[VIDEOS] In 12 languages - Archbishop's Midday Prayer for the time of the coronavirus

From the Bishopscourt chapel in Cape Town, Archbishop Thabo recites - in 12 of the languages used in the Province = the Midday Prayer he has composed for the time of the coronavirus:

A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - isiZulu



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - isiXhosa



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - siSwati



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Sesotho



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Sepedi



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Portuguese



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Setswana



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Afrikaans



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - isiNdebele



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Xitsonga



A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - Tshivenda


A Midday Prayer on the Coronavirus - English

[VIDEO] Reflections on keeping a balance in a time of coronavirus

Speaking from the chapel at Bishopscourt in Cape Town, Archbishop Thabo shares his thoughts on the principle, learned from his experience of centring prayer, of balance in processing what is happening to us. He reflects on four broad categories of applying balance. He also explains his focus on providing midday prayers in as many languages of the Province as possible.

Archbishop's Eastertide News & Reflections – Wednesday in Low Week

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

In our multi-lingual Province, it is important that we share worship resources in as many languages as we can during the coronavirus lockdowns. It's for this reason that in the past few days I've reached out to isiXhosa- and Sesotho-speaking listeners to SABC radio stations in South Africa, seeking to minister via uMhlobo Wenene and with the popular host, Thuso Motaung, on Lesedi FM.

You can hear the interviews below:

[VIDEO] Archbishop Thabo addresses the trauma of COVID-19 & lockdown

The Archbishop responds to a request to make his latest Eastertide reflection available for viewing and listening:

Archbishop's Eastertide News & Reflections – Thursday in Easter Week

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

Amid current controversies around the coronavirus lockdown, I want to look at a new topic today: our mental health.

Archbishop's Eastertide News & Reflections – Tuesday in Easter Week

A Zoom meeting with young people

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

On Easter Monday I had a wonderful discussion with the youth of our Province, from Angola to South Africa to Mozambique, which they joined on the Zoom video-conference facility.

The young people, including those involved with the Provincial Youth Council and the Anglican Students' Federation, as well as others, were exuberant and irreverent, demonstrating a sense of purpose and energy. They believe this time of the coronavirus will come and it will go, and that it will in the end be resolved. I was also touched by a number of their concerns – for example, that priests will continue to be paid despite lockdowns, and that parishioners ought to keep up their giving.

[VIDEO] How the Church complied with Easter lockdown

Archbishop Thabo discusses with the SABC's Morning Live programme how the Church celebrated Easter online:

A Homily for Easter Sunday, DStv Easter channel

The text of a homily preached in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Protea Village, at a service pre-recorded for the DStv pop-up channel for Easter 2020

Let me again welcome you very warmly to this broadcast service, which as I said in my introduction comes to you from a historic place closely associated with South Africa's oppressive past, with our elders' heroic struggle for freedom and now with our hope for the future.

At Easter, we emerged from the long days of Lent – no longer than usual in terms of days or hours but rather in the way it has reached into the depths of our anxiety, our fears, our sense of powerlessness and the limits of our knowledge, as the coronavirus runs rampant across the globe and into every community.

Homily for Easter Sunday, SABC Television

The Crucifix at Bishopscourt

The text of a homily preached in the Bishopscourt chapel and pre-recorded for broadcast by SABC 2 on Easter Sunday 

Readings: 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14; John 14 verse 1

Good morning!

And it is a good morning, because Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

A Happy Easter to you all, and a warm welcome to the chapel at Bishopscourt, the home of Anglican Archbishops of Cape Town.

The Bible readings I have chosen for today's homily, from the Second Book of Chronicles and the Gospel according to John, evoke images of the pestilences and plagues that have been inflicted on the world throughout history, but also speak of God's promise that if we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways, God will hear us and heal the earth.

Archbishop's Holy Week News & Reflections – Holy Saturday

Nyaki, Karabo (Pabi), Mrs Lungi and ++Thabo Makgoba

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

“Dad, have you been ‘zooming’ again today?” There you go, a new verb born out of lockdown.

For me Holy Saturday is typically much quieter than today was, a time when I am still full of the emotions and animation of Good Friday and its message. Usually we are laid back as a family and take a siesta from 3 till around 6 pm, then have dinner around 7 in preparation to go to St George’s Cathedral for the 10:30 Easter Vigil.

Archbishop's Holy Week News & Reflections – Good Friday

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

The busy-ness of Holy Week took an unexpected turn yesterday, Maundy Thursday. During the week I had prayed with President Cyril Ramaphosa over the phone and crafted special collects for him, reflecting a meeting of our minds. Then, late in the day, it was confirmed that he and Mrs Ramaphosa had accepted an invitation to join us from Gauteng in a virtual Good Friday service with my family and an online congregation.

Archbishop's Holy Week News & Reflections – Maundy Thursday

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

Sixty-six clergy from the Diocese of Cape Town, including four retired bishops, joined me in the Bishopscourt Chapel on Zoom video conferencing software for a most moving prayer service at midday today. 

Archbishop's Holy Week News & Reflections – Wednesday April 8

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

Around the Province, clergy and lay ministers are adapting their Good Friday and Easter services in many innovative ways, including through Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom and other platforms. While online media can never replace our gathering together physically to worship our Lord, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to catch up with our young people and learn new ways of being church in the modern world.

Archbishop's Holy Week News & Reflections – Tuesday April 7

(Image: Brand SA)

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

We may be confined to our homes on lockdown, but in a time of pandemic the lives and ministries of the clergy seem to be busier than ever, whether we are calling our parishioners to check in on how they are – particularly those who are elderly or who live on their own – or addressing unforeseen difficulties in our communities.

Archbishop's Holy Week News & Reflections – Monday April 6

Dear Parishioners, Clergy and Bishops

At noon today 21 Bishops of the Province began Holy Week by sharing in a Litany for the Coronavirus Pandemic on a video conference call. It was, as a number of Bishops said afterwards, a very special gathering, a precious and touching moment of being united in prayer amidst crisis and uncertainty, as well as an invitation to deep theological reflection on the time we are living through.