Dear Friends
Lent and Easter
Our Lenten Journey draws to an end, and the Easter
Celebration is in sight.
As we began our Lenten
journey I shared a thought from Scott Shauf (from the Working Preacher website)
for our prayer during this season, that prayer should be seeking the powerful
presence of God in our lives. On one level prayer is simply our ongoing
conversation with God, but as we know from the variety of relationships that
define and form our lives, communication can be complicated and complex. Our
Good Friday Service will help us reflect more on the complexity of prayer as we
focus on seven forms: petition, confession, adoration, intercession,
meditation/contemplation, thanksgiving and consecration. I do hope you will be
able to join us for the full three hours.
My preaching over this Lenten season has been impacted by
Anthony de Mello’s book, Awareness.
Part of the challenge of experiencing the powerful presence of God is awakening
to reality, and I have shared something of the discomfort of de Mello’s
thinking. His thesis that self-interest remains a defining dynamic in human
interaction despite the transformative presence of the Spirit of God in our
lives is perhaps the most challenging. Lent certainly impacts on self-interest
as we touch on prayer, fasting and alms-giving; in some form each touch on our
self-interest and asks us to look to the interests of others as well. As I look
at my cupboard I have to ask why it is so hard to pick out the clothes I haven’t
worn in over a year and donate them to others who do not have the luxury of
overflowing shelves. I’m struck by how bound I am to my possessions. Part of
the Lenten challenge is to rediscover our freedom and our hope; it is also for
us to become resources of freedom and hope for others.
This brings us to the paradox of the Easter events, that it
is only through death that life can be truly and eternally discovered and
experienced; and that despite our mortal limitation, we are – as God’s people –
already embraced by eternal life. Our Easter Vigil Service seeks to enlighten
us as we experience again the brightening hope of the Easter fire; our reflection
on humanity’s experience of living in relationship with the Creator God who’s
presence is also restorative and life-giving, and is celebrated in the renewal
of our Baptismal promises; and as the rising son brightens the dawn, we share
together in the Eucharist, in the flesh and blood of Christ, in the hope of
resurrection. In walking this journey afresh we are once again renewed:
forgiven, healed, restored.
Archdeaconry & Diocesan News
Secondment: our
self-supporting assistant, Fr Steve Verryn, has been seconded at the Bishop’s
request to the Hennop’s River Archdeaconry where he will be looking after the
Parish of St Stephen in Lyttleton for the next few months. Please keep him and
the family in your prayers, and I’m sure a phone call won’t go amiss!
Consecration: the
Bishop was present with our former Chapelry of St Agnes in Stanza Bopape
(Mamelodi) to bless and consecrate their new Church building in Mahube Valley
on Sunday 17 March 2013. They have struggled for years to find land, meeting
year after year in a classroom that continuously proved too small. The
completion of their building has been a wonderful blessing for them.
Cathedral Update:
a successful special Vestry was held on 17 March 2013 to elect Churchwardens
and Councillors. Those who have read the local rag will have noticed that this
did not happen without the normal challenges to the Bishop’s authority. Please continue
praying for the normalisation of the situation at the Cathedral, for the
Bishop, the Diocesan and Cathedral leadership, and the Cathedral Parish, that
the mission and ministry imperatives of the Diocese be restored in that
community.
As Lent draws to conclusion, may we all experience a
life-giving and restoring Easter!
Easter Blessings
Mark
