Breaking bread together in Luther's Wittenberg

Archbishop Thabo wraps up his reflections on the German Kirchentag after preaching at the Festive Service in Wittenberg to celebrate 500 years of the Reformation: 

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

Dear People of God

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

I wish you all a blessed Eastertide. This year I have recorded a short Reflection for Easter, particularly on the Gospel reading, Mark 16: 1-8, for our new audio ministry on SoundCloud: you can listen to it online, or download it to your computer or mobile device, here >> You can also read my message at the Easter Vigil at St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town here on the blog.

In a significant development in the life of our Church, we recently licensed the Revd Roger Cameron as the Chief Executive Officer of the Anglican Board of Education in Southern Africa (ABESA). I am exhilarated by this move because ABESA has the potential to reclaim the Church's role in education. I congratulate Roger on his appointment, and I urge you all to support and work with ABESA in its threefold objectives:

• To support existing church schools,
• To galvanize parish and community involvement, and
• To establish high quality accessible Christian schools.

For this Ad Laos, I want to share with you my message to the clergy of the Diocese of Cape Town on the occasion of the Chrism Mass on Maundy Thursday, during which we renewed our ordination vows:

Isaiah 61:1-9; Psalm 89:21-27; Luke 4:16-21

May I speak in the name of God, who anoints His only Son –  High Priest of the New Covenant – and gives us a share in His consecration that we might be faithful witnesses to His saving work.  Amen. 

It is wonderful to be amongst all of you at this Service of the Renewal of Vows.  It is a great joy indeed to see almost all clergy and retired clergy of this Diocese. I feel privileged that we are called together to share in His consecration and to be faithful witnesses to His saving power. And I really appreciate the privilege of being here with you all.

My heartfelt thanks to Bishop Garth for his support and outstanding leadership amongst us; to Chapter, kitchen cabinet, diocesan staff and to all, especially the Dean and Canon Precentor who did the preparatory work to make this service a success. We also acknowledge the presence of Bishop Christopher Gregorowski, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond and staff from Bishopscourt.

Blogging From Busan - Reflections on Church Unity, Ecumenism - And a Little Gossip?

Today we discussed church unity, with Dame Mary Tanner from our Communion moderating the session. She concluded her opening remarks by saying, "It remains a scandal and a wound that we can't share together at the table of the Lord."

These words are apt and real and sum up the doctrinal and ecclesial wedges which have separated us over many years. In some ecumenical gatherings, at least in Southern Africa, this has eased a bit and I hope we will one day share not only in ministries but also the same cup of the Lord regardless of denomination, especially those who take sacramental ministries seriously.

In the unity plenary, we were careful not to raise the core issues of Orthodoxy and orthodoxy. His Excellency Metropolitan Nifon raised important theological matters, stressing that we all inherited our kinship as brothers and sisters in the Lord through baptism and that we need to remember the perichoresis, the concept that holds the Trinity together, as holding us together too, not allowing room for any differentiation or discrimination. But then he contradicted himself and said ecclesiology remains a challenge because "confessional dress" should lead to exclusion if we don't interpret the same understanding that God's eternal ideals are unchangeable. He did not dwell on this point and assumed we understood and agreed with this statement. A fellow South African, Ms Alice Fabian of the United Congregational Church, presented a view of church unity from the perspective of two congregations, who were once separated by apartheid and are now joined together to be one parish. The other presenters sketched the real issues of race, sexuality, class, gender and denominational dominance as they impacted on church unity.

Among statements which the main business plenary deliberated on was the unity statement, which was careful to raise only biblical and theological matters and the historical journey of the the WCC, staying away from controversial subjects, at this stage avoiding even mentioning same-sex unions. However, the participants forced the referral of the statement back to committee and for further submissions. The session was lively, it becoming apparent who the assembly's most eloquent spokespersons were -- they never failed to use their God-given time to approach the microphone and state their case on any issue.

The ecumenical conversations ended today. Bishop Jo and I have religiously attended these and we both agreed that we now have a better grasp of the concept of just peace. We both attended the Madang presentation by the Norwegian church on peace and signed our names to be included on any global network or initiative for peace if done ecumenically.

It is nearing time to say goodbye and termination anxiety is setting in. So completing the ecumenical conversation was the first stage of the goodbyes. In the business sessions we sit behind two Aussies, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, the Primate of Australia and the Archbishop of Adelaide. We connect daily and reflect quietly on the process, its similarities to and stark differences from the assumptions and practices of the Anglican way doing things. On my left, we are next to Archdeacon Bruce Meyers from Canada, who was a student I was suffragan bishop in Grahamstown. So we are well placed among Anglicans and can confer (or is it gossip?) on matters from time to time.

Again I conclude with where we started the day. We had greetings from the CEO of The Lausanne Movement, who reiterated the need for us as the household of faith to pursue unity, maintain ongoing dialogue and at least to foster partnerships in our mission and ministry to God's world. And as I reflected on bridges on Sunday, may we indeed continue to be "pontiffs", bridges that foster this unity that our Lord and yearned and prayed for.

God bless
+Thabo

PHOTOS:
Top - Dame Mary Tanner; Middle - Business plenary; Bottom - Morning prayer (All photos by Peter Williams, WCC)

Blogging From Busan - Crossing Bridges for Sunday Worship and Reflection

In Luke 8:22 Jesus says to his disciples, "Let us cross over to the other side." Today, we got onto our denominational buses and went to local parishes. Few crossed to the other side in terms of the "rivers" separating denominations -- I was one of those longing for a "good Anglican Mass" and so instead of going to my allocated local parish we went to the small local cathedral in BUSAN.

The bus literally crossed over a reclaimed part of the sea over to the other side. Structural engineers have constructed quite complex bridges joining the side of town in which we are holding the assembly and the older side of Busan where the cathedral is located. In real life, crossing over to the other side from yours is as complex as building the bridges; although it may not need structural engineers, it can nonetheless be difficult. Anglicans often see themselves as bridge-builders, and our Province in particular sees itself as a bridge-builder in Communion matters. When I saw the bridges crossing over the sea today -- at the same time experiencing changeable weather -- I appreciated the depth and complexity of some of our challenges when acting as bridges to carry others over to the other side.

Unlike a bridge, which will one day collapse if it is not properly maintained on site, we are nurtured and "maintained" by word and sacrament daily, wherever these are preached and celebrated anywhere in the world. This Sunday, we were part of an international congregation which joined the local parishioners to fill the cathedral. Bishop Alan Abernethy of Connor in Northern Ireland was the preacher and the diocesan bishop, Bishop Onesimus Dongsin Park, the celebrant.

Much as we crossed cultural, linguistic and location boundaries, there is something always special about the familiarity of Anglican liturgy and worship. We could join in melody, humming along, and we always knew where we were in the service. Reflecting on the readings, Bishop Alan coined a phrase summing up the essence of the assembly, saying that "God in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit is at work in unexpected places," suggesting that we need to open our eyes and ears to discern this presence so that, like Zacchaeus, we feel his transformative presence.

It is indeed in those defining moments, transformative moments, when we consciously and unconsciously connect the dots, in life, in worship or our thoughts that we cross to the other side. Like epiphany moments, we connect the dots not for our own sake, but for the other as we join with what God is up to in his world. At lunchtime, Bishop Alan and I connected the stories of Belfast and South Africa; I recalled the 1998 pre-Lambeth Conference international youth conference at Stranmillis, and he recalled our time at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, relating how useful he found the Indaba process. His son works in the Diocese of Natal, and my son, when on a Face to Face/Faith to Faith interfaith youth leadership programme made friends with an Irish team.

Crossing over to the other side is not about bridges, boats and buses but people taking the first step, and maintaining the subsequent ones in engaging at a deeper level, ensuring relationships last and can withstand both the human and natural elements. It my prayer that the WCC assembly will ensure we form deeper and lasting relationships with those of different denominations or no denominations as we all witness for peace with justice in our world.

Back at the assembly, the children's choir at tonight's Korean cultural evening was for me about crossing over to the other side. The Gospel was retold through cultural lenses in a such a beautifully choreographed manner, through both a Western eye and a Korean eye, and the subtle synergies were profound. May the harmony of their little voices and the movements we saw today characterize our ecumenical witness and remind us that ecumenism does not only matter but is the lifeblood of our Christian identity, a bridge which will enable all to cross over difference and serve the common good.

God bless
+Thabo

Celebrating Joyce Piliso-Seroke's 80th Birthday

This is an edited version of the Sermon preached at the Eucharist held on 13 July 2013 in celebration of the 80th birthday of struggle stalwart, and staunch Anglican, Joyce Piliso-Seroke. You can read more about this Grand Counsellor of the Order of the Baobab in gold at http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7585

Ezekiel 37:1-14, James 2:14-26, Matthew 5:1-12

Scripture says ‘just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.’

May I speak in the name of God, who creates us, redeems us, and sustains us in life. [Words of thanks.] Me Seroke, Mam Jwara, it is a particular delight to be celebrating your life today with you. You will remember, I am sure, that after Judge Fikile Bam’s funeral, you told me that you were booking me for your funeral also. Well, I am sure I am not the only one who rejoices that today is certainly not a funeral – and that you are alive and well and more than thriving!

For this we give thanks to God. Indeed, today’s service is so much about gratitude. We have heard so much about all the achievements of your long life. Our country has honoured you – as Grand Counsellor of The Order of the Baobab, in gold. Now is our chance, as the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, also to honour you.

We give thanks to God for all you have done, for all that he has enabled you to do. We also give thanks for all that he does for us. The word ‘Eucharist’ itself, of course, means thanksgiving. We give thanks for Christ’s for his victory over sin and death, over all that threatens to distance us from his love; and give thanks for God’s sustaining presence through all of life. We give thanks that he calls all of us to live lives of significance – lives, like yours, that bear the fruit of the kingdom: the fruit that lasts, and makes a difference into all eternity.

Though today is a celebration of your birthday and of your life, today is also a challenge. It is a challenge: issued by you, Mam Jwara, and by your life, and by your God – to the rest of us. It is the challenge to let ourselves be used by God, as you have let yourself be used by God, so that we might make a lasting difference in God’s world and among God’s children.

It is the challenge to be people of faith and works. For, just as faith without works is dead, so too works without faith risk being only an empty shell, without the living beating heart of God within them.

The Churches need to hear this encouragement in these challenging days of consolidating democracy. Our faith and our works find themselves in very different contexts to the bad old days of apartheid. Then, God, in his grace, gave us the conviction that the dried bones of our situation could be given new life. And so we did not lose courage, and dared to persevere, even when we might have felt helpless, or the situation might have seemed hopeless, to those who lacked the eyes of faith.

In today’s South Africa, there are also temptations to helplessness and hopelessness. Perhaps we were naïve – in imagining that democracy would automatically bring a swift end to all our social and economic struggles. Perhaps we were naïve – in failing to realise quite how much hard work it would take, how much education at all levels, how much capacity building, to turn our country round. Perhaps we were naïve – in assuming that the self-sacrifice that drove so many in our darkest days would continue to outweigh the attractions of self-interest.

Whatever the reasons, it does seem that we have taken our eye off the ball. And though much has happened in the last two decades which we can applaud, there is also too much that falls short of, and even betrays, the vision for which so many gave so much.

It is easy to name the issues – education, freedom of information, corruption in its myriad forms, and crime. Me Seroke – you worked so hard, especially with the YWCA, for the rights of women. Gender equality is now enshrined in law, but our attitudes, our habits, and our practices still have not caught up. We know this, from the reports of abuse and violence we see on TV, and even from the depictions of women in the advertising that punctuates the news broadcasts.

Then there are drugs, and gangs, and the health sector, and the failures in land reform, and environmental protection … I could go on.

Worse, I think, is our complacency – we have, for example, become used to dire poverty in all its manifestations; and the weaknesses of our political sector. There is a lack of urgency about completing the unfinished business of our transformation to democracy.

All these are the dead bones of today’s South Africa. God asks us today - Can these bones live?

What is your answer, Mam Jwara? What is the answer that you give? What does the testimony of your life cry out to us? It is surely the answer that the Lord himself gives. ‘O, my people, I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.’

This is why we need both faith and works. We need prayer and action. We need God’s Spirit, working through us. Ours is a valley of very many dried bones. We are none of us called to tackle everything. If that were the case, we would all feel completely overwhelmed.

But all of us are called to do something. As we hunger and thirst for righteousness, God by his Spirit will show each of us where to direct our energies, so that we might know blessing – for ourselves, but most of all, for those areas which need justice, which need God’s redemptive hand upon them.

We have heard how Me Seroke directed her hunger and thirst for righteousness particularly through the YWCA, and blessing came to so many through that work. In those days, many might have thought that safeguarding the status of African women was not the most important or priority task in the fight against apartheid. But God saw that it mattered – and enabled you, Mam Jwara, to make a lasting difference that improved the lot of thousands, even millions.

We don’t have to make a big song and dance, or hit the headlines, to bear the fruit of eternal significance. When I think of you, Mam Jwara, I think of your quiet, dignified presence (so often found in the company of the rather more talkative Hlope Bam!). I think of your gentle warmth – especially to the young clergyman I used to be, and to so many other young people. I think of your enormous generosity – so often behind the scenes. And I think of your calm but iron-willed resolve – to stick with what God called you to be and to do; regardless of whether it was centre stage, or whether it was with those whom society marginalised – as was so often the case with African women.

You have shown us that what matters is God’s particular call, and being faithful in response. We must all look to whichever dry bones he leads us to face.

Since becoming Archbishop, I have found education increasingly becoming a context of dry, dry bones where I believe God is calling me to help breathe his Spirit of new life.

And it is important to recall that the word for ‘spirit’ and the word for ‘breath’ are the same in Hebrew. We need to be filled with the Spirit, in the same way we need to fill our lungs with the breath of oxygen, in every moment of every day. Too often I have seen people, wonderful people, launch themselves on projects they think will do good. But unless they let the Spirit guide each step, unless they let the Spirit empower their speaking and acting – then, all too often they soon become burnt out; and do not have the impact they ought.

On our own, we can look at the dry bones, and see which ones fit. We can even bring them together. But only God’s Spirit will restore their sinews, their flesh, their skin, and breathe new life into them.

Dear friends, dear sisters and brothers in Christ, our God is the God who desires to bring new life wherever death is at work, to bring light to our darkness, hope to our discouragement. Today we give thanks, for the powerful way he has demonstrated this, through the life of our sister. We see her faith at work in her actions. We have seen the blessing that comes daring to follow the God-given hunger and thirst for righteousness. We have seen that, though reviled and persecuted for doing what was right, God used her experience of incarceration redemptively so that she might bring depths of compassionate insight to her work with the TRC, and the Human Rights Committee.

Mam Jwara, we give thanks to God for all you are, all he has made you, and all that he has done through you. We have seen your works, we have felt your faith. May our God give each of us here today his grace, that we might also follow his call with obedience, with faithfulness, and with fruitfulness – for the blessing of his people and his world.

Amen.

News from New Zealand - 7

Friday 2 November - We have kept the same rhythm, day by day, and it finally feels that my – and most others’ – jet-lag has dissipated. This was evident in the energy levels during our plenary sessions today.

After our Bible Studies, we concluded our discussions on environment issues, with a session which I was privileged to facilitate. Afterwards we looked at the report on the Communion’s ‘Bible in the Life of the Church’ project. This is a helpful report and I encourage every Anglican to read it. You can learn more about it at http://www.aco.org/ministry/theological/bible/index.cfm, where there is a link to download the full report (20MB). I will post the link separately, and also make sure copies are available at COTT and in each diocesan office. The report looks at key principles of how we as Anglicans handle scripture. It is quite concerning that it concludes that the level of biblical literacy is not satisfactory. The motion ACC is considering on this has been sent back to the resolutions committee for further work. We then dealt with a report from NIFCON (Network for Inter-Faith Concerns) which reflects on Christian Zionism and suggests how Anglicans can approach this matter. There was a lot of energy and discussion around this report, and an appreciation that at least a study had been written on this matter.

Tonight we had a Polynesian dinner. We were again fed good food and entertained through cultural music and dance, as Archbishop Wilson read the creation story and pleaded for good stewardship and care for the environment. There are people already being displaced by the rising sea levels, and climatic change for them is no longer a theoretical debate but a life and death matter. It does not matter whether scientist have made wholly correct calibrations or how far the changes are natural and/or induced by human activity: the fact is that these changes are adversely affecting the Pacific Islanders. He made a strong plea through music, dance and story-telling, in a fun way which at the same time conveyed a serious message.

At lunchtime, I fielded a couple of questions from church reporters at the press conference on the same topic. One question I was asked was ‘What might a moral intervention by a Christian as opposed to a politician look like?’ What do you think?

I want to return to the themes that we discussed yesterday, on the topic of the environment, food, water and energy nexus. The thought of the Eucharist as bread, food, from heaven stayed with me throughout today. I asked the audience to think deeply about the relationship between the sacrament and the environmental crisis, and to reflect on food as Eucharist, water in baptism, and energy as the sacred space we worship in.

I just want to attempt some brief comments on receiving the Eucharist, as it is a practice I follow most weekdays with staff at Bishopscourt and almost every Sunday. I want to raise some questions for reflection, and I hope these will also help provoke your own reflections and questions. If you want to share these with me, I will value that.

There are many perspectives within Christian (and Anglican) tradition in which we have reflected on what it means to receive bread and wine as Jesus taught us to do in remembrance of him. As I said in a sermon recently, we might think of it as
- the Lord’s Supper – the foretaste of the heavenly wedding banquet of the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world;
- or we might think of it as Communion – our being drawn into intimate closeness with our Lord and Saviour;
- or as Eucharist, which means ‘thanksgiving’ – a celebration of all Jesus Christ has done for us;
- or even as the Mass – being ‘sent’ into the world, so that having been fed and strengthened by all that Jesus Christ has won for us, we can share all this with the needy world around.

In fact, we probably ought to think of it as a combination of all of these! Furthermore, in the Eucharist, we share God's faithfulness to us, that whilst we are still sinners, he sends us a gift of life in this meal; he send us his Son, so that we can be touched by his life and be fed, nurtured, and strengthen for his service.

There isn’t room here even to attempt to give a full theological survey of the Eucharist here but I find the following Bible readings helpful as a start: Ex 12:1-14; Deut 8:2-3; Luke 22:7-20; John 6:51-58; 1 Cor 10:16-17 and 11:23-26.

This meal is provided by God, and therefore, although those that celebrate are fallible humans, this does not detract from the giver of the gift, nor from our being touched and healed by the gift. In our turn, we are called to ensure food security for all, as the Eucharist demonstrates it can be done.

One other point that I want to mention is very emotive. This when in church we are denied this holy food because of certain doctrinal positions (for example, Roman Catholic clergy are not permitted to give the Eucharist to Anglicans). Yet I understand the pain of the one that denies others, and will not for a second discount it. Another matter that I am flagging, is when because of some disagreement over approach or understanding with the priest, someone might ‘boycott’ the Eucharist. I need to reflect deeply on this, as I recall that when I was Bishop of Grahamstown, our bishops recalled students from the College of the Transfiguration, when they had boycotted the Eucharist because of a disagreement they had with college management. I just want to highlight these sensitive, stressful, matters, and ask the questions: Who are you boycotting? And what does this say about your understanding of the Eucharist, this gift of life, faithfully provided by God? What is your own understanding of the Mass? Would you stay away from receiving Communion because you have a grievance? Shouldn't partaking heal you and allow Jesus to touch you afresh and renew you, even as you go and discuss your qualms with whoever has offended you?

Here in New Zealand, we have been fed by strangers and they have become friends for life. God, who meets us in our sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ in the Mass, will faithfully invite us to be fed with these foods of life.

Installation of Revd Duncan McLea

This is the sermon preached at the Installation of Revd Duncan McLea in the new position of Parish Rector and Team Leader of the Parish of St John's, Wynberg, on 14 October 2012.

Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 15:21-28

May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Dear Duncan; dear Andrew and the rest of the clergy team; dear people of God of St John’s Parish, Wynberg; dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let me say again what a joy it is to be with you this afternoon, and to share in asking God’s rich blessings on this new chapter in all of your lives. Thank you for inviting me to conduct the induction not only of your Wardens, but also of Duncan as your first Parish Rector and Team Leader. (And I’ll try not to embarrass him by calling him ‘Father Duncan’, as I generally do on such occasions!)

This has been a long, careful process, of revising your constitution and your oversight structures, so that they can better serve you as you strive to become more fully the people, the churches, the parish, you believe God is calling you to be. Today is formally the start of this new beginning.

It is about so much more than constitutions and structures and appointments and inductions. For, as the Psalmist puts it, in Psalm 127, verse 1, ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labour in vain.’ Today is certainly not about us coming up with our good ideas, and asking God to bless them, and then stand back while we get on with what we think we ought to be doing on his behalf!

No, today is a far more radical new beginning. Today we seek the Lord’s renewing for the whole life and ministry of this parish, for the sake of all the communities he calls you to serve: for the sake of the gospel, the sake of the kingdom, and the sake of the glory and praise of God’s holy name. Only God can bring such renewal; and it is to God that we come today – offering all that we have, all that we are, so that, through his Spirit, and by his grace, we might become all that he calls us to be.

I have been reflecting a lot on renewal in the last ten days. Quite a number of you were, like me, at the Anglicans Ablaze conference. It was an amazing time (and thank you to all of you involved in preparing for, and leading, the conference – and here I have to give special thanks to your music group, who made a wonderful contribution to our worship, and our time together!)

I don’t know what you were expecting from Anglicans Ablaze. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting. But I know this: that God did more – far, far, more – than I could have asked or imagined! Well, the letter to the Ephesians (Eph 3:20), tells us that doing ‘immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine’ is one of the characteristics of God. But even if we know this in our heads, he still overwhelms and surprises us, again and again, in ways we do not expect. And I have no doubt that he will overwhelm and surprise all of you, in ways you do not expect, as you answer the call of Christ, who says ‘follow me’ into this new phase of the parish’s life.

One thing we can be sure of, though, is that ours is a God of new beginnings, a God of renewal. At Anglicans Ablaze, he challenged us to see renewal with new eyes – and gave us a taste of what his concept of renewal is all about.

It seems to me that genuine renewal is about God’s total love, total compassion, total redemptive desire, for all of creation, all of society, and of the entire human person, heart and soul and mind and body. It is a far greater, far more comprehensive, vision than we sometimes have.

Evangelism, we were reminded, presents a poor shadow of the life of faith, if it does not go hand in hand with discipleship. And discipleship – which is less studying about God, and more about being a community of apprentices of Jesus – is intricately bound up with mission. Bishop Graham Cray, who bravely managed to fit a busy few days in Cape Town between addressing both Synod of Bishops and Provincial Standing Committee, and then Anglicans Ablaze 5 days later – Bishop Graham was quoted as saying ‘Mission will never be effective without authentic discipleship; and discipleship will never be taken seriously, unless we engage in mission.’ Bishop Graham also told us that ‘renewal without mission is self-indulgence; while mission without renewal becomes legalistic, or triumphalist, or disillusioned.’

What then, do we mean by mission? Alison Morgan spoke about mission as being sent by God, as Jesus was, through the Spirit coming upon him – as we can read in Luke 4. We are sent by God, to do the things that Jesus did. She also reminded us of the ‘5 Marks of Mission’ of the Anglican Communion, which are:
• To proclaim the good news of the kingdom
• To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
• To respond to human need by loving service
• To seek to transform unjust structures of society
• To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain the life of the earth

Authentic, godly, mission addresses God’s concern for the whole of life, of human individuals, of human society, and of the planet which is our only home. So we cannot pursue mission without pursuing social justice, political integrity, sustainable development, economic equity, and environmental well-being, to name just a few aspects. We have to combat not only material poverty, but emotional and intellectual and spiritual and societal poverty. And we need to be alert to anything that impoverishes, or increases the gulfs of inequality, in all these areas.

Furthermore, just as renewal encompasses all of God’s creation, it also encompasses all of us. So today is not only about Duncan, nor only about the clergy (plus, of course, Craig at The Warehouse). It is about everyone. Duncan is being appointed to lead a team – a team that, though it has clergy and lay leaders, actually includes all of you. For being a Christian means being a member of the body of Christ – and as far as I can tell from Scripture, none of us are called to be an appendix, the only part of the body which seems to have no useful function!

Instead, as St Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good’ (1 Cor 12:7). God’s Spirit dwells in every one of us, and enables us all to play a significant role in the life of the Church, and in God’s mission to the world. It may be low-key, it may be behind the scenes – but in God’s greater plans, it is significant, and what you do matters, and makes a difference.

So, when we come to the induction in a few minutes’ time, in each section of commitment, I shall begin by asking you, the people, to make your response. Then I shall ask the parish leadership team to make their response; and only then will I ask Duncan to make his commitment – a commitment to leading you in these paths to which God calls you. He cannot lead, unless he has people to lead! So, you are all in this together – and so is God, who desires to pour newness of life onto you all.

Let me turn now to a second point – what are these paths ahead to which God calls you, and in which Duncan is to lead you? Our two Bible readings have something to teach us here – something that can be summed up in words of Jesus, who said ‘every teacher of the law, who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven, is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old’ (Mt 15:52).

New treasures and Old: let me start with the Old.

The book of the prophet Micah is full of both warnings and encouragement – oracles of judgement and of hope. In this particular passage, he warns the people that if they want to respond rightly to God’s call to repent and turn again to him, God is not interested in overblown public acts of religiosity. He doesn’t want grand gestures that appear to convey vast spiritual devotion. He just wants them to get back to basics, and not forget the foundations of their faith. In other words, they must return to the Old Treasures. So instead of much public ceremony or fancy services, or excessive sacrifices of animals – or even of children – he wants them to do the simple stuff: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God.

And yet this is also very challenging – because it is not about our outward acts, it is about our inward attitudes that direct and shape the whole of our lives. It begins with deepening our relationship with God, so that we might increasingly see the world as God sees, and respond with his compassion. For, above all, God is love – and we need to be anchored in his love: so that we, in whatever way we need it, may find his tender touch making us more whole. We need to let God sort us out, so we are better able to share his love with others, without the distortions of our own brokenness, weaknesses, failings and hang-ups.

Being ‘anchored in the love of Christ’ is – as those who are wide awake will have spotted – the first part of the Provincial Vision of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Being anchored in Christ’s love is the starting point for the other two parts of the vision: being Committed to God’s Mission, and Transformed by the Holy Spirit. Anchored, Committed, Transformed – A, C, T: Anglicans who ‘ACT’!

And what are the basics, the foundations, the Old Treasures, which help us do this? Well, we find them in the commitments we shall make in the induction. We find them in dedication to discipleship, to the Word of God, to daily prayer and reading of the Bible – whether through the discipline of the Offices of Morning or Evening Prayer, or some other systematic reading of, and reflecting on, Scripture. We find them through regularly receiving the bread and wine, as Jesus told us to do ‘in remembrance of him’: we might think of it as
• the Lord’s Supper – the foretaste of the heavenly wedding banquet of the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world;
• or we might think of it as Communion – our being drawn into intimate closeness with our Lord and Saviour;
• or as Eucharist, which means ‘thanksgiving’ – a celebration of all Jesus Christ has done for us;
• or even as the Mass – being ‘sent’ into the world, so that having been fed and strengthened by all that Jesus Christ has won for us, we can share all this with the needy world around.
In fact, we probably ought to think of it as a combination of all of these!

We also find ourselves ‘doing the basics’ in what we describe as the life of ‘worship, witness and service’ of which our Confirmation service speaks. Serving others comes not merely through charitable acts, but also through working to change the world so that God’s justice and mercy might be better known and experienced by all.

I am especially glad that, in today’s service, we have added a new section, which picks up on God’s call to pursue justice and mercy. I am hoping that we might adopt this, as a matter of course, in future installations in our Diocese and Province. It is quite something when an Evangelical parish teaches the Province about liturgy!

Today, let me also thank Craig Stewart, who has agreed to take over the leadership of the Micah Challenge in South Africa, and breathe new life into it. This is an important initiative, which Archbishop Njongo helped launch in 2004, to encourage Christians around the world to lend their support to the Millennium Development Goals, and all that they stand for, for the alleviation and eradication of poverty. Governments alone cannot do it. They need all the encouragement – and pressure – they can get, if they are to take the hard decisions that are necessary if we truly are to defeat poverty. Christians standing together lend important weight to these efforts. So, thank you, Craig.

But let me now turn to the New Treasures. For Old Treasures must always find expression in the ever changing circumstances of contemporary life – and, let us face it, our world is changing more rapidly than ever before.

Our reading from St Matthew’s gospel records a step into a whole new way of spreading God’s kingdom. Commentators disagree on Jesus’ motivation and understanding through his dialogue with the Canaanite woman, and I am not going to try to untangle it here. But this is certain: St Matthew records that, as a consequence of this encounter, the old understanding of the role of the Messiah had been completely overturned and rewritten. From now on, Jesus was to be seen as the Messiah not only for the Jews, but also for those who were not Jews, and who had previously been assumed to be excluded from God’s redemptive promises.

The challenge this passage of Scripture presents to you, Duncan, and to the parish, is, I think, this: that as this new chapter opens before you, you should be open to seeing who, or what, might previously have been excluded in some way, from your ministry and mission – and whom God will now challenge you now to include. It is a reminder that we must not only stick with the Old Treasures, but must always have our hearts, our minds, open to the New Treasures that God may put before us, even in unsettling ways. In Morning Prayer, we have been reading through the Acts of the Apostles, and we see there how unsettling it was to the early church to realise that the gospel was also for the Gentiles! Yet we today are the direct beneficiaries of Jesus’ conversation with the Canaanite women, St Peter’s vision at Joppa, and St Paul’s call as apostle to the Gentiles.

So, let me sum up: God is in the business of renewal – and this his desire and promise for the Parish of St John’s Wynberg, for the leadership team, and for Duncan as its head. And because I know that parishes like yours are fond of ‘three point sermons’, let me underline three aspects of this promise of renewal!

First, it is all-embracing: God’s renewal is for the sake of all of God’s creation: all of humanity, all human society, our entire planet. And for him to achieve his purposes, his renewal is for all of you – for all the people of all the congregations of all the churches of this parish, and for all the leaders, lay and clergy alike, and for Duncan. And so we seek God’s renewal, on God’s terms, in God’s ways and by God’s strength, for this parish and for all its people, lay and ordained alike.

Second, God’s renewal is about the Old Treasures. It is about building on the firm foundations of Scripture, and two millennia of Christian tradition that attests to the faithfulness of God, through all the changing times and places of our planet. Do not despise the good old ways, the basics: especially not prayer, Bible reading, Holy Communion. May these be the cornerstones of your life, that help you anchor yourselves in Christ’s love.

Third, God’s renewal is also about the New Treasures, where he will take you outside of your comfort zones, as he calls you to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in new places, in new ways, in the unfolding circumstances of our times. As long as you are anchored in Christ’s love, and steeped in the Living Word of God, do not be afraid to go wherever God calls, to live out your commitment to God’s mission, through the transforming power of his Holy Spirit. This is the heart of what I believe is God’s vision for our Province – and I invite you to pray our collect, on a regular basis.

All this is, of course, God’s gift, which he desires to pour on us in abundance. God does not promise us an easy future – but he promises to be with us, every step of the way; to provide all we need to navigate the challenges; to set before us a clear path; to offer us strength and encouragement; and to give us his joy as our strength.

So then, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us in confidence now proceed with the Admittance of the Wardens, and the Induction of your new Parish Rector and Team Leader. And may God bless you all richly, and make you a blessing to others. Amen


Anglican Church of Southern Africa: Vision, Mission Statement and Collect

Vision:
The Anglican community in Southern Africa seeks to be:
• Anchored in the love of Christ
• Committed to God's Mission
• Transformed by the Holy Spirit

Mission Statement:
Across our diverse countries and cultures, we seek:
• To honour God in worship that feeds and empowers us for faithful witness and service
• To embody and proclaim the message of God’s redemptive hope and healing for people and creation
• To grow communities of faith that form, inform, and transform those who follow Christ

Collect:
Almighty God, consuming fire of love
You have given us the vision to be
Anchored in the Love of Christ
Committed to Your mission, and
Transformed by the Holy Spirit;
We seek
To honour You in living worship
To embody and proclaim the Good News, and
To grow communities of faith:
Set us ablaze with Your power and love
To build up Your Church,
And serve You in the world
To Your praise and glory,
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen

To the Laos - To the People of God, June 2011

Dear People of God

I am writing to you on my return from a visit to the Diocese of Niassa, in northern Mozambique. Having had the privilege of working in the mainly rural diocese of Grahamstown, where I encountered both the rawness of poverty and the generosity of people, in many ways it felt like coming home.

Bishop Mark and I travelled around the three Mozambican provinces of his diocese. In some places the roads were non-existent, and at one point we had to find a route across a river, with no bridge, to get to the Cathedral! We began my visit by going to the grave of Bishop Charles Mackenzie, who was first Archdeacon of Natal, and then consecrated in 1861 as a missionary bishop to the peoples near the Zambezi river. He died within a year – and yet today people still speak of his faith and his courage for the gospel. His grave is in a marsh, on a fertile banana plantation between the Rue and Shire rivers. We celebrated the Eucharist under a plastic yellow tent hoisted on sticks, and I felt deeply conscious of the joy of being ‘made one with all God’s people of every age’ (both the living and the departed), and, indeed, ‘all the company of heaven’, as we say in the Eucharistic prayer

After 2 hours’ drive we met parishioners who praised God, with many testimonies of church growth; and then after 4 more hours reached the coastal town of Quelimane, where we ate and slept, after sharing messages of encouragement with the faithful, in a church built by a couple from Nigeria. This small bicycle-filled town has lots of potential to grow beyond the current single parish.

We then flew in a 4-seater plane to Nampula, a more developed town, where, as indeed was so everywhere, we were greeted with joyful singing and dancing. Our theme at the Eucharist, held in an indoor sports hall, was ‘Developing the Journey’, and we focussed on our unity in Christ, building peace, and courage in the face of poverty, disease, and syncretism (being sucked into local, non-Christian, cultures). You may remember that the Mozambican wars of liberation began in the north, and many are still scarred, spiritually, physically, and emotionally, by those times. Yet this is an area of high literacy, forward looking, and with a vision for growth – not only numerical, but growth that is ever-more deeply rooted in our Lord (without which any church risks becoming merely some social organisation).

We then flew to Lichinga, the northern province’s capital, and Bishop Mark’s home. The church is larger and more established here. Near the airport, we visited the diocesan farm (much in need of development), and drove in convoy with truck-loads of parishioners singing joyful songs of welcome, to see two churches currently under construction. We held a service to celebrate St Bernard Mizeki (himself a Mozambican) in an indoor sports stadium. The theme was hospitality, courage and love, reflecting both Bernard Mizeki’s example and the readings of the day. The local mayor – a Muslim, married to a Mothers Union member – and the Provincial President, who is a parishioner, brought greetings, and praised Bishop Mark and the Diocese for their involvement in social justice issues. We had supper with the local clergy and the mayor, and I realised that like Christ and his disciples, so much of the deep fellowship of the visit was experienced through sharing meals together.

On Sunday we took a 2-hour drive to the Cathedral at Messumba. The beautiful lake-side region reminded me of parts of South Africa’s Wild Coast, and areas around Port St John in Mthatha diocese. The vast lake appears much like the sea! It was an amazing day, starting with crossing the bridge-less river, and then we walked – hundreds of us – in procession to the Cathedral, walking fast to avoid the dust and the scorching sun. When we arrived the large Cathedral building was already packed to capacity. We celebrated Trinity Sunday with four exhilarating hours of joyful celebration, singing and dancing, with radio and TV to witness us. Among the overwhelmingly generous gifts that were given to me were 2 doves, 2 fresh eggs, rice, and many crafts. The Bernard Mizeki society sang while we shared lunch. Driving home (accompanied by a bakkie-load of singing, praying, members of St Agnes’ Guild), we saw more churches under construction, and I thank God for the good land with which the diocese is endowed.

The next morning I flew to Lilongwe in a tiny 4-seater, with just the pilot, whose chatty conversation dispelled my great nervousness at being in such a tiny aircraft. He let me sit in the co-pilot’s seat, and it was an amazing experience to cross the vast lake at 20,000ft. Even so, it was a relief to land in Lilongwe and transfer to a larger plane for the next leg of my journey home!

Though the Diocese is 150 years old, I found Niassa to be, like Mozambique itself, full of the vibrant life of a very youthful population. I saw how critical is the role of catechists, in evangelism and building up young congregations so that they learn how to mature and stand on their own feet. Music and storytelling are key in communicating who Jesus is, all that he offers, and the life to which he calls us – which people are hungry to learn. I was also struck by the poverty of the diocese, reflected in the Bishop’s elderly Toyota that I feared might break down at any point and leave us stranded! Yet I saw how great God’s grace is, in challenging circumstances, and came home feeling refreshed and enriched by my visit – feeling the paradox of the kingdom that is, and is yet to come, as I both saw 150 years of history, and felt so much new life that is on the point of being born afresh.

‘Youth’ seems to be my theme this week, writing between meetings of the ANC Youth League and our own Provincial Youth Council. I returned to find the press full of Julius Malema’s statements on reforming land, mines and the whole economy. What he has raised is not new and we should not be alarmed. We need to engage him, and all young people, on what it means to make democracy work. As I discussed in a telephone conference with SACC church leaders, we must have educated public debate on today’s very different sort of ‘struggle’ – the commitment to rightly-focussed hard work that delivers economic justice, and tackles the needs of poverty, education and opportunity which (and Malema is right on this) particularly affect young people so adversely. There is hope, but we must not be afraid of rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty. As my visit to Niassa showed, dedication and perseverance, even in very difficult and uncertain times, can deliver new life. So we must go forward with joy and resolve, and speak up for the poor, the fearful, the despairing, in the true hope of Jesus Christ.

Yours in the service of Christ

+Thabo Cape Town

Sermon at the Service for the Renewal of Vows

The following sermon was preached at the Service for the Renewal of Priestly and Diaconal Vows of the Clergy of the Diocese of Cape Town on Maundy Thursday, 21 April 2011.

Isaiah 61:1-9; Psalm 89:21-27; Revelation 1:4b–8; Luke 4:16-21

May I speak in the name of God, who anointed His Son High Priest of the New Covenant. Amen! Dear colleagues, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Collect boldly claims that “we are consecrated to share as faithful witnesses to Christ’s saving work”. What might this mean, as we renew our vows today?

Before I turn to this, let me first say what a delight it is to be here, and to see almost all the clergy of this diocese and some retired clergy as well. Thank you all, for your ministry and our partnership in what God is up to in the various communities that we serve and in the world. A special thanks to Bishop Garth for his leadership among us – to Chapter and all the various bodies and ministries within the diocese. Archdeacon Karl Groepe, Fr Isaac Haynes and your parishioners, thank you for opening St James’ parish for us today and for all the preparatory work for this service. On the 22nd May 2011 at 15h00, we will be instituting Moruti Michael Weeder as Dean of our cathedral of St George. You are all invited. Pray for Michael, Bonita, and their children Chiara, Andile and Khanyisa, as they assume this specialized ministry. Please pray for us as we prepare for our diocesan Synod, to be held from 25 to 27 August at St Cyprian’s Retreat. The Summons for Synod has been sent and I hope you have elected or soon will elect your representatives to synod.

What might it mean being consecrated to share as faithful martyrs to Christ’s saving work, as we renew our vows today? It might mean that we are renewing our commitment to serving: renewing our identity in serving, as well as deepening our understanding of why we are serving. We serve for Christological reasons, because Scripture says “the Son of man came to serve and not to be served”; and our ecclesiological understanding is to build the body. The Anglican Prayer Book and the introduction in today’s liturgy, just before we renew our vows both say that the body is built when we show forth in his name the sacrifice of our redemption, as we set the Eucharist before God’s family – that is, through the paschal meal; as we lead His Holy people in love, nourishing them with His Word; and as we help strengthen them with the sacraments. This is an enormous responsibility that gives us a new self-understanding: an understanding that our (human and often feeble) work and will, through the grace of God can and do mediate the work and will of God. We, thus, are rededicating ourselves anew to the continuation of the mystery of the Incarnation, and our role in these mysteries. We gather as those “consecrated” or set apart to share as faithful disciples of his saving acts and as priests of the New Covenant. St John Chrysostom says “if you are renewed, you can’t remain the same.” We too cannot remain the same.

Anglican Archbishops Ramsey, Fischer, and Williams, as well as our own Archbishops Tutu and Ndungane, in their writings and ministries provide a helpful context within which we can understand ourselves as we continue this faithful work of service, worship and witness. Their work and theological understanding of God in the public space, endow us with sound biblical, ecclesiological and Christological bases for self understanding as we renew our vows. Their work is aptly summed up in a very readable book by Ramsey – The Christian Priest Today – when he refers to the ‘4 in 1’ unchangeable marks of a priest. That is, a priest is: a minister in teaching; a minister for reconciliation; a minister for prayer; and a minister of the Eucharist. Put in missiological terms, in these tasks we recognize what Bosch described as the three dimensions of the Church, the body of Christ, namely the ministries of kerygma – proclamation, preaching and teaching; of diakonia – serving; and of koinonia – communion with God and the rest of God’s community.

With this understanding, it makes theological sense to combine the renewal of the priestly vows and the vows of those called to the diaconate. By doing so, we are affirming that all of us are able to exercise the ordained ministry because, through our baptism, God befriended us. We too befriended God. Through his Son’s atoning and redeeming work, we continue as His disciples in spite of ourselves and who we are, and of what we may want to become. Through his saving grace and his Holy Spirit, our dismembered body (that is, our identity) is healed, formed into His likeness and made whole.

However, today, I want to focus on our role as ministers of the Eucharist: those who show forth in his name the sacrifice of our redemption, as we stand before God’s family; and on our role as ministers of reconciliation. Of course both of these roles are undergirded by prayer and scripture. As ministers of the Eucharist, each time bread and wine are sanctified, we too are sanctified. We are made one body with Him and, as we always pray, we are one with his people of this and every age. Thus, in celebrating the Holy Mysteries, the Mass, the historical – with its anamnetic and epicleptic realities – is renewed and turned into the “now”, into how we are called to be and ought to be. As someone said, a human being is a human being and must be a human being; and so we catch a glimpse of what is “to come”, that is, the eschatological perspectives. Together with those that the Eucharist is offered for, present and not present, we become incorporated into this mystical union and catch a glimpse of the “grace and peace from Him who is and who was and is to come ...” Rev 1:4b

As we receive the Word and Sacrament, the incarnate God – in the Father’s incarnate Son – dwells in us. The Holy Spirit gives us a new identity, in their likeness. In this way, we cannot and dare not privatise faith. When God, who is community, dwells in us or when the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us, (Luke 4:16ff / Isa 61:1), as the Spirit was also upon Jesus, the impact is felt beyond us. Our neighbours feel it too.

What impact does our neighbour feel when the “unrestricted presence of God, the creative and life giving Spirit” is upon us? Our hymn today reminds us, the hands that Holy Things have taken are “strengthened for service”. For where the incarnate word of God – the incarnate Christ – is, there is His scarred and wounded body: healing the sick, comforting the sad, accepting the excluded and marginalised, and driving demons out through his Word and his closeness to God the Father. Surely, this is what we are renewing ourselves for! We are recommitting ourselves to peace-building in his steps; to reconciling others after his example; to bringing hope and dispelling fear following the demands of his Word; to renewing the face of the world; and to building His body.

When we preside over the paschal meal, God’s family meal, the meal for all, we are showing forth the sacrifice of our redemption. We are made in harmony with a God who transcends race, sex, class and all artificial man-made divisions. We are renewed by the Spirit of the Lord God, sparing (or empowering?) us to continue to challenge individualism, arrogance, corruption, greed, self-serving or serving only friends and family at the expense of the poor. When the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us, we are called and sent, over and over again, to make Christ’s being real in our world and to share the implications of the paschal meal in our world. Being fed and nurtured by this meal in transformative worship constantly sends us into the world to build communities of love, compassion, and fearlessness, because we are not doing our will and work, but continuing in the will and work of God.

After celebrating a lunch-hour Eucharist on Monday at the Cathedral, I confirmed the invitation to go to Ficksburg on Tuesday. I went there to visit the Tatane family, following the brutal murder of their loved one, Andries, by our police. I went as the Anglican Archbishop, but also as patron of the Election Monitoring Network and chair of the Eminent Persons’ Group. Please join me in praying for our poor communities like Meqheleng, and Khayalitsha and our informal settlements in particular, and support them in their call to have their human dignity respected and their basic needs met. Join me in loving our neighbour as ourselves, including the police who killed Andries, even as we challenge their disproportionate use of force and their militarized approach that ‘shoots to kill’ even an unarmed Ficksburg civilian. Let us affirm and call for a renaming of our police services back to ‘safety and security’ and not a police ‘force’, for this force seems to maim and kill rather than offer safety and security.

St John Chrysostom says “what plunges us into disorder is not so much our sins as our despair”. Therefore, as those set apart and consecrated to witness to His saving acts, and strengthened for service, we cannot shy away from becoming signs of the divine, of the hope we find in the broken and risen body of Christ in the world. As ministers of the Word and Sacrament who “take, bless, break, and give” in remembrance of his saving act, we must will and work for Christ’s atoning and redeeming work; remembering that when one suffers, we all hurt. We thus cannot afford to leave any area without witnessing to Christ’s liberating presence.

The list is long but let me mention a few examples as I end. We cannot allow Julius Malema, and his gun-wielding theatrics, to compromise the space where justice is perceived to be uncorrupted. We cannot fear to raise the ethical/moral dilemmas of our day, even as unworthy servants: issues such as drug abuse and related crimes; abuse of power and state resources; and the cancerous greed of the elite in South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, to mention but a few. We cannot remain silent in the face of wars and killings in Libya, Afghanistan, and elsewhere; or the illegitimate development and use of power; or the post-election burning of Churches in Nigeria. We can’t be indifferent in the face of inequality; or at the marginalisation of religion and morality in schools; or where the environment continues to be polluted and energy wasted by a few in the world.

The Spirit of Lord God is upon us, refreshing our tired bodies and restoring our true identity in Christ; in alleviating the hurt, pain and suffering among His people through us; and in continuously consecrating us as faithful martyrs of His saving acts. May you be blessed this Good Friday and have a good, and joyous Easter. And please don’t forget to vote – and vote responsibly! Amen.

A Sermon for Dedication Sunday and the Celebration of the Feast of All Saints

The following sermon was preached at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, on 31 October 2010, Dedication Sunday, on which the Feast of All Saints was also celebrated

Lections: Jeremiah: 31: 31-34; Revelation 7: 2-4, 9-12; Matthew 5: 1-12

May I speak in the name of God, who covenants with his people. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, dear people of God of St George’s Cathedral – it is good to be with you once again, this Dedication Sunday. As well as concluding our month of reflections on Stewardship of all the gifts God gives us, we also celebrate the feast of All Saints – rejoicing that God calls each one of us to be his child, to live in covenant love with him.

Covenant is the most wonderful picture of God’s commitment to his creation, and to humanity, made in God’s image. The Bible has a great number of covenants. Some are promises between individuals, like Jacob and his father-in-law Laban (Gen 31:44) or David and Jonathan (1 Sam 23:18). Some covenants are mutually binding treaties between kings and nations, as between Abraham and King Abimelech (Gen 21:27).

Marriage, too, is of course a covenant. You have perhaps heard the joke about the rector who took the vows of marriage so seriously that he had 16 wives – for/four better, for worse, for richer, for poorer … Of course, these promises indicate our commitment that, no matter what happens to us, no matter what life brings our way, we will do our best to stay together and strive to stick it out ‘till death us do part’.

But human covenanting is just a reflection of the promises that God makes to us. God makes an everlasting covenant with individuals, such as Abram – promising that he will have numerous descendants (Gen 17) – and in response, Abram becomes Abraham and is circumcised – the sign that he too is party to God’s covenant. God also makes covenants with peoples, as he does through Moses at Sinai, with the Hebrew nation – a covenant to which he returns, again and again, even though ancient Israel failed to uphold their side of the covenant.

And because of such failings, God promises a New Covenant – the covenant of which we heard in our first lesson, from the prophet Jeremiah; the new covenant that is fulfilled by Jesus, who speaks at the Last Supper of it being made in his own body and blood, as he institutes the Eucharist. I will come onto this New Covenant in a moment.

But first I want to go back to the earliest, and broadest, of God’s covenant – the covenant he makes with Noah, and with all of creation, after the great flood. Most of you know the story of Noah: God regrets he ever created wicked and degenerate humankind – with the exception of faithful Noah. God tells Noah to make an ark, a great boat, in which Noah and his family and two of every kind of animal take refuge. A flood then destroys all other living things. After the flood subsides, God warns Noah and his sons not to shed human life – for humanity bears the image of God – and God adds, ‘I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendents, and with every living creature … never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth … and this is the sign of my covenant: the rainbow.’

This is a covenant for all of humanity, and for all of creation. From this wonderful story, we can learn three foundational, and everlasting, principles. If you read my sermons and speeches, you will find that these three principles keep on recurring.

First, it is a covenant about the sanctity of human life. Second, it is about the integrity of the created world, for God promises he will never again destroy his creation. And third, it is about the dignity of difference, symbolised by the rainbow. These three principles are the bedrock of the life for which God created us – to live in harmony with one another, and with creation.

People sometimes ask why the church so often supports human rights and promotes good environmental policies. Well, the answer lies there – right near the beginning of the Book of Genesis in the story of Noah and the flood – among the very first dealings of God with humanity. So when you see me on the television, or hear me on the radio, calling for proper housing for everyone, or decent toilets and sanitation; or when (as in this month’s Good Hope) you see pictures of me in my Wellington boots, cleaning up polluted vleis, you can know it is because I read my Bible! The church is not just being sucked in by modern liberal political movements – as some people claim. No, we know that God created humanity in his image, so we might ‘bear fruit’ as it says in Genesis 1 – we should all flourish. We should do so treating every life as sacred; honouring every human person no matter how different, and indeed, seeing our diversity as a gift that enriches us; and we should care for our planet, the beautiful home that God has so generously given to us.

This generosity of God, dear friends, this overwhelming generosity, points us to a very important aspect of covenant. For a covenant is not a contract. In contracts, parties give legal undertakings to effect transactions for reciprocal benefit. In covenants, people bind themselves together, in pledges of faithfulness and loyalty, to promote mutual well-being. The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain spoke about Covenants at the Lambeth Conference, two years ago, and his powerful words still remain with me.

He summed up the differences between covenant and contract in four succinct ways: contracts concern our interests, while covenants concern our identities; contracts deal in transactions, while covenants deal in relationships; contracts benefit, while covenants transform; contracts are about competition – if I win, you lose; while covenants are about cooperation – if I win, you also win. In other words, contracts are dead words on pieces of paper – either party can do the minimum necessary, and absolutely nothing more is required, or expected. But when you come to covenants, you find these are living things – designed for relationships that grow and flourish.

And it is a living, growing, flourishing relationship with us, that God wants – a relationship that is fuelled by inexhaustible love, and by limitless generosity. This is what we find fulfilled in God’s New Covenant. As the prophet Jeremiah says, it is a covenant of the heart. Listen to his beautiful words: The Lord says ‘I shall be your God and you shall be my people.’

This is the definition of what it is to be a saint. I know that sometimes we think of the saints as those who are particularly holy, or who have overcome some particular trial in their faith. But if you read St Paul’s letters carefully, you will find, in the original Greek text, that he writes to the saints in Rome, he writes to the saints in Corinth, he writes to the saints in Philippi, and so forth. So, in other words, St Paul says that all you need to be a saint is to belong to God, to belong to his Church!

This is what we celebrate today. He is our God, and we are his people, and therefore we can rightly speak of ‘all the saints of St George’s Cathedral’! We are the ones who have responded to God’s offer of overflowing love – love shown to us in Jesus Christ. The greatest verses at the heart of the gospel remind us of the centrality of love. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that all who believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life’ (Jn 3:16). Yes, we, the Saints of St George’s Cathedral, dare to believe in his Son – our Lord and Saviour. As Jesus also said ‘No one has greater love than this – to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (Jn 15:13). And Jesus indeed laid down his life, saying ‘this is my blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins’. We shall hear those words again in a short while – as we celebrate the Eucharist, the foretaste of the heavenly banquet where all the saints, all of us, shall be honoured guests!

So, therefore, my question to you this morning is this: what, then, is our response to the limitless generosity of God’s love for us – love that was greater than life itself? Well, you can guess – this is where our stewardship comes in. Our response comes in the shape of our time, our talents, our money – freely given back to God, just as he has freely given to us. And for us too, the heart of the matter should not be about contract, it should be about covenant. For if we have a mindset of contract, we will find that Church giving is a very deadening thing – following the old law of a tithe, and not a cent more. But if we give from a covenant mindset, we will be set free to give with the same love and generosity that knows no bounds. Yes, of course I encourage you to give 10%! But my prayers is that when you give, you will give sacrificially; and that this will prompt you to give with covenant generosity wherever a particular need arises, to which God’s love propels you to respond.

Only in the freedom of the covenant can we find the way to live a life of blessing – to be blessed, and to be a blessing to others, we heard in our Gospel reading. So let us live in response to God’s love for us – let us be his saints – let us be his covenant people, sharing life with others as freely as he shared his with us. May it be so. Amen