This media release from the meeting of Provincial Synod was issued on 1 October 2013
Anglican Church Honours its Dead
Silence was observed at the opening service of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) Provincial Synod this afternoon, for the Cape Town businessman killed in last month’s terrorist attacks at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall.
The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town, invited the 300 Synod members and guests to observe a time of silence in remembrance of Mr James Thomas, who was due to have attended the Synod meeting as a delegate of the Diocese of Cape Town. He asked for prayers for Mr Thomas’ widow Colleen and family, as the funeral is held on 2 October.
Throughout the meeting of Synod, Mr Thomas’ empty place will be marked by his name plate, flowers and a candle.
The Synod also observed silence in memory of former Archbishop Philip Russell who died in July. Archbishop Emeritus Russell headed the Anglican Church of Southern Africa from 1980 to 1986. Archbishop Makgoba described him as a ‘passionate, compassionate, unsung hero’ of his Church.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman, 021 763 1320 (office hours)
The Revd Canon Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, 082 856 2082 (during Synod)
Showing posts with label Condolences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Condolences. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Thursday, 25 July 2013
Death of Archbishop Emeritus Philip Russell
Statement by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town on the death of Archbishop Emeritus Philip Russell
25 July 2013
The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town, issued the following statement on 25 July 2013, on learning of the death of his predecessor, in Australia earlier in the day.
Today the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa gives joyful thanks to God for the life and ministry of one of the unsung heroes of our Church – my one-time predecessor as Archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Emeritus Philip Russell, who died earlier today.
We remember Philip Russell as parish priest, Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Cape Town, the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Port Elizabeth, and later Bishop of Natal. Then, in 1980, it was clear that the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (as we were known) was moving towards electing its first black Archbishop, but not yet quite ready to take that step. After the electoral assembly failed to reach agreement, he allowed himself to be nominated by the Synod of Bishops to become what was clearly an ‘interim Archbishop’, and was enthroned the following year.
Yet he filled this ministry with great graciousness, and was clearly God’s man for those difficult times between 1980 and 1986. Having long preached and campaigned against apartheid, he brought to Bishopscourt a passion for both human rights, and ecumenical relations, with strong ties to the South African Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.
I remember him having a sharp pen, on paper – but a warm heart in personal encounters. Even in old age, retired in Australia following the death of his wife, he has kept in contact with his former fellow-bishops and priests, personally writing letters and Christmas cards. I feel privileged that after I was elected Archbishop, he has also been in frequent touch with me, including phoning from time to time, with wise words of encouragement.
I offer my own condolences, and those of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, to his children, grandchildren, and wider family, in South Africa and Australia, in the loss that his death brings – even as we commit him with confidence into the loving arms of God, who has in Christ broken the chains of sin and death and opened the gate to eternal life.
Now, at the great age of 93, he has completed his long race, which he ran with such faithfulness and godly perseverance. He has fought the good fight, and now the victor’s crown can be his, as he is welcomed home by his Lord, his Saviour, his Friend.
Hamba kahle, dear elder brother in Christ. May you rest in peace, and rise in glory.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021 763 1320 (office hours)
25 July 2013
The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town, issued the following statement on 25 July 2013, on learning of the death of his predecessor, in Australia earlier in the day.
Today the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa gives joyful thanks to God for the life and ministry of one of the unsung heroes of our Church – my one-time predecessor as Archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Emeritus Philip Russell, who died earlier today.
We remember Philip Russell as parish priest, Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Cape Town, the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Port Elizabeth, and later Bishop of Natal. Then, in 1980, it was clear that the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (as we were known) was moving towards electing its first black Archbishop, but not yet quite ready to take that step. After the electoral assembly failed to reach agreement, he allowed himself to be nominated by the Synod of Bishops to become what was clearly an ‘interim Archbishop’, and was enthroned the following year.
Yet he filled this ministry with great graciousness, and was clearly God’s man for those difficult times between 1980 and 1986. Having long preached and campaigned against apartheid, he brought to Bishopscourt a passion for both human rights, and ecumenical relations, with strong ties to the South African Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.
I remember him having a sharp pen, on paper – but a warm heart in personal encounters. Even in old age, retired in Australia following the death of his wife, he has kept in contact with his former fellow-bishops and priests, personally writing letters and Christmas cards. I feel privileged that after I was elected Archbishop, he has also been in frequent touch with me, including phoning from time to time, with wise words of encouragement.
I offer my own condolences, and those of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, to his children, grandchildren, and wider family, in South Africa and Australia, in the loss that his death brings – even as we commit him with confidence into the loving arms of God, who has in Christ broken the chains of sin and death and opened the gate to eternal life.
Now, at the great age of 93, he has completed his long race, which he ran with such faithfulness and godly perseverance. He has fought the good fight, and now the victor’s crown can be his, as he is welcomed home by his Lord, his Saviour, his Friend.
Hamba kahle, dear elder brother in Christ. May you rest in peace, and rise in glory.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021 763 1320 (office hours)
Thursday, 4 July 2013
On the Death of Fr John Oliver
Archbishop Thabo has sent this message, following the unexpected death, in his sleep, of Fr John Oliver, recently retired after 18 years at St Mark’s Church District Six, and Acting Chair of the Western Cape Religious Leaders’ Forum, with which he was also long associated.
My dear Emma,
From our holiday in Turkey, Lungi and I and our children send you, Sarah and Joseph our heartfelt condolences at John’s sudden death. It is hard to take in, and I wish so much that I were able to come in person and share the love and the prayers that we have for you. May our God surround you with his tender love, his comfort, his strength, at this time. Do not be afraid to weep and bring your grief before the throne of God, who bears our sorrows, and walks with us in all our pains and sadness.
As we visit the sites of the early Church, retracing the steps of St Paul who so powerfully taught that nothing in life nor death can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, we shall be carrying you in our hearts and thoughts and prayers. I shall be weeping for John, as Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus, even in my certainty that he now knows the fullness of joy of resurrection life. His is surely the welcome of a good and faithful servant. He has devoted so many years, and given so much energy and dedication, to his unstinting love for God, for God’s people, especially the poor and needy, and for God’s creation. I thank God for all he has been for us in Cape Town and beyond – for his long service at St Mark’s in District Six, for his unflagging socio-political commitment, for his music ministry, for his ever-ready camera!
I also thank God for John’s vision and drive in his work for inter-faith cooperation, and for so much he has achieved there. He has done more than we can measure in encouraging us all to stand together, in our commitment to upholding all that is good and true and just and holy, and opposing all that diminishes the flourishing of all God’s children. John will leave a lasting legacy across the City, the Western Cape, and beyond, having positively impacted so many lives.
On a personal level, I am so aware that I have lost a brother in Christ, a respected colleague and fellow-labourer in the vineyard of the Lord (as well as in the muddy Vleis of Cape Town!), and a dear friend. I shall miss him greatly, even as I thank God for all he was, and all he has done for so many. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Yours in the Service of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer
+Thabo Cape Town
[Message sent by the Archbishop and signed in his absence]
My dear Emma,
From our holiday in Turkey, Lungi and I and our children send you, Sarah and Joseph our heartfelt condolences at John’s sudden death. It is hard to take in, and I wish so much that I were able to come in person and share the love and the prayers that we have for you. May our God surround you with his tender love, his comfort, his strength, at this time. Do not be afraid to weep and bring your grief before the throne of God, who bears our sorrows, and walks with us in all our pains and sadness.
As we visit the sites of the early Church, retracing the steps of St Paul who so powerfully taught that nothing in life nor death can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, we shall be carrying you in our hearts and thoughts and prayers. I shall be weeping for John, as Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus, even in my certainty that he now knows the fullness of joy of resurrection life. His is surely the welcome of a good and faithful servant. He has devoted so many years, and given so much energy and dedication, to his unstinting love for God, for God’s people, especially the poor and needy, and for God’s creation. I thank God for all he has been for us in Cape Town and beyond – for his long service at St Mark’s in District Six, for his unflagging socio-political commitment, for his music ministry, for his ever-ready camera!
I also thank God for John’s vision and drive in his work for inter-faith cooperation, and for so much he has achieved there. He has done more than we can measure in encouraging us all to stand together, in our commitment to upholding all that is good and true and just and holy, and opposing all that diminishes the flourishing of all God’s children. John will leave a lasting legacy across the City, the Western Cape, and beyond, having positively impacted so many lives.
On a personal level, I am so aware that I have lost a brother in Christ, a respected colleague and fellow-labourer in the vineyard of the Lord (as well as in the muddy Vleis of Cape Town!), and a dear friend. I shall miss him greatly, even as I thank God for all he was, and all he has done for so many. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Yours in the Service of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer
+Thabo Cape Town
[Message sent by the Archbishop and signed in his absence]
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Death: it’s time to break the taboo
This opinion piece was published in the Sunday Independent on 23 June 2013
Death: it’s time to break the taboo
When I was a child, certain subjects were never discussed. Adults might make guarded references, in oblique terms, when they thought the children weren’t listening. And if we dared even to hint at the issue, we’d probably earn ourselves a klap round the ear. There was no open, honest discussion, even though we all knew, and we all knew that we knew, this stuff existed. Local scandals were just such subjects. There were huge no-go areas across most topics associated with sex. Nowadays, it seems sex is everywhere, while death is the subject we find increasingly difficult to discuss openly.
Madiba’s latest spell in hospital has had us once again dancing around the subject, though I was glad to see that alongside our heartfelt prayers for his recovery, there is also growing acceptance that he cannot go on for ever, and calls that we must learn to let him go. This is both good and necessary, for Madiba’s sake and for ours. In fact, a more honest attitude to our own mortality helps us all in the daily business of life.
It troubles me that we have become so poor at addressing this fundamental part of what it means to be truly human. Being in denial risks diminishing our capacity to lead a full life. Sometimes, especially when death comes through accidents, our language can carry the implication that dying only happens to an unfortunate few, as if the rest of us went on for ever.
We also try to cushion ourselves, with euphemistic references to people “passing”. Too often, all this has the opposite effect of what it is designed to do. It makes dealing with dying and death – whether our own or others’ – far harder, because it denies the reality and normality, as well as the enormity and the awfulness, of death. And it gets in the way of proper grieving. We cannot avoid these, and we ought not to, if we wish to be emotionally healthy.
Urbanisation may have a lot to do with the rise of death as the “last taboo”. We are increasingly distant from the creation of which we are a part: the natural cycles of the seasons, and the mysteries of birth and growth, life and death, all around us. Instead, we create concrete jungles, as if with good enough technology we can control our environment and everything that happens within it, from managing our workplace climate through to buying fresh strawberries all year round. But there are things that we cannot control, and mortality is one of them.
If we admit to our own mortality, we are more able to appreciate the seasons of our own lives, and our own and others’ intrinsic dignity, whatever our age or circumstances. The elderly and frail should never be treated like some obsolete products that have outlived their usefulness and are fit only to be “discontinued”.
Yet, we must not belittle the awfulness of death, even when we have faith in life beyond the grave. It will always remain a frightening prospect, unknowable and inescapable. Even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed he might avoid his impending death, saying: “May this cup pass my lips.” But through wrestling with the prospect before him, he was able to reach a point of resolution, praying to God the Father: “Yet not my will but yours be done.”
All of us, too, should dare to wrestle with our own eventual mortality – and those who are terminally ill or old and frail particularly need emotional space to do this, as do their nearest and dearest. Being able to speak together with honesty at such times is one of the greatest gifts we can give to one another.
Honesty around death is also the greatest help we can give at times of bereavement. One of the best pieces of advice I have heard is “Be strong and weep”.
Death can feel incomprehensible. It is almost more than our minds can grasp that someone who was so alive is now gone from us. We need our rituals at these times. These long-established practices around death and funerals, which time has taught our communities to follow, can act as effective vehicles for carrying us through unavoidable pain and sorrow. Engaging with them constructively can enable us to look back later and know that we have done what we ought, for the one who has died, and for ourselves. They may also offer the words we cannot find ourselves, and provide “safe” places for us to let our grief flow freely. We should all be able to admit how hard we find a loved one’s death, and to do whatever our mourning requires of us.
I’m always shocked when journalists report that people or communities are “still coming to terms” with tragic events, only a day or so after they have taken place. Surely we all know that it takes a year, even two, truly to deal with the death of a close family member? Some deaths leave us changed for ever, as when parents lose a child. Let us be tender with one another, when life brings such agony.
At first sight, one of the strangest of the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” It is important to realise that this certainly does not mean death and bereavement are a good thing. By no means. But it does mean that we all need to do our “grief work”, if we are not to remain stuck and unable to go forward. Being real about death helps us better live in the present and plan for the future of those we love – even if it is a future in which we know we shall not ourselves participate. It gives a truer perspective, not least enabling us to use our resources well, for the common good and for future generations, rather than in our fear feeling we must use everything for ourselves “before it is too late”.
As a country, we also need to do our grief work. There is much unfinished mourning to be done for the pains and sorrows of apartheid.
And, of course, we also need to do our grief work about the inevitable passing of all our great Struggle heroes. Many we have mourned well, letting them go while retaining their legacy. Walter and Albertina Sisulu are two I often recall, and though I miss Ma Sisulu in particular, my emotions are dominated by gratitude for all she was and all she did, and by determination to honour her life through the choices and actions of my own life.
Now the time is drawing close when we must do the same for Madiba. Let us not be afraid to use the ancient words of the Night Prayer – may God grant him a peaceful night, and a good end.
Death: it’s time to break the taboo
When I was a child, certain subjects were never discussed. Adults might make guarded references, in oblique terms, when they thought the children weren’t listening. And if we dared even to hint at the issue, we’d probably earn ourselves a klap round the ear. There was no open, honest discussion, even though we all knew, and we all knew that we knew, this stuff existed. Local scandals were just such subjects. There were huge no-go areas across most topics associated with sex. Nowadays, it seems sex is everywhere, while death is the subject we find increasingly difficult to discuss openly.
Madiba’s latest spell in hospital has had us once again dancing around the subject, though I was glad to see that alongside our heartfelt prayers for his recovery, there is also growing acceptance that he cannot go on for ever, and calls that we must learn to let him go. This is both good and necessary, for Madiba’s sake and for ours. In fact, a more honest attitude to our own mortality helps us all in the daily business of life.
It troubles me that we have become so poor at addressing this fundamental part of what it means to be truly human. Being in denial risks diminishing our capacity to lead a full life. Sometimes, especially when death comes through accidents, our language can carry the implication that dying only happens to an unfortunate few, as if the rest of us went on for ever.
We also try to cushion ourselves, with euphemistic references to people “passing”. Too often, all this has the opposite effect of what it is designed to do. It makes dealing with dying and death – whether our own or others’ – far harder, because it denies the reality and normality, as well as the enormity and the awfulness, of death. And it gets in the way of proper grieving. We cannot avoid these, and we ought not to, if we wish to be emotionally healthy.
Urbanisation may have a lot to do with the rise of death as the “last taboo”. We are increasingly distant from the creation of which we are a part: the natural cycles of the seasons, and the mysteries of birth and growth, life and death, all around us. Instead, we create concrete jungles, as if with good enough technology we can control our environment and everything that happens within it, from managing our workplace climate through to buying fresh strawberries all year round. But there are things that we cannot control, and mortality is one of them.
If we admit to our own mortality, we are more able to appreciate the seasons of our own lives, and our own and others’ intrinsic dignity, whatever our age or circumstances. The elderly and frail should never be treated like some obsolete products that have outlived their usefulness and are fit only to be “discontinued”.
Yet, we must not belittle the awfulness of death, even when we have faith in life beyond the grave. It will always remain a frightening prospect, unknowable and inescapable. Even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed he might avoid his impending death, saying: “May this cup pass my lips.” But through wrestling with the prospect before him, he was able to reach a point of resolution, praying to God the Father: “Yet not my will but yours be done.”
All of us, too, should dare to wrestle with our own eventual mortality – and those who are terminally ill or old and frail particularly need emotional space to do this, as do their nearest and dearest. Being able to speak together with honesty at such times is one of the greatest gifts we can give to one another.
Honesty around death is also the greatest help we can give at times of bereavement. One of the best pieces of advice I have heard is “Be strong and weep”.
Death can feel incomprehensible. It is almost more than our minds can grasp that someone who was so alive is now gone from us. We need our rituals at these times. These long-established practices around death and funerals, which time has taught our communities to follow, can act as effective vehicles for carrying us through unavoidable pain and sorrow. Engaging with them constructively can enable us to look back later and know that we have done what we ought, for the one who has died, and for ourselves. They may also offer the words we cannot find ourselves, and provide “safe” places for us to let our grief flow freely. We should all be able to admit how hard we find a loved one’s death, and to do whatever our mourning requires of us.
I’m always shocked when journalists report that people or communities are “still coming to terms” with tragic events, only a day or so after they have taken place. Surely we all know that it takes a year, even two, truly to deal with the death of a close family member? Some deaths leave us changed for ever, as when parents lose a child. Let us be tender with one another, when life brings such agony.
At first sight, one of the strangest of the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” It is important to realise that this certainly does not mean death and bereavement are a good thing. By no means. But it does mean that we all need to do our “grief work”, if we are not to remain stuck and unable to go forward. Being real about death helps us better live in the present and plan for the future of those we love – even if it is a future in which we know we shall not ourselves participate. It gives a truer perspective, not least enabling us to use our resources well, for the common good and for future generations, rather than in our fear feeling we must use everything for ourselves “before it is too late”.
As a country, we also need to do our grief work. There is much unfinished mourning to be done for the pains and sorrows of apartheid.
And, of course, we also need to do our grief work about the inevitable passing of all our great Struggle heroes. Many we have mourned well, letting them go while retaining their legacy. Walter and Albertina Sisulu are two I often recall, and though I miss Ma Sisulu in particular, my emotions are dominated by gratitude for all she was and all she did, and by determination to honour her life through the choices and actions of my own life.
Now the time is drawing close when we must do the same for Madiba. Let us not be afraid to use the ancient words of the Night Prayer – may God grant him a peaceful night, and a good end.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Prayers on the death of Vuyo Mbuli
This statement was issued on 20 May 2013.
The sudden death of Vuyo Mbuli has come as a shock to us all, and deprives South Africa of a gifted journalist and broadcaster. It also deprives his wife and family of a wonderful individual - generous-spirited, warm-hearted, intelligent and full of joy. Our hearts go out to Savita and all who loved him, and I assure them of my own personal prayers and those of so many Anglicans across our country.
I thank God for Vuyo, and for his dedication to building up our nation and gently and good-humouredly challenging us to become the best we can be. His death will leave a hole in so many lives, personally and professionally. I knew him in both capacities: as the son-in-law of an Anglican priest, and as someone who had interviewed me, and who also gave his time to chair a fund-raising dinner in East London to raise awareness about AIDS, at which I spoke. I hope our country will find some way of honouring this faithful son and servant.
When Jesus said 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted', he was not belittling the enormity of death. He himself
wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. Understanding the pain that death brings us, he invites us to bring our grieving to him, so that we might know the comfort and strength that only he, the one who has conquered death, can bring us. So as I grieve for this life cut short, I also thank God that death, though terrible, does not have the final word, for Vuyo or for any of us. May he rest in peace.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021 763 1320 (office hours)
The sudden death of Vuyo Mbuli has come as a shock to us all, and deprives South Africa of a gifted journalist and broadcaster. It also deprives his wife and family of a wonderful individual - generous-spirited, warm-hearted, intelligent and full of joy. Our hearts go out to Savita and all who loved him, and I assure them of my own personal prayers and those of so many Anglicans across our country.
I thank God for Vuyo, and for his dedication to building up our nation and gently and good-humouredly challenging us to become the best we can be. His death will leave a hole in so many lives, personally and professionally. I knew him in both capacities: as the son-in-law of an Anglican priest, and as someone who had interviewed me, and who also gave his time to chair a fund-raising dinner in East London to raise awareness about AIDS, at which I spoke. I hope our country will find some way of honouring this faithful son and servant.
When Jesus said 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted', he was not belittling the enormity of death. He himself
wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. Understanding the pain that death brings us, he invites us to bring our grieving to him, so that we might know the comfort and strength that only he, the one who has conquered death, can bring us. So as I grieve for this life cut short, I also thank God that death, though terrible, does not have the final word, for Vuyo or for any of us. May he rest in peace.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021 763 1320 (office hours)
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Condolences - Fr Paul Singleton
This message of condolence has been sent following the death of Fr Paul Singleton, formerly of the Community of the Resurrection
My dear Geraldine
It is with great sadness in my heart that I write to send you and the whole family condolences and love and the assurance of our prayers from me, Lungi, and indeed the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa, on Paul’s death. Yet at the same time, in this Easter season in which we celebrate Christ’s victory over death, I am also so grateful to God for his gift of this faithful servant, who shared so many long and fruitful years with us, and touched the lives of countless numbers, more deeply than perhaps he knew.
I count myself privileged to have known him, as both a great teacher and dedicated pastor, since our time together on the team at Christ the King in Sophiatown. The love of God for his children shone so strongly through Paul, with his gentleness and clear dedication to our Lord. I shall miss him more than I can say, especially his affirming spirit; and the care he always showed, first of all, for you, but also to me and to so many others. He always asked about my work, or rather, about how God was progressing his work through me, as he would say: an important reminder to me ‘not to think too highly’ of myself, as St Paul writes in his letter to the Romans.
‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones’ wrote the Psalmist (Ps 116:15), and I am sure that Paul, far more than most people I have known, is counted among the faithful ones of God. May this good servant of the Lord rest in peace and rise in glory. And may our God comfort you, and all who mourn Paul’s passing, with his strength and compassion and endless love.
Yours in the service of Christ
+Thabo Cape Town
My dear Geraldine
It is with great sadness in my heart that I write to send you and the whole family condolences and love and the assurance of our prayers from me, Lungi, and indeed the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa, on Paul’s death. Yet at the same time, in this Easter season in which we celebrate Christ’s victory over death, I am also so grateful to God for his gift of this faithful servant, who shared so many long and fruitful years with us, and touched the lives of countless numbers, more deeply than perhaps he knew.
I count myself privileged to have known him, as both a great teacher and dedicated pastor, since our time together on the team at Christ the King in Sophiatown. The love of God for his children shone so strongly through Paul, with his gentleness and clear dedication to our Lord. I shall miss him more than I can say, especially his affirming spirit; and the care he always showed, first of all, for you, but also to me and to so many others. He always asked about my work, or rather, about how God was progressing his work through me, as he would say: an important reminder to me ‘not to think too highly’ of myself, as St Paul writes in his letter to the Romans.
‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones’ wrote the Psalmist (Ps 116:15), and I am sure that Paul, far more than most people I have known, is counted among the faithful ones of God. May this good servant of the Lord rest in peace and rise in glory. And may our God comfort you, and all who mourn Paul’s passing, with his strength and compassion and endless love.
Yours in the service of Christ
+Thabo Cape Town
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Sermon at Funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu - The Truth Will Set Us Free
This sermon was preached at the funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu on 13 October 2012.
1 Pet 1:3-9; Matthew 5:3-10
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear President Zuma and Deputy-President Motlanthe, dear Sisulu family, clergy and all distinguished people, I greet you all in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer. Let me also thanks program directors Comrade Duarte and Mr Makhura. In his summation Mr Makhura reminded us of the refrain from Zwelakhe’s poem, ‘Lest we forget’. Comrade Duarte mentioned the cost of apartheid. In the light of these, I want to adjust the theme of my sermon: I want to speak about ‘Lest we forget’ the human face to the cost of apartheid in our times, and ‘Lest we forget’ that the truth will set us free.
We have just sung Zwelakhe’s favourite hymn: ‘This is my story’. And it is in the story of Jesus Christ that we find a place for our own story. Within the story of his birth, his life and ministry and teaching, his death on the cross, his resurrection and his ascension to heaven where he now prays for us – in this story of his, we find a place to make sense of our own story, our lives and our deaths.
As St Peter wrote in his first letter, ‘By God’s great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.’ It is kept in heaven for us, it is kept in heaven for Zwelakhe. Zwelakhe’s story is now one with the story of Jesus Christ.
And so today we celebrate the life of Zwelakhe Sisulu, we mourn his death, we commend him to the everlasting love of God, and we share our own grief. As we do this, we also place ourselves within the story of Jesus Christ, so that we too may know that death has been defeated, and find the comfort that he offers to all who seek his solace in their mourning. Finding our story and Zwelakhe’s story in God’s story gives us confidence, and allows us to be honest in our joys and in our sadnesses, as we remember this special man, this child of God, and give thanks for him, even as we grieve his passing.
As the tributes have reminded us, Zwelakhe packed a great deal into his 61 years. When I think of him – as I think also of Tata Walter and Mamma Albertina Sisulu, and so many of your family – other words from our first reading, strike a loud chord. St Peter writes of us suffering various trials, in which we dare to rejoice, because, he says, the genuineness of our faith is being tested, and is being found, through this fiery testing, to be more precious, more valuable, than gold.
Zwelakhe’s faith, Zwelakhe’s life, were ‘the real deal’ – they were certainly tested, but, by God’s grace, the quality of this man kept shining through. I am reminded of that saying that our characters are like tea-bags: we only discover their strength in hot water. Well, in one way or another, hot water – or at least, the heated politics of the last half century and more – shaped Zwelakhe’s life as they have shaped so many lives. And he was found to be strong in rising to the challenges, even when it came at personal cost.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled’ said Jesus. Righteousness is a word we don’t hear very often outside of church – but it is a word we could do with more of, especially in public life. Righteousness (very different from self-righteousness) is about reflecting the character of God, of Jesus – reflecting Jesus’ story in our story. It is about promoting God’s best, in all circumstances. It is about all that is upright, virtuous, just and good, excellent and true.
Zwelakhe showed us that to live in pursuit of excellence, justice, goodness, truth, certainly does bring a deep and lasting fulfilment and satisfaction – those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. And though he was in many ways larger than life – as I well remember from the time when he was running the New Nation out of rooms in our church complex – he was also content to be active behind the scenes. He let his life speak for itself – just as, as a journalist, he let the words speak for themselves, as he sought to make the truth known.
Jesus said that the truth will set us free (John 8:32). Today I want to emphasise, ‘Lest we forget – it is the truth that sets us free.’ Zwelakhe fought for the truth, as a means of fighting for freedom and for justice – so that our whole country could be set free. He inspired a generation of journalists, both in the written press; and across the entire media, as he took the helm of SABC. He demonstrated the value, the importance, the absolutely vital role, of an independent, intelligent, engaged media in the development and sustaining of healthy democracy through open, informed, debate.
My prayer is that we will never forget this.
Truth and transparency are the most effective tools we have for building the society, the nation, for which so many gave so much, even their own lives. Open and honest debate is our most powerful weapon, in combatting all that threatens to undermine the vision of our Constitution. It is indispensable for creating a united nation, in which we can find healing for the divisions of the past; and pursue a just and equitable society, based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights: a society which delivers a decent quality of life for all citizens and frees the potential of each person.
Truth will help us all pursue this. Because truth is the corner-stone of trust. And without trust, the different sectors of society cannot work well together – as the National Development Plan rightly tells us we must work together – in order to achieve the vision of the Freedom Charter, and of the Constitution.
For all of us need to stand together and play our part. Politicians, government, have their spheres of responsibility and action. Others of us have ours – Zwelakhe showed us something of the best contribution that the media can make. Business, academia, civil society, the church – all of us have our places, our responsibilities, our roles. And while none of us can do government’s job for them – we must all be ready to ‘stand in the gap’ and ensure that where politics and government fail, our people and our nation are not failed.
Truth helps show us what is needed; and helps us highlight that need, to ensure it is not forgotten, overlooked, ignored. And truth will help us all find the best way forward.
Truth, about how difficult this task of nation-building is, and about what can realistically be achieved – rather than inflated promises designed merely to win votes – will help our politicians to be the people we need them to be, and to do the job our Constitution asks of them.
Truth about the nature of problems we face, will help us find realistic, workable, solutions, that are rooted in the reality before us.
Truth around financial and commercial dealings – everything from tender processes to wage settlements – are the necessary first step to defeating the scourge of growing corruption – and also to overcoming the corrosive effect that suspicion increasingly has, even where due process is followed.
The humorous playwright, Noel Coward said ‘It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty, how few by deceit.’ We might laugh, but this is not the sort of society for which Zwelakhe strove. It must not become a valid description of the new South Africa.
Truth in the financial sector is necessary for overcoming international structural distortions, that fuel global instability in the economic sector that overflows into social unrest – for example over food stability.
Truth about our economic practices is also the foundation stone to reversing increasing inequalities between rich and poor, and in ensuring that the wealth of this country is made to serve those who are in greatest need.
US President, Franklin D Roosevelt, in his second inaugural address, said ‘The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.’ Mr President, sir, if you should, post-Mangaung, find yourself making your own second inaugural address, we trust that you too will make the alleviation of poverty your first priority, in your words and actions.
Truth is what brings the cries of the hungry, the lament of the poor, the grieving of the bereaved, the voice of the oppressed, to the ears of those who have: who have power and influence and material well-being, and the capacity to make a difference that benefits those who are without.
Truth is what will touch our hearts, change our minds, and shape our actions – so that we might become channels of blessing to those who are in greatest need.
Truth is the oil in the wheels of genuine democracy, which allows the voice of every citizen to be heard, and treated with dignity and respect.
Truthfulness in debate is what will rebuild relationships across the chasms that have opened up around Marikana, and the wider mining sector. We pray for Judge Ian Farlam and the Commission of Inquiry, that they may deal in the truth that sets people free – free from the ignorance about what happened, what went wrong, how we can do better in our employment practices, in our policing, in our dealings with disputes.
Truthfulness, and the trust it can bring, are also needed for spanning the gulfs between service providers and those who need – and who have a right to – these services.
Truth is the bridge across which we will have to walk if we are to meet with one another again, and find common solutions to the ills of our nation.
Truth is also the basis of education – of bringing understanding at every level of society. Above all else, our children and young people need to learn. We need to overcome the shocking standards of education which far too many receive (and too often in wholly inadequate facilities); and which leave them with so little hope of finding stable employment, with a decent wage, so they can support a family with dignity.
And though truth puts the spotlight on those areas where we are failing – truth is to be welcomed, because truth truly does set us free. We must never fear truth – even if it may be painful to hear at first. Because truth will take us forward to a better life.
Truth lights the banner of hope – because truth is what tells us the good news stories, of what is being achieved, by so many people, even with such few resources.
Truth tells us that we can make it: with hard work, with effort, with commitment, with perseverance, with cooperation and collaboration.
Truth can bring a smile to our faces, and joy to our hearts, when we hear of triumphs against the odds; of generosity of spirit; of communities uplifted; of courageous men and women, young people and old, who have stood up for what is right and seen good triumph.
Truth tells us that we need not despair – that we are not condemned to lives of uselessness in a failing society.
Truth is the signpost to a better future.
This is the truth for which Zwelakhe stood, the truth for which he strove. And though it breaks our hearts that he has died, facing the hard truth of his passing will help us deal with our sadness and sorrowing.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ said Jesus. If we dare to face our grief with honesty, and bring it before God, opening our hearts to him, then he will reach out to us with his tender, loving touch. Zodwa – our hearts go out to you, your children, to all the family, and to everyone who loved Zwelakhe. We mourn with you, we grieve with you. And we pray with you also, that God’s eternal arms of love will surround you with their compassion, so that you might know his full consolation, even as you are not afraid to weep and mourn. May you find his blessing, his comfort, in your sorrow and sadness.
God the Father watched his own son die on the cross – he knows what it is to mourn. Jesus himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus – and then himself experienced dying, in pain and suffering. He has gone before us through those gates that lie at the end of the valley of the shadow – and he holds his hand out to us all, in our mortality, assuring us that we need not be afraid.
We know that Zwelakhe is now safe, in the eternal love of God. He has run the race, he has finished his course. I am sure that he will hear the words ‘well done, good and faithful servant.’ Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord – and let light perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace – and rise in glory. Amen
1 Pet 1:3-9; Matthew 5:3-10
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear President Zuma and Deputy-President Motlanthe, dear Sisulu family, clergy and all distinguished people, I greet you all in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer. Let me also thanks program directors Comrade Duarte and Mr Makhura. In his summation Mr Makhura reminded us of the refrain from Zwelakhe’s poem, ‘Lest we forget’. Comrade Duarte mentioned the cost of apartheid. In the light of these, I want to adjust the theme of my sermon: I want to speak about ‘Lest we forget’ the human face to the cost of apartheid in our times, and ‘Lest we forget’ that the truth will set us free.
We have just sung Zwelakhe’s favourite hymn: ‘This is my story’. And it is in the story of Jesus Christ that we find a place for our own story. Within the story of his birth, his life and ministry and teaching, his death on the cross, his resurrection and his ascension to heaven where he now prays for us – in this story of his, we find a place to make sense of our own story, our lives and our deaths.
As St Peter wrote in his first letter, ‘By God’s great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.’ It is kept in heaven for us, it is kept in heaven for Zwelakhe. Zwelakhe’s story is now one with the story of Jesus Christ.
And so today we celebrate the life of Zwelakhe Sisulu, we mourn his death, we commend him to the everlasting love of God, and we share our own grief. As we do this, we also place ourselves within the story of Jesus Christ, so that we too may know that death has been defeated, and find the comfort that he offers to all who seek his solace in their mourning. Finding our story and Zwelakhe’s story in God’s story gives us confidence, and allows us to be honest in our joys and in our sadnesses, as we remember this special man, this child of God, and give thanks for him, even as we grieve his passing.
As the tributes have reminded us, Zwelakhe packed a great deal into his 61 years. When I think of him – as I think also of Tata Walter and Mamma Albertina Sisulu, and so many of your family – other words from our first reading, strike a loud chord. St Peter writes of us suffering various trials, in which we dare to rejoice, because, he says, the genuineness of our faith is being tested, and is being found, through this fiery testing, to be more precious, more valuable, than gold.
Zwelakhe’s faith, Zwelakhe’s life, were ‘the real deal’ – they were certainly tested, but, by God’s grace, the quality of this man kept shining through. I am reminded of that saying that our characters are like tea-bags: we only discover their strength in hot water. Well, in one way or another, hot water – or at least, the heated politics of the last half century and more – shaped Zwelakhe’s life as they have shaped so many lives. And he was found to be strong in rising to the challenges, even when it came at personal cost.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled’ said Jesus. Righteousness is a word we don’t hear very often outside of church – but it is a word we could do with more of, especially in public life. Righteousness (very different from self-righteousness) is about reflecting the character of God, of Jesus – reflecting Jesus’ story in our story. It is about promoting God’s best, in all circumstances. It is about all that is upright, virtuous, just and good, excellent and true.
Zwelakhe showed us that to live in pursuit of excellence, justice, goodness, truth, certainly does bring a deep and lasting fulfilment and satisfaction – those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. And though he was in many ways larger than life – as I well remember from the time when he was running the New Nation out of rooms in our church complex – he was also content to be active behind the scenes. He let his life speak for itself – just as, as a journalist, he let the words speak for themselves, as he sought to make the truth known.
Jesus said that the truth will set us free (John 8:32). Today I want to emphasise, ‘Lest we forget – it is the truth that sets us free.’ Zwelakhe fought for the truth, as a means of fighting for freedom and for justice – so that our whole country could be set free. He inspired a generation of journalists, both in the written press; and across the entire media, as he took the helm of SABC. He demonstrated the value, the importance, the absolutely vital role, of an independent, intelligent, engaged media in the development and sustaining of healthy democracy through open, informed, debate.
My prayer is that we will never forget this.
Truth and transparency are the most effective tools we have for building the society, the nation, for which so many gave so much, even their own lives. Open and honest debate is our most powerful weapon, in combatting all that threatens to undermine the vision of our Constitution. It is indispensable for creating a united nation, in which we can find healing for the divisions of the past; and pursue a just and equitable society, based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights: a society which delivers a decent quality of life for all citizens and frees the potential of each person.
Truth will help us all pursue this. Because truth is the corner-stone of trust. And without trust, the different sectors of society cannot work well together – as the National Development Plan rightly tells us we must work together – in order to achieve the vision of the Freedom Charter, and of the Constitution.
For all of us need to stand together and play our part. Politicians, government, have their spheres of responsibility and action. Others of us have ours – Zwelakhe showed us something of the best contribution that the media can make. Business, academia, civil society, the church – all of us have our places, our responsibilities, our roles. And while none of us can do government’s job for them – we must all be ready to ‘stand in the gap’ and ensure that where politics and government fail, our people and our nation are not failed.
Truth helps show us what is needed; and helps us highlight that need, to ensure it is not forgotten, overlooked, ignored. And truth will help us all find the best way forward.
Truth, about how difficult this task of nation-building is, and about what can realistically be achieved – rather than inflated promises designed merely to win votes – will help our politicians to be the people we need them to be, and to do the job our Constitution asks of them.
Truth about the nature of problems we face, will help us find realistic, workable, solutions, that are rooted in the reality before us.
Truth around financial and commercial dealings – everything from tender processes to wage settlements – are the necessary first step to defeating the scourge of growing corruption – and also to overcoming the corrosive effect that suspicion increasingly has, even where due process is followed.
The humorous playwright, Noel Coward said ‘It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty, how few by deceit.’ We might laugh, but this is not the sort of society for which Zwelakhe strove. It must not become a valid description of the new South Africa.
Truth in the financial sector is necessary for overcoming international structural distortions, that fuel global instability in the economic sector that overflows into social unrest – for example over food stability.
Truth about our economic practices is also the foundation stone to reversing increasing inequalities between rich and poor, and in ensuring that the wealth of this country is made to serve those who are in greatest need.
US President, Franklin D Roosevelt, in his second inaugural address, said ‘The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.’ Mr President, sir, if you should, post-Mangaung, find yourself making your own second inaugural address, we trust that you too will make the alleviation of poverty your first priority, in your words and actions.
Truth is what brings the cries of the hungry, the lament of the poor, the grieving of the bereaved, the voice of the oppressed, to the ears of those who have: who have power and influence and material well-being, and the capacity to make a difference that benefits those who are without.
Truth is what will touch our hearts, change our minds, and shape our actions – so that we might become channels of blessing to those who are in greatest need.
Truth is the oil in the wheels of genuine democracy, which allows the voice of every citizen to be heard, and treated with dignity and respect.
Truthfulness in debate is what will rebuild relationships across the chasms that have opened up around Marikana, and the wider mining sector. We pray for Judge Ian Farlam and the Commission of Inquiry, that they may deal in the truth that sets people free – free from the ignorance about what happened, what went wrong, how we can do better in our employment practices, in our policing, in our dealings with disputes.
Truthfulness, and the trust it can bring, are also needed for spanning the gulfs between service providers and those who need – and who have a right to – these services.
Truth is the bridge across which we will have to walk if we are to meet with one another again, and find common solutions to the ills of our nation.
Truth is also the basis of education – of bringing understanding at every level of society. Above all else, our children and young people need to learn. We need to overcome the shocking standards of education which far too many receive (and too often in wholly inadequate facilities); and which leave them with so little hope of finding stable employment, with a decent wage, so they can support a family with dignity.
And though truth puts the spotlight on those areas where we are failing – truth is to be welcomed, because truth truly does set us free. We must never fear truth – even if it may be painful to hear at first. Because truth will take us forward to a better life.
Truth lights the banner of hope – because truth is what tells us the good news stories, of what is being achieved, by so many people, even with such few resources.
Truth tells us that we can make it: with hard work, with effort, with commitment, with perseverance, with cooperation and collaboration.
Truth can bring a smile to our faces, and joy to our hearts, when we hear of triumphs against the odds; of generosity of spirit; of communities uplifted; of courageous men and women, young people and old, who have stood up for what is right and seen good triumph.
Truth tells us that we need not despair – that we are not condemned to lives of uselessness in a failing society.
Truth is the signpost to a better future.
This is the truth for which Zwelakhe stood, the truth for which he strove. And though it breaks our hearts that he has died, facing the hard truth of his passing will help us deal with our sadness and sorrowing.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ said Jesus. If we dare to face our grief with honesty, and bring it before God, opening our hearts to him, then he will reach out to us with his tender, loving touch. Zodwa – our hearts go out to you, your children, to all the family, and to everyone who loved Zwelakhe. We mourn with you, we grieve with you. And we pray with you also, that God’s eternal arms of love will surround you with their compassion, so that you might know his full consolation, even as you are not afraid to weep and mourn. May you find his blessing, his comfort, in your sorrow and sadness.
God the Father watched his own son die on the cross – he knows what it is to mourn. Jesus himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus – and then himself experienced dying, in pain and suffering. He has gone before us through those gates that lie at the end of the valley of the shadow – and he holds his hand out to us all, in our mortality, assuring us that we need not be afraid.
We know that Zwelakhe is now safe, in the eternal love of God. He has run the race, he has finished his course. I am sure that he will hear the words ‘well done, good and faithful servant.’ Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord – and let light perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace – and rise in glory. Amen
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
To the Laos - To the People of God, September 2012
Dear People of God
‘Cry aloud to the Lord!’ writes Jeremiah in his Lamentations, ‘Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night … Arise, cry in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!’ (Lam 2:18,19).
South Africa has been rocked by the tragedy at Marikana mine – the death of 34 miners at the hands of the police, after a further 10 deaths, including of police, in the preceding week. But this is only part of a greater tragedy: the tragedy that the situation could be allowed to deteriorate so far; the tragedy of appalling working and living conditions; the tragedy of such a breakdown in relations between employers and unions and employees and government; and the tragedy that across our country similarly dreadful situations are festering. They are like smouldering logs that, if left unattended, are ready to ignite. What should be the church’s response to this?
First, we should know how to lament – how to cry out to God, in our pain, our frustration, our anger, our distress, our deep, deep hurt. We should not hold back in speaking the truth of what we see, what we feel, what we fear. We bring before the throne of grace all that is broken, all that is awry, all that ought to be better but is not. And in opening our hearts to God, we call on God to step in, to act, to respond to the great need in which we find ourselves. ‘Weep with those who weep’ wrote St Paul to the Romans (Rom 12:15), and so we must. Now is a time to weep. We mourn for all who have died; and we mourn for all else that grieves us. We bring it all before God with a purpose – we come to ask him to take it all, and redeem it, to change it, and to change us, and give us a fresh start, so we may make a good and godly difference.
And so we are not left helpless in our weeping, and we must not despair. St Paul also writes ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Rom 12:21). Though I have been twice to Marikana since those terrible shootings, and found conditions that shocked me, nonetheless I am optimistic, for ours is a God who shines light in every darkness. Though I felt the very ground crying out to my soul that ‘All is not well’, and though it felt that the whole area is on a knife edge, still I am hopeful. For this can be to us not a prophecy of doom, but a wake-up call.
All South Africans must rekindle the vision of a free, fair, just, South Africa which inspired the peaceful transition to democracy, and we must work and pray to bring it about. It is a task that we must all shoulder together – government, politicians and the public sector; with business; with civil society; with media and academia and all other networks and organisations; and, of course, faith communities. This is the vision encapsulated in 1994 and in our Constitution. Its achievement lies in our hands, if we recommit ourselves positively, and work hard, rejecting complacency and hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges. God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right.
We should not be afraid to hold fast to his promises of hope. For when his vision for good is at the centre of our lives, it will shape us and our society. This – this ideal of human dignity and flourishing, at the heart of our Constitution – defines who we are, who we truly aspire to be, rather than any of the difficulties, challenges, setbacks that we experience. So, even as we mourn, let us ask God to bring his light into our darkness, and guide our feet into his life-giving pathways. May he bring comfort and blessing to all who mourn, and fresh courage and hope for tomorrow.
Please keep Judge Ian Farlam – our own Provincial Chancellor– particularly in your prayers, that he might receive every assistance, as he heads the Commission of Enquiry.
And now some more joyful news: the Revd Stephen Moreo of St George’s Parktown has been elected to succeed Bishop Brian Germond as Bishop of Johannesburg. Please pray for him and his family, Liziwe his wife, and their children Siyabulela Onalerona, and Bontle, as they prepare for him to take these responsibilities.
Finally, on behalf of us all, let me pay tribute to another Bishop of Johannesburg, Duncan Buchanan, who died at the beginning of September. He was a great friend and dear brother in Christ, who was also for me – as for so many – a father in God who deeply influenced my life and ministry. I offer heartfelt thanks for the rich life of this faithful servant of God, whom was successor to Desmond Tutu, as both Dean and Bishop. He was also a great teacher and pastoral counsellor, especially in leading, guiding, and shaping so many of our clergy, who trained with him in Grahamstown.
As Bishop he encouraged my vocation, made me a deacon and ordained me a priest. He pressed me to keep on growing; and exposed me to many ministries within and beyond the church – for example, as his representative on the Council of St John’s College. Indeed, he never stopped mentoring me. When I was first a Bishop, he loaned me his pastoral staff and gave me my first vestments. And when I became Archbishop he did not stop mentoring, advising, giving me feedback and commenting on these ‘To the Laos’ letters. He was a rare soul-friend, offering both caution and encouragement to press on. He would send messages, ‘Thabo, phone me!’ and remind me ‘God is not in the business of rushing – slow down and take time to discern the mind of God!’ I shall miss him deeply, and am filled with gratitude for his influence upon my life.
So I give thanks to God for his wisdom, his humour, his strong presence in any gathering. I thank God for his courage, and readiness to confront things that needed to be confronted, including in his leadership during the struggle to overcome apartheid. I am sure many around the Anglican world will also thank God for his significant contribution to the 1998 Lambeth Conference, helping a very diverse group to wrestle deeply together and produce the clear, yet sensitive, report on human sexuality that stands behind the resolution that was ultimately passed – a report that deserved far more attention than, sadly, it received. He was also a keen ecumenist, committed always and everywhere to building up the body of Christ. I am especially thankful I was able to spend some quality time with Duncan, connecting and reminiscing, at the Diocese of Johannesburg’s 90th anniversary celebrations, just a few months ago.
‘Dunc and Di’ as he and his wife were known to so many of us, were a wonderful team, a formidable team, in life and in ministry. We hold Di in our love and prayers, together with everyone else who loved Duncan and mourns his death. We are so sad that we shall not hear his laughter again, but we know that heaven will be a livelier place! Yet in our pain and grieving, we entrust him into the eternal arms of the Lord he loved so deeply, confident that ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord.’
Hamba kahle, faithful priest in the church of God. May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.
Yours in the Service of Christ,
+Thabo Cape Town
‘Cry aloud to the Lord!’ writes Jeremiah in his Lamentations, ‘Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night … Arise, cry in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!’ (Lam 2:18,19).
South Africa has been rocked by the tragedy at Marikana mine – the death of 34 miners at the hands of the police, after a further 10 deaths, including of police, in the preceding week. But this is only part of a greater tragedy: the tragedy that the situation could be allowed to deteriorate so far; the tragedy of appalling working and living conditions; the tragedy of such a breakdown in relations between employers and unions and employees and government; and the tragedy that across our country similarly dreadful situations are festering. They are like smouldering logs that, if left unattended, are ready to ignite. What should be the church’s response to this?
First, we should know how to lament – how to cry out to God, in our pain, our frustration, our anger, our distress, our deep, deep hurt. We should not hold back in speaking the truth of what we see, what we feel, what we fear. We bring before the throne of grace all that is broken, all that is awry, all that ought to be better but is not. And in opening our hearts to God, we call on God to step in, to act, to respond to the great need in which we find ourselves. ‘Weep with those who weep’ wrote St Paul to the Romans (Rom 12:15), and so we must. Now is a time to weep. We mourn for all who have died; and we mourn for all else that grieves us. We bring it all before God with a purpose – we come to ask him to take it all, and redeem it, to change it, and to change us, and give us a fresh start, so we may make a good and godly difference.
And so we are not left helpless in our weeping, and we must not despair. St Paul also writes ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Rom 12:21). Though I have been twice to Marikana since those terrible shootings, and found conditions that shocked me, nonetheless I am optimistic, for ours is a God who shines light in every darkness. Though I felt the very ground crying out to my soul that ‘All is not well’, and though it felt that the whole area is on a knife edge, still I am hopeful. For this can be to us not a prophecy of doom, but a wake-up call.
All South Africans must rekindle the vision of a free, fair, just, South Africa which inspired the peaceful transition to democracy, and we must work and pray to bring it about. It is a task that we must all shoulder together – government, politicians and the public sector; with business; with civil society; with media and academia and all other networks and organisations; and, of course, faith communities. This is the vision encapsulated in 1994 and in our Constitution. Its achievement lies in our hands, if we recommit ourselves positively, and work hard, rejecting complacency and hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges. God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right.
We should not be afraid to hold fast to his promises of hope. For when his vision for good is at the centre of our lives, it will shape us and our society. This – this ideal of human dignity and flourishing, at the heart of our Constitution – defines who we are, who we truly aspire to be, rather than any of the difficulties, challenges, setbacks that we experience. So, even as we mourn, let us ask God to bring his light into our darkness, and guide our feet into his life-giving pathways. May he bring comfort and blessing to all who mourn, and fresh courage and hope for tomorrow.
Please keep Judge Ian Farlam – our own Provincial Chancellor– particularly in your prayers, that he might receive every assistance, as he heads the Commission of Enquiry.
And now some more joyful news: the Revd Stephen Moreo of St George’s Parktown has been elected to succeed Bishop Brian Germond as Bishop of Johannesburg. Please pray for him and his family, Liziwe his wife, and their children Siyabulela Onalerona, and Bontle, as they prepare for him to take these responsibilities.
Finally, on behalf of us all, let me pay tribute to another Bishop of Johannesburg, Duncan Buchanan, who died at the beginning of September. He was a great friend and dear brother in Christ, who was also for me – as for so many – a father in God who deeply influenced my life and ministry. I offer heartfelt thanks for the rich life of this faithful servant of God, whom was successor to Desmond Tutu, as both Dean and Bishop. He was also a great teacher and pastoral counsellor, especially in leading, guiding, and shaping so many of our clergy, who trained with him in Grahamstown.
As Bishop he encouraged my vocation, made me a deacon and ordained me a priest. He pressed me to keep on growing; and exposed me to many ministries within and beyond the church – for example, as his representative on the Council of St John’s College. Indeed, he never stopped mentoring me. When I was first a Bishop, he loaned me his pastoral staff and gave me my first vestments. And when I became Archbishop he did not stop mentoring, advising, giving me feedback and commenting on these ‘To the Laos’ letters. He was a rare soul-friend, offering both caution and encouragement to press on. He would send messages, ‘Thabo, phone me!’ and remind me ‘God is not in the business of rushing – slow down and take time to discern the mind of God!’ I shall miss him deeply, and am filled with gratitude for his influence upon my life.
So I give thanks to God for his wisdom, his humour, his strong presence in any gathering. I thank God for his courage, and readiness to confront things that needed to be confronted, including in his leadership during the struggle to overcome apartheid. I am sure many around the Anglican world will also thank God for his significant contribution to the 1998 Lambeth Conference, helping a very diverse group to wrestle deeply together and produce the clear, yet sensitive, report on human sexuality that stands behind the resolution that was ultimately passed – a report that deserved far more attention than, sadly, it received. He was also a keen ecumenist, committed always and everywhere to building up the body of Christ. I am especially thankful I was able to spend some quality time with Duncan, connecting and reminiscing, at the Diocese of Johannesburg’s 90th anniversary celebrations, just a few months ago.
‘Dunc and Di’ as he and his wife were known to so many of us, were a wonderful team, a formidable team, in life and in ministry. We hold Di in our love and prayers, together with everyone else who loved Duncan and mourns his death. We are so sad that we shall not hear his laughter again, but we know that heaven will be a livelier place! Yet in our pain and grieving, we entrust him into the eternal arms of the Lord he loved so deeply, confident that ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord.’
Hamba kahle, faithful priest in the church of God. May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.
Yours in the Service of Christ,
+Thabo Cape Town
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Tribute to the late Bishop Duncan Buchanan
Statement on the Death of Bishop Duncan Buchanan
On behalf of the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I express my profound sadness at the death of Bishop Duncan Buchanan, a great friend and dear brother in Christ, who was also for me – as for so many – a father in God who deeply influenced my life and ministry. Therefore I also offer heartfelt thanks for the rich life of this faithful servant of God, whom so many of us remember as successor to Desmond Tutu, as both Dean and later Bishop of Johannesburg. He was also a great teacher and pastoral counsellor, especially in leading, guiding, educating and shaping so many of today’s clergy across our church, who trained with him in Grahamstown.
As Bishop he encouraged my vocation, made me a deacon and ordained me a priest. He opened many doors for me, pressing me to keep on growing; and he exposed me to many ministries within and beyond the church – for example, as his representative on the Council of St John’s College. Indeed, he never stopped mentoring me. When I was first a Bishop, he loaned me his pastoral staff and gave me my first vestments. And when I became Archbishop he did not stop mentoring, advising and giving me feedback, one of those rare soul-friends offering both caution and encouragement to press on. He would send messages, ‘Thabo, phone me!’ or ‘Thabo, take it easy!’ and remind me ‘God is not in the business of rushing – slow down and take time to discern the mind of God!’ I shall miss him deeply, and am filled with gratitude for his influence upon my life.
So I give thanks to God for his wisdom, his humour, his strong presence in any gathering. I thank God for his courage, and his readiness to confront those things that needed to be confronted, including in his leadership during the struggle to overcome apartheid. I am sure many around the Anglican world will also thank God for his significant contribution to the 1998 Lambeth Conference, helping a very diverse group to wrestle deeply together and produce the clear, yet sensitive, report on human sexuality that stands behind the resolution that was ultimately passed – a report that deserved far more attention than, sadly, it received. He was also a keen ecumenist, committed always and everywhere to building up the body of Christ.
Just a few months ago, in June, the Diocese of Johannesburg celebrated the 90th anniversary of its founding. I am especially thankful that I was able to spend some quality time with Duncan, connecting and reminiscing.
‘Dunc and Di’ as he and his wife were known to so many of us, were a wonderful team, a formidable team, in life and in ministry. Di, our hearts are sore for you, and we hold you in our love and prayers, together with everyone else who loved Duncan and mourns his death. We are so sad that we shall not hear his laughter again, but we know that heaven will be a livelier place! Yet in our pain and grieving, we entrust him into the eternal arms of the Lord he loved so deeply, confident that ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord.’
Hamba kahle, faithful priest in the church of God.
May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.
+Thabo Cape Town
On behalf of the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I express my profound sadness at the death of Bishop Duncan Buchanan, a great friend and dear brother in Christ, who was also for me – as for so many – a father in God who deeply influenced my life and ministry. Therefore I also offer heartfelt thanks for the rich life of this faithful servant of God, whom so many of us remember as successor to Desmond Tutu, as both Dean and later Bishop of Johannesburg. He was also a great teacher and pastoral counsellor, especially in leading, guiding, educating and shaping so many of today’s clergy across our church, who trained with him in Grahamstown.
As Bishop he encouraged my vocation, made me a deacon and ordained me a priest. He opened many doors for me, pressing me to keep on growing; and he exposed me to many ministries within and beyond the church – for example, as his representative on the Council of St John’s College. Indeed, he never stopped mentoring me. When I was first a Bishop, he loaned me his pastoral staff and gave me my first vestments. And when I became Archbishop he did not stop mentoring, advising and giving me feedback, one of those rare soul-friends offering both caution and encouragement to press on. He would send messages, ‘Thabo, phone me!’ or ‘Thabo, take it easy!’ and remind me ‘God is not in the business of rushing – slow down and take time to discern the mind of God!’ I shall miss him deeply, and am filled with gratitude for his influence upon my life.
So I give thanks to God for his wisdom, his humour, his strong presence in any gathering. I thank God for his courage, and his readiness to confront those things that needed to be confronted, including in his leadership during the struggle to overcome apartheid. I am sure many around the Anglican world will also thank God for his significant contribution to the 1998 Lambeth Conference, helping a very diverse group to wrestle deeply together and produce the clear, yet sensitive, report on human sexuality that stands behind the resolution that was ultimately passed – a report that deserved far more attention than, sadly, it received. He was also a keen ecumenist, committed always and everywhere to building up the body of Christ.
Just a few months ago, in June, the Diocese of Johannesburg celebrated the 90th anniversary of its founding. I am especially thankful that I was able to spend some quality time with Duncan, connecting and reminiscing.
‘Dunc and Di’ as he and his wife were known to so many of us, were a wonderful team, a formidable team, in life and in ministry. Di, our hearts are sore for you, and we hold you in our love and prayers, together with everyone else who loved Duncan and mourns his death. We are so sad that we shall not hear his laughter again, but we know that heaven will be a livelier place! Yet in our pain and grieving, we entrust him into the eternal arms of the Lord he loved so deeply, confident that ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord.’
Hamba kahle, faithful priest in the church of God.
May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.
+Thabo Cape Town
Death of Revd Dr Khoza Elliot Mgojo
Media Release
Death of Revd Dr Khoza Elliot Mgojo, Struggle Stalwart and Man of God
On behalf of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I extend condolences to the family of Revd Dr Khoza Elliot Mgojo, our dear brother in Christ of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. He has been a great friend of our church, and a much loved partner in the gospel, over many years, particularly in his terms of office as Presiding Bishop in those troubled years during the 1980s, and as President of the South African Council of Churches from 1990 to 1996, as our country faced the profound challenges of transition to democracy. His was always a wise voice of leadership, and a steady hand on the tiller. In his subsequent service on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he brought all the wisdom and insight of his years of servant leadership, for the sake of the healing of our nation.
We thank God for his life, witness and ministry over long years, and his steadfast commitment to the gospel imperatives of good news to the poor, through pursuit of justice, equality, and dignity for all God’s children. He will be sorely missed. Our prayers are with his family, and all who loved him and mourn his passing. Well done, good and faithful servant of God! May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.
+Thabo Cape Town
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021-763-1320 (office hours)
Death of Revd Dr Khoza Elliot Mgojo, Struggle Stalwart and Man of God
On behalf of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I extend condolences to the family of Revd Dr Khoza Elliot Mgojo, our dear brother in Christ of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. He has been a great friend of our church, and a much loved partner in the gospel, over many years, particularly in his terms of office as Presiding Bishop in those troubled years during the 1980s, and as President of the South African Council of Churches from 1990 to 1996, as our country faced the profound challenges of transition to democracy. His was always a wise voice of leadership, and a steady hand on the tiller. In his subsequent service on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he brought all the wisdom and insight of his years of servant leadership, for the sake of the healing of our nation.
We thank God for his life, witness and ministry over long years, and his steadfast commitment to the gospel imperatives of good news to the poor, through pursuit of justice, equality, and dignity for all God’s children. He will be sorely missed. Our prayers are with his family, and all who loved him and mourn his passing. Well done, good and faithful servant of God! May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.
+Thabo Cape Town
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021-763-1320 (office hours)
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Marikana Mine Memorial Service
This is an edited version of the sermon, originally preached largely in Sesotho, at the Memorial Service held at the Marikana Mine on 23 August 2012.
Matthew 5:1-10
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'
Today, we are here to mourn - or, to use another word from the Bible, we are here to lament.
We are here to cry out to God, and pour out our tears, pour out our hearts. We are here to ask God – knowing that he hears and knows our pain – to ask God, ‘Where were you when we were shot at, killed, exploited by less than adequate salaries? God, where are you when we are denied education access to basic services and we live in sub-standard places? We dare to ask God, because we know he can handle our asking. And if we can ask God these questions, we can ask anybody these questions without fear.
Yet as we ask these questions, we do so knowing that today is not a day of stirring up. God knows our emotions have been more than stirred up in the last weeks. Rather, today is a day of wresting with God about our pains; today is a day of laying down: laying down the burdens of our brokenness, our pain, our sorrow – laying them down before the cross of Jesus Christ – the eternal Son of God who became fully human and knows what it is to suffer pain and grief and to face death.
We bring our sufferings to Jesus, who suffers with us; who shares our battling. We bring to him our anger, our frustrations, our feelings of desperation, our heartfelt wish that things could have been different – so very different. We come before the God who listens, and we say to him all that we wish could have been different.
And so we mourn, and we lament. We lament the lives that have been lost – lives on all sides. We remember those whom we have loved. We thank God for them, for all the love we shared with them, for all the good we saw in them. We resolve that no revenge can return them to us; and in their memory, we recommit to solving our current challenges through negotiating, through dialogue, through talking with those in charge – management, government and amongst ourselves.
We dare to tell this listening God how sore our hearts are at the deaths of those we loved. We speak to our Father in heaven who watched his own Son die – and know that he understands.
We grieve for all who have lost fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, friends, colleagues. We cry out for families who have lost their breadwinners. We pour out our tears in the face of death – and we ask God for the comfort he alone can bring. We open our hearts to God, and ask him to write in them his consoling truths. We also lament for all who have been injured. We weep for all who have been traumatised.
We mourn because we were not wise enough, not brave enough, to insist that violence solves nothing, and is never the best way to a better future. We weep for the mistakes that were made, for the poor judgments reached, for the wrong decisions taken. We grieve for all who bear some responsibility, even in a small way, for how events unfolded, and now carry the burden of wishing they could have said or done differently. We mourn for broken relationships, broken trust, among those who work or live together – whether in the mine, or in the communities around. And as we lament all that happened, we also weep for the circumstances that led to these terrible events.
This week, we not only mourn and lament as individuals, but the whole nation of South Africa is also called to mourning. What does it mean that we should lament, not only as individuals but as a nation?
The whole country needs to be courageous in finding words to cry out honestly to God. We need to name our pain. We need to speak it out – without pretence – for the sake of South Africa.
The levels of inequality in our country are unjust and unsustainable. Of course, some will always be richer than others – but it is not right that a few should pursue such high levels of luxury when so many have so little. This is true far beyond the mining sector.
We come to the God of compassion, and ask, where is the compassion in our society? We mourn that we are so complacent, so lacking in godly love and compassion, that we can look on those with inadequate housing, and not do something about it. We mourn that, as a nation, we have let slip the Vision that guided us to freedom and democracy; that we have taken our eyes off our commitment to mutual respect and generosity of spirit, to creating a caring society in which all may have enough to live on with dignity and hope.
Today we mourn – we mourn for all who have died; and we mourn for all else that grieves us. We bring it all before God with a purpose – we come to ask him to take it all, and redeem it, to change it, and to change us, and give us a fresh start, so we may make a good and godly difference. This is the blessing of comfort that we seek. We ask him to bring:
• consolation for sorrow;
• hope for despair;
• healing for pain;
• wholeness for brokenness;
• forgiveness for wrong-doing;
• trust for suspicion;
• reconciliation for enmity and division;
• and a new beginning wherever it is needed.
We know that this will ask a lot of us, so we also ask for:
• strength in our weakness;
• wisdom in our ignorance;
• courage in our fearfulness
so that we might dare to see what it is that we need to do, and have the commitment to carry it out.
We are thus grateful that President Zuma has put together an Inquiry into this massacre and we hope it will get to the bottom of this disaster and reveal the truth. It is not enough to pray for wounds to be bandaged and pain healed, and to demand that conflict ends, unless we are prepared to address the wider context and the underlying issues on which conflict feeds. We have brought to God our lament over the anger, the inequality, the poverty, the death, the suffering, the injury, the hopelessness: and now we must listen to what is God asking us to do.
In the Bible, the Prophet Isaiah records this promise of God:
‘I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster: violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders …’ (Isaiah 60:17-18).
God’s word to us is that devastation and destruction end only when there is true peace and righteousness. This is a clear message of common sense to everyone, whether religious or not. The plain truth is that our greatest need lies in ensuring true justice and real fairness prevail in all sectors of our country’s life, and so bring genuine peace.
This is not merely about justice in terms of answering legal questions of who did what in the events of last week; nor of peace that is only the absence of conflict. It is the question of wider justice, across all of society, across the whole nation. It is about the justice and fairness and equity that are marked:
• by true economic emancipation of all,
• by good governance, honesty and truth,
• by mutual respect regardless of status,
• by flourishing democratic systems,
• by free but constructive speech.
It is about creating a country where every human person lives in dignity, with adequate housing, food, water, sanitation, health-care, education, and all the basic necessities of life.
God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right. This is the promise of the words of Jesus that we heard read to us. We should not be afraid to hold fast to his promises of hope – to strive for righteousness, for true justice; and to seek for genuine peace and true reconciliation.
to be, rather than any of the difficulties, challenges, setbacks that we experience.
Even as we mourn, let us ask God to bring his light into our darkness, and guide our feet into his life-giving pathways. That is why I want to make an appeal to our politicians, to respect the sanctity and dignity of those who died and all God’s people; and not to try to gain cheap political points out of this massacre. These are God’s people and we must respect the sanctity of their lives lost, their blood shed, especially as we mourn.
So, may God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit bring comfort and blessing to all who mourn, and fresh courage and hope for tomorrow. Amen
Matthew 5:1-10
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'
Today, we are here to mourn - or, to use another word from the Bible, we are here to lament.
We are here to cry out to God, and pour out our tears, pour out our hearts. We are here to ask God – knowing that he hears and knows our pain – to ask God, ‘Where were you when we were shot at, killed, exploited by less than adequate salaries? God, where are you when we are denied education access to basic services and we live in sub-standard places? We dare to ask God, because we know he can handle our asking. And if we can ask God these questions, we can ask anybody these questions without fear.
Yet as we ask these questions, we do so knowing that today is not a day of stirring up. God knows our emotions have been more than stirred up in the last weeks. Rather, today is a day of wresting with God about our pains; today is a day of laying down: laying down the burdens of our brokenness, our pain, our sorrow – laying them down before the cross of Jesus Christ – the eternal Son of God who became fully human and knows what it is to suffer pain and grief and to face death.
We bring our sufferings to Jesus, who suffers with us; who shares our battling. We bring to him our anger, our frustrations, our feelings of desperation, our heartfelt wish that things could have been different – so very different. We come before the God who listens, and we say to him all that we wish could have been different.
And so we mourn, and we lament. We lament the lives that have been lost – lives on all sides. We remember those whom we have loved. We thank God for them, for all the love we shared with them, for all the good we saw in them. We resolve that no revenge can return them to us; and in their memory, we recommit to solving our current challenges through negotiating, through dialogue, through talking with those in charge – management, government and amongst ourselves.
We dare to tell this listening God how sore our hearts are at the deaths of those we loved. We speak to our Father in heaven who watched his own Son die – and know that he understands.
We grieve for all who have lost fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, friends, colleagues. We cry out for families who have lost their breadwinners. We pour out our tears in the face of death – and we ask God for the comfort he alone can bring. We open our hearts to God, and ask him to write in them his consoling truths. We also lament for all who have been injured. We weep for all who have been traumatised.
We mourn because we were not wise enough, not brave enough, to insist that violence solves nothing, and is never the best way to a better future. We weep for the mistakes that were made, for the poor judgments reached, for the wrong decisions taken. We grieve for all who bear some responsibility, even in a small way, for how events unfolded, and now carry the burden of wishing they could have said or done differently. We mourn for broken relationships, broken trust, among those who work or live together – whether in the mine, or in the communities around. And as we lament all that happened, we also weep for the circumstances that led to these terrible events.
This week, we not only mourn and lament as individuals, but the whole nation of South Africa is also called to mourning. What does it mean that we should lament, not only as individuals but as a nation?
The whole country needs to be courageous in finding words to cry out honestly to God. We need to name our pain. We need to speak it out – without pretence – for the sake of South Africa.
The levels of inequality in our country are unjust and unsustainable. Of course, some will always be richer than others – but it is not right that a few should pursue such high levels of luxury when so many have so little. This is true far beyond the mining sector.
We come to the God of compassion, and ask, where is the compassion in our society? We mourn that we are so complacent, so lacking in godly love and compassion, that we can look on those with inadequate housing, and not do something about it. We mourn that, as a nation, we have let slip the Vision that guided us to freedom and democracy; that we have taken our eyes off our commitment to mutual respect and generosity of spirit, to creating a caring society in which all may have enough to live on with dignity and hope.
Today we mourn – we mourn for all who have died; and we mourn for all else that grieves us. We bring it all before God with a purpose – we come to ask him to take it all, and redeem it, to change it, and to change us, and give us a fresh start, so we may make a good and godly difference. This is the blessing of comfort that we seek. We ask him to bring:
• consolation for sorrow;
• hope for despair;
• healing for pain;
• wholeness for brokenness;
• forgiveness for wrong-doing;
• trust for suspicion;
• reconciliation for enmity and division;
• and a new beginning wherever it is needed.
We know that this will ask a lot of us, so we also ask for:
• strength in our weakness;
• wisdom in our ignorance;
• courage in our fearfulness
so that we might dare to see what it is that we need to do, and have the commitment to carry it out.
We are thus grateful that President Zuma has put together an Inquiry into this massacre and we hope it will get to the bottom of this disaster and reveal the truth. It is not enough to pray for wounds to be bandaged and pain healed, and to demand that conflict ends, unless we are prepared to address the wider context and the underlying issues on which conflict feeds. We have brought to God our lament over the anger, the inequality, the poverty, the death, the suffering, the injury, the hopelessness: and now we must listen to what is God asking us to do.
In the Bible, the Prophet Isaiah records this promise of God:
‘I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster: violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders …’ (Isaiah 60:17-18).
God’s word to us is that devastation and destruction end only when there is true peace and righteousness. This is a clear message of common sense to everyone, whether religious or not. The plain truth is that our greatest need lies in ensuring true justice and real fairness prevail in all sectors of our country’s life, and so bring genuine peace.
This is not merely about justice in terms of answering legal questions of who did what in the events of last week; nor of peace that is only the absence of conflict. It is the question of wider justice, across all of society, across the whole nation. It is about the justice and fairness and equity that are marked:
• by true economic emancipation of all,
• by good governance, honesty and truth,
• by mutual respect regardless of status,
• by flourishing democratic systems,
• by free but constructive speech.
It is about creating a country where every human person lives in dignity, with adequate housing, food, water, sanitation, health-care, education, and all the basic necessities of life.
God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right. This is the promise of the words of Jesus that we heard read to us. We should not be afraid to hold fast to his promises of hope – to strive for righteousness, for true justice; and to seek for genuine peace and true reconciliation.
to be, rather than any of the difficulties, challenges, setbacks that we experience.
Even as we mourn, let us ask God to bring his light into our darkness, and guide our feet into his life-giving pathways. That is why I want to make an appeal to our politicians, to respect the sanctity and dignity of those who died and all God’s people; and not to try to gain cheap political points out of this massacre. These are God’s people and we must respect the sanctity of their lives lost, their blood shed, especially as we mourn.
So, may God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit bring comfort and blessing to all who mourn, and fresh courage and hope for tomorrow. Amen
Marikana Mine Tragedy - Address at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town
This address was delivered at the inter-faith service held at St George's Cathedral Cape Town, on 22 August 2012.
Let me begin with my own welcome to everyone here today. Thank you, Madam Mayor, for your presence. I also acknowledge Tony Ehrenreich, along with many clergy and religious leaders, and all who have come to join in this service.
We are here today in what has been declared a week of national mourning. What does national mourning mean for us in Cape Town, who are so far away – and not only geographically – from Marikana? How do we avoid voicing platitudes, or falling into blaming and condemning at a distance? Yes, there must be investigation, yes there must be justice – and justice in its widest possible sense – but this is not part of mourning. And this week, today, mourning is most definitely our task, the task of the whole nation.
To use another word from Holy Scripture, our task is to lament. We are to cry out to God, for all that has gone wrong – not just last week in Marikana, but for all that is wrong in our country, our nation, which contributed to this terrible, heart-breaking tragedy. We cry out because it is a tragedy for all those individuals caught up in it, in whatever capacity. It is a tragedy for our nation, which thought – which hoped and believed – that we should never again witness such scenes.
We lament because things have gone wrong, terribly wrong. Whatever the merits of the various disputes, things have gone horribly, awfully, wrong:
• between mining companies and their employees,
• between unions,
• between union leaders and workers,
• and between miners and police.
Yet all these things did not go wrong by themselves. They point to a wider ‘going wrong’ – a going wrong:
• around law-enforcement policy and its implementation
• around policy-making, in the public and private sectors
• around economic inequalities between employers and employees, between rich and poor
• around attitudes that allow all these gulfs to emerge and widen
• even, around the relationship between government and citizens, politicians and people.
We cry out to God in lament for all of this. We cry out because we know – and this is the most important point of all – we know that God hears our lament, because God also laments with us. The God who is love, the God of mercy and compassion, grieves for all that harms even the hair of one human head; and grieves most of all when we are our own worst enemies, the cause of one another’s hurts and pains.
Heard by God, held by God, it is safe to lament: safe to speak out in honesty about all that pains us.
And so today, as a nation, we mourn. We mourn for every life lost, knowing it is one life too many. We mourn for the bereaved: for everyone who has lost a father, a husband, a brother, a son, a friend, a colleague. We mourn for every family left without a breadwinner. We mourn for all those who have been wounded. We mourn for all those who have been traumatised. We mourn for all those who have been arrested, and for all who seek justice. We mourn for all those who wielded weapons, for all those who pulled triggers, for all who contributed to the escalating violence – and who are all inevitably themselves harmed in spirit if not in body. We mourn for the mistakes that were made, for the poor judgments reached, for the wrong decisions taken. We mourn for all who bear some responsibility, even in a small way, for how events unfolded, and now carry the burden of wishing they could have said or done differently.
And we mourn for the failings of our country, our government, our societies – which made it possible for so much to go so badly wrong. We mourn for how we have become selfish and greedy, or merely complacent, and failed to hold fast to the vision that brought us freedom; and failed to strive to make it a concrete reality for every son and daughter of our soil. Today we mourn – because we are not a country where every human person lives in dignity, with adequate housing, food, water, sanitation, health-care, education, and all the basic necessities of life – and because we do not tackle these shortcomings with the greatest possible urgency.
We mourn for ourselves, because, when things go wrong, we do not always speak truth to power as we ought – though this morning in Khayelitsha, as religious leaders we pledged ourselves to move from witness to action, signing a pledge to ensure our faith communities and all our people truly do stand up against all forms of corruption, which exacerbates injustice and inequality.
Of course, some will always be richer than others – but it is not right that a few should pursue such high levels of luxury when so many have so little. And this is true far beyond the mining sector. But we mourn for our lack of compassion, asking: where is the love that each should have for their neighbour, no matter whether their neighbour is in a mansion or a tin shack?
And how can we look on those with inadequate housing, and not do something about it? Can we not see as God sees – that every human being on our TV screen is a beloved child of God, a precious individual, treasured and cared for. Each one, each worker, each police officer, each family member, each journalist, , each representative of management, of unions, of law-enforcement, of government, each individual caught up in events: every single one is known by name – their hopes, their fears, the circumstances and struggles felt in the heart of God.
Not one is insignificant. And nobody should be an anonymous marble in the invisible hand of the powerful – whether employers, unions, politicians, whoever, as they play their larger strategic games. Surely we know all this – but we have failed to live it out.
And so today is a day of mourning: it is not a day of stirring up. God knows our emotions have been more than stirred up in the last weeks. Today is a day of laying down. It is a day of laying down the burdens of our brokenness, our pain, our sorrow – of laying them down before the throne of God. It is a day of bringing to him our anger, our frustrations, our feelings of desperation, as well as our lamentation.
And we bring all this to God with a purpose – we come to ask him to take it all, and redeem it, to change it, and to change us so we may make a good and godly difference. We ask him to bring:
• comfort for sorrow;
• hope for despair;
• healing for pain;
• wholeness for brokenness;
• forgiveness for wrong-doing;
• reconciliation for division;
• and a new beginning wherever it is needed.
We know that this will ask a lot of us, so we also ask for:
• strength in our weakness;
• wisdom in our ignorance;
• courage in our fearfulness;
so that we might dare to see what it is that we need to do, and have the commitment to carry it out.
For we know that it is not enough only to mourn – though we must mourn. It is not enough to pray for wounds to be bandaged and pain healed, and to demand that conflict ends, unless we are prepared to address the wider context and the underlying issues on which conflict feeds.
We need to ask ourselves: why are so many hurting? Why are so many weeping? We need to be honest about what is fuelling this level of anger and desperation. We must also ask how we will handle it, if it spills over and spreads to other situations, other places.
We have brought to God our lament over the anger, the inequality, the poverty, the death, the suffering, the injury, the hopelessness: and now we must listen to what is he asking us to do. In the Bible, the Prophet Isaiah records this promise of God:
‘I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster: violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders …’ (Isaiah 60:17-18).
God’s word to us is that devastation and destruction end only when there is true peace and righteousness. This is a clear message to all – a message of common sense to everyone, whether religious or not. The plain truth is that our greatest need lies in ensuring true justice and genuine fairness prevail in all sectors of our country’s life.
This is not merely about justice in terms of answering legal questions of who did what in the events of last week. It is the question of wider justice, across all of society, across the whole nation. It is about the justice and fairness and equity that are marked:
• by true economic emancipation of all,
• by good governance, honesty and truth,
• by mutual respect regardless of status,
• by flourishing democratic systems,
• by free but constructive speech.
This is the vision encapsulated in 1994 and in our Constitution. Its achievement lies in our hands, if we recommit ourselves positively, and work hard, rejecting complacency and hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges. God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right.
We should not be afraid to hold fast to his promises of hope. For when his vision for good is at the centre of our lives, it will shape us and our society. This – this ideal of human dignity and flourishing, at the heart of our Constitution – defines who we are, who we truly aspire to be, rather than any of the difficulties, challenges, setbacks that we experience.
So, even as we mourn, let us ask God to bring his light into our darkness, and guide our feet into his life-giving pathways. May he bring comfort and blessing to all who mourn, and fresh courage and hope for tomorrow. Amen
Let me begin with my own welcome to everyone here today. Thank you, Madam Mayor, for your presence. I also acknowledge Tony Ehrenreich, along with many clergy and religious leaders, and all who have come to join in this service.
We are here today in what has been declared a week of national mourning. What does national mourning mean for us in Cape Town, who are so far away – and not only geographically – from Marikana? How do we avoid voicing platitudes, or falling into blaming and condemning at a distance? Yes, there must be investigation, yes there must be justice – and justice in its widest possible sense – but this is not part of mourning. And this week, today, mourning is most definitely our task, the task of the whole nation.
To use another word from Holy Scripture, our task is to lament. We are to cry out to God, for all that has gone wrong – not just last week in Marikana, but for all that is wrong in our country, our nation, which contributed to this terrible, heart-breaking tragedy. We cry out because it is a tragedy for all those individuals caught up in it, in whatever capacity. It is a tragedy for our nation, which thought – which hoped and believed – that we should never again witness such scenes.
We lament because things have gone wrong, terribly wrong. Whatever the merits of the various disputes, things have gone horribly, awfully, wrong:
• between mining companies and their employees,
• between unions,
• between union leaders and workers,
• and between miners and police.
Yet all these things did not go wrong by themselves. They point to a wider ‘going wrong’ – a going wrong:
• around law-enforcement policy and its implementation
• around policy-making, in the public and private sectors
• around economic inequalities between employers and employees, between rich and poor
• around attitudes that allow all these gulfs to emerge and widen
• even, around the relationship between government and citizens, politicians and people.
We cry out to God in lament for all of this. We cry out because we know – and this is the most important point of all – we know that God hears our lament, because God also laments with us. The God who is love, the God of mercy and compassion, grieves for all that harms even the hair of one human head; and grieves most of all when we are our own worst enemies, the cause of one another’s hurts and pains.
Heard by God, held by God, it is safe to lament: safe to speak out in honesty about all that pains us.
And so today, as a nation, we mourn. We mourn for every life lost, knowing it is one life too many. We mourn for the bereaved: for everyone who has lost a father, a husband, a brother, a son, a friend, a colleague. We mourn for every family left without a breadwinner. We mourn for all those who have been wounded. We mourn for all those who have been traumatised. We mourn for all those who have been arrested, and for all who seek justice. We mourn for all those who wielded weapons, for all those who pulled triggers, for all who contributed to the escalating violence – and who are all inevitably themselves harmed in spirit if not in body. We mourn for the mistakes that were made, for the poor judgments reached, for the wrong decisions taken. We mourn for all who bear some responsibility, even in a small way, for how events unfolded, and now carry the burden of wishing they could have said or done differently.
And we mourn for the failings of our country, our government, our societies – which made it possible for so much to go so badly wrong. We mourn for how we have become selfish and greedy, or merely complacent, and failed to hold fast to the vision that brought us freedom; and failed to strive to make it a concrete reality for every son and daughter of our soil. Today we mourn – because we are not a country where every human person lives in dignity, with adequate housing, food, water, sanitation, health-care, education, and all the basic necessities of life – and because we do not tackle these shortcomings with the greatest possible urgency.
We mourn for ourselves, because, when things go wrong, we do not always speak truth to power as we ought – though this morning in Khayelitsha, as religious leaders we pledged ourselves to move from witness to action, signing a pledge to ensure our faith communities and all our people truly do stand up against all forms of corruption, which exacerbates injustice and inequality.
Of course, some will always be richer than others – but it is not right that a few should pursue such high levels of luxury when so many have so little. And this is true far beyond the mining sector. But we mourn for our lack of compassion, asking: where is the love that each should have for their neighbour, no matter whether their neighbour is in a mansion or a tin shack?
And how can we look on those with inadequate housing, and not do something about it? Can we not see as God sees – that every human being on our TV screen is a beloved child of God, a precious individual, treasured and cared for. Each one, each worker, each police officer, each family member, each journalist, , each representative of management, of unions, of law-enforcement, of government, each individual caught up in events: every single one is known by name – their hopes, their fears, the circumstances and struggles felt in the heart of God.
Not one is insignificant. And nobody should be an anonymous marble in the invisible hand of the powerful – whether employers, unions, politicians, whoever, as they play their larger strategic games. Surely we know all this – but we have failed to live it out.
And so today is a day of mourning: it is not a day of stirring up. God knows our emotions have been more than stirred up in the last weeks. Today is a day of laying down. It is a day of laying down the burdens of our brokenness, our pain, our sorrow – of laying them down before the throne of God. It is a day of bringing to him our anger, our frustrations, our feelings of desperation, as well as our lamentation.
And we bring all this to God with a purpose – we come to ask him to take it all, and redeem it, to change it, and to change us so we may make a good and godly difference. We ask him to bring:
• comfort for sorrow;
• hope for despair;
• healing for pain;
• wholeness for brokenness;
• forgiveness for wrong-doing;
• reconciliation for division;
• and a new beginning wherever it is needed.
We know that this will ask a lot of us, so we also ask for:
• strength in our weakness;
• wisdom in our ignorance;
• courage in our fearfulness;
so that we might dare to see what it is that we need to do, and have the commitment to carry it out.
For we know that it is not enough only to mourn – though we must mourn. It is not enough to pray for wounds to be bandaged and pain healed, and to demand that conflict ends, unless we are prepared to address the wider context and the underlying issues on which conflict feeds.
We need to ask ourselves: why are so many hurting? Why are so many weeping? We need to be honest about what is fuelling this level of anger and desperation. We must also ask how we will handle it, if it spills over and spreads to other situations, other places.
We have brought to God our lament over the anger, the inequality, the poverty, the death, the suffering, the injury, the hopelessness: and now we must listen to what is he asking us to do. In the Bible, the Prophet Isaiah records this promise of God:
‘I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster: violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders …’ (Isaiah 60:17-18).
God’s word to us is that devastation and destruction end only when there is true peace and righteousness. This is a clear message to all – a message of common sense to everyone, whether religious or not. The plain truth is that our greatest need lies in ensuring true justice and genuine fairness prevail in all sectors of our country’s life.
This is not merely about justice in terms of answering legal questions of who did what in the events of last week. It is the question of wider justice, across all of society, across the whole nation. It is about the justice and fairness and equity that are marked:
• by true economic emancipation of all,
• by good governance, honesty and truth,
• by mutual respect regardless of status,
• by flourishing democratic systems,
• by free but constructive speech.
This is the vision encapsulated in 1994 and in our Constitution. Its achievement lies in our hands, if we recommit ourselves positively, and work hard, rejecting complacency and hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges. God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right.
We should not be afraid to hold fast to his promises of hope. For when his vision for good is at the centre of our lives, it will shape us and our society. This – this ideal of human dignity and flourishing, at the heart of our Constitution – defines who we are, who we truly aspire to be, rather than any of the difficulties, challenges, setbacks that we experience.
So, even as we mourn, let us ask God to bring his light into our darkness, and guide our feet into his life-giving pathways. May he bring comfort and blessing to all who mourn, and fresh courage and hope for tomorrow. Amen
Friday, 17 August 2012
Lonmin deaths need strong, measured, intervention
This media Statement was issued on 17 August 2012
Archbishop condemns Lonmin deaths, calls for strong, measured, intervention.
Condemning the rising violence and deaths at Lonmin’s Mine, the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town has called for ‘strong, but measured and proportionate’ interventions from Government, police and unions, to end the ‘senseless loss of life’.
‘Our fervent prayers are with all the bereaved and injured’ said Dr Thabo Makgoba, while warning that one could not bandage wounds or demand an end to conflict without addressing the issues on which conflict feeds. He said that God’s promise of true peace could only be realised when there was true justice and equity, and that all sectors of society must strive for this. The Archbishop called for hard work, and positive recommitment to the vision of 1994, rather than complacency or hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges.
The full text of the Archbishop’s Statement follows below:
Like so many South Africans, I have been watching with growing alarm the escalating violence at Lonmin’s Marikana Mine over the last week, and am now stunned and appalled by yesterday’s events which left so many more dead or injured. It is a terrible, heart-breaking, tragedy, for the individuals concerned and for our nation. Our fervent prayers are with all the bereaved, and the hurt and wounded.
Whatever the merits of the various disputes – whether between employees and employers, between unions, between workers and union leaders, between miners and police – whatever the legality of the strikes or the responses to them, this death toll is unacceptable. Even one death is one too many, and there must be an end to this senseless loss of life.
There must be strong, but measured and proportionate, interventions to end this warpath and stop the killings. I call on the Ministers of Justice, and of Mining and Mineral Resources, to engage fully. Police and union leaders must also strive to reverse the spirals of mistrust and violence. Further, the whole country must register our utter frustration at the unacceptable handling of the dispute. We must also make resoundingly clear that common sense must prevail, and that sincere, mature, negotiation must always be the route to solving our differences. Violence is never the answer.
Yet we cannot just pray for wounds to be bandaged and pain healed, and demand that conflict ends, without addressing the wider context and the underlying issues on which conflict feeds. In the Bible, the Prophet Isaiah records the promise of God that ‘I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster: violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders …’ (Isaiah 60:17-18). Devastation and destruction end only when there is true peace and righteousness. In other words, our greatest need is to ensure that genuine justice and fairness prevail in all sectors of our country’s life. These are marked by true economic emancipation of all, good governance, honesty and truth, mutual respect regardless of status, flourishing democratic systems, free but constructive speech. We must not lose sight of this vision, encapsulated in 1994 and in our Constitution. Its achievement lies in our hands, if we recommit ourselves positively, and work hard, rejecting complacency and hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges. God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021-763-1320 (office hours)
Archbishop condemns Lonmin deaths, calls for strong, measured, intervention.
Condemning the rising violence and deaths at Lonmin’s Mine, the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town has called for ‘strong, but measured and proportionate’ interventions from Government, police and unions, to end the ‘senseless loss of life’.
‘Our fervent prayers are with all the bereaved and injured’ said Dr Thabo Makgoba, while warning that one could not bandage wounds or demand an end to conflict without addressing the issues on which conflict feeds. He said that God’s promise of true peace could only be realised when there was true justice and equity, and that all sectors of society must strive for this. The Archbishop called for hard work, and positive recommitment to the vision of 1994, rather than complacency or hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges.
The full text of the Archbishop’s Statement follows below:
Like so many South Africans, I have been watching with growing alarm the escalating violence at Lonmin’s Marikana Mine over the last week, and am now stunned and appalled by yesterday’s events which left so many more dead or injured. It is a terrible, heart-breaking, tragedy, for the individuals concerned and for our nation. Our fervent prayers are with all the bereaved, and the hurt and wounded.
Whatever the merits of the various disputes – whether between employees and employers, between unions, between workers and union leaders, between miners and police – whatever the legality of the strikes or the responses to them, this death toll is unacceptable. Even one death is one too many, and there must be an end to this senseless loss of life.
There must be strong, but measured and proportionate, interventions to end this warpath and stop the killings. I call on the Ministers of Justice, and of Mining and Mineral Resources, to engage fully. Police and union leaders must also strive to reverse the spirals of mistrust and violence. Further, the whole country must register our utter frustration at the unacceptable handling of the dispute. We must also make resoundingly clear that common sense must prevail, and that sincere, mature, negotiation must always be the route to solving our differences. Violence is never the answer.
Yet we cannot just pray for wounds to be bandaged and pain healed, and demand that conflict ends, without addressing the wider context and the underlying issues on which conflict feeds. In the Bible, the Prophet Isaiah records the promise of God that ‘I will appoint Peace as your overseer, and Righteousness as your taskmaster: violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders …’ (Isaiah 60:17-18). Devastation and destruction end only when there is true peace and righteousness. In other words, our greatest need is to ensure that genuine justice and fairness prevail in all sectors of our country’s life. These are marked by true economic emancipation of all, good governance, honesty and truth, mutual respect regardless of status, flourishing democratic systems, free but constructive speech. We must not lose sight of this vision, encapsulated in 1994 and in our Constitution. Its achievement lies in our hands, if we recommit ourselves positively, and work hard, rejecting complacency and hopelessness in the face of the country’s challenges. God wants what is best for all his children, and will help us, if we strive for all that is good and right.
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021-763-1320 (office hours)
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Fire in Kennedy Road
The following press release was issued on 4 April 2012.
The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba has sent his condolences and the assurance of his continued support to the people of the Kennedy Road settlement after a tragic fire swept through their community on Tuesday.
The Archbishop conveyed the message through a letter to the Rt Revd Rubin Phillip, Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Natal. He said in a statement:
"We are deeply saddened in Holy Week to learn of the fire which has ravaged the little which the people and community still possessed. I understand that it is estimated that at least 1000 people are now homeless.
"I know of the journey of the people of Kennedy Road: of their struggle for descent housing, for dignity and respect and the realisation of their constitutional rights. As we weep with them at this time, we continue to support their call for dignity and justice, and we appeal to our leaders and to the general population to help provide people with proper houses, and to improve the provision clean water and decent sanitation.
"May the message of Easter bring consolation to the community and a resolve to continue their fight for better housing, sanitation and water, as well as for safety."
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Wendy Kelderman on 021- 763-1320 (office hours)
The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba has sent his condolences and the assurance of his continued support to the people of the Kennedy Road settlement after a tragic fire swept through their community on Tuesday.
The Archbishop conveyed the message through a letter to the Rt Revd Rubin Phillip, Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Natal. He said in a statement:
"We are deeply saddened in Holy Week to learn of the fire which has ravaged the little which the people and community still possessed. I understand that it is estimated that at least 1000 people are now homeless.
"I know of the journey of the people of Kennedy Road: of their struggle for descent housing, for dignity and respect and the realisation of their constitutional rights. As we weep with them at this time, we continue to support their call for dignity and justice, and we appeal to our leaders and to the general population to help provide people with proper houses, and to improve the provision clean water and decent sanitation.
"May the message of Easter bring consolation to the community and a resolve to continue their fight for better housing, sanitation and water, as well as for safety."
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Wendy Kelderman on 021- 763-1320 (office hours)
Friday, 17 February 2012
Sermon for Dean Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu
The following sermon was preached at the Memorial Service for Dean Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu, in Pretoria Cathedral on 16 February 2012.
1 Thess 4:13-18; Jn 6:37-40; Ps 121
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, here we are, gathered before God, to mourn the death of our dear friend and brother, Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu, and to seek God’s comfort, God’s strength, God’s compassion; and, most of all, to seek the certainty of his promises of salvation and redemption, healing and wholeness, for this life and for the life to come.
I want to begin by thanking you, Bishop Jo, Chapter, and the whole Cathedral family, for your invitation to me to preach at this Memorial Service. In my sermon, I hope to do three things. First, I want to share the word of God, offering God’s own consolation to you, to the Ngewu family, and to all who loved Lubabalo, or Livingstone, as so many knew him. Second, I want to add my own tributes to those that have been given to him, for he was my friend also. And finally, I want to offer a challenge to you all.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are gathered together here in the house of God, who is three and who is one. He is
• The Father, who watched his Son die in agony on the Cross;
• The Son, who wept at the grave of his friend, Lazarus; and
• The Spirit, who bears the deepest groanings of our hearts to the throne of grace.
Therefore, in the presence of this God of infinite love and mercy, the God who knows our inmost hearts, let us have courage to bring before him those deep groanings of our hearts; our weeping for our friend; our agonising over the brokenness of recent weeks and months. Let us open ourselves in all our pain, to the God who is for us; the God who is with us; the God who is within us; the God who is among us – so that we may know his tender touch upon our lives; and hear his still small voice promising hope, and newness of life.
Let us dare to grieve today:
• to grieve for Lubabalo, for Livingstone, and for the hole his death will leave in our lives; and
• to grieve for all that feels lost, and for all we wish might have been different.
But, as our first reading urged us, let us not grieve as those who have no hope.
As Lubabalo himself would have been the first to remind us – let us turn to the one who is the Living Stone, and find in Jesus Christ a firm place to stand, in all the uncertainties and confusions that Lubabalo’s death has brought us. We lift up our eyes, and look: not to the hills, or anywhere else on earth, since there are no earth-bound answers for us; but we look to the Lord, who has made heaven and earth. He is our keeper, our defence – and he is Lubabalo’s keeper and defence also.
Jesus’ own words, in our Gospel Reading, put this very clearly. All that God the Father has entrusted to him, will come to him. No-one who comes to Christ will ever be driven away. It is God the Father’s will; it is God the Son’s will; that all who believe and trust in God will be raised up, to new and everlasting life.
This is the new life of which St John caught a glimpse in his Revelation: the life of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, when all the old things have passed away. It is the life where God makes his home among his people, for ever; where he wipes away the tears from every eye; where there is no more death, no more crying, no more pain. In God’s nearer presence there is no more grief; no more failure; no more misunderstandings and broken relationships; no more falling short of what God desires of us and what we desire to be and become by his grace. Here, Jesus makes all things new: all broken hearts are mended; all shattered lives are restored; all wounds are healed; and all the imperfections of this life are made whole and new and fresh and bright and lovely and perfect within God’s perfect love.
This is the fullness of life which we believe and trust – with all the certainty of the promises of God – that Lubabalo, that Livingstone, now enjoys: going from us to be with the Lord for ever.
These same promises are for us also – and not only when the time comes for our mortal lives to end.
For, as St Paul makes clear in his letter to the Romans, Jesus Christ ‘died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living’ (Rom 14:9). Jesus truly is Lord of both the dead and the living. His promises of redemption hold good for us here too – for us as individuals, and for us as the community of God’s church, with all the brokenness and failings, the pains and conflicts, that characterise all human institutions. For we must remember that we are all redeemed sinners, and we remain sinners, and fallible, to the ends of our lives on earth. And our church too, is fallible, and we make mistakes, and we get it wrong, even as, at the same time, God works within us and makes us his instruments, to spread his gospel and build his kingdom.
Therefore, as individuals, and as the church:
• whenever and wherever we need it – as we inevitably do, time and again, always and everywhere – God’s forgiveness is there for us, if we are only ready to open ourselves in humility to receive it.
• whenever and wherever we need it – as we inevitably do, time and again, always and everywhere – God’s redemption is also there for us, if we can accept it.
As St Paul puts it, We know – yes, we know - that in all things, God works for good, for those who love him, whom he has called according to his purposes (Rom 8:28). This is not to say that all things, all situations, all events, are good. Far from it. But no circumstance is so bad, or so sad, that God cannot or will not work in it for good. There is no stumbling block that he cannot turn into a stepping stone – the Living Stone who is Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour.
So we come today, daring to believe this – and daring to ask that, by the power of Christ’s cross, his death and resurrection, God’s immeasurable goodness might be at work redemptively in our lives; in our relationships; in our differences and disagreements; in our church; here and now.
We dare to ask that he may comfort us in all our griefs – and here we pray especially for Lubabalo’s wife Nosipho; for their children Funeka, Xolani and Unathi; for their broader family; and for all those closest to Lubabalo and who most deeply mourn his passing.
Christ’s word to us is that we should not be afraid to weep, nor afraid to acknowledge the depths of our sadness, our depression, even our anger, that this death should come at this time. We can be honest about all this to Jesus, who knows our breaking hearts, and desires to touch them with unimaginable tenderness. He encourages us with those famous words from the Sermon on the Mount ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’
And because Jesus Christ is the Lord of both the living and the dead, we can offer to him all our unfinished business – all that we would like to say about Lubabalo, about Livingstone; all that we would like to say to him. We can come to Christ with all our uncertainties, even our failures, about whether we could, or should, have spoken or acted differently. Before Christ, we can remember Lubabalo / Livingstone with honesty – with all the love and affection, as well as the frustrations, that this remarkable child of God, provoked within us.
We remember someone larger than life – a big man, with great gifts and talents, especially of writing and speaking. A man with a strong personality, and, dare I say it, a strong will. Yet most of all, I remember a man of great joy, a man of enormous laughter; and a man of deep faith – a man who influenced so many for good, and pointed so many towards a closer walk with Jesus, not least through his time as Rector of COTT. We thank God for this man: for Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu. We thank God for his blessings upon him; and for making him such a blessing to so many others and to the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Well done, good and faithful servant.
Finally, I said I would end with a challenge. My first challenge is to you, Bishop Jo, to your Chapter, and to Diocesan officials. It is this: remember that the Canons have no authority over the dead. I urge you, before Lubabalo is buried next Tuesday, to drop all the outstanding charges against him. And hang his portrait, like those of all other deans, in the Cathedral vestry.
And there is a further challenge, to everyone who has been caught up in any way in these tragic disagreements: to all of you I say this: find it within your hearts to create time and space to begin a process of reconciliation and forgiveness. All of us are called to live out the Christian virtues which Livingstone so fully taught, and himself espoused and strived to follow. It is not just my challenge, but it is God’s challenge – and also his encouragement and his promise – that we should dare to walk within his ways of mercy and peace.
So I end by once again thanking God for the life and ministry of our friend and brother, Dean Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu.
Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord – and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace – and rise in Glory.
Amen.
1 Thess 4:13-18; Jn 6:37-40; Ps 121
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, here we are, gathered before God, to mourn the death of our dear friend and brother, Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu, and to seek God’s comfort, God’s strength, God’s compassion; and, most of all, to seek the certainty of his promises of salvation and redemption, healing and wholeness, for this life and for the life to come.
I want to begin by thanking you, Bishop Jo, Chapter, and the whole Cathedral family, for your invitation to me to preach at this Memorial Service. In my sermon, I hope to do three things. First, I want to share the word of God, offering God’s own consolation to you, to the Ngewu family, and to all who loved Lubabalo, or Livingstone, as so many knew him. Second, I want to add my own tributes to those that have been given to him, for he was my friend also. And finally, I want to offer a challenge to you all.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are gathered together here in the house of God, who is three and who is one. He is
• The Father, who watched his Son die in agony on the Cross;
• The Son, who wept at the grave of his friend, Lazarus; and
• The Spirit, who bears the deepest groanings of our hearts to the throne of grace.
Therefore, in the presence of this God of infinite love and mercy, the God who knows our inmost hearts, let us have courage to bring before him those deep groanings of our hearts; our weeping for our friend; our agonising over the brokenness of recent weeks and months. Let us open ourselves in all our pain, to the God who is for us; the God who is with us; the God who is within us; the God who is among us – so that we may know his tender touch upon our lives; and hear his still small voice promising hope, and newness of life.
Let us dare to grieve today:
• to grieve for Lubabalo, for Livingstone, and for the hole his death will leave in our lives; and
• to grieve for all that feels lost, and for all we wish might have been different.
But, as our first reading urged us, let us not grieve as those who have no hope.
As Lubabalo himself would have been the first to remind us – let us turn to the one who is the Living Stone, and find in Jesus Christ a firm place to stand, in all the uncertainties and confusions that Lubabalo’s death has brought us. We lift up our eyes, and look: not to the hills, or anywhere else on earth, since there are no earth-bound answers for us; but we look to the Lord, who has made heaven and earth. He is our keeper, our defence – and he is Lubabalo’s keeper and defence also.
Jesus’ own words, in our Gospel Reading, put this very clearly. All that God the Father has entrusted to him, will come to him. No-one who comes to Christ will ever be driven away. It is God the Father’s will; it is God the Son’s will; that all who believe and trust in God will be raised up, to new and everlasting life.
This is the new life of which St John caught a glimpse in his Revelation: the life of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, when all the old things have passed away. It is the life where God makes his home among his people, for ever; where he wipes away the tears from every eye; where there is no more death, no more crying, no more pain. In God’s nearer presence there is no more grief; no more failure; no more misunderstandings and broken relationships; no more falling short of what God desires of us and what we desire to be and become by his grace. Here, Jesus makes all things new: all broken hearts are mended; all shattered lives are restored; all wounds are healed; and all the imperfections of this life are made whole and new and fresh and bright and lovely and perfect within God’s perfect love.
This is the fullness of life which we believe and trust – with all the certainty of the promises of God – that Lubabalo, that Livingstone, now enjoys: going from us to be with the Lord for ever.
These same promises are for us also – and not only when the time comes for our mortal lives to end.
For, as St Paul makes clear in his letter to the Romans, Jesus Christ ‘died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living’ (Rom 14:9). Jesus truly is Lord of both the dead and the living. His promises of redemption hold good for us here too – for us as individuals, and for us as the community of God’s church, with all the brokenness and failings, the pains and conflicts, that characterise all human institutions. For we must remember that we are all redeemed sinners, and we remain sinners, and fallible, to the ends of our lives on earth. And our church too, is fallible, and we make mistakes, and we get it wrong, even as, at the same time, God works within us and makes us his instruments, to spread his gospel and build his kingdom.
Therefore, as individuals, and as the church:
• whenever and wherever we need it – as we inevitably do, time and again, always and everywhere – God’s forgiveness is there for us, if we are only ready to open ourselves in humility to receive it.
• whenever and wherever we need it – as we inevitably do, time and again, always and everywhere – God’s redemption is also there for us, if we can accept it.
As St Paul puts it, We know – yes, we know - that in all things, God works for good, for those who love him, whom he has called according to his purposes (Rom 8:28). This is not to say that all things, all situations, all events, are good. Far from it. But no circumstance is so bad, or so sad, that God cannot or will not work in it for good. There is no stumbling block that he cannot turn into a stepping stone – the Living Stone who is Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour.
So we come today, daring to believe this – and daring to ask that, by the power of Christ’s cross, his death and resurrection, God’s immeasurable goodness might be at work redemptively in our lives; in our relationships; in our differences and disagreements; in our church; here and now.
We dare to ask that he may comfort us in all our griefs – and here we pray especially for Lubabalo’s wife Nosipho; for their children Funeka, Xolani and Unathi; for their broader family; and for all those closest to Lubabalo and who most deeply mourn his passing.
Christ’s word to us is that we should not be afraid to weep, nor afraid to acknowledge the depths of our sadness, our depression, even our anger, that this death should come at this time. We can be honest about all this to Jesus, who knows our breaking hearts, and desires to touch them with unimaginable tenderness. He encourages us with those famous words from the Sermon on the Mount ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’
And because Jesus Christ is the Lord of both the living and the dead, we can offer to him all our unfinished business – all that we would like to say about Lubabalo, about Livingstone; all that we would like to say to him. We can come to Christ with all our uncertainties, even our failures, about whether we could, or should, have spoken or acted differently. Before Christ, we can remember Lubabalo / Livingstone with honesty – with all the love and affection, as well as the frustrations, that this remarkable child of God, provoked within us.
We remember someone larger than life – a big man, with great gifts and talents, especially of writing and speaking. A man with a strong personality, and, dare I say it, a strong will. Yet most of all, I remember a man of great joy, a man of enormous laughter; and a man of deep faith – a man who influenced so many for good, and pointed so many towards a closer walk with Jesus, not least through his time as Rector of COTT. We thank God for this man: for Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu. We thank God for his blessings upon him; and for making him such a blessing to so many others and to the whole Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Well done, good and faithful servant.
Finally, I said I would end with a challenge. My first challenge is to you, Bishop Jo, to your Chapter, and to Diocesan officials. It is this: remember that the Canons have no authority over the dead. I urge you, before Lubabalo is buried next Tuesday, to drop all the outstanding charges against him. And hang his portrait, like those of all other deans, in the Cathedral vestry.
And there is a further challenge, to everyone who has been caught up in any way in these tragic disagreements: to all of you I say this: find it within your hearts to create time and space to begin a process of reconciliation and forgiveness. All of us are called to live out the Christian virtues which Livingstone so fully taught, and himself espoused and strived to follow. It is not just my challenge, but it is God’s challenge – and also his encouragement and his promise – that we should dare to walk within his ways of mercy and peace.
So I end by once again thanking God for the life and ministry of our friend and brother, Dean Lubabalo Livingstone Ngewu.
Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord – and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace – and rise in Glory.
Amen.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Funeral Sermon for Judge Fikile Bam
The following sermon was preached at the funeral of Judge Fikile Bam, on 27 December 2011.
Texts: Isaiah 6:1-8; John 1:6-14
May I speak in the name of God, the Everlasting Father, whose Eternal Son – our Saviour and our Prince of Peace – is born among us by the power of his Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let me once again greet you, in the name of the Lord, and acknowledge our distinguished guests today – your Majesties, your Excellencies, chiefs, kings, rulers, political leaders; your Graces, Bishops, and other clergy; dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends. Most of all I greet you, dear Xoliswa, your children, the wider Bam family, and all who loved Fikile and are today here to mourn his death.
It is particularly sad to be dealing with death at a time of year when we especially focus on birth – the birth of Jesus. Yet the good news that comes to us with the birth of Jesus, is the same good news that we most need to hear today, as we come together to mourn the passing of our dear friend ‘Bro Fiks’, even as we celebrate his life. ‘Do not be afraid’ said the angel of the Lord to the shepherds, in the fields with their sheep, on that dark night long ago. ‘Do not be afraid’ is still God’s message to us, in the darkness of sadness and sorrow. ‘Do not be afraid – because a Saviour is born.’ The child in the manger grew to be the man on the cross, and the man who rose from the grave, breaking for all eternity the power of death.
God gave himself, in Jesus Christ, who truly is our Saviour – so that he might offer us the greatest gifts, of: life beyond death; redemption beyond failings; healing beyond illness; wholeness beyond suffering; peace beyond pain; joy beyond sorrow. He promises, to all of us who put our hand in his, that he will bring us to a heavenly home, where one day we shall all be together in his loving embrace, and he will wipe away every tear from our eyes. ‘Do not be afraid’ is Christ’s message to us today. ‘Do not be afraid of death, for I have overcome death, and it cannot harm you, it cannot harm Fikile.’
So we meet today, and dare to hope, even as we weep for ourselves, at the loss of this dear man whom we loved so much. And we must weep; and weep whenever the sadness of loss comes to us. Jesus himself wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus, though he knew he would be returned to life by his Father in heaven. And Jesus tells us all, ‘blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ He says to us all ‘Do not be afraid to grieve’ – for in grieving, we come before God acknowledging the depths of our love, the depths of our loss, and perhaps also other pains of unfinished business, words unsaid, issues not dealt with. Yet when we open ourselves to God in our grieving, we open ourselves also to receive his comfort, his strength, his encouragement to go forwards.
So do not be afraid of death, and do not be afraid to grieve. These are Jesus’ words to you, today, Xoliswa, and to all your six children; and to all who loved Fiks, and whose hearts are sore at his dying. We also know that Jesus, who lived and died and was raised, stretches out his arms to hold both the living and the dead – and we can say to him what we might still want to say to Fikile, and know our words will not be lost. So today we are here to mourn, and bring God our sadness, our regrets, our sorrow, our tears.
Yet we are also here today to celebrate the life of a remarkable man, a wonderful man – not without his faults, his quirks, but nonetheless, a very special human being. I will not say too much about him. So many words were shared last week, and more will be said later today. But I will say a little! For he has been a dear friend to me and to my family over many years – including as a parishioner; and an astute critic of the church, which we have also needed. He has also been a wise advisor to us, the Makgobas, in our own ongoing land claim. He, with you, Xoliswa, were also overwhelmingly generous to me and my family when my mother died and when my sister died – your support, from the heart, touched us deeply, in our times of need. Thank you, thank you.
Let me recall that today in the Anglican calendar we remember St John the Evangelist, the writer of the Gospel from which we heard verses read just now. John and his brother James responded to Jesus’ call to them, ‘Follow me’, in very much the same way that the prophet Isaiah answered ‘Here am I, send me!’ – in the Old Testament reading set for today’s celebration of St John. Dear Fikile was also one who dared to follow Jesus, and to go wherever God would send him – a faithful Anglican, a faithful Christian – whose 74 years took him from Tsolo to Robben Island, and finally on to the Land Claims Court – with impressive detours in business and academia.
Yet, wherever he went, Bro Fiks was not afraid to live like that other John mentioned in the gospel reading – John the Baptist, who pointed others to Jesus, who ‘testified to the light, the true light, which enlightens everyone’. So much of Bro Fiks’ life was spent in promoting this light – the light that heralds the kingdom of God, the kingdom that Jesus came to bring. He laboured and strove for justice, for freedom for the oppressed, for good news for the poor. That is what took him to the darkness of the Island. That is what, when the new light of democracy dawned, motivated his time as an advocate and as a judge.
I thank God for him, and for Christian lawyers like him – for those who are not there to make money by turning every situation into an opportunity for expensive litigation at the service of the rich; but who really work to ensure justice for all, and especially for the poorest, the neediest, the least educated, the powerless. Within the New South Africa, the rural poor, most of all, have needed such a champion, and they found it in Judge Bam. There are many who have enjoyed Christmas in their own home this year, because he took the trouble to ensure that the law was implemented without fear and favour, to ensure justice was done – that the past exclusions of the homelands, and the marginalisation that has come with today’s tendency to focus on urban living, should not stand in the way of ensuring that right was done.
Let me say to those of you here, here who wield power and influence, especially in these areas of law and justice – let your lights shine as Bro Fiks did! Let his legacy live on, through you, your departments, your professions, your businesses – put them at the service of the poor and weak, the frail and powerless. Be vigilant, for the sake of our country, of all of us; and do not let all that we have achieved, and for which those like Bro Fiks were imprisoned, and then laboured, be lost or distorted by greed or corruption. We must not squander God’s gift of constitutional democracy. We must use it as he intends, for the good of all.
God in Christ, the second person of the Trinity, was not afraid to leave the power and the glory of heaven, to be born amongst sheep and cattle. There is no doubt that the King of heaven stands in solidarity with the rural poor – and, as the gospels remind us, our attitude towards what appears to be even the most insignificant individual, is what God records as our attitude towards him. This is why we must not fail to prioritise rural development.
Let me end by returning to St John’s Gospel, in which we find the mysterious figure, called ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’. Some think that this is a reference to St John himself. Some wonder whether, at the same time, St John is inviting all who hear or read his words to put themselves – to put ourselves – in that position, and so to live, discovering what it means to be Jesus’ disciple, and what it means to be loved by Jesus. For Jesus loves each one of us – with the love of the Christ-child in the manger; and with the love that took him to the cross to save us. We meet here in sorrow, but also in hope, because we know that Fikile was truly a disciple whom Jesus loved. And I am sure also that Fikile will hear those words that come to every disciple, as we put our trust in Jesus who helps us through to our journey’s end, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant – enter now into the joy of your master.’
May it indeed be so. May he rest in peace – and rise in glory. Amen
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Open Letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba today sent the following letter to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (who is resident in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople), expressing his deep sadness and condolences to the people of Turkey following Sunday’s earthquake.
Your All Holiness
I am deeply shocked and saddened to learn of tragic deaths of hundreds of people and of the many more people injured or missing after the earthquake which hit eastern Turkey on Sunday 23 October.
On behalf of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, please accept our message of condolences and comfort to families, friends and relatives of the deceased, of those still missing and of those who were injured. We wish to assure you and them of our prayerful support during this time of mourning. We also pray for all those who are assisting in the search and rescue operations and in aiding those who have lost their homes.
It is an event such as this one that remind us of the fragility of creation, and of our responsibility to be faithful stewards of our planet and all who call it home. We hope that such faithful stewardship will lessen the tragedies over which we can have some effect, such as global warming. As we prepare to host COP 17 in South Africa, we pray that world leaders will take bold and honest decisions for the good of all.
God bless.
Yours in the service of Christ
++Thabo Cape Town
Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. Inquiries: Ms Wendy Tokata on 021-763-1320 (office hours)
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