To the Laos - To the People of God - Advent 2018

As published in the monthly newsletter of the Diocese of Cape Town:

As this edition of Good Hope went to press, I was on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, where I and two of my fellow bishops consecrated the new Bishop of St Helena, the Right Revd Dale Bowers.

St Helena is part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa which in the past has received less attention from the Province than other dioceses; its remoteness making it accessible until now only in weeks-long voyages by sea. My visit is the first undertaken by the Metropolitan in more than 30 years, and as far as we can establish a bishop for the Diocese has never before been consecrated on the island. Yet Anglican ministry in our Province began on St Helena: the first Anglican chaplain was appointed in 1671 and St James' Church in the main centre, Jamestown – where we said Morning Prayer on the day of the consecration – is the oldest surviving Anglican church in the Southern Hemisphere. The Diocese, which includes a parish on Ascension Island, is the fourth oldest in the Province, after Cape Town, Grahamstown and Natal.

Bishop Dale with the Archbishop.

So it was a special joy to be able to take advantage of St Helena's newly-built airport and to fly there with the Dean of the Province, the Right Revd Stephen Diseko of Matlosane, Bishop Allan Kannemeyer of Pretoria, and my chaplain, the Revd Mcebisi Pinyana, for the consecration. The consecration service took place on November 11, so it was also preceded by a civic Remembrance Day service in which we commemorated the end of the First World War exactly 100 years earlier. The local Catholic Church hosted an ecumenical lunch to welcome us and to honour Bishop Dale. He is only the second of the 16 bishops of the Diocese actually born on the island; please pray for him, for his, wife, Penny, his family and for the people and clergy of the Diocese.

Turning to more solemn Provincial matters, our only institution for full-time residential training for the ordained ministry, the College of the Transfiguration (Cott) in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), is undergoing serious financial trouble. So I am issuing a special appeal to parishes as your Archbishop: please make a special love gift to Cott this Christmas. You can send it to Canon Charleen van Rooyen, the Diocesan Administrator. Also, you don't have to be selected and paid for by a Diocese to study at Cott; anyone with an interest in getting a sound theological training – for example, a retired layperson wanting to study further – is free to apply to study at the college, even if it is not with the intention of being ordained.

Also as we went to press, the sad news came in that Mrs Tobeka Mzamane, wife of Bishop Sitembele Mzamane, formerly Bishop of Mthatha, Dean of the Province and in retirement Vicar-General of Mzimvubu, had collapsed and died. Also, Bishop Stephen Diseko, currently Dean of the Province, lost his sister, Elizabeth. Please hold them and their families in your prayers, and we send our condolences and messages of comfort to them.

In the Diocese, you will by now know that Bishop Garth Counsell retires at Easter next year. He will be on sabbatical from December until February, so I will be appointing a Vicar-General in the interim. I am already suffering “termination anxiety” at the prospect of his retirement; I have really loved working with Bishop Garth and have felt upheld and supported by his ministry and leadership. I hope that God will send us another servant as loving, faithful and able. A number of farewell functions are being planned to thank him and Marion for their love and service to this church and Diocese. His annual end-of-year dinner for the clergy turned into something very special – a kind of going-away dinner for the Counsell family. Thank you to those who arranged it.

As we wind down for the year and Christmas approaches, my warm thanks to everyone on the staff of the Diocese and at Braehead House and Bishopscourt for their dedicated service to the Diocese and Province this year.

I wish you all a peaceful and merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. May our New Year's resolutions be about loving God and our neighbours as ourselves, and treating the environment with care and compassion.

God bless.

†Thabo Cape Town

[AUDIO] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent IV

In his last reflection for Advent, Archbishop Thabo looks at the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, in particular the Gospel reading, Matthew 1:18-25 and part of Psalm 80.

[Audio] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent III

Archbishop Thabo reflects on the Third Sunday in Advent. The Gospel reading for today: Matthew 11:2-11.

[Audio] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent II

Archbishop Thabo reflects on the Second Sunday in Advent. His reflection is prompted by the Gospel reading for the day, on John the Baptist: Matthew 3:1-12.

To the Laos - To the People of God – Advent 2016

Dear People of God

As I was completing this letter, news came in from Bishop Manuel Ernesto of the Diocese of Niassa that 60 people were reported killed, more than 100 injured and many are still missing after a fuel tanker travelling from Beira to southern Malawi exploded while on a road in the community of Cafrisange in the central province of Tete. Bishop Manuel asks us all to pray for Archdeacon Martins Nselela and his team in Tete as they minister to the families affected.

[Audio] Archbishop Thabo reflects on Advent I

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba this Advent continues the tradition he has established of recording a series of reflections for each Sunday until Christmas. Encourage your friends and fellow parishioners to listen online or download and listen on their mobile devices.

AUDIO - Archbishop Thabo Makgoba's Reflection on Advent IV

The Archbishop completes his Advent reflections. The reading for the Fourth Sunday in Advent is Luke 1: 39-55.

AUDIO: Reflection for Advent III - Archbishop Thabo

Archbishop Thabo's reflection on the Third Sunday in Advent: Reading from Luke 3: 1-6.

Click on the recording below, or you can download the file to your mobile device and share with your friends.

St George's Cathedral, Cape Town - Nelson Mandela Commemoration Service

The full recording of Evensong at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, on December 6, the Second Sunday in Advent and the day after the second anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. 

Preacher: Archbishop Thabo Makgoba. (Scroll down to read the text of the sermon.) Prayers led by: Dean Michael Weeder. Soloist: Titilayo Adedokun-Helm

What would Madiba think of South Africa today?

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, on the second anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela, St George's Cathedral, Cape Town on 6th December, 2015:

In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,  Amen.

We meet today as people of faith, joining with brothers and sisters around the world, to pause and remember Madiba on the second anniversary of his death.  It is fitting that we should do this at the Cathedral because it is here that we, people of faith and of none, have over the past half century proclaimed a message of justice -- from this pulpit, from the platform below and from the steps outside.

AUDIO: Archbishop Thabo's reflection for Advent II

Archbishop Thabo's reflection on the Second Sunday in Advent. Click on the recording below, or you can download the file to your mobile device, listen later and share with your friends. The Gospel reading is Luke 3: 1-6.

AUDIO: Archbishop Thabo's reflections on Advent I

Archbishop Thabo is again delivering a series of reflections on each Sunday in Advent. Listen to his first reflection on the Gospel reading for Advent 1, below:

Archbishop Thabo's Reflection on the Fourth Sunday in Advent

The final reflection on Advent 2014.

Readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-11 & 16; Romans 16: 25-27; The Song of Mary (Magnificat); Luke 1: 26-38

Listen to Archbishop Thabo's reflection on the Third Sunday in Advent

Gospel reading: John 1: 6-8, 19-28 (text below)



John 1:

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 21 And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 22 Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ 23 He said,
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord” ’,
as the prophet Isaiah said.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ 26 John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Listen to Archbishop Thabo's reflection on the Second Sunday in Advent

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba's reflection on Advent II.

Readings: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3: 8-15a; Mark 1:1-8

To the Laos – To the People of God, Christmas 2014

Dear People of God

We have an exciting innovation from Bishopscourt this Advent, in which I am sharing with you, the laos (or laity), reflections on the Advent readings which you can listen to online or by podcast. This is a fascinating process, and for the first Sunday in Advent, I reflected on the fact that in spite of the challenges we have in our different walks of life, God has a plan for each of us. We dare not despair. We need to face some of those principalities, some of the things that wear us down, with that strong sense of hope conveyed by the literal meaning of the word “advent”, which is “arrival”. Ultimately, the Son of the living God through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ does triumph over all.

I have recently returned from a busy and inspirational pastoral visit to the Diocese of Port Elizabeth, where I saw in various ways what God is up to in the diocese. (I recommend that you look at the special issue of their newsletter, iindaba.) What impressed me was to see how Port Elizabeth – like many dioceses, but I am referring here specifically here to Port Elizabeth – is wrestling with the implications of what God is up to in their part of the country. They are working ecumenically with other churches and with the city to make the Nelson Mandela Metro a place where God is really found, in spite of the many problems they share in common with the rest of South Africa. I was especially touched by the hope I encountered among HIV positive people at the House of Resurrection Children’s Home, a haven for children who have been affected in some way by HIV and Aids or abandoned.

Back in Cape Town, I was intrigued by a visit to The Warehouse – an outreach ministry of St. John’s Parish in Wynberg – for an exhibition focussing on art, poetry and stories around the theology of water and sanitation. It really demonstrated strongly the need for us to be visible, particularly among those who are living without running water or proper sanitation. The exhibition may have concentrated on the Western Cape, but when I go to Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia I see that the same deficiencies are prevalent across Southern Africa. And we know the related ills that arise from the problem, among them illnesses and women and girl children being raped while fetching water.

I am writing this as we observe our 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and following the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. I want to echo the message of Tearfund, Anglican Alliance, Hope Africa and our Province that we should encourage everyone not to be silent but to speak out when women and children are being abused, and I encourage all our churches to work actively to create safe spaces for victims of gender-based violence and human trafficking.

I was particularly moved by one of the events I attended this year, when I heard the story of a girl, Nadia, who is a survivor of human trafficking. She was abducted from her home at the age of 14. By the age of 16, she had had two children as a result of the abuse she suffered. As she told her story and read a “survivor’s poem” we were all reduced to tears. Her story was painful in itself but what was more piercing was when she said:

“Please do me a favour – smile with me. Because your smile and your hope and your determination make me stronger. If you collapse and cry with me, you make my wounds too deep.”

And so Nadia’s story will remain with me as I continue to reflect on the Incarnate Christ in our lives, and His redemptive love, shared by Nadia, who has all the reason in the world to be angry but who challenged us to smile with her. I think that is in Nadia that our Christmas message lies this year: that despite being raped, exiled, abducted, trafficked and abused, the Christ Child emerges and offers us that hope which supersedes all human understanding.

My prayer this Advent and Christmas is that we will look at some of the seemingly hopeless situations in our world, for example situations that marginalize the other or destroy the environment. We might focus on water and sanitation as highlighted by The Warehouse in Wynberg, or by the international conference that I’ve just attended in India on the need for global intervention on the same issue; or on women and girl children who are abused in families or live in areas where toilets and water are far from their homes. Let’s think on these things, then choose just one and offer it to God in prayer this Christmas, asking the Christ Child to surround us with his peace and justice as we take action to eliminate the problem.

By the time most of you read this, we will have commemorated the first anniversary of the death of Madiba and again celebrated his life. May his belief and determination that individual or collective acts of goodwill actually do bring about change, inspire us to work for peace and justice in our time. For this is also the Gospel imperative.

May you have a blessed Christmas !

God bless you,
+Thabo Cape Town

Listen now! Archbishop Thabo's first online Advent reflection

The first of Archbishop Thabo Makgoba's reflections on Advent.

Readings: Isaiah 64:1–9; Ps 80:1–7, 17–19; 1 Cor 1:3–9; Mark 13:24-37

Archbishop to deliver "online" Advent reflections on the web

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba is to "broadcast" a series of Advent reflections over the internet in the pilot programme of a planned audio ministry for the Church.

The reflections will be available online on his blog, and through church websites, from one or two days before each Sunday in Advent.

"Communication is part and parcel of the glue which binds the Church together," he said when announcing the pilot.

"We have bishops, theologians and others in the Church who have gifts in audio ministry which until now have not been used properly because of the limited opportunities on radio.

"But now the internet makes it feasible to make material available 'on-demand' easily and cheaply using technology which is accessible to all.

"I hope that as we develop our communication strategies in the Province and the dioceses, we can integrate audio ministry into an integrated range of initiatives, from the Provincial website and the new online 'Southern Anglican' to the E-Reader project based at Bishopscourt."

You can listen to the Advent reflections online on Soundcloud, or download them to listen to later by clicking on the Download button.

Click on the Play button below to hear the Archbishop sketch his vision for the new ministry.

‘Ad Laos’ – To the People of God - December 2013

My dear People of God

A blessed and joyful Christmas to you all! I am writing this letter in Advent, mindful that most of you will read it now, some of you around Christmas and some, perhaps, after Epiphany. My message will attempt to straddle these seasons in our church’s calendar.

Advent and Christmas, and Epiphany to some extent, are opportune times to look back, and also to look forward – to Christ’s first coming, as a precious and vulnerable baby, and to his coming again, as saviour and liberator, when God’s glory shall be manifested and all his purposes fulfilled.

Of course, there is the “here and now”, coupled with looking back and looking forward in order to complete the “gestalt”. How are we then to respond to Emmanuel – God with us (now), to God’s gift of himself in our earthly pilgrimage?

The celebration of Christmas offers part of an answer to his holy longing – for Christmas is not about wasteful consumerism. It is an echoing of God’s declaration that he loves us so much, our fallibility, warts and all, that he willingly sacrifices himself for us; he forgives our failings, heals our despairing souls, comforts us in our grief, and ushers fresh hope, Jesus Christ, the hope of Glory (Col 1:27).

Christmas then is God’s billboard that declares that we are never alone – God in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit knows what it is to be human, to laugh, to dream, to hurt, to be disappointed, to be betrayed, to be tended to, to be scolded by parents and even to face murder. God the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us and helps us grow in faith, love and peace. Past every milestone until we find rest in our heavenly home, he carries us in the palm of his hand.

As we ponder on the mystery of this vulnerable Christ-child, the incarnate Son of God, let our hearts be touched and transformed by the love of children, and also by the plight of those who suffer: women in abusive relationships, those who suffer as a result of xenophobia and those who are refugees because of war. Let our love and our deep yearning for peace, especially for those in Syria and South Sudan, lead us to commit to action to do all that we can to bring an end to militarisation.

I want to thank God for the outpouring of love and condolences from across our Anglican Communion after the death of Nelson Mandela. I was humbled to receive messages of love and support from the Archbishop of Canterbury, individual parishioners, many bishops and primates from around the Anglican Communion. Your love, prayers and messages of support showed how caring we as Anglicans are and that when one is ailing, we all feel the pain together. Thank you on behalf of ACSA and the Mandela family. (See on my blog the prayers that I shared with the nation and at the Valedictory Service that I led with his family in Mr Mandela’s home just before the public funeral service.)

Looking forward, I commend the Lenten Bible Studies produced by Prof Gerald West, which will be posted both on our Province’s website and on my blog. It is my hope that every diocese and parish will use these Bible studies in 2014, allowing God to speak to us afresh as a Province through these scriptures.

Congratulations to Prof Barney Pityana and the staff and Council of the College of the Transfiguration (Cott) for successfully registering Cott as a Private Higher Education Institution in terms of South Africa’s Higher Education Act of 1997, and for the accreditation of its Diploma in Theology. This is the greatest good news of my archiepiscopacy so far, for which I give thanks to God.

As we ponder this Christmas on the awesome and precious gift of God himself, may the love of God overflow in you and in all those you love; may this love transform all that is unloving in us, in our community and the world over – even as we bring God’s peace to reign in all.

May you have a blessed Christmas as you also find your deepest wants and needs are met in Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate.

Yours in the service of Christ,

+Thabo Cape Town

Urgent Prayer Request for Tata Madiba and Me Graça

Dear Friends,

You will recall that last week I spend three days fasting and prayer for our country. I ended my prayers at Freedom Park at a service for Reconciliation Day and prayer.

During my prayers and fasting, God in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, kept on giving me the refrain to also pray for Me Graça Machel and Tata Madiba. Would you kindly intensify your prayer for him at this time, and in your parishes and all places of worship tomorrow and this Christmas ask your followers to spend a significant amount of time praying for him please. Because I am making this call today, I will also make it via the public media to reach as many of you as are possible in a short space of time.

This is the prayer I composed for him and Me Graça. You may want to use your own as may be relevant in an ecumenical or interreligious context or no faith, but spare a moment please.

At Advent we sing and pray, O come, O come Emmanuel.
We ask now, for Emmanuel, God with us, to be with Madiba and Me Graça
Come Emmanuel and release our Madiba from the scourge of ill health;
Come Emmanuel and offer Madiba everlasting healing;
You are a God who knows vulnerability, weakness and frailty,
You are Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Lord of life and death,
Your power sustains us in life and death.

May your arms of love, stretched wide on the cross for us,
Now enfold Madiba, and Graça, with compassion, comfort and
the conviction that you will never forsake them but that
you will grant Madiba eternal healing and relief from pain and suffering.

And may your blessing rest upon Madiba now and always. Amen.

Yours in the service of our Lord and Saviour

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.