To the Laos - To the People of God

Dear People of God

I write to you at a challenging time in the life of the leadership of our Church, in which a succession of some of our most senior bishops are retiring one after another, and dioceses across the Province have met and are due to meet to elect their successors. At the last meeting of our Provincial Standing Committee, on bidding farewell to bishops Rubin, Jo and Mark, my deep emotions overcame me and I even shed tears. The coming few months and years will indeed be a time of new leaders, new contexts, new energy and new hope.

Please pray for the Elective Assembly of the Diocese of Zululand, which will meet on December 9 to choose a successor to the Right Revd Dino Gabriel, recently elected to replace Bishop Rubin Phillip as Bishop of Natal. Pray for the consecration, God willing, of the new bishop on April 24 next year, and also for the installation in Natal on November 21. Your prayers are asked too for Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria, who retires on December 31, for the Elective Assembly taking place in Pretoria on February 4 and, God willing, for the consecration on May 15.

As a result of the resignation of the Right Revd Mark van Koevering as Bishop of Niassa in northern Mozambique, an election there is scheduled for January 26 and a consecration on May 29. Finally the Synod of Bishops will elect the new Bishop of Namibia at its February meeting, after an Elective Assembly referred the decision to the bishops. Please pray also for those dioceses. 

On the other hand, I am very glad to announce that South Africa's courageous Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, and our own distinguished theologian and educator, Professor Barney Pityana, have been named as the inaugural recipients of the Archbishop's Award for Peace With Justice. Advocate Madonsela was decorated at a function at Rhodes University where she spoke on values-based leadership. Prof Pityana was decorated at a special farewell service held at the chapel of the College of the Transfiguration. This is a new award established by our Church which acknowledges those within the life of the countries of Southern Africa who make outstanding contributions in their communities which reflect the values espoused in Micah, whatever faith they espouse or do not espouse and whether they are lay people or clergy. We are honoured that Advocate Madonsela and Prof Pityana have accepted the award, bringing distinction on it by doing so.

I am pleased also to share with you the decision of the Provincial Standing Committee at its recent meeting to adopt a new stewardship handbook developed by dioceses in the Western Cape. We have spoken for years, in many dioceses, of the need for a special and renewed focus on stewardship and giving, so the new material which will guide us theologically and practically is particularly welcome. 

Accompanying this letter is a presentation I made last week at what we called “A Day of Courageous Conversations” at Bishopscourt, a quite unique and ground-breaking meeting involving about 60 leaders from the mining sector, civil society and faith communities. Growing out of an initiative that began at the Vatican, then continued at Lambeth Palace, the South African meeting sought to begin a process of repositioning the sector as one that can be a partner for long-term sustainable development with host communities and governments. Mining forms a crucial part of our economy and, as the Marikana crisis and falling commodity prices demonstrate, it is in many ways under threat. Please pray for the industry and all within it, as well as for this initiative.

As I write this, I am heading off on retreat, then later in the month to a meeting in London of the Compass Rose Society – an international group of generous Anglicans who seek to support the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion. Then at the beginning of November I will attend the installation of Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina as the new Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States. We celebrate with TEC and send our greetings as they begin this new era in their life, ministry and witness. Please pray for him, for our global church and especially for our stewardship of this special gift that we have been endowed with, the Anglican Communion. When the Son of Man returns, may he find faith in it. (Luke 18:8). 

God bless you,

†Thabo Cape Town

To the Laos – To the People of God, Pentecost 2015

Dear People of God,

At Pentecost, we celebrate the birth of our Church, marked by the empowering of Jesus’ Apostles by the Holy Spirit. So Pentecost, and the season which follows, give us an opportunity to ask questions about the nature of the Church. Questions such as: What are we as believers supposed to become if we want to witness to the presence and the working of the Holy Spirit? 

           

On Pentecost Sunday, I worshipped with the congregation of St Monnica's in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, where we used the reading for the day from Ezekiel, in which the prophet is set in a valley that was full of dry bones. I call that passage my conversion passage, because growing up in Alexandra Township I recall vividly how the Revd Sam Buti, the schools chaplain in Alex, linked the image of the dry bones to the frequent gang killings that happened there. In particular, he warned us that one day all of Alex would be a valley of dry and dead bones if we didn’t pluck up the courage to root out the gangs. 

Anglicans Unite in Outrage, Prayer for Schoolgirls Kidnapped in Nigeria

London (ACNS) - Primates from countries including Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa have joined the worldwide outcry the abduction of more than two hundred young girls from Chibok, Nigeria.

Over the past week Church leaders on five continents have added their voices to the multitude of others calling for the safe return of the girls.

Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba condemned abductions of Nigerian Schoolgirls as an 'outrage'. He called for "all of Africa, and especially South Africa" to rise up and demand the release of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted from their school three weeks ago.

Primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, Francisco da Silva issued a lengthy statement condemning the “terrible act”.

“It was with a heavy heart that the Brazilian people, along with the rest of the world, learned of the kidnapping of over 200 young girls in Nigeria, at the hands of extremist group Boko Haram,” he wrote. “Many of us, especially in the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, have remembered the girls, their families, and the Nigerian people with prayers, tears, and compassion during this time.

“Nigeria, like so many countries, has of course had its trying and difficult times as a multi-religious society – but it is in times of difficulty like these that we set aside our differences, and stand together—in solidarity, in demanding peace, and most importantly, demanding the safe return of these young women. Not simply a return to their families – but their return to the lives they knew, their ability to go to school and be educated, to have a better future, and to be beautiful, active members of a future Nigerian society.”

Canadian primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz called the Anglican Church of Canada to pray for the situation in Nigeria, “The group behind the schoolgirl kidnappings, Boko Haram, and its declared intention ‘to sell them in the market’ is appalling. It is an abomination against internationally held human rights, and an absolute affront to the efforts of many nations to honour the Millennium Development Goals to empower women and young girls through a good education.

“I am asking Anglicans to offer prayers of special intent in the coming weeks with people of all faiths who are appalled by these crimes,” he added.

The Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of New Zealand called on people to pray for the release and protection of the 200 schoolgirls. Anglican Archbishops Philip Richardson and Brown Turei, and Roman Catholic Archbishop John Dew said this Sunday is an opportunity for churches across the country to pray for, and so stand with governments and churches across the globe, wanting a safe return of the young women.

Primate of the Episcopal Church the Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement that the Church was “horrified” and what was taking place. “The unfortunate truth is that girls and women are still deemed dispensable in much of the world, or at least of lesser value than members of the other sex,” said the Presiding Bishop. “The necessary response is education – of girls and boys, in equal numbers and to an equal degree, that all might take their rightful place in societies that serve all their citizens with equal respect and dignity.

Calling what happened “an atrocious and inexcusable act” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said, “My prayers and thoughts go out to the young people and their families at this upsetting time. I appeal to those who have taken these schoolgirls to release them immediately and unharmed.

"This is in a part of Nigeria I have visited and in a country whose people are close to my heart. Let your hearts be open in compassion and mercy to those who have suffered so much.” - Anglican Communion News Service

To the People of God – To the Laos - July 2009

Dear People of God

Last month I wrote directly after returning from the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Jamaica, on which I have now had some time to reflect.

The ACC is one of the Anglican ‘Instruments of Communion’, alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates’ Meeting, and the Lambeth Conference. Every 3 years, a bishop, priest or deacon, and lay person from each of the larger Provinces, and 2 representatives from smaller Provinces, meet to review our common life. We consider how to promote cooperation, including through the Communion’s many networks, and we review developments in mission and in relations with other Christian bodies. I attended in the place of the late Bishop David Beetge, long our episcopal representative, together with the Revd Janet Trisk. Unfortunately Nomfundo Walaza had other, unbreakable, commitments.

It was a great joy to be in Jamaica, a Diocese of the Province of the West Indies. On our first Sunday, all the local churches cancelled their services, and joined us for a remarkable shared celebration. The following Sunday, ACC members divided ourselves among parishes, to see the mission of the church in Jamaica first hand. It was an enriching encounter, especially so soon after the Lambeth Conference challenged us on the role of Bishops as leaders in mission.

I found it hugely energising to hear reports from the Communion’s networks, which include Women, Families, Youth, Interfaith, Colleges and Universities, Peace and Justice, and the Environment. There is a huge breadth of activity, mutual support and learning – and we must look at ways of sharing this more widely in our Province, and raising the profile of the Southern Africans involved.

It is also greatly encouraging to consider how much our relations with other Churches and Christian bodies broaden and deepen – often after centuries of division and mistrust. Congratulations to my researcher, the Revd Sarah Rowland Jones, for compiling the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations’ report of nine years work, in ‘The Vision Before Us’. I commend this as a comprehensive handbook on the Anglican response to Jesus’ prayer that his followers ‘might all be one, so that the world may believe’. (As some of you know, it was through IASCER that Sarah met the late Bishop Justus Marcus – who mentored a lot of us – moving to South Africa when they married, and taking up the post of Archbishop’s researcher on his death. She is one of the important staff members at Bishopscourt, who are invaluable in making an Archbishop’s life possible – do please keep them in your prayers.)

Of course, one key matter was the proposed Anglican Covenant in its third, ‘Ridley’ draft. We decided more work was still required, and sought comments from Provinces. If you want to know more, your Bishop’s office has copies of the draft. Please send views, by mid-August, via your Diocese or directly to peoadmin[at]anglicanchurchsa.org.za. We shall look at this at Synod of Bishops and PSC in September. You may have seen reports that this delay favours one or other ‘constituency’ within the Communion – my view is that there was ambiguity within the draft that must be clarified. I can also report that, whatever the press and bloggers say, there was a very warm and cooperative atmosphere at the meeting. This is not to deny that divisions, especially in some Provinces, are very deep and serious, but they do not bring everything else to a halt. Please continue to pray our Communion may be ‘faithful and obedient’ in following God’s call.

On my way home, I visited New York, holding discussions with The Episcopal Church, particularly on their mission partnerships with us, through our Anglican AIDS and Healthcare Trust, Hope Africa and directly with a number of dioceses, and in supporting various individuals. We thank them for labouring with us in the vineyards of the Lord in this way. While there I was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate from the General Theological Seminary ‘in recognition of outstanding service to the Anglican Communion’. As I said then, I feel this degree is for all Southern Africans who were denied access to education by past circumstances. Many of you, I know, would have loved to have been able to study, especially to study theology, and could not. Nevertheless, God’s Holy Spirit guided and strengthened the churches in our efforts to bring an end to apartheid and build a new reality in Southern Africa, through justice, peace and reconciliation.

This new reality means we must continue deliberately to share God’s love, walking with all who are in need in today’s broken world. Recalling Jesus command that we love our neighbours as ourselves, we must each ask ‘Who is my neighbour?’ and then treat every member of our global community in ways that uphold the sanctity of life, the dignity of humanity in all our differences, and the integrity of creation. These are our touchstones as we follow God’s call for social justice here and now – whether the urgent demands of poverty, hunger, malaria, HIV and AIDS, and TB, or the adverse affects of global warming. God’s loving concern for human well-being is best revealed through the attitudes, words and deeds of Christians acting together as the body of Christ, especially concrete cooperation, as we all walk more closely with one another on our common journey.

There is a similar spirit behind the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s call for a global Mandela day on his birthday, 18 July. They want everyone to spend 67 minutes ‘doing something that would make a difference in their communities’, and so recognise the 67 years Mandela spent fighting apartheid. I should like us all to take up this challenge, and not only act individually, but also with others, and especially in ways that bridge or break down the old divisions. For the genius of Nelson Mandela is that he inspires us not only to be the best that we can be, but also to bring out the best in one another, for the healing of the soul of our nation. For my part, conscious of the need for the healing of our very land, I shall plant an olive tree in the grove I have created in my garden to off-set the carbon footprint generated by the travel that my responsibilities entail. And of course, I shall take time for prayer: to thank God for the gift to us and to the world that Nelson Mandela has been, to seek his blessings of peace and contentment on Madiba in his retirement, and to ask that we may all take to heart the lessons we have learnt from this remarkable man and so, by God's grace, dare to dedicate our lives to the betterment of our planet and of all who live on it. I encourage you to spend these 67 minutes doing good to all, especially to those of the household of faith.

Yours in the service of Christ,

+Thabo Cape Town

Archbishop Receives US Honorary Degree

‘This is for all South Africans who were denied access to education’

The text of a news release from Bishopscourt:

The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town has said that the honorary degree he has been awarded by an American seminary ‘is for all South Africans who were denied access to education’.

The degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, was conferred on Archbishop Thabo Makgoba in New York by the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church ‘in recognition of outstanding service to the Anglican Communion’.

Archbishop Makgoba, speaking in advance of the ceremony on May 20, said that circumstances of the past had prevented many of his parishioners from studying as they had desired. Nevertheless, he said, God’s Holy Spirit had guided and strengthened the churches in their efforts to bring an end to apartheid and build a new reality in Southern Africa, through justice, peace and reconciliation.

‘We must continue to share God’s love, walking with all who are in need in today’s broken world’ he urged Christians in America as well as Southern Africa. Recalling Jesus’ command to love our neighbours as ourselves, he said ‘We must each ask, “Who is my neighbour?” and then treat every individual and our whole global community in ways that uphold the sanctity of life, the dignity of humanity in all our differences, and the integrity of creation. These are our touchstones as we follow God’s call for social justice here and now.’

He pointed to the adverse effects of global warming on Africa’s poorest countries, who were least responsible for climate change, and to the urgent demands of poverty, hunger, malaria, HIV and AIDS, and TB.

He said God’s loving concern for human well-being was best revealed through the attitudes, words and deeds of Christians acting together as the body of Christ, and urged concrete cooperation, saying ‘Let us all walk more closely with one another on our common journey.’

Photo: Placing the hood on the Archbishop is Professor Mitties De Champlain, Commencement Marshall of the General Theological Seminary. Conferring the degree is the seminary's Dean and President, the Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing.

The Indaba Must Go On

To conclude my reflections on the Lambeth Conference, an extract from the comment that I have sent to Southern Anglican (photo: a scene from the closing Eucharist):

The Indaba groups became places of deep trust, even as we exchanged very divided opinions and sharp disagreements – but we learnt we could be honest, and held in love and trust by one another. Some people were afraid the Indaba approach was a tactic for avoiding difficult questions. But the reverse was true. We created a safe space where everyone could have their say.

We could peel the layers off the onions, so to speak, getting beneath the surface, and grappling with what really mattered. Some members of the Episcopal Church in the United States in my indaba group, for example, discovered how ignorant they were of the situations in other parts of the world, and of how their actions affected the lives of Bishops and ordinary Christians far away. Other Bishops came to realise that the accounts of the American church that are beamed round the world on television and internet, are often not accurate, and certainly don’t tell the whole story.

What we concluded was this. We do have big differences, and we don’t easily know how to deal with them – but, more than this, we all belong to Jesus Christ, and therefore we belong to each other, and we must, we must, keep on debating and discussing, in mutual care, respect and trust. As several bishops said, the indaba must go on! Of course, it will not be easy. Some bishops stayed away, and we were diminished by their absence. Their perspective would have enriched our sharing, and challenged us more sharply over our disagreements, forcing us to draw even more deeply on the reserves of our common life in Christ.

But our conclusion was – as we said in the Reflections document that recorded our discussions – that we should now ‘build bridges, to look for opportunities to share with them the experience we have had in Canterbury and to find ways of moving forward together in our witness to the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and that in the interim, the recommendations of the Windsor report must be upheld – that is, moratoria on the consecration of actively homosexual bishops, on formal rites of blessing for same sex unions, and on bishops and archbishops trespassing into dioceses and provinces not their own.

God bless,

++Thabo