The Installation of Mrs Shelley Frayne as Head of St Cyprian’s School, St Cyprian’s School Chapel, 7 February 2020
Readings: 1 Kings 3: 5-10; Psalm 18: 32-34, 48-52; Matthew 13: 44-52
May I speak in the name of God who calls, informs and transforms us. Amen.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear family of St Cyprian’s School, it is a joy to be with you this morning and celebrate this day – the installation of our new school head.
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 February 2020
Our schools need to reflect the diversity of society - Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
Installation of Mrs Heather Goedeke as Head of Herschel Girls School, Claremont, Cape Town, on 6 February 2020
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 and Hebrews 11:32-12:2
May I speak in the name of God, who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, dear people of God, the heads of schools present here, the Chairperson and members of Council, educators, Mrs Goedeke and your family, friends, parents and learners: it is a great joy to be with you today to share in this important milestone in the life of this school.
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 and Hebrews 11:32-12:2
May I speak in the name of God, who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, dear people of God, the heads of schools present here, the Chairperson and members of Council, educators, Mrs Goedeke and your family, friends, parents and learners: it is a great joy to be with you today to share in this important milestone in the life of this school.
Tuesday, 24 December 2019
Archbishop's Sermon for Midnight Mass, Christmas 2019
Midnight Mass – Christmas Eve
24th December 2019
Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr
The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba
Archbishop of Cape Town
Isaiah 62:6-12, Psalm 97, Titus 3:4-7, Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 or John 1:1-14
May I speak in the name of God who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
It’s been a difficult year for South Africans, and two recent encounters have highlighted this for me. First, when we marked the retirement last month of the Diocese’s Vicar-General, Keith de Vos, some of his parishioners brought home to me how many people, instead of seeing the “new dawn” being proclaimed for our country, are instead sensing that, actually, a dark cloud is hanging over us. And that was even before the Eskom power cuts reached Stage Six.
Second, as our family shared a meal around the table in Makgobaskloof last week, my daughter – who is a university student – to my surprise and I admit my chagrin, challenged me by asking, “Daddy, what kind of world, what kind of South Africa, am I going to grow up in?” I was at a loss for words to respond – not such a good condition for an Archbishop. Unpacking her concerns, she explained that she felt on the edge of a precipice, distressed by the lack of trust in the world and by the pressures on her and her peers, hopeful at the end of the Zuma era but upset by the pervasive greed in South Africa, jubilant at the success of the Springboks but despairing at the continuing lack of equality of opportunity for people of her age.
These exchanges shook me. Here we are on the cusp of a new decade and the worries being expressed represent the questions many South Africans are asking. So I forced myself to focus on Christmas, on the readings for tonight, and on the carols we sing at this time of year.
Beginning with that beautiful passage from Isaiah: it tells us that until Jerusalem is established here on earth, all of us ought to be sentinels (in the older translations, they use the words “biblical watchmen”); that we ought to be citizens of God who have a sense of duty not only to God, but who also have a responsibility for the public welfare. And the writer of the passage assures us that even if things are tough, God will remove the shackles that bind us, that salvation is assured and that God will ensure that Jerusalem will not be forsaken. Then the Psalmist talks about a God who reigns, who is the one who designs the whole world, the whole cosmos. I found this image of God as a designer very powerful – a designer of the world, the values of whose reign are values of justice and righteousness.
Finally, the reading from John’s Gospel set for tonight has a beautiful way of describing the Incarnation – the coming of God into the world. It portrays the Incarnation as a form of light. In an interesting twist, it says the Incarnation is light shining into the darkness. Note that it doesn’t say darkness will go. Darkness survives, it continues to exist, but where the light shines, where Jesus comes, it dispels the darkness. The concentration is no longer on darkness, but instead it’s on God’s people who need to be saved. And although God is particular to Jerusalem, and in the psalms God is particular to the Israelites, the Incarnation, the light, says that our God is also universal. God is a god of all, not just for Christians, and the Incarnation calls us to witness to God in almost everything; to bring God’s light to where there is darkness, and to witness to the light wherever we are.
Turning to the carols, I was drawn again to that carol originating in mid-19th century America called “It Came upon the Midnight Clear”. The composer, Edmund Sears, wrote it as he was wrestling with the harsh paradox of celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace at a time when the United States had been at war with Mexico and as it was still gripped by the demonic force of slavery. Sears in his carol recognises that the slaves of that time, as is still true today, live “beneath life's crushing load”, that they are those “whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow.”
At the time he wrote, it was night for those slaves in America. Tonight, as we enter a new decade, it is night for so many in our land, for many around the world, for those who hunger and thirst for food and water, and curl up at night hungry. It is night. It is night for those who hunger and thirst for some kind of peace in places of deadly conflict, who hunger and thirst for justice in places where human rights are either ignored or abused. It is night for those who have been the victims of violence and so horribly of gender-based violence. It is night for the 26 million refugees and 41 million people displaced from their homes in their own countries who face untold dangers. It is night for all of them.
But Sears’s carol recognised that amidst that cauldron of human wrong in America, the hovering angels and their celestial songs were in fact words of deep challenge to the status quo. They were intimations of liberation and signs of a new historical epoch, and thus words of hope. He encourages those bowed down: “Look now! For glad and golden hours, Come swiftly on the wing.”
Sears’s hymn, and the other Gospel reading from Luke tonight, tell us that we don’t have to live beneath life’s crushing load. We don’t have to accept the low opinion others might have of us. We don’t have to internalise negative self-images. Listen to our hearts, hear what God is saying, what heaven is ringing out tonight. We can get up. We can walk away from the marginalisation others impose on us. We don’t have to accept other people’s darkness. We can do what the shepherds did on that original Christmas night. They were people without any security, with very meagre belongings, no permanent abode and lacking in any social status, yet they summoned up their courage and did what Christmas always challenges us to do: to leave the familiar, to leave our comfort zones and be vulnerable enough to journey to the margins, to the places of no regard and to discern there the new thing that God is doing that is of such great joy. God bids us find what that new-born Baby represents – a new humanity, our full worth, our incomparable dignity that no one can take from us.
Christmas is always essentially about something new, something unthought of, unheard of, that comes to offer a new dawn. As we enter this new decade, the words “Twenty-twenty” have such a landmark ring to them, marking the beginning of a new decade which invites us to think bigger thoughts, to dream bigger dreams and to scale up our ambitions for what we can achieve, for ourselves, our communities and our society in the next 10 years.
What is for certain is that 2020 will not be short of drama. Many see it as a year of judgment. Certainly in the U.S., the world is in for a roller-coaster year as Americans go back to the polls to pass judgement on President Trump. Brexit in the UK will be resolved, one way or the other – or will it? Whatever happens, it is likely to leave that country divided, damaged and diminished.
Here in South Africa, we hope it is “the year of the orange jump-suit”, a year of reckoning for those whose greed has driven the country to the brink of disaster. On this night, of all nights, I don’t want to appear vindictive. Nor do I want to join the ranks of those who would put undue pressure on prosecutors to rush their work. Shamila Batohi, Hermione Cronje and their teams at the National Prosecuting Authority need to be given the space to do their jobs properly and to prepare watertight cases which secure convictions. Botched prosecutions and widespread acquittals would be a disaster, sending the wrong signals to the corrupt and plunging the country into despair. But there must be consequences for corruption, both for those in the private sector who facilitate it and those in the public sector who take advantage of it. The justice, the peace, the reconciliation and the abundant life which a flourishing democracy promises will be achieved only if those who threaten to subvert it are held accountable. So I pray that our hope is not misplaced.
The leaders of our government have had nearly two years to get their act together, rebuild national and international trust and begin to keep the many promises they’ve made to us. Much as I respect our President, and have said he can’t bring about change with a magic wand, it remains true that he, his Cabinet and Parliament are excellent talkers, good enough to talk a dog down from a meat truck. But when it comes to improving service delivery, delivering basic healthcare and bringing our education system up to global standards to ensure equality of opportunity for all our children, their words are empty and actionless. As Freddy Mercury of Queen once sang:
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio, what's new?
We need to believe we can do better. We need to believe we must do better. We need to believe we will do better. And let us start by examining ourselves: instead of complaining about what the government hasn’t done for us, ask what it is that you can do for your neighbour.
Looking ahead to the next decade, I hope we will abandon old shibboleths and begin to take economically rational decisions about our country. Not only in South Africa, but internationally, the last decade has shown that neither unbridled capitalism and globalisation, nor a centralised command economy will produce the growth and the jobs we need. Across the world, the economic ordering of society and the question of how we develop our material resources is central to the crises that afflict us. In South Africa I have said that the old economic order must go. But inequality is not confined to South Africa, or Brazil, or the United States – it affects us all – and I am a strong supporter of an initiative by the international faith community to advocate a new form of global governance and a new economic framework, one which would transform the market economy from a self-serving mechanism for elites to one which is less exploitative and both serves our environment and distributes resources and income more equitably.
For our Church, 2020 will also be an historic year. For the first time in more than decade, archbishops and bishops from across the world will gather at the 2020 Lambeth Conference in Canterbury to discuss the future of our Church and its role in global and local society. For the past four years, I have chaired the Lambeth Design Group as we have worked collaboratively to build a framework around what we call “Pillars of Relevance”, which reflect the key issues facing our global Church in the next decade.
These pillars challenge us in South Africa to ask a number of questions: What do young people really want out of their church experience? How can the Church motivate and inspire our leaders to focus on creating a South Africa where there is a genuine equality of opportunity? How can we draw families, neighbours, communities and our country into Courageous Conversations around our family dinner tables, boardroom tables and parliamentary cafeteria tables to become a country of active listeners, openly debating differences with the intention of finding bridges of common agreement? And one of the most important questions facing our children and grandchildren today: what leadership role can the Church play in shaping the future in a climate changing world?
Lastly, how do we in the Church restore trust in our institutions, our leaders and ourselves? We are living through an era of historic distrust, in which we are challenged to examine how we can rise up above the clamour of hate and intolerance and address the atmosphere in which people don’t want to listen to opposing views or consider ideas different from their own. It is our responsibility to to look both inside and outside the stained glass windows of our churches and ask: if we don’t work to re-establish trust in society, who will? And if we don’t do it now, then when will it happen?
Despite our challenges, as we close out one decade and open the door to another, I am hopeful. Not because, to quote the eminent South African feminist theologian, Denise Ackermann, I have a “blithe sense that all will end well (or alles sal regkom) because human progress is guaranteed.” No, I am hopeful because to hope is to be determined to name our problems and highlight our differences, precisely in order to mobilise people to overcome them. As Denise adds: “To live out my hope is to try to make that which I hope for come about – sooner rather than later.”
We believe and trust in a God of hope. So let us reflect that in our personal lives, in our Church’s life and in the life of the country as we enter the twenty-twenties.
God bless you, your family and God bless South Africa. God loves you. And so do I.
Amen
24th December 2019
Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr
The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba
Archbishop of Cape Town
Isaiah 62:6-12, Psalm 97, Titus 3:4-7, Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 or John 1:1-14
May I speak in the name of God who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
It’s been a difficult year for South Africans, and two recent encounters have highlighted this for me. First, when we marked the retirement last month of the Diocese’s Vicar-General, Keith de Vos, some of his parishioners brought home to me how many people, instead of seeing the “new dawn” being proclaimed for our country, are instead sensing that, actually, a dark cloud is hanging over us. And that was even before the Eskom power cuts reached Stage Six.
Second, as our family shared a meal around the table in Makgobaskloof last week, my daughter – who is a university student – to my surprise and I admit my chagrin, challenged me by asking, “Daddy, what kind of world, what kind of South Africa, am I going to grow up in?” I was at a loss for words to respond – not such a good condition for an Archbishop. Unpacking her concerns, she explained that she felt on the edge of a precipice, distressed by the lack of trust in the world and by the pressures on her and her peers, hopeful at the end of the Zuma era but upset by the pervasive greed in South Africa, jubilant at the success of the Springboks but despairing at the continuing lack of equality of opportunity for people of her age.
These exchanges shook me. Here we are on the cusp of a new decade and the worries being expressed represent the questions many South Africans are asking. So I forced myself to focus on Christmas, on the readings for tonight, and on the carols we sing at this time of year.
Beginning with that beautiful passage from Isaiah: it tells us that until Jerusalem is established here on earth, all of us ought to be sentinels (in the older translations, they use the words “biblical watchmen”); that we ought to be citizens of God who have a sense of duty not only to God, but who also have a responsibility for the public welfare. And the writer of the passage assures us that even if things are tough, God will remove the shackles that bind us, that salvation is assured and that God will ensure that Jerusalem will not be forsaken. Then the Psalmist talks about a God who reigns, who is the one who designs the whole world, the whole cosmos. I found this image of God as a designer very powerful – a designer of the world, the values of whose reign are values of justice and righteousness.
Finally, the reading from John’s Gospel set for tonight has a beautiful way of describing the Incarnation – the coming of God into the world. It portrays the Incarnation as a form of light. In an interesting twist, it says the Incarnation is light shining into the darkness. Note that it doesn’t say darkness will go. Darkness survives, it continues to exist, but where the light shines, where Jesus comes, it dispels the darkness. The concentration is no longer on darkness, but instead it’s on God’s people who need to be saved. And although God is particular to Jerusalem, and in the psalms God is particular to the Israelites, the Incarnation, the light, says that our God is also universal. God is a god of all, not just for Christians, and the Incarnation calls us to witness to God in almost everything; to bring God’s light to where there is darkness, and to witness to the light wherever we are.
Turning to the carols, I was drawn again to that carol originating in mid-19th century America called “It Came upon the Midnight Clear”. The composer, Edmund Sears, wrote it as he was wrestling with the harsh paradox of celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace at a time when the United States had been at war with Mexico and as it was still gripped by the demonic force of slavery. Sears in his carol recognises that the slaves of that time, as is still true today, live “beneath life's crushing load”, that they are those “whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow.”
At the time he wrote, it was night for those slaves in America. Tonight, as we enter a new decade, it is night for so many in our land, for many around the world, for those who hunger and thirst for food and water, and curl up at night hungry. It is night. It is night for those who hunger and thirst for some kind of peace in places of deadly conflict, who hunger and thirst for justice in places where human rights are either ignored or abused. It is night for those who have been the victims of violence and so horribly of gender-based violence. It is night for the 26 million refugees and 41 million people displaced from their homes in their own countries who face untold dangers. It is night for all of them.
But Sears’s carol recognised that amidst that cauldron of human wrong in America, the hovering angels and their celestial songs were in fact words of deep challenge to the status quo. They were intimations of liberation and signs of a new historical epoch, and thus words of hope. He encourages those bowed down: “Look now! For glad and golden hours, Come swiftly on the wing.”
Sears’s hymn, and the other Gospel reading from Luke tonight, tell us that we don’t have to live beneath life’s crushing load. We don’t have to accept the low opinion others might have of us. We don’t have to internalise negative self-images. Listen to our hearts, hear what God is saying, what heaven is ringing out tonight. We can get up. We can walk away from the marginalisation others impose on us. We don’t have to accept other people’s darkness. We can do what the shepherds did on that original Christmas night. They were people without any security, with very meagre belongings, no permanent abode and lacking in any social status, yet they summoned up their courage and did what Christmas always challenges us to do: to leave the familiar, to leave our comfort zones and be vulnerable enough to journey to the margins, to the places of no regard and to discern there the new thing that God is doing that is of such great joy. God bids us find what that new-born Baby represents – a new humanity, our full worth, our incomparable dignity that no one can take from us.
Christmas is always essentially about something new, something unthought of, unheard of, that comes to offer a new dawn. As we enter this new decade, the words “Twenty-twenty” have such a landmark ring to them, marking the beginning of a new decade which invites us to think bigger thoughts, to dream bigger dreams and to scale up our ambitions for what we can achieve, for ourselves, our communities and our society in the next 10 years.
What is for certain is that 2020 will not be short of drama. Many see it as a year of judgment. Certainly in the U.S., the world is in for a roller-coaster year as Americans go back to the polls to pass judgement on President Trump. Brexit in the UK will be resolved, one way or the other – or will it? Whatever happens, it is likely to leave that country divided, damaged and diminished.
Here in South Africa, we hope it is “the year of the orange jump-suit”, a year of reckoning for those whose greed has driven the country to the brink of disaster. On this night, of all nights, I don’t want to appear vindictive. Nor do I want to join the ranks of those who would put undue pressure on prosecutors to rush their work. Shamila Batohi, Hermione Cronje and their teams at the National Prosecuting Authority need to be given the space to do their jobs properly and to prepare watertight cases which secure convictions. Botched prosecutions and widespread acquittals would be a disaster, sending the wrong signals to the corrupt and plunging the country into despair. But there must be consequences for corruption, both for those in the private sector who facilitate it and those in the public sector who take advantage of it. The justice, the peace, the reconciliation and the abundant life which a flourishing democracy promises will be achieved only if those who threaten to subvert it are held accountable. So I pray that our hope is not misplaced.
The leaders of our government have had nearly two years to get their act together, rebuild national and international trust and begin to keep the many promises they’ve made to us. Much as I respect our President, and have said he can’t bring about change with a magic wand, it remains true that he, his Cabinet and Parliament are excellent talkers, good enough to talk a dog down from a meat truck. But when it comes to improving service delivery, delivering basic healthcare and bringing our education system up to global standards to ensure equality of opportunity for all our children, their words are empty and actionless. As Freddy Mercury of Queen once sang:
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio, what's new?
We need to believe we can do better. We need to believe we must do better. We need to believe we will do better. And let us start by examining ourselves: instead of complaining about what the government hasn’t done for us, ask what it is that you can do for your neighbour.
Looking ahead to the next decade, I hope we will abandon old shibboleths and begin to take economically rational decisions about our country. Not only in South Africa, but internationally, the last decade has shown that neither unbridled capitalism and globalisation, nor a centralised command economy will produce the growth and the jobs we need. Across the world, the economic ordering of society and the question of how we develop our material resources is central to the crises that afflict us. In South Africa I have said that the old economic order must go. But inequality is not confined to South Africa, or Brazil, or the United States – it affects us all – and I am a strong supporter of an initiative by the international faith community to advocate a new form of global governance and a new economic framework, one which would transform the market economy from a self-serving mechanism for elites to one which is less exploitative and both serves our environment and distributes resources and income more equitably.
For our Church, 2020 will also be an historic year. For the first time in more than decade, archbishops and bishops from across the world will gather at the 2020 Lambeth Conference in Canterbury to discuss the future of our Church and its role in global and local society. For the past four years, I have chaired the Lambeth Design Group as we have worked collaboratively to build a framework around what we call “Pillars of Relevance”, which reflect the key issues facing our global Church in the next decade.
These pillars challenge us in South Africa to ask a number of questions: What do young people really want out of their church experience? How can the Church motivate and inspire our leaders to focus on creating a South Africa where there is a genuine equality of opportunity? How can we draw families, neighbours, communities and our country into Courageous Conversations around our family dinner tables, boardroom tables and parliamentary cafeteria tables to become a country of active listeners, openly debating differences with the intention of finding bridges of common agreement? And one of the most important questions facing our children and grandchildren today: what leadership role can the Church play in shaping the future in a climate changing world?
Lastly, how do we in the Church restore trust in our institutions, our leaders and ourselves? We are living through an era of historic distrust, in which we are challenged to examine how we can rise up above the clamour of hate and intolerance and address the atmosphere in which people don’t want to listen to opposing views or consider ideas different from their own. It is our responsibility to to look both inside and outside the stained glass windows of our churches and ask: if we don’t work to re-establish trust in society, who will? And if we don’t do it now, then when will it happen?
Despite our challenges, as we close out one decade and open the door to another, I am hopeful. Not because, to quote the eminent South African feminist theologian, Denise Ackermann, I have a “blithe sense that all will end well (or alles sal regkom) because human progress is guaranteed.” No, I am hopeful because to hope is to be determined to name our problems and highlight our differences, precisely in order to mobilise people to overcome them. As Denise adds: “To live out my hope is to try to make that which I hope for come about – sooner rather than later.”
We believe and trust in a God of hope. So let us reflect that in our personal lives, in our Church’s life and in the life of the country as we enter the twenty-twenties.
God bless you, your family and God bless South Africa. God loves you. And so do I.
Amen
Tuesday, 24 September 2019
Archbishop's Charge to Provincial Synod 2019
Review, Renew and Restore: Reconnecting Faith to Daily Life Inside and Outside the Stained Glass Windows
Charge of the Archbishop and Metropolitan, the Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba to Provincial Synod 2019 A PDF version of this Charge is available here >>
Readings: Esther 5:1-14; Psalm 124 and Luke 8:19-21
Greetings and Appreciation
May I speak in the name of God who creates, redeems and sustains us. Amen.
Thursday, 18 April 2019
Graduates' achievements are built on the sacrifices of the 70s generation
A graduation address at the University of Cape Town:
Good morning, greetings to you all, and thank you so much for the honour and privilege of allowing me to address you. Thank you to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, and your executive for inviting me. Congratulations to the parents, relatives, sponsors of those graduating, and to you, the graduates. on your achievement. We are immensely proud of you.
Good morning, greetings to you all, and thank you so much for the honour and privilege of allowing me to address you. Thank you to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, and your executive for inviting me. Congratulations to the parents, relatives, sponsors of those graduating, and to you, the graduates. on your achievement. We are immensely proud of you.
Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Archbishop receives award for setting up trust to combat poverty
A British international affairs organisation has made an award to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba for his work in establishing a trust to combat poverty and promoting educational skills.
The FIRST organisation announced in London that it had given the "First Advocacy Award" to the Archbishop, recognising him for setting up the trust
"to address the key issues of poverty, inequality and unemployment which are persistent in South Africa and providing educational opportunities and nurturing skills and entrepreneurial talents that have enabled young people to prosper and, in prospering, benefit their local communities."
The FIRST organisation announced in London that it had given the "First Advocacy Award" to the Archbishop, recognising him for setting up the trust
"to address the key issues of poverty, inequality and unemployment which are persistent in South Africa and providing educational opportunities and nurturing skills and entrepreneurial talents that have enabled young people to prosper and, in prospering, benefit their local communities."
Wednesday, 26 December 2018
Media coverage of Archbishop's Christmas sermon
SABC news clip:
ENCA news clip:
From South Africa's media:
TimesLIVE: Archbishop: Liberation denied by our violent ways
news24: SA must stop solving problems through violence - Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
IOL: South Africans need to stop trying to solve problems through violence - Archbishop Makgoba
Daily Maverick [excerpt]: The flames of darkness associated with violence need to be extinguished forever
Eyewitness News: Makgoba ‘concerned’ about high levels of aggression in SA
iAfrica: Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Condemns Levels Of Violence in SA
The Citizen: Violence will not solve SA’s problems – Archbishop Makgoba
Algoa FM: Violence will not solve SA's problems - Archbishop Makgoba
Overseas - Archbishop Thabo with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Daily Mail, London (photo): Millions of Christians gather in churches around the world to celebrate Christmas
Gulf News (photo): Christmas brings cheer to people around the globe
Earlier bulletins:
Eyewitness News: Makgoba: '2019 will define new South Africa'
Eyewitness News: Archbishop Makgoba condemns levels of violence in SA
Early Christmas morning news from the SABC:
Monday, 24 December 2018
Archbishop Thabo's Christmas sermon, 2018
 |
| (Photo: St George's Cathedral) |
Isaiah 62:6-12, Psalm 97, Titus 3:4-7, Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 or John 1:1-14
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Welcome to this beautiful service in this beautiful cathedral among multitudes of God's beautiful children, all of us made in God's image. This is one of my favourite nights of the year, a night on which I feel a certain magic. I'm not sure whether it's the spirit of kindness I feel emanating from all of you, or the joy I see in the eyes of our children, but whatever it is, this time of year always puts a smile on my face, especially when the sun goes down and the night comes alive with the twinkling of the Christmas lights.
And this Christmas, I also feel a renewed energy in our country, a little like the way I felt when our children took us a few weeks ago to the Global Citizens' music festival in Johannesburg. (Although I have to admit that I couldn't stay long enough to watch Beyoncé!!) This Christmas, I believe we’re about to re-enter a new age, an era where we define the new South Africa.
Saturday, 17 November 2018
A delayed goodbye to St Helena by visiting bishops
 |
| From left, Bishops Stephen, Dale and Allan on a school visit with Archbishop Thabo. |
Friday November 16
On my last scheduled full day on St Helena, I walked once again – alone this time – up and down Jacob's Ladder to look out over Jamestown and surrounds. The wind didn't exactly blow me up, but it got windy during the day and the talk was of whether the weekly flight will be able to land on Saturday or not. As a frequent traveller, I have flown in cantankerous and inclement weather before but only time will tell...
After breakfast we had Morning Prayer, followed by an official visit to the Governor's office at the Castle in Jamestown. Governor Lisa Honan gave our team an audience and shared her journey and vision, as well as her love for the the island.
We then went to the Prince Andrew School, where the primary and secondary school children of the island were all together. The Secretary of Education was present too. Mrs Penny Bowers is the head teacher of the school. They convened a great assembly, the first where all the learners congregated in one hall to worship with us. We sung, read a text, and Bishop Dale and Fr Musgrave of the Roman Catholic Church did a sermon demonstration.
I taught the school Miriam Makeba's “Click Song” and we danced together. I shared briefly my education story, as in my book, Faith & Courage, stressing its importance and relating how some in Africa still struggle to attend school. A young Afrikaans boy came up to me after assembly, asked me, “Waarvandan kom die biskop” and gave me a high five. It took me on an emotional journey home. He was touched too and I glad that he stepped out to greet me.
After school, I went to the Saints FM and SAMS local radio stations to share our experiences of the island. Leigh and Cyril at the respective stations were such a joy.
We had our last meal and lunch with our ecumenical partners and said our thanks and good byes. We were meant to have a boat trip to see whales but it was cancelled due to the wind and very choppy seas. This meant we had our only nap of the week today!
Tonight we will have our last meal with the Diocesan Council and clergy, then come back to the hotel and pack. Tomorrow weather permitting and God willing we shall depart. I have my boarding pass at hand. Thank you all for carrying us and the Saints in your prayers. I now pen off my reflections. Do visit st Helena to retreat, recoup and reflect.
LATE NOTE FROM BISHOPSCOURT: As we prepared the Archbishop's blog post for publication, news came that the weekly Saturday flight had been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. The party is now expected to return on Tuesday, resulting in a number of cancelled engagements, including the Archbishop's participation in London in preparation for the Lambeth Conference.
More notes on slavery:
Slaves were transported to and from St Helena before the trade was abolished in the British empire. After its abolition, a British naval brig, the Waterwitch, was deployed to suppress the trade, and a naval court was set up on the island to try slavers captured by the navy.
 |
| Notice of a sales of slaves. |
 |
| An account of what happened to freed slaves. |
 |
| A memorial to the crew of the Waterwitch. |
Monday, 27 August 2018
South Africa's new dawn "is not yet visible on the horizon" - Archbishop
A sermon preached at a combined Confirmation Service for Anglican Schools in Cape Town, held at St Cyprian's School, on 26 August 2018:
Readings: 1 Kings 8:1,6,10-11,23-30,41-43, Psalm 84, Ephesians 6:10-30, John 6: 56-69
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Readings: 1 Kings 8:1,6,10-11,23-30,41-43, Psalm 84, Ephesians 6:10-30, John 6: 56-69
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saturday, 6 January 2018
To the Laos - To the People of God – On the Feast of the Epiphany
Dear People of God
The Feast of the Epiphany is so special but here at home in Southern Africa it comes in the middle of our summer holiday and most parishioners are away. We still celebrate it of course, even if we do so on the Sunday following.
This year I send you, our parishioners and others who might read this, a short message wishing you good health and renewal as we celebrate the feast of the manifestation of our Lord to all people. May God manifest himself in our lives and wherever we live and work.
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Commemorating Robert Gray
The text of remarks by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at Bishops School in Cape Town:
Today we give thanks to God for our founder Bishop Robert Gray and his wife Sophy Gray. Thank you, the Revd Terry Wilke, for the invitation and thank you, Mr Pearson, educators and students for your warm welcome.
Today we celebrate the 169th anniversary of the arrival on our continent of Robert Gray, first Bishop of Cape Town and the founder of this school. As you will hear shortly, in the prayer the Church prays to commemorate him, we remember today “the constancy and zeal” with which he laid firm foundations for Anglicanism in Southern Africa.
Today we give thanks to God for our founder Bishop Robert Gray and his wife Sophy Gray. Thank you, the Revd Terry Wilke, for the invitation and thank you, Mr Pearson, educators and students for your warm welcome.
Today we celebrate the 169th anniversary of the arrival on our continent of Robert Gray, first Bishop of Cape Town and the founder of this school. As you will hear shortly, in the prayer the Church prays to commemorate him, we remember today “the constancy and zeal” with which he laid firm foundations for Anglicanism in Southern Africa.
Thursday, 16 February 2017
To the Laos - To the People of God – Lent 2017
Dear
People of God
This
year we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ordination of
women as priests in our Province. Bishop Margaret Vertue of False Bay
and the ACSA gender programme have been discussing the impact that
women's ordination has had on the church. While they have
acknowledged that there is much to celebrate—and I believe we have
been immensely enriched by their ordination—it is also clear that
the church still has many challenges to overcome when it evaluates
the leadership, empowerment, participation and inclusion of women,
both ordained and lay, in the church today.
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Collect and Prayer Resources for Education Sunday, February 5th
The Anglican Board of Education has prepared the attached sheet comprising a Collect and suggestions for prayers to be used on Education Sunday.
The Diocese of Natal has also produced a resource document.
See also the Archbishop's appeal for parishes and Dioceses to observe Education Sunday.
Anglican Board of Education - Education Sunday >>
Diocese of Natal - Education Sunday Liturgical Resources >>
Archbishop's appeal >>
[Post updated with Diocese of
The Diocese of Natal has also produced a resource document.
See also the Archbishop's appeal for parishes and Dioceses to observe Education Sunday.
Anglican Board of Education - Education Sunday >>
Diocese of Natal - Education Sunday Liturgical Resources >>
Archbishop's appeal >>
[Post updated with Diocese of
Monday, 16 January 2017
Call to focus on universities on Education Sunday, February 5
To the Laos - To the People of God - January 2017
Dear People of God,
On January 6th, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, reminding us of the manifestation of God to all. For our context today, I want to paraphrase this by expressing it in terms of the liberation, the enlightening, the empowering and the “making able” of all God’s children in order to engage with God in his world and with one another so that none is dominated nor demeaned. Education embodies this vision. Hence, in keeping with our ACSA missional priority of “nurture of the young” this Ad Laos is dedicated to education.
Our Anglican Board of Education (ABESA), the Anglican Students' Federation, the Synod of Bishops and other organisations within our Church have been consulting in recent months on how we can engage with the crisis on our campuses in South Africa and beyond. The South African Council of Churches has also been taking initiatives and a number of our bishops have been responding to developments on campuses in their dioceses, among them the bishops of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth and the Free State.
Good education is, as I have said before, at the heart of our capacity to realise our Provincial Vision, “Anglicans Act”. Although the South African matric pass rate has improved, the quality of our school-leavers' education still needs a lot of improvement. And it is critical both for fulfilment in the lives of young people, and for the health of our society, that the burgeoning growth in tertiary education is well managed, sustainably financed, and kept at the highest possible level of educational quality.
As in the 1976 generation, young people today are bypassing their parents and demanding to be treated as adults who can negotiate their own educational destinies. Meanwhile the Government triggered their anger last year by sidelining its own commission on higher education, and announcing a fee increase for 2017 unilaterally. No wonder young people feel abused, marginalised and degraded.
At the same time, many young people speak of their vulnerability when it feels as if their parents’ generation – families, teachers and the churches – seem to have left them exposed to abuse, violence and intimidation, unheard and unaccompanied in deep waters. We need to redress that by standing with our students, listening to them and shielding them from danger.
When church leaders went to pray at Parliament after a student march in Cape Town last year, there was a warm response as if somehow there was a dimension missing in the conflict – something spiritual which many students knew from their upbringing, and which they miss in secular dialogue.
So what can we do?
We already have the first Sunday in February each year designated as Education Sunday across the Province, a time to pray for educators, learners and institutions of learning at the beginning of the school year. We want to urge this year that we observe this day, SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 with special events not only at churches but ecumenically at schools and where possible on campuses where we have access through Anglican students, administrators or chaplaincy ministry.
This is a time to listen and to be close to people not only in the tertiary sector but as the crisis extends, as it will, to high schools and across society. Our presence, our prayers and where appropriate, our parenting are needed, alongside our prophecy where the powerful have also been absent and unapproachable, or simply overwhelmed.
We all know how disabled our education systems have been, especially in South Africa but also through the colonial histories of other countries which make up the subcontinent which ACSA seeks to serve. Building healthy education systems in all our nations is a critical priority to which ACSA has long been devoted. As we do so, there are people full of passion and potential for whom we have to care.
Please observe Education Sunday with special intent for universities and colleges in the tertiary education sector this year!
God bless you
†Thabo Cape Town
Dear People of God,
On January 6th, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, reminding us of the manifestation of God to all. For our context today, I want to paraphrase this by expressing it in terms of the liberation, the enlightening, the empowering and the “making able” of all God’s children in order to engage with God in his world and with one another so that none is dominated nor demeaned. Education embodies this vision. Hence, in keeping with our ACSA missional priority of “nurture of the young” this Ad Laos is dedicated to education.
Our Anglican Board of Education (ABESA), the Anglican Students' Federation, the Synod of Bishops and other organisations within our Church have been consulting in recent months on how we can engage with the crisis on our campuses in South Africa and beyond. The South African Council of Churches has also been taking initiatives and a number of our bishops have been responding to developments on campuses in their dioceses, among them the bishops of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth and the Free State.
Good education is, as I have said before, at the heart of our capacity to realise our Provincial Vision, “Anglicans Act”. Although the South African matric pass rate has improved, the quality of our school-leavers' education still needs a lot of improvement. And it is critical both for fulfilment in the lives of young people, and for the health of our society, that the burgeoning growth in tertiary education is well managed, sustainably financed, and kept at the highest possible level of educational quality.
As in the 1976 generation, young people today are bypassing their parents and demanding to be treated as adults who can negotiate their own educational destinies. Meanwhile the Government triggered their anger last year by sidelining its own commission on higher education, and announcing a fee increase for 2017 unilaterally. No wonder young people feel abused, marginalised and degraded.
At the same time, many young people speak of their vulnerability when it feels as if their parents’ generation – families, teachers and the churches – seem to have left them exposed to abuse, violence and intimidation, unheard and unaccompanied in deep waters. We need to redress that by standing with our students, listening to them and shielding them from danger.
When church leaders went to pray at Parliament after a student march in Cape Town last year, there was a warm response as if somehow there was a dimension missing in the conflict – something spiritual which many students knew from their upbringing, and which they miss in secular dialogue.
So what can we do?
We already have the first Sunday in February each year designated as Education Sunday across the Province, a time to pray for educators, learners and institutions of learning at the beginning of the school year. We want to urge this year that we observe this day, SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 with special events not only at churches but ecumenically at schools and where possible on campuses where we have access through Anglican students, administrators or chaplaincy ministry.
This is a time to listen and to be close to people not only in the tertiary sector but as the crisis extends, as it will, to high schools and across society. Our presence, our prayers and where appropriate, our parenting are needed, alongside our prophecy where the powerful have also been absent and unapproachable, or simply overwhelmed.
We all know how disabled our education systems have been, especially in South Africa but also through the colonial histories of other countries which make up the subcontinent which ACSA seeks to serve. Building healthy education systems in all our nations is a critical priority to which ACSA has long been devoted. As we do so, there are people full of passion and potential for whom we have to care.
Please observe Education Sunday with special intent for universities and colleges in the tertiary education sector this year!
God bless you
†Thabo Cape Town
Thursday, 29 September 2016
Archbishop Thabo on SABC News on student protests
An excerpt from Archbishop Thabo's interview at Provincial Synod appears at 3:37 minutes.
The full interview with the SABC can be heard below:
The full interview with the SABC can be heard below:
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Archbishop appeals to South African student protesters
The schools, libraries and other institutions which have been burned
in recent protests are those which have transformed the lives of South
Africans and their leaders in the past, says Archbishop Thabo Makgoba,
the Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape.
Archbishop Makgoba said this in an appeal to the higher education community, including students, in which he appealed for the Fees Commission to be given space to do its work.
The full text of his appeal follows:
Archbishop Makgoba said this in an appeal to the higher education community, including students, in which he appealed for the Fees Commission to be given space to do its work.
The full text of his appeal follows:
I
am deeply pained by the instability at Higher Education institutions
across the country.
Our
universities, colleges and schools are important heritage sites for
our communities. They preserve the history and the knowledge and the
deeds of the leaders of yesterday, and serve in the education and
growth of the leaders of tomorrow.
It
is this dream for the future leaders of this great country that we
must protect. The burning of schools, libraries, and institutions of
higher learning sets us back from progressing as a nation. It is in
these schools, libraries and institutions where people's lives have
been transformed.
We
should not forget the role played by some of these institutions
during apartheid to contribute to the freedom we enjoy today. These
institutions have not only moulded current leaders and those before
us, but have transformed the lives of children and families who come
from the dusty streets of rural Limpopo or those who come from Langa,
Mitchells Plain, Manenberg and other townships and rural areas around
the country.
Let
us give a space to the Fees Commission to do its work, and await its
recommendations with regard to the feasibility of free education for
the poor. Let us give the Ministry of Higher Education and Treasury a
space to implement their new plans to assist the “missing middle”
by introducing a new funding model for 2017.
We
must protect our students’ right to learn in a conducive and
enabling environment. As we need to respect students’ right to
peacefully protest we must also respect students’ right to
peacefully continue the academic programme without interruptions and
intimidation.
Parents,
take responsibility, our children come from homes, families, and
communities.
I
acknowledge that success in most struggles has always been in the
hands of the young.
With
so much inequality and poverty in this country, let us refrain from
deepening the divide through destructive actions. Violence and
destructive action will not bring about the desired solutions.
I
am praying for our children at all the universities, that our
convictions may prove to be greater than the challenges that confront
us today.
You
have the opportunity to be part of something bigger than yourselves.
When one day you reflect on this time, may the story you tell be one
that fills you with pride. May it be a story that like the stories
your parents told you of their fight for your right to equal
education, makes future generations appreciate the opportunities we
have that they never had. May your legacy not be one that destroys
centres of learning, leaving nothing for posterity.
Sunday, 10 April 2016
'We shall overcome' - blogging from ACC-16
A pattern is forming at ACC-16, where I am finding my table in Holy Cross Cathedral – around which we meet in groups – a source of security. Here we open up and share with one another the missional challenges and opportunities in our different Provinces.
I share what you all know well by now at home, our Provincial Vision and Mission statement, which is that “Anglicans ACT”, meaning that the Anglican community in Southern Africa seeks to be:
Anchored in the love of Christ,
Committed to God's Mission, and
Transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Within that, I name three key areas which are close to my heart and in line with the Communion's five marks of mission.
The first is education, or the nurture and protection of the young, and I share my pride in the fact we have now officially opened the Vuleka Archbishop Thabo Makgoba School for Boys in Sophiatown, and we will open the Maboee Archbishop High School in Lesotho this month also.
The second area I share is socio-economic concerns, how we have started courageous conversations with mining communities in our region, and how we will use this partnership not only in raising economic justice issues and ethical investing, but will partner too in building schools and other community projects.
I also highlight, as you would expect, the new struggle in South Africa, which I explain briefly as as a prophetic call and pastoral longing for equality of opportunity in a democratic nation. This priority is in line with the mark of mission, “To transform unjust structures of society...” I echo what someone said: “Let's do God, thank God and talk God”.
Lastly, I share our concern for the environment and Matthew Davies from the Episcopal News Service plays for us a video clip which you can see at the end of this entry. The stories from other Provinces were edifying and moving, and I feel encouraged when I hear I am not alone in this journey but that our wider family, including ecumenical partners, experiences the same joys and challenges as we do.
Then we listened to the Old Catholics, the Global Christian Forum and CAPA to hear stories of what God is up to in and beyond the Anglican family, and were fed and stretched by these accounts. Later in the day, I had the opportunity as chair of the resolutions committee to introduce my team and explain the procedure to a plenary session.
As you hopefully know by now, in my quest as archbishop of seeking peace with justice, the key values I try to promote are equality of opportunity, acting with courage, and collaboration, stressing “we” as opposed to “me”. Theologically these have focussed on “abundant life” – what does the common good look like, or systemically what is the incarnation?
The stories and sharing from Bible studies here, as well as listening to the new account of Archbishop Justin's paternity reinforce my call, and the need to act with courage in our lives: courage not as the absence of fear but as a willingness to take risks because you are cooperating with God's plan of liberation. At one stage, I quietly sang to myself that song of liberation and courage: “We shall overcome; Deep in my heart, I do believe; That we shall overcome some day.”
We had a great evening last night, with an official welcome from our host, Archbishop Albert Chama, and Vice President Inonge Wina. There were about 800 hundred of us present, including clergy and their spouses from the Central African Province, bishops and ACC members. We had a relaxed time and some fine speeches.
This morning, the sun is trying its best to shine on us, and we have an opening Eucharist in the grounds of the Cathedral.
†Thabo Cape Town
I share what you all know well by now at home, our Provincial Vision and Mission statement, which is that “Anglicans ACT”, meaning that the Anglican community in Southern Africa seeks to be:
 | ||
| The sun breaks through in Lusaka. |
Committed to God's Mission, and
Transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Within that, I name three key areas which are close to my heart and in line with the Communion's five marks of mission.
The first is education, or the nurture and protection of the young, and I share my pride in the fact we have now officially opened the Vuleka Archbishop Thabo Makgoba School for Boys in Sophiatown, and we will open the Maboee Archbishop High School in Lesotho this month also.
The second area I share is socio-economic concerns, how we have started courageous conversations with mining communities in our region, and how we will use this partnership not only in raising economic justice issues and ethical investing, but will partner too in building schools and other community projects.
I also highlight, as you would expect, the new struggle in South Africa, which I explain briefly as as a prophetic call and pastoral longing for equality of opportunity in a democratic nation. This priority is in line with the mark of mission, “To transform unjust structures of society...” I echo what someone said: “Let's do God, thank God and talk God”.
Lastly, I share our concern for the environment and Matthew Davies from the Episcopal News Service plays for us a video clip which you can see at the end of this entry. The stories from other Provinces were edifying and moving, and I feel encouraged when I hear I am not alone in this journey but that our wider family, including ecumenical partners, experiences the same joys and challenges as we do.
 |
| Meeting tables in Holy Cross Cathedral. |
As you hopefully know by now, in my quest as archbishop of seeking peace with justice, the key values I try to promote are equality of opportunity, acting with courage, and collaboration, stressing “we” as opposed to “me”. Theologically these have focussed on “abundant life” – what does the common good look like, or systemically what is the incarnation?
The stories and sharing from Bible studies here, as well as listening to the new account of Archbishop Justin's paternity reinforce my call, and the need to act with courage in our lives: courage not as the absence of fear but as a willingness to take risks because you are cooperating with God's plan of liberation. At one stage, I quietly sang to myself that song of liberation and courage: “We shall overcome; Deep in my heart, I do believe; That we shall overcome some day.”
We had a great evening last night, with an official welcome from our host, Archbishop Albert Chama, and Vice President Inonge Wina. There were about 800 hundred of us present, including clergy and their spouses from the Central African Province, bishops and ACC members. We had a relaxed time and some fine speeches.
This morning, the sun is trying its best to shine on us, and we have an opening Eucharist in the grounds of the Cathedral.
†Thabo Cape Town
Friday, 8 April 2016
Archbishop Thabo blogs from Lusaka on ACC-16
The
Anglican Consultative Council begins its 16th meeting
(ACC-16) in Lusaka today, and Archbishop Thabo is heading ACSA's
delegation to the sessions. The ACC is one of four “instruments of
Communion” for the worldwide Anglican Church, and the only one in
which laity and clergy other than bishops are represented. Every
Province in the Communion is represented by a bishop, a clergyperson
and a layperson. The other “instruments” are the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference and the Primates Meeting.
I
have arrived in Zambia for ACC-16 and I will try, God willing, to
update our Province on what happens here through brief reflections.
There will be no Ad Laos or Good Hope articles from me this month.
Landing
in Lusaka, I felt nostalgic. My first cousin, Peter Makgoba, spent
time here during the armed struggle against apartheid. In those says,
Lusaka was the “head office” of hope for liberation for most
South Africans. When we were students, any message from Lusaka came
with the feeling that the sunspot of apartheid would disappear.
This
hope, excitement and dream is fading away now and my earnest prayer
is this that this is temporary; that we will once again rise above
this period in our country, and rekindle hope and energy for a future
in which we all share and our dignity is restored. We dare not, I
pray we will not, have another Marikana. We must not have another
Marikana.
I
came here following two two beautiful and hope-inspiring days in
Joburg. First came the launch of the Archbishop's Vuleka boys' school
in Sophiatown, in line with our missional priority to nurture the
young. The Anglican Board of Education has taken our aspiration and
delineated three practical areas for action:
- To support existing church schools,
- To galvanize parish and community involvement in schools, including schools run by governments, and
- To establish high-quality, accessible Christian schools.
On
the second day, I went back to my alma mater, Wits University, and
asked my fellow alumni to be part of the solution we want to see for
students who cannot afford to pay their fees. We established the
South
African Student Solidarity Foundation for Education (SASSFE), and
already have pledges for donations. Our aim is to respond
in tangible ways to ensure access to for
poor
students.
Here
in Zambia, they had elections last year and are scheduled to hold them again in August. I am told President Lunga will
celebrate them with fanfare. It's a great example.
The
ACC's Standing Committee met on Wednesday and Thursday. I couldn't
join them because when I was elected to serve this year, the events
in Johannesburg had already been planned. Many ACC members are
arriving and the mood of the Communion is forming like the clouds
outside – which may bring rain.
I look forward to our time here, learning from others around the globe and experiencing personal growth. The Revd Jerome Francis from Cape Town is our clerical representative and Louisa Mojela of Gauteng, who also serves on the ACC's Standing Committee, is our lay rep.
God
bless you,
†Thabo Cape Town
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Former Wits students launch fund to help students in need
 |
| Archbishop Thabo, who chairs the Board of Trustees of the new foundation, with Justice Richard Goldstone, another Wits alumnus, at the launch. (Photo courtesy of Kenneth Creamer/ Engineering Week.) |
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