Lent 2010

Dear friends

 Lent

Lent is already upon us, wrenching our vision from the birth of the Christ-child to the crucified and risen Christ. In between we have journeyed through the season of Epiphany, seeing Jesus revealed as God’s response not only to the needs of Israel, but to the needs of the world as a whole.

In his recent Ad Clerum (“To the Clergy”) letter Bishop Jo has enjoined us to focus on the three pillars of our Christian Faith: Scripture, Prayer and Worship. We saw yesterday (1^st Sunday in Lent) how Jesus and the Devil interacted around the Scriptures, and how Jesus’ knowledge of Scripture and his understanding of God’s purposes helped him deal with the Devil’s attempt to mislead him. Lent calls us to prayer, along with fasting and alms-giving, and our more personal time alone with God comes under scrutiny. Worship is less about “me” and more about “us”, and particularly about joining together in fellowship to worship God, whether formally in Church or less formally with family and friends: “when you eat this bread and drink this cup” can apply equally to our more formal Eucharist services and to everyday meals shared in our homes. Where are you in your own journey with Scripture? Where are you in your journey of prayer and worship?

The Diocesan Lenten focus is on our Diocesan Theme “Equipping and Strengthening Families: Turning Houses into Homes”. Our Lent course echoes on this, reflecting initially on the challenges of nuclear family, and expanding to remind us that we are part of God’s family (the Church) and a wider community and world family of people created in God’s image. A copy of the course material can be found on http://lifeadventurer.blogspot.com or can be requested from the office.

Being Early

Just a reminder that my theme for this year for us is “BE EARLY!” It is my earnest plea that this is something we all “take on” for Lent this year, and get into a new habit. I am aware of people making an effort, and that is much appreciated. This last Sunday I was aware of a large-ish crowd joining the procession into the 9am Service!

Children’s Church

In recent weeks the Children and Teen Church have reached close on 90 young people attending. We are in DESPERATE need for people to help with teaching as we need to create more groups. If you have some teaching experience or are just keen to work with young people, please speak to our Churchwarden, Bruce Harvey, or to myself – this really is urgent and important!

A Lenten Commitment

Choose this day whom you will serve; WE WILL CHOOSE THE LIVING GOD

The road is narrow that leads to life; WE WILL WALK THE WAY OF CHRIST

Faith is not our holding on; FAITH IS LETTING GO

We offer more than words, O God; WE OFFER YOU OUR LIVES.

(from Lent & Easter Readings from IONA, pg 18)

Blessings

Mark

Rector's Report to Annual Vestry 2010 - St Anne's, Equestria (7 Feb 2010)

Introduction

Today is our 2nd Annual Vestry Meeting, and marks just over a year of our existence as the Mission Parish in Equestria. Since our 1st Meeting we have gained an identity, and I hear us talking about ourselves as “St Anne’s” as if we’ve always been here, which I see as exciting and positive. We come today to celebrate the last year, which is good; but more importantly we need to look forward with expectation. We need to make ourselves available to God, again, that his life may flow through us so that we may be truly be the light of Christ in this part of God’s world. We need to hold close to our hearts Pauls words, “If God is for us, who can be against us?“ (Romans 8:31b TNIV)

The foundation of our Christian confidence lies in four things: our calling; our identity, where we have come from; and where we are going. It is about vision, knowing who we are, and understanding our context.

Our calling

When I arrive in the Archdeaconry five years ago there was a desire to expand the Anglican Church eastwards, and two areas were identified: the area from Silverton through to Silver Lakes, and the area south east of Mooikloof. These two options were explored and land bought. A development centred in the Willows was identified as the priority area and in 2006 I was asked by the Diocese to drive the process with Corpus Christi (Garsfontein) as a base with support from St Francis (Waterkloof) and Holy Trinity (Lynnwood). By July this year (2010) the first phase in reaching this vision, this mission development, will be achieved with a worshiping community based in a new worship facility in Stellenberg Road, Equestria.

Where we have we come from

We needed to define a new Anglican community, and the Diocese committed to helping us do this by providing a clergyperson-in-training to help us determine if we could get a community off the ground. In 2007 Vernon Foster began canvassing in the area, speaking to various parishes, and before long we had a core group of Anglicans willing to join this new venture; the missionary congregation of Willow Glen was formed, and necessary ministry and administrative structures were put in place during 2008. The community was not growing fast, but the journey was exciting.

Alongside this process another more painful journey was taking place. This was the journey the Parish of All Saints (Silverton) was on with the Diocese. Again, a small core of people working diligently to keep head above water, but with the currents of Diocesan opinion – combined with an increasingly semi-industrial environment booming in the wider Silverton geographical surroundings – threatening their existence.

In July 2008 I was asked to explore the possibility of combining the Parish of Silverton with the missionary congregation of Willow Glen. The option was clearly viable, but necessitated the very hard step of Silverton saying good-bye to their home in Pretoria Road and, a bit like Abram and Sarai, stepping out into an uncertain journey. It required of Willow Glen a willingness to walk away from their still new identity, and inclusively embrace a hurting community.

And so a new community was born on Advent Sunday 2008, and the Mission Parish of Equestria (us!)  came into being. Fr Veron acted as mid-wife to this event before his almost immediate redeployment by the Bishop to take up the position of Rector in Lynnwood. Alan O’Brien, also a clergyperson-in-training, was assigned by the Bishop to assist me, and has helped oversee the nurturing of us as a new community. It is thanks to Fr Alan’s leadership, as well as your willingness, that we have forged a united Mission Parish over the last year. While not negating our past we have had the courage to overcome our pain that walking away from the Parish of Silverton required and the sense of loss that walking away for the very young Willow Glen congregation required – and for your courage I salute you!

Our identity

We are still, like Abram and Sarai, on our journey to the “Promised Land”. The site and building-in-progress in Stellenberg Road is giving some tangible reality to the vision, and we are thankful for these facilities at Willow Ridge High School that help contain us on the journey. During 2009 Diocesan Chapter placed the dedication of St Anne on us, which we have accepted. It has some roots in our shared history with Silverton, and so is a touch-stone with the past. St Anne was the grandmother of Christ, and there is always something very comforting about having a granny in residence! But just as Anne bore Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, so our name is a continual reminder to us that our calling is to make Jesus known to the world, to give birth to him in the wider community we serve, and to give birth to others who will continue to give life to the vision and continue to respond to the call.

It has been encouraging to see our community grow from under thirty people at worship early in 2009 to regularly around fifty people now. Our financial position has been far in excess of our Budget for last year. Although we may be relatively small in number there can be no doubt that we are big in heart! My thanks to all who have worked and contributed tirelessly in helping us become who we are, and who we will be. I’m encouraged by God’s name, as he shared it with Moses, because it can be translated as “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be”: a reminder that we are always more than we appear to be, and that we must never limit our future by how we perceive ourselves in the present.

Where we are going

I know that many of us are mourning Fr Alan’s redeployment to St Bede’s (Soshanguve), and that we had hopes that he would be with us for another year. The reality is that we have had substantial help from the Diocese over the last three years in the form of both Vernon Foster and Alan O’Brien, and there can be no doubt that had they not been with us we would not be where we are today. The Dioceses’ support in the form of Clergy-in-training has helped us find our feet and become a viable Christian community.  With Alan’s recent move there is the temptation to feel abandoned by the Diocese, but if we are honest with ourselves such a response is that of any young adult facing the world as parents set them free to explore the world on their own. As we know, parents wait anxiously see if their child will fly, and are ever ready to step in with support. We now stand as many Chapelries and Mission Parishes stand throughout the Anglican Communion: on our own feet with the challenge to grow to the point where we can fully support our own full-time priest. In the meantime we are better resourced than many: we have a Rector with our needs at heart; we have access to two self-supporting Clergy who, together with the Rector, will ensure we have a Eucharist most Sundays; we have four trained and licensed Layministers; we have a committed Council and Churchwardens, also with our needs at heart; and we have each other.

The vision for our existence has been the vision of others; we have accepted that vision, but the challenge now is to make that vision fully our own, and sustain a vibrant and growing sense of family, meaningful worship, caring and fellowship. Both Vernon and Alan have helped engender this in our midst. The timing of the Bishop’s redeployment of Alan may not be ideal from our perspective, but know this: God has purpose in it, and we will look back in time to come and understand. It is part of the journey. Jeremiah says, ““For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:11-14a TNIV).

Let us hold to the vision and keep the faith!

The year ahead

Challenge number one: hold the vision, keep the faith!

Challenge number two: we are family together in Christ, and we need to stand together. It is likely that by July we will be ensconced in our new home, and the challenge will be exactly that: to make it “Home”.

Challenge number three: grow! We need to find and take every opportunity of reaching out into the community. The sooner we grow our numbers, the sooner our income will expand, and the sooner we will be able to apply to the Bishop for a full-time priest. However, this should not be an end in itself, nor the focus of our efforts. If it is it will fail. It needs to be an almost unintended consequence of our desire to serve God through Jesus Christ, to serve God’s creation and the wider society in which we find ourselves.

The challenge that lies on the shoulders of our new Council is to give us direction and lead us into the “Promised Land”: it is a massive task. But I trust we will all share the load and continue to walk this journey together. God is here, we are not alone, and we have the archdeaconry and the Diocese behind us.

Let us embrace God’s love, and walk together in his grace.

God bless!

Rector's Report to Annual Vestry 2010 - Corpus Christi, Garsfontein (31 Jan 2010)

Introduction

Our Annual Vestry Meeting is an important opportunity to stop and reflect on what God has been doing in our lives and community, and specifically where we are in our journey of Faith. We are asked to give “bodily form” to that which is largely intangible, and certainly difficult to define outside of material instruments. In our meeting we will table parish Councillors’ attendance at Council meetings, assess our finances, and hear reports on various actions and activities. I hope we will leave with a sense that it is good to be here, that it is good to belong to the Anglican community in this part of Pretoria.

Through all our deliberations we need to be asking more fundamental questions: is God with us; are we growing into greater maturity in our relationship with God, both as individuals and as a Christian community; are we impacting positively on the world beyond the boundaries of this building in terms of Christian values, morality and ethical behaviour? What is the nature of the Good News we share with God’s creation: do our lives, our relationships reflect the inclusive nature of God’s love? And this despite our brokenness, our human fragility, the shattered nature of our daily existence.

In Ephesians 2:6-7 (TNIV) Paul says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” This reflects an ultimate Christian outcome, and leads us to ask, “How are we creating Heaven within the realm of daily life, struggle and existence?”

Personal

The past year has been a difficult one for me: standing as a candidate for Episcopal election in the Diocese of the Highveld, believing that I have the gifting and call to fulfil the role, and then not being elected left me in a dislocated place. Knowing that I was an outsider, understanding that the Diocese may have other priorities and may well elect someone they are already in relationship with, didn’t make the outcome any easier to deal with. Standing for election makes one visible, and I was subsequently approached by one of the larger parishes in Johannesburg. Dawn, too, has been through a difficult time in terms of her career, and while God has been good in providing opportunities for her to consult in the Motor Industry, she has a deep desire to find a professional direction of deeper meaning and purpose. I remain uncertain as to the present nature of God’s call on my life, but do know that it is good to be here at Corpus Christi, and appreciate the deepening relationship that I share with many of you. Being priest, pastor and teacher in your midst remains a fulfilling existence … and my sense right now is “Long may it last!”

I have registered for an introductory course to Spiritual Direction through the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg, as well as a formal academic course towards a Masters Degree in Contextual Congregational Leadership through Tukkies. So, 2010 promises to be full and stimulating.

Parish

I look back over five years and suspect that we are a different community to that which we were in 2005. I experience a deeper ownership of parish life by most who attend Worship on a regular basis. The “us & them” mentality that noticeably marked parish life when I was first appointed has lessened, and is almost invisible. Challenges remain, and at our Council Planning Day for 2010 last week concern was expressed that we find ways to get the various ministry communities to be more representative: we noted that the catering community has only one “pale African” and that the Children’s Church Teachers are largely “Whities”. On one level this may seem a nit-picky issue in the light of far greater challenges that face our wider society, but they do speak to what it means to be family and friends in Christ. My thanks to all who continue to work hard to reach across the boundaries that mark our different cultural and international identities – you make a valuable difference.

Our financial position suggests that most of us have weathered the economic downturn quite well, and I appreciate that for many committed parishioners your regular financial contribution has become more sacrificial in recent months. I was humbled recently by a most substantial “thanksgiving donation” received from one of our parish families as they celebrated God’s sustaining presence in their midst in recent very difficult circumstances.

All our lives are increasingly busy and not unaffected by the massive amounts of time many of us spend in the chaotic Gauteng traffic that steals significant time from our family and community commitments. I appreciate the time that many of you give beyond the call of Worship, and your willingness to involve yourselves in organising, or just attending, our various parish activities. We have had some wonderful times together in the last year – our Cultural Event stands out with everything from Zulu dancers to Jenny Moser masquerading as the late Queen Mother!

Many of us set Sunday morning aside for Church, and outside of winter and various holiday periods, our Worship attendance has grown, an encouraging sign. I am hugely encouraged by the youth that gather each week for Children’s and Teen Church. We continue to find it difficult to get youth to support activities outside of Sundays, although we had a great turnout for our 2009 end-of-year event organised via Facebook.

Spiritual growth has taken place through our Baptism and Confirmation preparation classes, our Lent Course which focused on transformation, and through our post-winter course on the Baptismal Creed. There are various focus groups that meet where fellowship and spiritual nourishment are received: from the Monday night Cell Group to the Thursday afternoon Bible Study, to the monthly Friday afternoon Women’s group and the monthly Saturday afternoon Comfort Group where the bereaved and divorced meet for fellowship. The Men went fishing (again!) and celebrated 10 years of fellowship and fishing-frustration, and excitingly the Women had a Spiritually-focused weekend away that I hope will also become an annual tradition. Relational counselling has taken up a great deal of my time over the last year, both in preparing couples for marriage and in trying to keep other couples married!

Our main challenge for 2010, apart for praying for miracles from Bafana-Bafana, is to become a community that arrives early for Worship. Towards the end of last year I became aware of a conversation taking place in various contexts of people’s frustration with those who arrive late. No matter how quietly late-comers seek to enter our Worship space, their movement creates distraction. We are not a community that struggles to find transport, and so late-coming, while distracting, is also perceived to be disrespectful both to God and to those already gathered; and so my focus this year is to encourage us to be a community that values arriving early. I’m specifically encouraging parish leaders to be present at least half-an-hour before our Worship begins, and realise that for some there are major challenges in getting children and spouses to join this journey. I am attempting to set this example myself, although being at Church by 06:30 on a Sunday morning is admittedly a challenge!

Vision

At our recent Council Planning Day we revisited our parish “Statement of Purpose” and a good deal of the discussion focused on our second core purpose of building the Kingdom of God in the wider community through outreach and service. We have visibility in the wider Diocesan areas of outreach (Irene Homes, Tumelong) and in the wider Pretoria (Louis Botha Homes and Women Against Rape). The question was raised as to whether we are visible in our more local geographical environment of Garsfontein, Constantia Park, Moreleta Park and Faerie Glen. This was more difficult to define.

Outreach is a powerful form of Christian service, and if we are to truly serve we need to be confident in our calling (vision), our identity (who we are), we need to know where we have come from and where we are going. To this end our “Statement of Purpose” is critical to our confidence in serving both God and the world: our core purpose of being a place where others meet Christ, of building the Kingdom of God in the wider community, and of sustaining traditional Anglican practices needs to guide us; our core values of dignified worship, opportunity, friendship, and broad-based parishioner involvement need to motivate us; our Scriptural imperative “…go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19) must impel us. The focus of many of my Sunday sermons has been aimed at equipping us for our role in the world.

Mission

The focus of our mission as a parish over the last few years has been the encouragement of a new Anglican community in Equestria, and this has been a combined project with Archdeaconry and Diocesan support. Our contribution, apart from the facilitation that I have provided as Rector, has been our partial support of a clergy person-in-training who has been charged with the day-to-day pastoral care and worship coordination of the Equestria community. At the beginning of 2009 the small congregation of Willow Glen combined with the shrinking parish of Silverton to form the mission parish of St Anne’s, Equestria. The Worshipping community has grown from just under thirty regular attendants before Easter to regularly around fifty people by December 2009. Their financial commitment has grown accordingly, and their budget for 2010 is healthy, but not yet at the point where they can, even with our help, provide for a full-time clergy person. The building of the new Church facility for Equestria in Stellenberg Road has begun, and our plan is that it will be completed before mid-year. The construction is largely being funded by the sale of the Silverton Church facilities (R1,800,000), although the agreed cost of R2,500,000 will require ongoing fundraising to meet the shortfall; in this regard, my thanks to all who supported the Welsh Male Voice Choir Fundraising event last year.

We have been fortunate to have had Vernon Foster (now Rector of Lynnwood) and more recently Alan O’Brien as the clergy presence in Equestria during their training, and together with the Equestria community we are most thankful for the Diocesan support in covering their stipends and medical aid while we have met their allowances and other costs. The Bishop, due to the pressure to fill vacancies in parishes that are able to meet the full cost of a clergy person, has made the decision to remove Alan as of 1 February 2010 and place him in one of these parishes for his year of post-ordination training as a Priest. While I remain their Rector I will not be able to offer the same level of presence that Alan has been free to do. There is no doubt that Anglican communities find security, and therefore growth, when a dedicated clergy person is easily accessible and present. The formation of this new Mission Parish remains at a critical point.

Our other area of mission focus has been to support the Louis Botha Homes, as well as Irene Homes, Tumelong and Women against Rape. We have a new, enlarged parish organising community in place for Tumelong, and our Christmas Party for the children of Maboloka Haven attests to their efficiency as well as to the generosity of our Parish community. We continue to collect food-parcels, although the number of parcels contributed by parishioners has decreased significantly in recent months, which is a concern. We also give out many tins of food from the Office during the week to the hungry and destitute.

Diocese

Our Diocesan theme “Equipping and strengthening families: turning houses into homes” remains our focus of mission and ministry until Diocesan Synod in 2011. During 2009 we had “Family Life” as a dedicated Council portfolio, which was largely unproductive with the Parenting Seminars getting very little support from parents. In 2010 all Council portfolio holders have been asked to let the Diocesan theme inform their plans and actions. I was encouraged that three of our Councillors for 2010 expressed a concern for Pastoral Care, and I look forward to this portfolio in particular helping to take us forward in family issues. There are many levels of being family, and perhaps most critically at one level for us as a collective is to explore in the coming year what it means to be God’s family, the family of Christ; and at the other end of the scale finding support as parents balancing children and highly demanding careers in an increasingly hostile environment.

The Diocesan Standing Committee took a courageous decision in November 2009 to move Clergy onto a “cost-to-church” (cost-to-company) package in 2010. This will not have a big impact on us, as we were already largely following this model. There will, doubtless, be a learning curve here as we move forward, but it is an encouraging and exciting development.

I remain a member of the Cathedral Chapter (an advisory board to the Diocesan Bishop) with the portfolio of Canon Chancellor, which includes mentorship of the Diocesan School Chaplains and facilitation of the integration of the Diocesan theme and other Diocesan ministry imperatives in these institutions.

Society and Nation Building

We live in challenging times as a nation. We hear very little from our State President, Jacob Zuma, and too much from the President of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema. There can be no doubt that our leaders set an example that many in the nation follow. Malema’s example is one of disrespect for one’s elders and the ANC’s silence on his behaviour only exacerbates the situation. The ANC’s unwillingness to allow other members of the Tripartite Alliance space to influence Government policy is of concern. Stories of money for social development paid out to contractors being divided before payment to other “interested” parties, along with excessive packages paid to Parastatal executives, highlights the degree of corruption and immoral behaviour that pervades our society.

As Christians we have the responsibility to live a moral and ethical lifestyle, despite the immorality and unethical practices that surround us in both Government and Civil Society. While we cannot impose Christian values on others, we can impose them on ourselves and on the manner in which we interact with the various institutions and representatives of Government and Business. We need to persevere, even when under severe pressure to conform to the immoral behaviour that society increasingly appears to accept as normal. It is the Christian call on our lives as individuals and as a community; it is also our duty. Our actions may seem insignificant and ineffectual in the tide that threatens our nation, but Jesus’ message was always about the apparently insignificant being the source of transformation and abundant life.

Conclusion

You will doubtless have noted that I have mentioned few by name, and thanked no-one specifically. This is purposeful, firstly because someone “important” is often overlooked, and secondly because we do not do what we do for human accolade. God knows our hearts and actions, and will judge us all accordingly. You know what you have contributed, and my thanks goes to everyone who has contributed in some way, great or small, towards the growth of our parish over the last year. Special thanks to those who have supported me in various leadership and caring capacities, and those who have enabled our corporate worship and fellowship events. Know that your efforts are highly valued and greatly appreciated: you have made a difference, and for that I am most thankful.

Bless you!

MARK R D LONG

Rector

December 2009

Dear friends

 Time – African & Western

Arriving on time, or early, in our African context is difficult: to arrive early or on time for a meal is to imply that one has no food at home; to get immediately to the point is to imply that the person one is conversing with, along with their family and community, is of little value. From a more Western perspective to arrive late is a sign of disrespect both for the other people present and the event being celebrated, and is taken as a sign of personal lack of discipline.

My grandfather was a stickler for being on time, if not early. In my grandparents’ social circle was a couple notorious for being at least an hour late for social engagements. My grandmother, hosting a dinner, invited the notorious couple, and knowing they were always late, invited them to attend an hour early. The couple, aware that my grandfather was such a stickler for time, arrived on time – much to the consternation of all concerned!

What time should we arrive for worship? To arrive on time is to imply that there are problems at home; to arrive late is to miss the greeting and welcome. We need to develop a church culture that allows us to step away from our controlling cultural perspectives, and yet permits us to maintain the dignity that our different cultural perspectives provide.

My dream is to see us arrive a good half-an-hour before worship begins, and to gather in the gardens, using this time to greet each other, to ask the questions that give value to our existence, to recognise each other in good African Style. Then, when the first bell rings, to find our way into the church, to find a seat, to greet those sitting next to us, behind us, in front of us. When the second bell rings to fall silent and prayerfully prepare for our time with God together.

Perhaps this is a little over-ambitious, but I do ask for everyone’s cooperation in exploring this as a possible way forward.

Advent & Christmas

The call of Scripture during Advent is for us to move from darkness to light, to be transformed in preparation for the renewal of God’s call to for us in the New Year. It is a time – in the midst of the world’s busyness that we are all caught up in – to slow down, to stop, and to wait. We wait for God to speak, to act. And only then do we respond.

The Gospel calls us to a lifestyle of simplicity, and the recent economic recession has reminded us that it is possible to live more simply. The present tenuous economic recovery may tempt us to throw caution to the wind, but I do encourage us not to become victims of temptation in our Christmas spending. Let us explore other ways to be generous rather than recreating or increasing our levels of debt. Time together as families has far greater value than any material gift.

My young adult son, who has just left home for the third time – and returns weekends – has been questioning me on my goals for life and ministry. It has taken me some time to realise that he really wants to know where he fits into my life. While there is no doubt that he is not adverse to material gifts, it is my willingness to spend meaningful time in some joint activity with him that has the greater value.

What gifts will we choose to give this year that speak of the value to us of the people we give them to? How will our gifts enhance our core relationships with spouses and children, parents and siblings?

Christmas Blessing

Lots of love to you all for Christmas and the New Year from Dawn and myself. I came across this Irish blessing, which I pray will find place in all our hearts:

The light of the Christmas star to you

The warmth of home and hearth to you

The cheer and goodwill of friends to you

The hope of a childlike heart to you

The joy of a thousand angels to you

The love of the Son and God’s peace to you.

Blessings

Mark

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

October 2009

Dear friends

Stewardship

I raised three points in our final focus on Stewardship last Sunday, and I share these for thought: stewardship is taking care of something we value and enabling it to grow; the foundation of financial stewardship is knowing what God wants us to do with our lives; we need to consider a commitment of time, treasure and talent to help sustain the faith community that nurtures our ideals.

Leadership

October is the time we elect our Wardens and Councillors for next year (2010). The new Council will pick up responsibility immediately the election has been ratified at our Annual Vestry in January. Nomination forms are available at the back of the church, and candidates need to be Christians who are confirmed Anglicans and who are on the parish membership roll. Present Wardens and Councillors need to be re-nominated for election, along with new blood. These names only get onto the list if YOU put them there! Please pray, and then be proactive in placing names on the list.

I expressed my concern at a recent Council meeting that there appears to be a general feeling that things are going well in the Parish; the negative side of this has been a growing lethargy over the past two years towards either encouraging others, or putting oneself forward for leadership. I offered to create a CRISIS that would ignite a fire under us, and have everyone running to get elected in order to see to the sacking of the Rector! Council strongly advised against this (obviously!), so I need your help, please: caucus amongst yourselves and nominate people you feel will best represent the parish as either Wardens or Councillors.

The following may be of use to you in your deliberations (1 Timothy 3:1-12 from The Message):

If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he's talking about, not be overfond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God's church? He must not be a new believer, lest the position go to his head and the Devil trip him up. Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap.

The same goes for those who want to be servants in the church: serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it. They must be reverent before the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on. No exceptions are to be made for women—same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overfond of wine. Servants in the church are to be committed to their spouses, attentive to their own children, and diligent in looking after their own affairs. Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith.

Please note that in the Anglican Church of the 21^st Century the above applies equally to men and women!

Blessings

Mark

September 2009 - Being Missional

Dear friends

Being Missional

In this early part of the 21^st century the Church is finding itself increasingly marginalised, and society perceives the Church to be increasingly irrelevant. This is a fundamental shift for which we, the Church, are largely unprepared. The last time we found ourselves quite so powerless and lacking in influence was back in the 3^rd century. A word that is being used to describe the Church in this time of changing awareness is the word “Missional”. The term itself is still finding definition, and there appears to be little consensus on the detail of this emerging paradigm, except that it is different to the paradigm experienced for almost two millennia since Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4^th century.

There are a few building blocks. A new theological field, known as the Theology of Work, is beginning to give some definition to what it means to be Church in the 21^st century. The momentum for this emerging theology is being driven by lay people reflecting on the relationship between their lives in the working world and their Christian faith. A key book in this regard is Joy at Work (A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job) by Dennis W. Bakke, cofounder of Applied Energy Services (AES). In his postscript to the book Dennis attempts to describe the integration of his faith and the secular work to which he has been called, and in so doing touches on some powerful theology that helps us understand what it is to be the Church in the 21^st century, what it is to truly be “Missional”.

Your “Missional” Call

Key to this approach is that “our daily work is a sacred calling from God”.  This is a fundamental shift in thinking because it states that working in the secular environment is a sacred calling, no more and no less than working in or for the Church. Dennis says, “I am God’s representative at my place of work and … I am accountable to Him for my behaviour and actions on the job and especially for the service or product I help provide to society.” He goes on to say that, “A church’s service to the community should be measured by the sum of the work carried out by its members. This would include both voluntary and paid work at home, in business, at church, and in other not-for-profit organisations.” Dennis points to the fact that it is the influence of Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle on early theologians such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas that leads to the idea that “Christian work” is somehow superior to work in the secular environment.

If we are to be truly “Missional”, true to the emerging paradigm of Church in the 21^st century, we need to take seriously the role that each member of the “Body of Christ” plays in representing God in the world. This requires us to change our perspective on stewardship. Our concept of stewardship is too often defined by the old paradigm in which those working in the secular world are required to resource the clergy and the missionary programmes of the Church. “Missional” stewardship is primarily about accountability and responsibility, rather than resourcing the Church; the “… local church [being] a primary vehicle for holding Christian people responsible for their vocational work.” Instead of resourcing the Church being a primary focus, “Missional” stewardship asks us to “… [manage] resources to meet physical needs”, “… [serving] the important goal  of stewarding God’s resources to meet societal needs.” In reflecting on his own church experience Dennis says, “Leaders of the church seldom discussed the need for accountability for the way we served God through our secular work.” I recognise this in my own ministry as an Anglican Priest over twenty years, more concerned that my stipend is paid and that our worship is staffed with readers and sidespersons on a Sunday; and less concerned that parishioners are meaningfully equipped to serve God in their work-a-day world from Monday to Saturday; frustrated by the 20/80 principle – that 20% of the congregation contribute to 80% of Parish life – instead of realising that perhaps only 20% of people have time to contribute, while 80% are busy serving God in the realm of homes, schools, business and government.

Scattered

The above backs up another key “Missional” concept, and this is that God sends us, scatters us into the world; that we take the light of Christ into the world and its darkness through who we are, what we do and how we do it. Too often, in the older paradigm, Sundays were sacred moments that had little to do with our lives during the rest of the week, creating a kind of spiritual/secular schizophrenia. In “Missional” thinking Sunday – the Church gathered – becomes a celebration of what God has done in our lives from Monday to Saturday; it is a time of testimony, of sharing how God has been with us, how we have seen and experienced God as we have sought to live out our calling in the scattered environment of our week.

Gathered

This then raised the question of what the church should be doing. Dennis says, “My own bias is that the church should concentrate its pastoral and administrative resources on evangelism, worship, and nurturing and equipping members for service. I suggest that churches run service programs … only in the rarest instances.” I am encouraged by this because it reflects the mission statement of our own Diocese (Pretoria), that every Parish become a forming centre of Spirituality, Mission and Ministry. My role as Parish Priest is to facilitate this process, which Dennis describes as follows: “One of the most important roles of the local church is helping people discover the work that God has planned for them and then empowering them to perform that work.”

Biblical Imperative

Underlying this “Theology of Work” is the Great Commission in Matthew, as well as the creation stories in Genesis, which Dennis describes as “… the stewardship mission of Genesis.” Too often the church gets overly caught up on the redemptive nature of God; “Theology of Work” brings our lives into balance by reminding us of God as Creator and Sustainer, too.

Questions

September is “Stewardship Month” in our Diocese: how are you accountable to the “Body of Christ” for 100% of your life? How are you resourced by the Church to be responsible for your sacred calling to represent God in the secular environment? How are you resourcing the gathered Church that it may become increasingly effective in empowering you and others in your daily lives in the scattered environment of your week?

Blessings

Mark

All quotes are from: Bakke, Dennis W. 2005; Joy at Work (A revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job); PVG, Seattle; Pages 245-275

September - Stewardship Month

As we consider how we are stewarding our lives, relationships and resources in the midst of a tough economic and social global environment, a short book by Klaus Nürnberger Making ends meet is of value. It is available from the CB Powell Bible Centre in Pretoria.

Prof Nürnberger states that poverty is the discrepancy between income and needs, and that the nature of need is that it is always greater than our financial resources. This means that even the most wealthy may be poor, and often deeply in debt! Could that be us?

We try to beat poverty by finding ways to increase our income, but in tough times like the present global meltdown, the best way is to decrease our needs. Prof Nürnberger describes needs as: basic essentials; social expectations; personal desires; pure luxuries.

He gives four tips on breaking even:

1. Orient yourself down to the less privileged, rather than up to the more privileged.
2. Don’t crave for what you don’t have, but praise God for the precious gifts God gave you.
3. Avoid debt at all costs. If you cannot afford something, simply do without it.
4. Make a budget and stick to it.

Here Prof Nürnberger suggests a budget formulated as follows:

ü       Work on a monthly basis.

ü       Get the whole family together.

ü       Be absolutely transparent.

ü       Add up all household income.

ü       Make a schedule.

ü       Allocate to specified items.

ü       Agree on priorities.

And he suggests we allocate it as follows:

ü       The money of God.

ü       Debt redemption or saving.

ü       Fixed items: rates and taxes, rent, water, light, school fees. 

ü       Household expenses: food, cleaning material, etc.

ü       Transport. 

ü       Clothing for each member.

ü       Pocket money for each member.

ü       New acquisitions.

Using these principles in the following order of priority for our allocation of available funds:

1. The money of God.
2. Debt redemption or saving.
3. Fixed items: rates and taxes, rent, water, light, school fees. 
4. Household expenses: food, cleaning material, etc.
5. Transport. 
6. Clothing for each member.
7. Pocket money for each member.
8. New acquisitions.

Prof Nürnberger says the challenge, however, in getting ourselves out of poverty are:

Ø       Can we trust God to provide for our healthy survival?

Ø       Can we trust each other?

Ø       Can we swallow our pride and be transparent to each other?

Ø       Can we overcome our selfishness and cooperate?

Ø       Can we sacrifice for each other?

Ø       Can we discipline ourselves?

Ø       Can we be an example for others? 

August 2009 - An African Adventure

Photos of Botswana Trip

Dear friends

A Great African Adventure

I’ve just returned from a great adventure in Botswana and the Caprivi. Dawn’s dad, Glen, and I spent twelve days travelling through the length, breadth and depth of Botswana by 4x4. We were part of a group of 19 people in 9 vehicles all set up for the challenges of the bush, sand and mud. Our first destination was Lekhubu Island in the middle of the Kgalagadi Salt Pans with the main interest being a collection of Baobab trees. It took two days to get there, our second day taking nine hours to cover just under 50km’s due to lots of water and large amounts of mud: I learnt a great deal about vehicle recovery (including help winch a stranded twelve tonne Overlander vehicle out of thick mud), and our winches and snatch-ropes were put to extreme test. Thereafter the biggest challenge was soft sand: Botswana is in the main a big bowl of sand up to a kilometre deep in places!

We then headed through Maun to Lake Ngami, which was so full we couldn’t see it as water was right up into the bush, preventing us finding any good view points. We headed up the western side of the Delta, visiting Gcwihaba Caves (similar to Sterkfontein), and spending a few days at Drotsky’s Cabins on the Panhandle. This included some time on the water, and a moment of great excitement as my Father-in-Law managed to get a sighting of African Skimmers for the first time in twenty-five years (he’s a great “Birder”): he was heard to utter more than one uncharacteristic “Halleluia” in a moment of grand excitement!

Next stop was the Caprivi, where the major moments were being charged by an elephant, and meeting up with Kingsley Holgate and his entourage in Katima Mulilo. A poignant moment was driving through the old Buffalo Camp (32 Battalion), now peacefully “peopled” with Kudu. The cement foundations, collapsed prefabs and crumbling ablution blocks paid peaceful testimony to the violence of the past.

We headed back into Botswana through Chobe and spent an uncomfortable night in Kasane. We spent the next two days travelling an “Eco Route” down the Botswana/Zimbabwe Border, and a wonderful night at a waterhole in the middle of nowhere, listening to the sounds of elephant in the bush around us. Game was scarce as it was hunting season, and our human presence unsettled them. We found lion spoor, and felt the adrenaline-rush of being in the African Bush. All too soon it was time to set the GPS for home as we headed through Francistown for the Border at Martin’s Drift.

Wine Tasting

A very big thank you to Isobel Holden for organising last Saturday afternoon’s Wine Tasting. Katherine Simms presented us with some unusual wines from the Joostenberg Winery, increasing both our knowledge of different wine cultivars and the added value different cultivars bring to different foods. The snacks went down well, and a good afternoon was enjoyed by those who attended.

The only “sourness” experienced was that nearly half of those who bought tickets didn’t attend, resulting in Katherine addressing at least three empty tables, and valuable funds wasted on hiring glasses and preparing snacks that went uneaten, resulting in only R1,000 being raised towards the Equestria Building Fund. In South African society generally is seems increasingly acceptable to indicate attendance – either through a positive reply to an invitation or the purchase of a ticket – and then to not attend for whatever reason. This is certainly also most evident at Weddings. I suspect this has to do with the speed at which we live our lives, but also that we double-date and fail to keep a responsible diary. As Christians we need to set a better example in this regard, please!

With Church fundraising events it will be helpful in future if, when we know that we cannot attend but would like to contribute, that instead of purchasing a ticket we give a donation towards the function.

The Rector’s Birthday Bash

Thank you so much to everyone who attended our “Bring & Braai” on Sunday 5 July in the Church gardens. Dawn and my July Birthdays are really just an excuse for a mid-winter Parish get-together for fellowship and a relaxed time. However, thank you for all the good wishes, and the small gifts we received: in most cases the gifts have been much enjoyed, being edible and drinkable! We received a wonderful “African Mirror” from the Catering committee that now has pride of place on our lounge wall; however, it is strangely silent when I ask it if I am the most beautiful of them all!

Blessings

Mark

July 2009 - The Church Irrelevant

Dear friends

Irrelevance

As a priest “Church” occupies a large part of my landscape. My faith and my profession are deeply intertwined. I can’t imagine what it may be like to live life out of touch with the Church, but increasingly society is filling up with people who do, and who don’t perceive any loss in this disconnection. For centuries the Church has operated in an environment in the West and in Africa where a connection – even if tenuous – has been the norm; evangelism and mission have focused on strengthening this connection, or on reconnecting people who have wandered off; society nurtured it. Increasingly urbanised society sees no inherent added value in religious connection, and if anything, perceives religion to be a limiting life experience.

At the June Equestria Family Breakfast discussion meandered around family values, Church, and reaching out to our peers. It became clear that for many young people the Church is perceived to be an outmoded social construct proclaiming an outdated moral lifestyle. For instance the Church’s teaching that sex should only be celebrated within marriage is looked on with disdain, and seen as a sign that the Church is lost in a puritan past, and therefore irrelevant to life in the 21^st century.

As Church we believe that our moral outlook remains relevant, and yet our South African society – in which a majority of people still claim a Christian allegiance – demonstrates very little adherence to a Christian moral code. A recent survey conducted by the SA Medical Research Council (reported on www.time.com 20 June 2009) found that just over 1 in 4 South African men admit to having raped, and just under half of these to having done so more than once. Many of the men surveyed had obtained some level of education and income.

And so the relevance of the Church to our society comes into question. We no longer influence our wider society to any meaningful degree.

We have relied for centuries on being politically powerful, on being the official religion of society in the West and in Africa since Constantine. The French Revolution led to the first marked societal move away from religion, and France today still guards its secular political dispensation with fierce doggedness (now under threat perhaps more from Islam than Christianity).

Where do we find our response? The answers lie not so much in the monarchical narratives of David and Solomon – as they have done for centuries – but increasingly in the stories of Israel’s time in the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt, and in the experiences of a persecuted early Church. Our Christian faith, our existence as Church, needs radical review.

Family Life

Our response to the increasingly chaotic experience of family life in the 21^st century is one road that may lead us towards a renewed relevance. Our diocesan theme of “turning houses into homes” provides a handhold. The months of May and June have provided us with three important family related events: our parenting workshop where Dr Mary Anne Harrop-Allin dealt with temperament (personality), self-esteem and relationship; our Ladies Weekend led by Dawn Long, Sabine Verryn and Olga Nel, where over twenty of our wives, mothers, daughters and grandmothers had the opportunity to spend time away from family commitments in worship, self-discovery and creativity; our Patronal Breakfast where we were able to celebrate being part of our wider Parish family over a relaxed meal.

The people of God since the time of Abraham have found relevance in relationship: with God, with each other, with the world. This can be true for us, in our time, and to our generation.

Blessings

Mark