#ThursdaysInBlack - towards a world without rape and violence for women

The sad reality is that women and girls continue to face the threats of physical and sexual violence as part of daily life. How is this possible in 2018?

The World Council of Churches started a campaign some years ago to bring awareness to this issue, it is called 'Thursdays in Black'. They encourage persons to wear black clothing on a Thursday, and if you have one, to wear a Thursdays in Black 'pin' (you will see an example in my little video). 

By doing so we show solidarity with women and girls, we commit ourselves to living in a different way, and we create some awareness and conversation around this crucial issue.

Please consider joining this movement at http://www.thursdaysinblack.co.za - this link will take you to the CABSA website. Here you can read about the history of this movement, get some resources and ideas, and even order your 'Thursdays in Black' pin.

There is one additional element that has emerged from persons commenting on the video - some people have asked me about the idea that men can also be feminists. Prof Nico Norman Koopman wrote a beautiful article addressing men on this issue. I am trying my best to be an ally to women. Some would say that when one embodies these values, even men can be feminists. See Nico Koopman's article here: http://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub/a...

Thanks for watching! As always, I would love to hear your comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback and questions!

The cry of freedom - happy 101st birthday Beyers Naudé

Tomorrow we will celebrate the 101st anniversary of the birth of Beyers Naudé.

He was a courageous prophet against injustice - living for a better future for all of South Africa's citizens.

The reality is that not much has changed for the majority of South Africans since 1994 - we still hear the cry for freedom in our land.

We are facing rising economic inequality, increasing enmity between the races, and the continued subjugation of the rights of the most needy and disenfranchised members of society by both the state and those who hold economic and social power.

Please can I invite you to watch this powerful documentary on the life of Beyers Naudé in celebration of his life and witness, but also to remind us of the important and critical task that we face at present?

Tomorrow we shall celebrate his legacy in the residence at Stellenbosch University where he was a student - Wilgenhof. My colleague and friend, Rev Jaco Botha will speak about the legacy and witness of Oom Bey and remind us that his work is not yet done.

We have so much work to do, and it is the work of citizens. We cannot wait for the state and political parties - we are the people we have been waiting for.

Podcast - Prof Barney Pityana on Discipleship and Active Citizenship in South Africa

You can download Prof Barney Pityana's opening Keynote on Discipleship Active Citizenship which was delivered on 2 June 2015 at the Winter School of the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University from this link [mp3 file, 50MB]

The Winter School is hosted by Ekklesia and the Beyers Naude Center for Public Theology in the first week of June each year.  This year's theme is 'Changing the world? An invitation to faithful discipleship and responsible citizineship'.

I apologize for the poor sound quality of the recording.  I recorded it using my cellphone and so there is some ambient and room noise in the recording.  However, it is well worth the inconvenience to hear Prof Pityana's lecture.

I was deeply struck by a few comments that Prof Pityana made. Among them was the observation that the three most prominent public persons in SA at present (President Jacob Zuma, Chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and the leader of the official opposition, DA leader Musi Miamani) are all ordained pastors of independent Christian Churches.  Prof Pityana discusses this phenomenon and asks some questions of the type of Christianity that is represented by these persons, and also how this reflects on us a nation.

I'd love to hear your comments, thoughts and feedback!

A tribute to Bishop David Russell - Grahamstown

A good friend of mine, Fr Larry Kaufmann introduced me to Bishop David Russell in Grahamstown many years ago. I had the joy of visiting his residence, and praying in his chapel, in Grahamstown. It was at his home that I first saw the film Babette's feast - a profound moment that changed my understanding of hospitality, grace and the sacraments.

Bishop Russell was a great inspiration to many young clergy in South Africa, and across the world. He was deeply committed to the Gospel of Christ and God's Kingdom of justice, mercy, and grace. His life and ministry showed many of us what it meant to be welcoming, and to be welcomed, into loving fellowship with God in Christ and one another.

Bishop Russell passed away this week. I thank God for his life and ministry. He was a Public Theologian par excellance!

Here is a tribute to David Russell written by my friend Archbishop Thabo Makgoba:

"With David Russell's death, an era passes for the Church and its
prophetic and courageous ministry, especially to the poorest of the poor.

"From the earliest days of his ministry as a priest, he was radical in
his identification with the poor and oppressed. Steve Biko, with whom he
worked closely, called him 'a friend, an equal... a comrade.'

"In the Eastern Cape in the 1970s, he played an important role in drawing
attention to the plight of people who were forcibly removed from their
homes under apartheid and dumped to starve in areas, such as Dimbaza,
where they had no hope of making a living.

"Later, as a chaplain to migrant workers in Cape Town, he campaigned
against the cruel removals, in the middle of winter, of families who
defied the pass laws and came to Crossroads to live with their husbands
and fathers.

"When the apartheid government sent in bulldozers to destroy their
shacks, he was willing to put his life on the line - one admirer recalled
on Facebook this week: 'Will never forget the image of DR lying,
spreadeagled, in front of a bulldozer in Crossroads.'

"When the government imposed a banning order on him, he defied it,
breaking it in multiple ways to attend a meeting of the Church's
Provincial Synod and to motivate a resolution expressing the Church's
understanding of those who had resorted to armed struggle.

"After becoming Bishop of Grahamstown, he ordained the first woman priest
in Southern Africa and repeatedly challenged the Church on theological
grounds to reverse its opposition to blessing same-sex unions. He also
challenged the democratically-elected provincial government of the
Eastern Cape for its failures in areas such as health and education.

"As one who served as Bishop David's suffragan bishop in Grahamstown and
was mentored by him, I feel his loss keenly.

"Not only the Church but the nation - which honoured him for his service
with the Order of the Baobab in Silver - mourns this son of the soil.

"On behalf of my family, the Diocese of Cape Town, the Synod of Bishops
and the broader church, we send our condolences and prayers to his wife,
Dorothea and to his sons, Sipho and Thabo.

"May this pastor, prophet, theologian and fierce fighter against
injustice rest in peace until we meet again."

Faith matters: intelligibly unintelligible

I am reading Stanley Hauerwas' Approaching the end: Eschatological reflections on Church, Politics and Life. It comes highly recommend.  I found the following quote so helpful in thinking about the 'shape' of my own faith.

For I take it to be crucial that Christians must live in such a manner that their lives are unintelligible if the God we worship in Jesus Christ does not exist.

- Stanley Hauerwas, Approaching the end (p.67).

Indeed, the character of our lives, not our confessions, but our very lives, must seem strange to a world that is so obsessed with power, wealth, class and fame.  The way of the Christ follower must seem nonsensical to those who do not understand the God whom we love and know.  Of course it makes sense to us only because we know God and have experienced God's grace and power that transforms life, brings wholeness and motivates our reason for being who and how we are in the world.

If our lives, and the expression of our lives (our homes, our bank accounts, our Churches) resemble too closely to conventions of our time we need to take stock and ask whether we have not given in to one of the many false God's of the age.  We should be different, since God's nature and ways are different.  But our difference should not be a reason for division, but rather a call to real life, a call to full life, a call to move closer to the life giver.

Giving thanks for the life of Brother Roger - Taizé Community

Today I give thanks for the life and ministry of Brother Roger today. The establishment of the Taizé community is a continuing gift of renewal and missional blessing to the Church across the world.

It reminds me that simple courage and constant obedience can often be used by God to bring about transformation, healing and renewal.

In 1940, despite the spread of war in Europe, Roger Schütz crossed the border from Switzerland into France to pursue a community life characterized by simplicity and the fellowship described in the gospels. From early on in his life, Brother Roger knew that such a life together could be a sign of reconciliation for Christians from different denominations.

After settling in a French village called Taizé, Brother Roger was caught for hiding Jewish refugees and had to leave France after two years. When he returned after World War II had ended, he was accompanied by a few men who became the first brothers of the Taize community, which grew into an ecumenical community with brothers on all continents, bearing witness to what brother Roger came to talk about as a “parable of community.”

On August 16 2005, during evening prayer in the Church of reconciliation at Taizé, Brother Roger was stabbed to death by a mentally ill woman.

- Common prayer (16 August 2013) -  http://commonprayer.net

If we were true Christians...

What a beautiful quote:

There would be no need for sermons, if our lives were shining; there would be no need for words, if we bore witness with our deeds. There would be no pagans, if we were true Christians.

St. John Chrysostom (via rudysnotes)

(via kenosis-theosis)

Some real wisdom from one of the Eastern Fathers. It has challenged me deeply.

Right of admission reserved!?

Yesterday I spent the morning doing a workshop with the clergy and leaders of the churches in the Magalies Circuit. It was wonderful to be at Rev Stuart Bosch's fantastic church in Sinoville. I was so impressed by the warm reception, and more so by the openness of this group to consider how they could share the Gospel more faithfully with their communities (not just 'keep the gospel' for the members of their church).

The workshop was based upon the liturgy and powerful stories in Kevin Light's wonderful little book (Light, K & Rogers, F 2004. Right of admission reserved? Cape Town. Methodist Publishing house).

The primary question was, "whose shoes do you see in your church during the week?" You see, shoes don't lie. They not only tell us about the persons who wear them (i.e., are they young, old, men, women, poor, rich, conservative, flamboyant etc.), but they also tell us who comes to our church and who doesn't. Look at the shoes of most Methodist Churches and you'll see that they normally represent one particular sector of that population... They will tell you a lot about that Church - perhaps they will be mostly male shoes, or maybe only adult shoes, perhaps there will only be highly polished black leather shoes from a particular uniformed organisation etc.

Here are the resources if you would like to run the morning of reflection with your church or small group. It does not require any preaching, just the reading of the liturgy and the reading of the three reflections punctuated with songs, then some time in personal reflection and discussion in groups.

I noticed a few typos in both the liturgy and the questions. I will fix them when I get a chance. Please feel free to distribute and use this material wherever you would like. And please, change and adapt it as much as you would like. Can I just ask that you reference Kevin's book when doing so?

• inclusivity.ppt
• liturgy.doc
• 7th day refl.doc
• hat fits refl.doc
• seen and heard refl.doc

I would love to hear some feedback from you if you do use or adapt the materials.

Just like his dad, a nice double chin and chubby cheeks!

Now, some news on little Liam. He was weighed again on Thursday, and now weighs 2.2kg's! So he is becoming a big boy now! He also had his vaccinations this week (two injections and some drops), which have left him a little out of sorts. However, it is all necessary! We are still waiting for our Medical Aid to give their approval for him to have the MRI scan so that we can assess what, and where, the damage from the brain hemorrhage is.

Megie is doing so well with him, although I think as only mothers could know, she is exhausted from waking to feed every 2 hours! Courtney is loving her brother and has been an incredible help to Megie and I.

As for me, I am at the end of two of the busiest weeks of the year! We finished our Orientation with the new students (see the picture below) on Friday afternoon, which meant that I was in class, chapel, or with the students from 7am to 5pm each day and then needed to do my other work after that (preparing sermons, workshops, preparing lectures, dealing with staff and student concerns, catching up on correspondence, and all the other management and administration requirements). I am pleased that we will start with our regular lectures from this coming week. However, we also now begin with screening new candidates for the ministry, which means that between now and easter we will travel to every one of the 12 geographical districts of Southern Africa where the Methodist Church has membership. It is always an honour to be part of those discerning committees, listening to people articulate and share their call, asking a few pointed questions, and helping them to find a path through which to express their unique gifts and abilities. So, I'll be racking up the frequent flyer miles (well, that should be the kulula, mango, and 1Time points...)

This is a picture of our new students, the staff, and the Bishop of the district in which the seminary is located, the Revd Dr Gavin Taylor, Dr Richardson is to his right, and that's me on the extreme right (wearing my favourite jacket!). This photo was taken outside of our chapel. Please excuse the angle of the photograph... My camera was perched on a chair (one day I'll get a tripod). PS. you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.