November 2009

Dear friends

Nurture

I was challenged again, listening to the confessions of our young people preparing for their Confirmation. The challenge comes each time I take on this daunting task, and it comes in the form of the sincerity and depth of trust that our young people take in making themselves vulnerable before God. The challenge is two-fold: how do I nurture this sincerity in my own relationship with God; and how do we as community nurture our young people in this very adult decision of Confirmation that they undertake? The world will do its utmost to draw them away, and we as Church will possibly not offer support in ways that help.

Our young people are in process of growing up, seeking their independence, and yet still needing the support of family while often seemingly rejecting it. While peer-pressure is a driving force, there remains the need for mentorship unencumbered by the subjective nature of family relationship. Both our Confirmation process and Sunday morning Teen Church offer opportunity for mentorship as well as the opening to explore questions of faith and life that may be difficult in the family context.

We would like to offer more opportunity for our young people in this regard, and believe it is important, especially after Confirmation, that they have the opportunity to continue to be nurtured in a Faith-focused environment. We have attempted over the last few years to offer youth activity outside of Sunday mornings, and struggled. I’m never sure as to whether it is parent-busyness or youth-busyness that undermines the process. There is always a lot of energy expressed about possible activities, but attendance is virtually non-existent. When I look at Church communities where youth work is thriving it is generally because substantial resources are invested in a paid youth-person who then has the time to invest in relationship development with our young people, and I suspect that this is the logical route to go. Our financial resources do not yet allow us to take this route, but prayer for such a step is not limited.

Forgiveness

The following quote from Henri Nouwen was printed on the front of the Confirmation Service leaflet at St Francis (Waterkloof) last Sunday:

When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, “I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,” we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organisation needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness. It is important to think about the Church not as “over there” but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are a part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.

Sometimes (perhaps often is a better word) we forget that the Church is made up of broken people like ourselves, and our expectations and dreams for faith and life can be severely dented. It is through living in, yet looking beyond, the institutions we build that Christ is to be found. The temptation is to reject God because humanity is not God; to reject God because we do not find the depth of care and love in each other that Jesus offers. Henri Nouwen offers sage advice, which can be applied beyond the Church, more specifically in our family lives and relationships. It is in accepting each other as we are – broken, angry, hurt; flawed by destructive attitudes and actions – that we find Christ and each other. This all goes to the image of God that we carry, both in terms of our mental picture, and the image of God projected by the way we live and the attitudes that drive us. Too often God is not the mental picture we carry, and when life-crisis situations occur we find ourselves doubting both God and our relationship with him. Doubt is good because it gives us space to question both God and ourselves, and in the journey to discover God anew and ourselves anew; and to discover ourselves and our expectations of God transformed.

Sacramental Confession is one place the Church offers us, sacred and secure, to be transformed; in our vulnerability to be reassured, healed, strengthened; our brokenness received without condemnation; to find a renewed centre in God, in Jesus; a fresh start in the journey called Life.

Pray for me, also a sinner.

Blessings

Mark

March 2007

Dear Friends

On Parish Renewal

The Diocesan “3 Year Programme on Mission and Ministry”, motivated at our last Diocesan Synod, calls for us to begin at home, and to focus on the renewal of our parish life, starting with our own families and moving on from there. This year, entitled the Diocesan Year of Mission and Evangelism, is all about finding the lost sheep and bringing them back into the fold. I was encouraged by the efforts many put into bringing a family member or close friend – who do not normally attend Church – to Church at the beginning of February. The challenge now is to keep them coming and to integrate them into our parish life. A further challenge is to identify those who reside on our Parish Roll but not in our Parish Church, and to draw them back in.

Love Your Neighbour

Our Archdeaconry focus for Lent is “Love your neighbour”. As a parish we are responding in two ways: firstly we are attempting to understand our neighbour, and our Lent Course focus is on giving us an opportunity to explore different aspects of Christian Spirituality – both to help us discover and deepen our own Spirituality, but also to understand where other fellow Christians come from, and how we interlink with each other as Anglicans and as members of different Christian denominations; secondly we are seeking to build friendship by inviting you as parishioners to hold a meal in your home, inviting a parish family you know and a family you don’t know to share food and fellowship.

Young People

It was exhilarating to find an excited group of young people running around the parish grounds last Friday evening (I believe the T-bone was eventually found … and later devoured!), meeting in the Hall for some Scriptural reflection, and later sharing fellowship around the Braai-fire. It was a wholesome mixture of fellowship, fun and interaction with scripture for our teenagers. Our Young Adults have also had some positive interactions, including a braai at Epiphany House. One of the challenges for our young people this year will be to draw back in those who have been confirmed over the last five-years, but sadly have treated their Confirmation as a form of “Church Leaving” graduation.

Willow Glen Mission

Our missionary Deacon, Vernon Foster, reports elsewhere in this magazine on this exciting mission initiative. I sincerely ask for your prayers for this development, and for Vernon in particular. He has taken up this challenge, and has thrown himself into it with fortitude. Your support – however you are able to demonstrate it – is valued.

Security

Corpus Christi has joined the Garsfontein Proper Residence Association, which links into the Garsfontein Community Policing Forum. The challenges in addressing crime and violence are massive, and although seemingly overwhelming, there is light on the horizon. You may have noticed substantially increased police activity in the last two weeks, and this is a result of the Garsfontein Police Station being able to access significant additional resources since the President’s “State of the Nation” address to Parliament. The key, though, is for us as residents to begin to take back responsibility for the safety of our own areas by working together. So get involved with a Home Owners Association in your area, support the local Community Police Forum: be involved!

Blessings

Mark