May I speak in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. Sisters and brothers in Christ, St Saviour's family and friends, dear people of God, it is a privilege and an honour for me to have been asked to celebrate this day and share with you the Word of God. Wow! 170 years of service, witness and ministry through God’s love and grace! What a milestone. Thank you, Fr Chesnay, your leadership team and to the whole community of St Saviour's for inviting me. Thank you everyone for your welcome this morning on our arrival. Thank you too to those who worked tirelessly in preparation for these celebrations. And a special welcome to the guests who have been invited for this auspicious event.
Service for the Opening of Term VID Specialized University Campus Chapel Church of Norway (Den norske Kirke) Stavanger August 13, 2024
Reading: Luke 8: 1 -3
Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.
May I speak in the name of God who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all life. Amen.
Sisters and brothers, I greet you in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: God morgen! Please excuse my Norwegian pronunciation! What a pleasure it is to be here in this chapel, visiting the VID Specialized University, with which the University of the Western Cape, the University of Malawi and other universities on the continent have such important partnerships. Congratulations to this year's cohort of students, including those who received scholarships, including our daughter Paballo, Karabo Makgoba. They join many from the continent, like Zibokjana (Moses) ka Gudu from Zululand who trained in Stavanger in the 1860s. It is especially good to be here in Stavanger, where in the 19th century the Norwegian Mission Society set up a “Mission School” which trained a number of the missionaries who were sent to join Pastor Hans Schreuder in your church’s mission to amaZulu, the Zulu people. I was grateful to meet Bishop Anne Lise Ådnøy yesterday, and also to visit the archives which tell the story of the rich history of your evangelisation in my country. And on behalf of my family and myself, I want to say a special thank you to Professor Vebjørn Horsfjord for your hospitality and assistance in setting up my visit. Tusen takk! Our Gospel reading today (Luke 8: 1ff), presents to us an account of how Jesus began to travel round the countryside after a period of fairly settled ministry. Various women took part in the campaign and helped to provide for the necessities of the missionaries. There is a thematic link in the story of the woman who anointed Jesus. His ministry had been centred in Capernaum, and many of his teachings had been in the synagogues of the region, but now he was on the road again, travelling from town to town on a second tour of the Galilean countryside. Most of Jesus’s teachings were in parables and the parable which follows today’s reading was a simple description of how seeds sown across a field differ in their growth, depending on what kind of soil they were scattered upon. Those which fell on rocky ground withered, those which fell among thorns were choked, but those which fell into good soil grew abundantly, producing, as the Gospel says, “a hundredfold.” I think we can draw an analogy between the parable of the sowing of the seeds and the role people of faith have played in relations between our two nations and peoples over the past two centuries. When Pastor Schreuder, his companions and successors, as well as missionaries from other parts of Europe, left the places familiar to them at home, sailed across the sea and went into the South African countryside, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God, sometimes their words fell onto rocky soil or among thorns. But at other times, they fell onto good soil and grew abundantly. Of course, success did not depend only upon the quality of the soil; it also depended on whether they were using the right kind of seed for the soil they were attempting to spread it on. I know that you have debates in your church about how appropriate the kind of evangelisation practised by 19th and early 20th century missionaries was. We certainly have them in the Anglican Church. For example, just as Pastor Schreuder had considerable contact with the 19th century Zulu King Mpande, our bishops had frequent contact with his successors, Kings Cetshwayo and Dinizulu, some of it good and some bad. Thus, at the coronation of the current King MisuZulu, and at the 90th birthday celebrations of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, I felt bound to recognise with shame the way in which Anglicans undermined many valuable African cultural traditions, imposing on people Western cultural accretions which had nothing to do with the Christian faith. But overall, I think we can agree with our beloved Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who, preaching at the 150th anniversary of the church established by the British missionary Robert Moffat, criticised missionaries who acted as “one arm of the imperial might of European expansionism” but also went on to give thanks for the schools and hospitals they established, then added: “More than anything we give thanks to God for the [that is, the missionaries] for bringing us the Gospel of salvation through faith, faith in the life and death and resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is an unsurpassable gift. We have come to learn that we too, all of us, are of inestimable worth. We have a worth that is intrinsic to who we are, a worth that does not depend on extraneous attributes such as race and wealth and status and skin colour.” For myself, I have said that despite the oppression of colonialism, racism and apartheid, I am a Christian and remain a Christian because, for me, our faith begins with a young Palestinian on a donkey. I expressed it this way in a memoir I have written about my ministry to Nelson Mandela in his last days: “... [S]ince Roman times we have perverted the Word and the mission of Jesus Christ, and its message about what God is up to in our world. Over the centuries we’ve allowed ourselves to be pointed to imperial agendas. Christ’s message has been attached to national flags, to military might and to the AK-47.” “But,” I added, “that is not the Gospel. Christianity is not imperialism. Christianity is not colonialism. Christianity is how do I love my neighbour as myself and as others. The man who links us to God is he who enters Jerusalem a nonentity, riding on a borrowed donkey. He is humble and he is marginalized but his message of love and simplicity is powerful; it is powerful enough to challenge the perversion of common humanity that empire engenders... The Christian identity I aspire to is one of equality, harmony, reconciliation, truth and, indeed, one of turning the other cheek. For me that is more persuasive and forceful than the values of those who hold secular power.” Returning to Luke’s attention to detail in his biography of the three women, Mary Magdalena, Joanna and Suzanna, we are reminded that these three verses are critical verses for dreaming of this new world, but also in rediscovering the wonder of our discipleship. Our past should not stand in the way of contributing to the future: our position should help us shift the dial to something more just and wonderful and our possessions should help us build a just, healed and restored world. Please allow me to go over my allotted time by ending these reflections with an expression of gratitude for the role that not only your university and your church, but that your nation has played in promoting peace and democracy in South Africa and the world. In 1961, the Norwegian Nobel Committee in effect created a new category of the Nobel Peace Prize, one focussing on the promotion of human rights, when it awarded the 1960 prize to Albert Luthuli, President-General of the African National Congress. Forty years ago this year, it gave hope to millions of us at the height of apartheid oppression when it awarded the 1984 prize to Desmond Tutu. During our struggle against apartheid, your church and government channelled money to the liberation movement through the then Archbishop of Central Africa, Khotso Makhulu, a project memorably recorded in the book, “The Church’s Secret Agent”. And who can forget the role your country played in brokering the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995? As people horrified at the suffering brought about by Israel’s bloody war on Gaza, and the attack by Hamas which triggered it, those of us who support the Palestinian cause wonder: when peace is negotiated, as eventually it must be, is there any European nation with better credentials than Norway for helping to end the conflict? Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity. May God bless you and all the people of Norway.
The Episcopal Church’s General Convention is coming to an end soon, and termination anxiety is setting in among the guests from other churches and countries as we prepare to come home, in my case an 18-hour journey. But before looking ahead to when I return, some more reflections on the last few days here in Louisville, Kentucky.
On Wednesday, at a Eucharist focused on discerning the holy things of God as we contemplate how he has poured out his spirit to transform this world, I prayed in isiXhosa for all the ministries of the Episcopal Church: “That our church will continue to be a place, for every person created in the image and likeness of God, to be both safe and brave! May we celebrate and respect our differences and, through the proclamation of God’s Word and the sharing of Jesus’ Eucharist, may we be thankful for the common identity that we share as the churches of the Anglican Communion.”
The bishops dramatically withdrew from the Eucharist before the blessing to go to Christ Church Cathedral to elect a new Presiding Bishop. When we choose a new Archbishop, the Diocese of Cape Town first elects, then our Synod of Bishops convenes separately to confirm the election. In The Episcopal Church (TEC), the House of Bishops elects the PB (for a nine-year term), then brings the result to the House of Deputies for consent. After some time during which we voted electronically for other office-bearers such as the Treasurer and pension fund trustees, there was an exchange of delegations between the two houses, and at 14:10, we received a delegation from the House of Bishops to say that at the first ballot, Sean Rowe of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania was elected. The floor was opened for discussion, but there was none, and the deputies voted on the first ballot, 778 to 43, to confirm. The delegation was sent back to inform the House Bishops, led by the “Sergeant without Arms”, and the deputies continued with their business until the bishops joined them, business was suspended, and outgoing PB Michael came to the podium to introduce PB-elect Rowe to loud applause.
Bishop Rowe, who then offered an acceptance speech, is from the “Rust Belt” in the USA, the area in the middle of the country which has been hit badly by changing economic conditions. He said that he has seen factory closures and resistance to change in a part of the country that he knows well, but what is key now is to manage the change and focus on the issues of resources and partnerships for our church and world.
He called for energy for mission, asking church members to disagree with one another without tearing each other apart. All should be for the sake of the Gospel, he said, and he called for sitting lightly to structures to allow room for the Spirit to inspire effective ministry on the ground. He asked that between now and November, when he is to be installed, the church observe a “Relational Jubilee” in which her people summon the courage to forgive others for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to display openness, holiness and courage.
My sense is that TEC has elected a good pastor, a spiritual leader who is also a manager likely to make the church’s mission administratively leaner and more goal-directed, perhaps a little like our transition from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane. Congratulations to Bishop Sean on behalf of ACSA.
As the Convention winds down, I am getting accustomed to the bicameral houses. In prayers on Thursday, a list of those who had died since the last convention, wow, the numbers! Amid debate and votes on legislation, the youth – attending for the first time as an official youth presence – were welcomed and addressed the convention. Steve Pankey was elected as Vice-President of the House of Deputies and Ayla Harris, the President, congratulated him with a message on sharing the love of Jesus Christ with a world that desperately needs to hear about him.
Due now to take a break to prepare for travel, interrupted only by a reception for the new Presiding Bishop, I end these reflections and thank you for your prayers.
My friend Soenke in Germany sends me photos of 1895, around the life, times and killing of my ancestor, Kgoši Makgoba, about whom I wrote here on Sunday. There is book for me to write to heal myself, perhaps a sequel to Faith & Courage, with reflections and stories of healing. I reconnect with home and read the Good Hope Synod edition and congratulate Rebecca Malambo for producing our account of Diocesan Synod so beautifully and ably as always.
My sincere apologies to the Order of St John in South Africa that due to GC and travel, I cannot preside as Prior at the investiture of members this Saturday. I pray also that by the time I land, we will know who the members of our Cabinet are, and we can work out how we can participate as church and citizens in Codesa-type dialogues about “whither South Africa”. Frankly, we have been talking a lot for 30 years, now we need to talk about solutions.
Delivered by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at dinner held by Bishops of the Episcopal Church and their spouses at their General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. This is Bishop Michael's last Convention before he retires:
Sisters and Brothers in Christ; Presiding Bishop Michael, our Brother in the Jesus Movement; Bishops and your Spouses:
From a freezing cold Cape Town winter, and although you may not need or want to be any warmer, I bring you warm greetings, in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, from your sisters and brothers in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
In the words of our most widely-used mother tongue in South Africa, isiZulu, I also greet you: San'bonani! If I was greeting one of you individually, I would use the singular form of address, which is Sawubona! That word literally means, “I see you,” and using Sawubona as a form of greeting underlines the importance in our African cultures of recognising the worth and dignity of each person. As it has been said, to greet another with the phrase “Sawubona” means “I see the whole of you — your experiences, your passions, your pain, your strengths and weaknesses, and your future. You are valuable to me.”
And indeed, you in The Episcopal Church are valuable to us in the world-wide Communion. This is especially so when, in so many ways, the nations of the Global South look upon your nation with concern, worried for your future when you seem to be alienating yourself from the international community, complicit for example in the brutal war against the Palestinians which Israel launched in response to Hamas's vicious attack of last October 7th.
In total contrast to the image your governments project to the international community is the image you as The Episcopal Church project to the Anglican Communion, and no more so than under the leadership of your, of our, beloved Bishop Michael.
That isn't to say that our respective churches do not have our differences. We in Southern Africa are still struggling after 30 years to agree on ways to provide pastoral ministry to people living in the same-sex civil unions recognised under South Africa's 1996 Constitution. And those of us who have actually lived under apartheid and frequently visited our Palestinian sisters and brothers since the days of the first Intifada differ with those of you who dispute that Israel, especially in the Occupied West Bank, practices apartheid as defined under international law. But, as one of South Africa's wisest Chief Rabbis, who worked with Nelson Mandela to lead his community into democracy, might have said: “We can celebrate our common heritage and live in dignity with our differences.”
And those differences pale into relative insignificance when viewed against the gentle but oh-so-powerful leadership of Michael Curry. Both in his visits to our Province of the Communion, and in Primates' and other meetings, I have witnessed and admired his humble leadership, his quiet but so beautifully transparent recognition of the value of every human being, and indeed of the whole of God's beautiful creation, his collaborative style and of course the extraordinarily vital and passionate way – unmatched in my experience – in which he manages to express in himself, and convey to others, his love of Jesus and the love of Jesus for each one of us. Could there be any higher tribute than that paid to a Christian leader? I don't think so.
I know you have some time to go before you actually retire, Bishop Michael, but I can say safely, without contradiction, that I speak on behalf of millions of Anglicans around the world, when I say in some of the languages of my church: Thank you, Michael! Ke a leboga; Siyabonga; Enkosi kakhulu; Ngiyabonga; Tangi unene; Baie dankie!
Before I end, let me share a story of an event that to my mind saved our Communion because you were magnanimous. At your first meeting of the Primates of the Communion, the Primates overreached and sanctioned the Episcopal Church, preventing you from participating in Communion matters. The first expectation was you would sulk and walk out. But you did not. You graciously listened and still spoke of the love of Jesus. Few know of this sacrifice for which I am grateful and, as I was in that Primates Meeting, I equally want to say “mea culpa” for my part in that.
PB Michael, here is a small drum from Africa, as a token of our appreciation and deeper connections with you. May you continue the rhythm of the drum beat as you hear the words “God loves you! Jesus loves you! And so do we!”
In notes on the opening days of the General Convention of The
Episcopal Church (TEC) of the United States, Archbishop Thabo writes
of how they differ from us in governance, of their use of Spanish as
well as English in worship, of a pro-Palestinian protest against
decisions of their House of Bishops, and of their willingness to
acknowledge the displacement of Indigenous Americans by settlers and
the evil of chattel slavery through their country's history.
Our Archbishop is
at the convention to mark the retirement of TEC's Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, a descendant
of enslaved Americans. The church has its origins in a breakaway from
the Church of England at the time of American independence, when
Anglican clergy who remained loyal to the British Crown often left
for Canada and other jurisdictions, while those supporting the
Revolution turned to the Scottish Episcopal Church to consecrate
their first bishop.
The convention now represents 108 dioceses, with 167 bishops, more
than 800 lay and clergy deputies and 239 alternate deputies
registered. But it is also an opportunity for up to 10,000 people to
attend events and visit exhibitions organised around it. Archbishop
Thabo writes:
Those of us
attending the General Convention (GC) as invited, ecumenical and
interfaith guests gathered on Saturday for the first of our
orientation sessions, which will be helpful as we join the big and
complex “houses” of the convention.
In the House of
Deputies, which represents the laity and clergy, we listened to a
welcoming message by President Julia Ayala Harris, and from Presiding
Bishop Michael Curry (the PB) from the House of Bishops. I also met
the Dean of Theology at the University of the South, to arrange for
our sabbatical at Sewanee, Tennessee after I retire in 2026. At 7pm,
we attended a revival and healing service, where the PB was at his
best, and we sang “This little lamp of mine” by the light of our
cellphone torches.
On Sunday, after the
ecumenical guests recorded our greetings to the GC for playing later
to each House, we attended orientation and breakfast at 7 am. Then it
was the Opening Eucharist, which is being held this year with the
overall theme of “Together in Love”. Eucharist was in English and
Spanish, with the singing a combination of Hymns Ancient &
Modern, American spirituals and choruses. It was vibrant and the
President of the House of Deputies preached, stressing our call to
bring healing to a hurting world, assuring us that Jesus is with us
in the storms we face and that in the midst of everything, what is
key is transforming lives rather than focussing on increasing our
numbers.
In the House of
Deputies, I was moved at the reading of an acknowledgement of the racial and brutal expropriation of the land
and cultures of the indigenous peoples and First Nations of he United
States. One of our own, the Revd Lester Mackenzie, now of Los Angeles, is the chaplain to the
House and brought to the proceedings much love and light and
laughter. (He is a grandson of Bishop Ed Mackenzie, Suffragan of Cape
Town in Archbishop Emeritus Desmond's time.)
The President of the
House opened the legislative session by reading the standing rules of
the Convention; the preliminaries dealt with, about 813 members from
102 dioceses were seated.
Of note, and
different to our Province, in which the Houses of Laity, Clergy and
Bishops meet together at Provincial Synod, here the houses meet
separately and each represents a team to receive greetings from the
other House. The Diocese of Liberia has a seat and voice in TEC,
since they belong jointly to the Province of West Africa and to TEC,
one of the benefits being that they receive pensions from TEC.
Resolutions on
social justice and the international policy work of committees were
presented. The TEC is different from where we in ACSA are on these
matters. Resolutions on human trafficking, migration with dignity,
and affirming the integrity of a independent Palestinian state, were carried in
an atmosphere of Anglican moderation and pragmatism.
After a take-away
dinner, we went the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts to watch A Case for Love, an inpiring and moving film based on the writings and teaching of PB
Curry. At 8.45 pm we walked back home to our hotel in a much
longed-for breeze. The temperatures so far have been around 34
degrees C, dry and hot.
On Monday, a
briefing and breakfast was
followed by Morning
Prayer, in
which the worship was
inspiring. We attended
a joint session of the houses to look at the church's
budget, then had
lunch and listened to a session on the work
and ministry of the Anglican Church in Palestine,
led by Archbishop Hosam Naoum, President Bishop of the
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.
There was also a small group that picketed for Palestinians, then
we were officially welcomed to the House
of Bishops
and our recorded video messages were
played. The House
then reconsidered
an amended motion
criticising the theology of Christian
Zionism.
A motion on full communion with the United Methodist community in the US was
carried with applause, and the convention was also reminded of the
formal communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.
Monday night was “Kentucky night”
with various activities, but I took a break at 4pm to recharge for
Tuesday, when – very late in the day, SA time, I am one of those
paying tribute to the retiring PB.
My Cape Town-Newark-Louisville flights – to attend Bishop Michael Curry's final General Convention as leader of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States – were not bad, viewed against the backdrop of my flights of recent months to places such as Rome and Jerusalem. (Bishop Michael, the Presiding Bishop (PB) of TEC, is of course best known outside his church for his electrifying sermon on love at the marriage of “Harry and Meghan” in 2018.)
On arriving here in Kentucky, I checked into my hotel and took a walk around the surrounds before taking a nap to recover from the journey. We are six hours behind the time in South Africa and I took the opportunity to connect with the family and the office to assure them I had arrived safely.
At 7 pm Kentucky time (1 am my body time!), I attended a big dinner arranged by the Union of Black Episcopalians to honour Bishop Michael. Americans do things on a huge scale!. Most of the lay leaders of the church were known to me as part of family but the Bench of Bishops has changed a lot. (However, retired bishops also attend their General Convention, so I knew a lot of them.)
The PB stressed the importance of rootedness and referred to the forthcoming American elections, in which President Joe Biden will be pitched against former President Donald Trump. Bishop Michael said that “voting is the most powerful non-violent tool each Episcopalian possesses”. He urged every Episcopalian to vote in November. As he faces retirement, he also assured everyone that God will never give up on any of them and urged them too not to give up on the Episcopal Church.
After dinner I retired to what will be my room for the next nine days, had chamomile tea and slept until jet lag woke me up at 4.20 am. I am writing these notes from lying in my bed in Louisville, the home town of Muhammad Ali.
I listened to a podcast recorded in German, read with deep feelings by the narrator. I did not understand but heard the correct and beautiful way in which she pronounced the “schädel” (skull) of my ancestor, of Kgoši Makgoba. (We think his skull ended up in Germany after he was decapitated in Makgoba's Kloof in 1895 by forces serving the Transvaal Republic.) I had not planned to reflect on this, but it was a beautiful moment when a German friend sent me a podcast, coinciding with my arrival here.
