supercilious CDs or podcasts.
We don't deny Paul's description of APEPT leadership - Ephesians 4:11. We just see it in the light of Jesus' teaching in Mark 10 and Matthew 20 - servant leadership. We truly long for the release of servant leading men and women into our gifts as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. We believe in Peter's words that describe us all as priests. Not just some, not just one gender.
We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We do not hate you. Though some of us bear the wounds you have inflicted. Many of you are our brothers and our sisters, misguided by the systems you inhabit, intoxicated by the power - yet still members of our family. (Though some are truly wolves in sheep's clothing.)
And, as The People formerly known as The Congregation, we invite you to join us on this great adventure. To boldly go where the Spirit leads us. To marvel at what the Father is doing in the communities where He has placed us. To live the love that Jesus shows us.
http://www.kinnon.tv/2007/03/the_people_form.html

Baptiszo Sum

Christian Baptism – traditionally the sign of welcome into the Church – has become a place of exclusion

I participate in a tradition that practices infant baptism. We baptise babies as a sign that God’s Grace is at work in our lives before we even know that there is a Divine Spirit. I willingly embrace the idea that we do not find God, but rather that it is God who comes in search of us. I believe that infant baptism is a wonderful, symbolic way of expressing this.

Yet at the same time my church’s Laws and Disciplines make it so hard for parents to baptise their children. We ask that at least one of the parents be a “full member in good standing” with our denomination. And we have ways of determining how this requirement is fulfilled. We look for membership promises, regular church attendance, committed financial support for the local church, marriage, community acceptance, and a host of other unwritten values. And this works well for those who are “inside the club”. But this makes access to baptism very hard for those who are on the margins : single parents, people who cannot afford church dues, those in relationships outside of heterosexual marriage – and especially those who have drifted from regular church attendance!

We justify this by saying that for infant baptism to be meaningful, the parents must show evidence of a capacity to keep their promises: “prove that you are able to get over the bar and we will reward you with our religious ritual”. Something that should tell of a Godly encounter, has become a reward for religious success. And we get to be the judge of someone’s spirituality. A ceremony that should speak of welcome, has become a moment of exclusion.

And I am no longer in the same place as my church tradition.
I am awed when someone comes to me and asks to make a public commitment to being a good parent. I am overjoyed when someone wants me to pray God’s blessing over the life of their child. I am humbled that someone should want their child to be welcomed into the Christian Church. And I will no longer set up hoops for you to jump through before you are welcome. I will willingly baptise your child.

Unexpected Grace

Peter is a drunk.
He guards cars in the street outside my office during the day. And then at night he drinks. He has a bedroll, which he unrolls in a dark corner of the church garden. And alcohol gets him through the night. Increasingly he is using alcohol to get him through the day too.

Peter is a qualified boilermaker, who used to work on oil rigs making good money. He has a 12 year old daughter who lives with foster parents, and does not know about him. Last year he hitch-hiked to her home so that he could see her. She was at school when he visited her foster parents. Peter told me about the prizes she had won at school, and how proud he was of her. He stood across the road from her home and watched her return from school – but did not speak to her.

Peter often tells me that he is going to reform his life: “After Christmas”, and then “In the New year”. And more recently “I will be at church on Good Friday, and then I will stop drinking”. Most of the time his only contact with the church is to use our garden as his toilet. Recently in a drunken rage he threw his bedroll into the church garden and damaged a flower bed that a church couple had nurtured to life in memory of their son. And I had to explain to them that this damage was not vindictive, and that street people are loved by God too. But I am finding this hard to believe. And I am exasperated by him.

And yet….
Today I met a young unmarried mother who has been thrown out of her home and who now lives with her grandmother. They survive on a welfare grant, in a tiny city council apartment. She desperately hangs on to life, and admits to crying herself to sleep at night. “So how do you get through the month?” I ask. She replied:
“Well, I met Peter in the road. And he said I should come to you for counselling. He also gives me money from what he makes as a car guard”.
And I learned a lesson about the grace of God that is to be found in every person.

Prayer

Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you freedom to go and stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land,. Praying is not simply some necessary compartment in the daily schedule of a Christian or a source of support in time of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday morning or a as a frame to surround mealtimes. Praying is living.

- Henri J.M. Nouwen
from “With Open Hands”

Christ is Risen?

Christians are not alone in believing the death and resurrection of a divine being.
Long before Jesus, the Egyptians worshipped Osiris, the Babylonians believed in Tammuz, and Syrians and Greeks worshipped Adonis. All celebrated a cyclical death and resurrection of their particular god. So is this Christian resurrection tradition not built on the already well established traditions of Mesopotamia and classical religious faith? And of course the celebration of resurrection is timed to coincide with Spring, and the return of the sun to the Northern Hemisphere. And it is all too easy to dismiss Jesus as just another in the long history of resurrections narratives.

So why do I believe the resurrection of Jesus…. And ignore the story of Osiris, or Attis, or Mithras?

I believe because of my personal experience of being loved.
The Spirit of God loved me at an Easter youth camp, and changed my life: a small resurrection happened within me. I can trace other moments too – a moment when I was an instructor in a military base and experienced an insistent urge to renounce military violence and work as a pastor; a moment when I was detained by the Apartheid police and felt the deep peaceful presence of God; a moment in college when I knew the love God as I grappled with academic pursuit. (Of course my friend Dion will tell me that these are all electrical impulses in the synapses of the brain).

And yet each of these was a moment of resurrection. Because key to each of these moments was the knowledge that despite my fears, failures, selfish motives, and deeply destructive impulses, I was unconditionally loved by a Power bigger than myself. A Power described by Jesus as my “Father in heaven”. A Power that continues to conquer the many deaths in me with opportunities of renewed life. And therefore a Power able to conquer the death of Jesus.

Christ is risen?
He is risen indeed!

3 April 1982

On that day she was beautiful! (She still is). And I was amazed and delighted that Jenny agreed to marry me. The service was conducted by the Rev Ray Light – one of my life’s mentors. I and my two bestmen had contracted raging pinkeye (conjunctivitis). So we stood at the front of the church wearing dark glasses to help protect our painful eyes. So the stunning princess married the Mafioso!

Since then we have certainly had our ups and downs. I remember a very difficult time after the birth of Jessica, our second daughter. Jenny was struggling with post-partum depression, and we were struggling with a very fractious child . It took us 9 months to discover that Jessica had an inner ear infection, and longer to find medication to restore Jenny’s hormonal balance. And more recently we have been in counselling to understand each other as we face mid-life changes.

Do I believe that everyone should get married? No I do not! Marriage is a calling given to some. A calling that demands a lifetime of 100% commitment to a partner. Some people are not called to this, and have my unqualified support as they celebrate life without marriage. Do I regret getting married? No, never. I owe so much of my personal growth to being married to Jenny. I have enormous joy in my friendship with her. And I could not imagine living life without her.

So here’s to the next 25 years!

Foolishness

It feels a bit like an April Fool’s joke: The idea of a “Crucified Christ” is absurd. How can the death of one man in ancient history have any bearing on my life today? Christianity asks us to believe that a man called Jesus was killed by a minor Roman governor, and this shapes my relationship with God 2000 years later. Assuming of course that this man ever actually lived, and is not just an image borrowed from Egyptian religious narratives, or from Greek mythology.

St Paul wryly admits that “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1 vs 23). And articulate bloggers like Eddie (F) at Edge of Faith candidly and very effectively point out the absurdity of the notion of Jesus leading us to God.

And yet….?
And yet I have discovered that the quirky foolishness of God is far more satisfying than the post-modern logic of a modern cynic. I am attracted to the idea of a God who chooses to seek me out. I am comforted by the belief that I am unconditionally loved by a Creative Being who is beyond my knowing. And I am inspired by the knowledge that this Godly foolishness is available to all people – irrespective of their wisdom or lack therof: inspired mainly because I am a deeply flawed, fragile, insecure, and often mistaken individual who finds comfort is a God who understands my foolishness.

I have no need of a God who perfectly executes the plans of life. Give me a God who indulges in the foolishness of loving broken people, and I am able to join this project. Out of my experience of being foolishly loved by God, I find the courage to love other foolish people too.

Tiger

I meet once a month with a group of bikers who reflect on our lives so that we can live with a greater sense of adventure. This morning we reminded each other of our desire to be better men. I desire personal authenticity; to be less afraid of stepping into the unknown. And this circle of men gives me courage to do so.

I also wanted to be at the meeting because yesterday I got a new bike. And it is awesome. It is a 2002 Triumph Tiger. This is an upgrade on my previous Tiger, which now has 95 000km on the clock. The new bike has 2700km (yes: two thousand seven hundren km) on the clock. And I have spent the past two days riding. For all those Vespa scooter peddlers who are reading this, come to Cape Town and you can ride over Ou Kaapse Weg, Chapman's Peak, Hout bay, Llandudno, Camps Bay. But of course you will need decent wheels.

And for those without a Tiger, I went onto the internet and found a Tiger that might interest you

Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

found at www.evilbible.com/Top_Ten_List.htm

Charity

When shall we have the courage to outgrow the charity mentality and see that at the bottom of all relations between rich and poor there is a problem of justice?
- Dom Helder Camara

Amazing Grace

Jesus tells a story (Luke 15) about a young man who insults his father, destroys the family’s inheritance, lives among foreigners, and loses his faith. In desperation he finally decides to go back home. And is warmly and lovingly welcomed home by his father. But instead of celebrating the love of his father for his brother, his older brother jealously rejects him. He correctly points out that this younger brother has done nothing to deserve his father’s love.

And I recognise the older brother every time we Christian people evaluate the lives of those who seek the Love of the Eternal Father. We are the older brother whenever an unmarried mother seeking the baptism of her child is judged unworthy by Christian people; or when a gay couple is refused God’s blessing in a Christian church because we believe that they do not deserve their union; or when a person of another faith is not welcome to pray with the Christian community because they have not learned to do it ‘our’ way. We are so convinced that people must earn the right to be loved by God. And so bewildered by the concept of God’s unconditional Grace.

“Please Lord – unmake our hardened hearts. And convince us Christians that your Grace is best revealed in the way we show mercy to the outcast.”

"The Great Moral Issues of Our Time"

Last week, James Dobson and a number of other Religious Right leaders wrote a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals, claiming that work on climate change was a distraction from "the great moral issues of our time”.
The letter reads:
"More importantly, we have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children."

Dear Dr Dobson.
I live in South Africa. We are a country that faces poverty, the ravages of Hiv/Aids, violent crime, gangsterism and drugs in our townships, and corrupt public officials. And the drought caused by global warming has ravaged the maize crops, and people are going to starve. But you want to tell us that abortion, gay marriages, and sexual abstinence are “the great moral issues of our time”? While these are indeed important issues, they are not the ‘great moral issues’. Our country needs the followers of Jesus to teach honesty and integrity, to encourage compassion for the sick, to stir a nation’s conscience to dismantling poverty, and to reclaim our sense of stewardship of the earth for God. Might I suggest that it is only the well fed, the healthy, the employed, and the physically safe who have the luxury of choosing human sexuality as the great debate of our time. The rest of us live with real issues of life and death!

But then, we are told, there was a time in history when the religious leaders debated “How many angels can dance on the point of a very fine needle, without jostling one another?..." (Isaac D'Israeli, "Curiosities of Literature", 1791) – this at a time when the general populace lived lives of quiet desperation.

Mr Dobson, Sir, please join us as debate the real moral issues of our day!

She's a Lady

I met her at the Crematorium where I was teaching my students about death, undertakers and cremations. I was alive and well. She was not. Encased in the unfinished pressed board of a pauper’s coffin, she lay on a trolly awaiting cremation. Her name, scrawled in felt-tipped pen on the top of the coffin, read “Christina Niemand”. And the sadness of this overwhelmed me. Because the Afrikaans second name “Niemand” when translated into English becomes “Nobody”. Here lies ‘Nobody’, about to be cremated by the state as a pauper, because nobody has claimed her.

No one deserves to be a Nobody. Everyone begins life with a father and a mother. There are connections with family and friends. And yet here is someone who has lost them. So I said a prayer for Christina Niemand. Because I know that in God’s sight she is a Somebody.

Cressida City

My friend Ernest has just lost his car. He had nursed it through 200 000km. He had serviced it regularly, polished it lovingly, and treasured its spacious interior. His family had spent many happy hours being transported to school/church/sport/sight-seeing trips. And then some thieving opportunist claimed it for his/her own. And he is heartbroken. Well Ernest, I know where it is. It is in Cressida City.

Because Gugulethu, just opposite the Cape Town Airport, is home to the Toyota Cressida. There are hundreds of them. They come in every colour and in varying states of disrepair.. They populate the car wash entrepreneurs, idle alongside the roads, and park in every conceivable driveway and open space. Their drivers create their own set of road rules. They crawl the curbs, climb the sidewalks, speed through red traffic lights, and stop without warning.

I was in Gugulethu today, and found myself out of my depth. Because I stopped for a red traffic light, and discovered cars (Cressidas) hooting at me to move along. I indicated a turn and had to avoid cars (Cressidas) overtaking me on the inside lane. I politely waited for the vehicle ahead of me to move forward in the queue, and was overtaken by a car (ok C…) who thought it quicker to cross the barrier line and both myself and the cars ahead of me and push in further ahead.

So I have had an epiphany. To get ahead I need a Toyota Cressida!
Now my father has one locked in his garage in Silvermine Village. Perhaps….

I lift up my eyes to the hills

Psalm 121 tells of the futility of looking for help in the hills. Well the Psalmist is right – because I was in the hills this past weekend and I had to help myself.
.
The family left Cape Town on Saturday morning for Greyton, a small village at the foot of the Riviersonderend Mountains. We planned to walk the 14km Boesmanskloof trail to McGregor on the opposite side of the mountain range. The trail is the only direct connection between these two villages. The other alternative is a 200km road trip. (A friend of mine suggested that this was a more logical alternative to the one we proposed).

We set off on the steep 400m climb to breakfast rock, where we were rewarded by a panoramic view of the village below. At this stage only Jenny and I appreciated the view. My daughters were seriously reconsidering their commitment to the walk. I lied to them that the worst was over, and they cheered up. After two hours of trailing through the high mountain valley we were rewarded by a series of pools and waterfalls known as Oakes falls. A very relaxing hour in and around the water gave us the courage to finish the day’s walk. The girls found out my lie as we toiled up the steep ascent to the gate at the trail’s end. A phone call to Fanie of Whipstock farm, and we were transported to our night’s accommodation. A hot shower, Amanda’s farm food, and a comfortable bed were the just reward for the day’s walking.

The walk back to Greyton on Sunday was brightened by Jenny skinny-dipping in the waterfall, and pancakes under the cool oak trees in Greyton.

Oh yes – the bit about looking to the hills for help?
Well, there is no help going uphill. But the view from the top is great.
And two days spent in the mountains is a great way to remember that “my help comes from the Lord who has made heaven and earth”.

a funny god

It's funny hey, how there is a god who will stop the rain for a church fete or Sunday School outing, yet will do nothing to stop a mudslide down a hill in the Phillipines killing whole villages.

It's also funny that this god will heal a believers bad back, yet sit by and watch 500,000 children die of aids each year in Africa.

It's funny as well, how he turns a blind eye to jealousy, envy, greed and selfishness, yet becomes all smiteful when dealing with homosexuals and cohabitees.

It's funny how he tells people to love one another, yet still blesses those who kick the crap out of their enemies.

It's funny how for one day of the year he is peace and goodwill to all men, yet for the other 364 is all wrath and judgment.

I'm glad that the world and religion have this dualistic god, a god who seems to randomly bless and curse on a whim; I'm glad because it reminds just how different Jesus is, that he is none of the above.
Yet I am sad; I am sad because most religious people, especially church people seem to serve a Bruce Almighty; I'm sad because they miss so much, and I am sad because they misrepresent Jesus.
"These are the days of Elijah" or so the song goes. Maybe now's the time to take a few false prophets down to the brook and behead them. That's my prayer for today. That those who would misrepresent Jesus would have their heads chopped off (metaphorically of course.

I am indebted to Dave Lynch who lives in Dingwall (Scotland) and posted this on his blog on Wednesday, December 06, 2006.

Please

I hate church leaders. I have just returned from a Circuit Quarterly Meeting. (Four times a year the leaders from five local churches from my denomination get together to discuss common needs and interests). Tonight these leaders debated whether they would allow people of the same gender to marry in our Circuit’s churches. “They are welcome to worship with us” was hastily added on to the condemnatory comments of each speaker. The devious dishonesty of this “welcome” was neatly summarised when one speaker noted that they need to come and worship with us "so that they can be convicted of their sin".

Shit – who says that gay people even want to be blessed in church! We have made it abundantly clear that they are sinners, and will not be blessed by us. Gay people understand the message: “In the name of the God of love – be gone!”

This has nothing to do with Grace, and God, and the things of Jesus, and everything to do with judgement, and self-righteousness, and spiritual pride. Gluttons, and bigots, and all manner of other sinners can come and be blessed - just not gay people.
I do not fit into this organization
Pray for me.

"Everyone is Doing It"

It was lying in little packets strewn across the road. The truck had taken the corner too sharply and shifted its load. And the driver stood forlornly looking at the pile of packets in the road.

But not for long. I was on top of the bridge looking down on the scene. And from my vantage could see people converging on the scene. Not to help the driver – but to help themselves! Like ants they scurried off the pavement into the road, before running away haphazardly through the traffic clutching white packets of sugar. One man climbed out of his car and grabbed at the packets, then climbed back into the car and drove off. Another piled his partner’s arms high with packets before they scurried off. And the hapless driver tried in vain to prevent his stock from disappearing. Within minutes the road was empty of sugar packets.

And I wondered at how ‘normal’ everyday people could turn into avaricious looters. How was it possible for people to hurry over to claim something that never was theirs to take. These were not tattood gangsters; neither were they involved in an elaborate criminal plot. They were random shoppers/business people/house wives/taxi drivers. The same people who deplore the crime in our country; people who call for the police to do something about the criminals; people who long for a crime-free society. And they thought nothing of stealing the property of another. A crowd of thieves.

Probably this is the key: “Everyone is doing it”. When everyone does it then it feels better. It is this that allows space for mob justice in township streets. It is this that allows company directors to award themselves obscene financial benefits at company expense. It is this that allows people like me – and you – to pick up a few bags of sugar in the road. And it is this that creates the criminal culture in our society.

Our culture changes when I refuse to enrich myself at the expense of another person….in fact our culture changes only when I learn to live with what I have without lusting for the possessions of another.

Now will someone please pass the sugar……