Preached by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at the Ash Wednesday Eucharist in St George's Cathedral, Cape Town on March 6, 2019:
Readings: Isaiah 58:1-12, Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Cor 5:20-6:10, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
May I speak in the name of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Ash Wednesday is a time for stock-taking and beginning a journey in which we deepen our faith. We focus on three crucial things during the coming weeks:
• Renewal,
• Repentance and
• A Return to God.
Showing posts with label Renewal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renewal. Show all posts
Friday, 8 March 2019
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, 25 October 2012
To the Laos - To the People of God, October 2012
Dear People of God
‘To God be the glory, great things he has done …’ This song rang in my heart at the beginning of this month, when, with 1400 of you, I was at the Anglicans Ablaze Conference in Johannesburg. It was a remarkable time together, deeply spiritually moving, and stirring heart and mind with profound teaching from wonderful speakers.
Though we come together in far larger numbers in our Dioceses, this was the largest pan-ACSA gathering anyone can remember. It was all I hoped it might be, and much more – for God never ceases to surprise us, even if we know in our heads that he delights to do ‘immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine’ (Eph 3:20). I have longed for us to find ways to celebrate the best of our traditions, including in liturgy, alongside other forms of faith and worship which equally exemplify authentic Anglicanism; all accepted as part of our legitimate diversity. Well, we certainly enjoyed this, as you will know if you’ve seen pictures of Bishop Martin Breytenbach playing his guitar while wearing a cope! Our worship was both properly dignified, and yet lively and exuberant in our response to God’s love poured out upon us.
It was an amazing celebration of the goodness of God, and of our distinctive though challenging Anglican calling. For it seems to me that our ability to hold together in love, and overcome barriers (whether ‘secular’, of politics, history, race, language and so forth, or ‘church’, of styles and traditions) can be an icon, modelling the societies God calls us to promote across the Province. I left Bryanston a changed person, and believe our church has also been changed, by God’s grace. It was as if God gave us a taste of the holistic renewal he desires to bring to us – across every aspect of the life of faith, from evangelism to discipleship to mission to social justice to the environment. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it’ says the Psalmist, and there is no aspect of human living that God does not want to redeem and renew.
How shall we take forward this excitement, this teaching, this inspiring sense of newness of life for us all (which feels like a personal challenge of ‘re-evangelisation’ to each of us, to take our faith ‘to the next level’), and share it across our Province? I am sure that those who were in Johannesburg will already have begun to do this. The celebration of the Anglicans ACT Vision (at the heart of Anglicans Ablaze), on 25 November, is another opportunity. I also invite you to read, prayerfully and reflectively, the ‘Message to the Church’ in which the Listening Team summed up so much of what God did for us during our time in Bryanston. This follows on below my letter.
By the time you read this, I shall be heading for New Zealand, to the Anglican Consultative Council, for which I ask your prayers. The ACC is, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, and the Primates’ Meeting, one of our ‘Instruments of Communion’. Meeting every 3 years, it brings together ordained and lay representatives from all 38 Anglican Churches, and so is the only body not made up of just bishops! Revd Canon Janet Trisk and Mrs Louisa Mojela are our other representatives. From 27 October to 7 November we will have a busy time discussing a great range of subjects in the life and mission of the global Anglican family.
The agenda includes the current state of the Anglican Communion, and the decisions made so far by churches on whether to adopt the Anglican Covenant, as well as looking at relations with other churches and the work of a host of global Anglican networks. One of these is the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN), which I chair, and there will be a major presentation around its work. Other major topics on the agenda include inter-faith relations, countering gender-based violence, communications, and Christian witness in contemporary contexts.
The environment has been much on my mind recently – not least the need to plant a growing number of trees to offset my extensive travel (I am fully aware of the irony of this, and the need, highlighted at PSC, to use technology to reduce our travel ‘footprint’). This planting is part of a radical overhaul of Bishopscourt’s gardens, in which, with the help of the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s ‘Early Detection and Rapid Response’ Team, we are steadily clearing out invasive alien species that threaten to overrun us, and to suck up all the ground water. I wish that my predecessors had realised 30 years ago how vital this task is. If it had been tackled then, it would have been a far easier and far cheaper job. I encourage all of you who have any gardens or land, to take special care in your stewardship of them.
Various speakers at an event this week to encourage such ‘weedbusting’ highlighted how poor care of our environment exacerbates poverty in direct and indirect ways. This is a theme in the seven studies ‘Sabbath Reflections: Capitalism and Inequity versus a Gospel Mandate’ which we will formally launch at ACC. In these, my predecessor as chair, Bishop George Browning, considers how contemporary societies must ‘address rapidly growing inequity and ... confront an economic system which operates as if resources are infinite and humanity can somehow exist as if it is not part of an unfolding ecological crisis.’ He explores how a fresh understanding and practice of the biblical concept of Sabbath can reconnect economics to ethics, and shape human society in a manner that is consistent with the creation upon which it depends. These are vital questions we must face, if we are to ensure that it is not ‘business as usual’ in our international financial structures. There needs to be a radical overhaul if we are to reverse the shocking trends of growing inequality and economic injustice through which a small minority can become ridiculously wealthy at the expense of the poorest, and even of the middle classes. If you are interested in downloading these studies, you will find them at http://acen.anglicancommunion.org/resources/documents.cfm.
Yours in the service of Christ
+Thabo Cape Town
Anglicans Ablaze: ‘Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, Transformed by the Holy Spirit’
Message from the Listening Group - Johannesburg, 3-6 October 2012
We came, close to 1400 of us, because we wanted to be, and wanted the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to be, Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, Transformed by the Holy Spirit – believing this is not just our vision, but God’s vision for us.
We came with excitement, anticipation, commitment; even if a little unsure of what to expect, perhaps a bit lost or fearful, or aware of obstacles in our lives and in our church. But we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and has done far more than we could ever ask or imagine! God is love, and has met us in love, and called on us to abide in his love.
God offered us a turning point, and we have found it so: a turning point for many individuals, and for our church, which may also go on to become a turning point for our parishes, our communities, our nations.
It has been a time of renewal, of genuine renewal, as God sees it. It brings cleansing, healing, wholeness and newness of life for us, in every aspect of what it is to be human, made in the image of God, sharing in the body of Christ, loving our neighbours and God’s world. It is renewal that is about the abundant life which Christ promised. It is about evangelism and discipleship and integral mission and social justice. This is God’s comprehensive, holistic, renewal, far wider and deeper than we had expected, and he desires it to be at the heart of our church. He has come to us with power, yet he has also dealt with us gently and naturally.
We have been here to learn, and God has blessed us with some wonderful speakers. We have learnt that ‘the plural of disciple is church’, and that we need to move from being ‘welcoming’ to ‘inviting’ churches. We have learnt to have courage in God’s love not to minister from the damaged, wounded, places of our lives (which so often leads us to damage and wound others) but to live out of a brokenness that finds its place in the brokenness of Christ upon the cross, and shares in the weeping of God the Father for his children and his world. We have also learnt that power and authority belong to God, not to us, no matter what position we have. It is God’s gift. We must hold power lightly and share it.
We’ve also learnt that God will hold us, safe in his love, when life brings difficulties or obstacles, as inevitably happens. So we will not be afraid when everything seems to grind to a halt – if God says wait, then we will wait, but keep listening and ready to learn more. We will have courage to see the issues that we battle with as stepping stones not stumbling blocks, believing that God lets them come to us so that he can teach us what it means to take us through them to a better place. We’ve learnt that we should trust God to take us through our fears; to cleanse us from shame; to take our hardness and dissolve it in his cleansing waters of life. We have heard his call to let go of – or allow him to prune – all that holds us back.
We believe our time together has delighted the heart of God. God has given us a fuller vision, not only of being ‘Anglicans who ACT’, but of what we might become if we dare to live into the fullness of all that Anglicanism can be in Southern Africa, under God’s grace. In this way, he is calling us to become more, not less, Anglican! We have been the largest, and most diverse, gathering from across ACSA that anyone can remember: we have enjoyed being together as Archbishop and 12 more bishops and bishops-elect, as clergy, as religious, as laity, and as young people (we acknowledge that we have not had children among us, but affirm that the promise of God’s vision is for our children also). We have experienced God’s love breaking down the barriers of the social, political and historic divisions within our nations, and breaking down the differences of tradition, style, and labelling within our church. ‘God’s love is the glue that holds us together’ the Archbishop told us on our first evening, and we have come to know the truth of this for ourselves.
We believe this holding together in joyful, celebrated, diversity is a precious gift which God calls Anglicans to model to the world around us. It is as if we have experienced a foretaste of what the societies of our nation have the potential to become. For we have found ourselves enriched by one another, and know we have more to learn from each other. We have been delighted to experience something of what it means to live with this ‘mixed economy’ of church identity (as we heard Archbishop Rowan has described the best of our historic traditions alongside authentically Anglican newer forms of worship and church life), as we share together, anchored in the love of Christ. We have heard a clear call to hold on to the new links we have forged across old divides, as we go from here to our homes.
We thank God for the great blessing he has brought us through our times of worship (including our early morning Eucharists), and through our praying with and for one another. We have especially enjoyed having so many young people with us. As was said, their passion and energy, when joined with the wisdom of experience, is a winning combination!
Our time together has been significant. It has truly become a turning point. We have been changed, and our church has been changed. We have received a wonderful vision from God for our future, ‘a vision for the appointed time; and if it seems to tarry, we will wait for it, for it will surely come, it will not delay.’ We know we will face many challenges when we go home, even within ACSA. We are also more than aware of the enormous challenges in our communities and nations, and of the huge and ever faster changes our world is experiencing. But we are not daunted. We know that our calling is to keep listening to God, and to be faithful and obedient, and open to God’s leading, and then to leave it to him to ‘do his bit’, recalling that ‘Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
We also believe that God is calling us ‘to bless and not to curse’: to step back from the critical habits of contemporary society and stop complaining about our church, our societies and our governments. Where we see faults and failings, we should instead be beacons of light and hope, and bearers of God’s redemptive promises. ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise’ we will let our minds dwell on, and our mouths speak of, such things.
Deep within us, our spirits speak in the words of the song that has been so significant during our time together: ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul.’ In our listening, praying and speaking, we have felt God offer images of holy fire and living water: flames that blaze, with flying sparks that spread the fire, and a flaming arrow pointing the way ahead; and waters that cleanse like wetlands, or dissolve hardness, or well up in unquenchable life-giving springs.
We are learning we need to be increasingly anchored in the love of Christ. We have learnt not only to say ‘God is good, all the time’, but also ‘God is love, all the time’ and ‘God loves us, all the time’ and ‘God loves me, all the time.’ And, having learnt this lesson, we have heard the voice of God coming to us as it came to Moses and the ancient Hebrew people, ‘You have been in this place long enough – it is time to break camp, and move on.’ Amen.
Some Bible Passages
Deut 1:6 – We have been here long enough: now is the time to break camp, and move on.
Habbakuk 2:3 – ‘… a vision for the appointed time … If it seems to tarry, wait for it: it will surely come, it will not delay.’
Haggai – Rebuilding the Temple
Luke 5:38 – new wine in new wineskins
John 15 – ‘Abide in my love’ …
Romans 12:2 – ‘…be transformed by the renewing of your minds’
I Cor 3:6 – ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
Phil 4:6-8 – ‘Whatever is true .. honourable … just … pure … pleasing … commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’
1 John, especially 3:14–4:21 – ‘God is love’ … ‘We love because he first loved us’ …
Some Quotes from Speakers
Bishop Graham Cray: ‘Mission will never be effective without authentic discipleship; and discipleship will never be taken seriously unless we engage in mission’ and ‘Renewal without mission is self- indulgence; mission without renewal becomes legalistic or triumphalist or disillusioned.’
‘Our theology would improve if we thought more of the church being given to the Spirit, than of the Spirit being given to the church.' John V Taylor
‘To God be the glory, great things he has done …’ This song rang in my heart at the beginning of this month, when, with 1400 of you, I was at the Anglicans Ablaze Conference in Johannesburg. It was a remarkable time together, deeply spiritually moving, and stirring heart and mind with profound teaching from wonderful speakers.
Though we come together in far larger numbers in our Dioceses, this was the largest pan-ACSA gathering anyone can remember. It was all I hoped it might be, and much more – for God never ceases to surprise us, even if we know in our heads that he delights to do ‘immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine’ (Eph 3:20). I have longed for us to find ways to celebrate the best of our traditions, including in liturgy, alongside other forms of faith and worship which equally exemplify authentic Anglicanism; all accepted as part of our legitimate diversity. Well, we certainly enjoyed this, as you will know if you’ve seen pictures of Bishop Martin Breytenbach playing his guitar while wearing a cope! Our worship was both properly dignified, and yet lively and exuberant in our response to God’s love poured out upon us.
It was an amazing celebration of the goodness of God, and of our distinctive though challenging Anglican calling. For it seems to me that our ability to hold together in love, and overcome barriers (whether ‘secular’, of politics, history, race, language and so forth, or ‘church’, of styles and traditions) can be an icon, modelling the societies God calls us to promote across the Province. I left Bryanston a changed person, and believe our church has also been changed, by God’s grace. It was as if God gave us a taste of the holistic renewal he desires to bring to us – across every aspect of the life of faith, from evangelism to discipleship to mission to social justice to the environment. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it’ says the Psalmist, and there is no aspect of human living that God does not want to redeem and renew.
How shall we take forward this excitement, this teaching, this inspiring sense of newness of life for us all (which feels like a personal challenge of ‘re-evangelisation’ to each of us, to take our faith ‘to the next level’), and share it across our Province? I am sure that those who were in Johannesburg will already have begun to do this. The celebration of the Anglicans ACT Vision (at the heart of Anglicans Ablaze), on 25 November, is another opportunity. I also invite you to read, prayerfully and reflectively, the ‘Message to the Church’ in which the Listening Team summed up so much of what God did for us during our time in Bryanston. This follows on below my letter.
By the time you read this, I shall be heading for New Zealand, to the Anglican Consultative Council, for which I ask your prayers. The ACC is, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, and the Primates’ Meeting, one of our ‘Instruments of Communion’. Meeting every 3 years, it brings together ordained and lay representatives from all 38 Anglican Churches, and so is the only body not made up of just bishops! Revd Canon Janet Trisk and Mrs Louisa Mojela are our other representatives. From 27 October to 7 November we will have a busy time discussing a great range of subjects in the life and mission of the global Anglican family.
The agenda includes the current state of the Anglican Communion, and the decisions made so far by churches on whether to adopt the Anglican Covenant, as well as looking at relations with other churches and the work of a host of global Anglican networks. One of these is the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN), which I chair, and there will be a major presentation around its work. Other major topics on the agenda include inter-faith relations, countering gender-based violence, communications, and Christian witness in contemporary contexts.
The environment has been much on my mind recently – not least the need to plant a growing number of trees to offset my extensive travel (I am fully aware of the irony of this, and the need, highlighted at PSC, to use technology to reduce our travel ‘footprint’). This planting is part of a radical overhaul of Bishopscourt’s gardens, in which, with the help of the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s ‘Early Detection and Rapid Response’ Team, we are steadily clearing out invasive alien species that threaten to overrun us, and to suck up all the ground water. I wish that my predecessors had realised 30 years ago how vital this task is. If it had been tackled then, it would have been a far easier and far cheaper job. I encourage all of you who have any gardens or land, to take special care in your stewardship of them.
Various speakers at an event this week to encourage such ‘weedbusting’ highlighted how poor care of our environment exacerbates poverty in direct and indirect ways. This is a theme in the seven studies ‘Sabbath Reflections: Capitalism and Inequity versus a Gospel Mandate’ which we will formally launch at ACC. In these, my predecessor as chair, Bishop George Browning, considers how contemporary societies must ‘address rapidly growing inequity and ... confront an economic system which operates as if resources are infinite and humanity can somehow exist as if it is not part of an unfolding ecological crisis.’ He explores how a fresh understanding and practice of the biblical concept of Sabbath can reconnect economics to ethics, and shape human society in a manner that is consistent with the creation upon which it depends. These are vital questions we must face, if we are to ensure that it is not ‘business as usual’ in our international financial structures. There needs to be a radical overhaul if we are to reverse the shocking trends of growing inequality and economic injustice through which a small minority can become ridiculously wealthy at the expense of the poorest, and even of the middle classes. If you are interested in downloading these studies, you will find them at http://acen.anglicancommunion.org/resources/documents.cfm.
Yours in the service of Christ
+Thabo Cape Town
Anglicans Ablaze: ‘Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, Transformed by the Holy Spirit’
Message from the Listening Group - Johannesburg, 3-6 October 2012
We came, close to 1400 of us, because we wanted to be, and wanted the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to be, Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, Transformed by the Holy Spirit – believing this is not just our vision, but God’s vision for us.
We came with excitement, anticipation, commitment; even if a little unsure of what to expect, perhaps a bit lost or fearful, or aware of obstacles in our lives and in our church. But we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and has done far more than we could ever ask or imagine! God is love, and has met us in love, and called on us to abide in his love.
God offered us a turning point, and we have found it so: a turning point for many individuals, and for our church, which may also go on to become a turning point for our parishes, our communities, our nations.
It has been a time of renewal, of genuine renewal, as God sees it. It brings cleansing, healing, wholeness and newness of life for us, in every aspect of what it is to be human, made in the image of God, sharing in the body of Christ, loving our neighbours and God’s world. It is renewal that is about the abundant life which Christ promised. It is about evangelism and discipleship and integral mission and social justice. This is God’s comprehensive, holistic, renewal, far wider and deeper than we had expected, and he desires it to be at the heart of our church. He has come to us with power, yet he has also dealt with us gently and naturally.
We have been here to learn, and God has blessed us with some wonderful speakers. We have learnt that ‘the plural of disciple is church’, and that we need to move from being ‘welcoming’ to ‘inviting’ churches. We have learnt to have courage in God’s love not to minister from the damaged, wounded, places of our lives (which so often leads us to damage and wound others) but to live out of a brokenness that finds its place in the brokenness of Christ upon the cross, and shares in the weeping of God the Father for his children and his world. We have also learnt that power and authority belong to God, not to us, no matter what position we have. It is God’s gift. We must hold power lightly and share it.
We’ve also learnt that God will hold us, safe in his love, when life brings difficulties or obstacles, as inevitably happens. So we will not be afraid when everything seems to grind to a halt – if God says wait, then we will wait, but keep listening and ready to learn more. We will have courage to see the issues that we battle with as stepping stones not stumbling blocks, believing that God lets them come to us so that he can teach us what it means to take us through them to a better place. We’ve learnt that we should trust God to take us through our fears; to cleanse us from shame; to take our hardness and dissolve it in his cleansing waters of life. We have heard his call to let go of – or allow him to prune – all that holds us back.
We believe our time together has delighted the heart of God. God has given us a fuller vision, not only of being ‘Anglicans who ACT’, but of what we might become if we dare to live into the fullness of all that Anglicanism can be in Southern Africa, under God’s grace. In this way, he is calling us to become more, not less, Anglican! We have been the largest, and most diverse, gathering from across ACSA that anyone can remember: we have enjoyed being together as Archbishop and 12 more bishops and bishops-elect, as clergy, as religious, as laity, and as young people (we acknowledge that we have not had children among us, but affirm that the promise of God’s vision is for our children also). We have experienced God’s love breaking down the barriers of the social, political and historic divisions within our nations, and breaking down the differences of tradition, style, and labelling within our church. ‘God’s love is the glue that holds us together’ the Archbishop told us on our first evening, and we have come to know the truth of this for ourselves.
We believe this holding together in joyful, celebrated, diversity is a precious gift which God calls Anglicans to model to the world around us. It is as if we have experienced a foretaste of what the societies of our nation have the potential to become. For we have found ourselves enriched by one another, and know we have more to learn from each other. We have been delighted to experience something of what it means to live with this ‘mixed economy’ of church identity (as we heard Archbishop Rowan has described the best of our historic traditions alongside authentically Anglican newer forms of worship and church life), as we share together, anchored in the love of Christ. We have heard a clear call to hold on to the new links we have forged across old divides, as we go from here to our homes.
We thank God for the great blessing he has brought us through our times of worship (including our early morning Eucharists), and through our praying with and for one another. We have especially enjoyed having so many young people with us. As was said, their passion and energy, when joined with the wisdom of experience, is a winning combination!
Our time together has been significant. It has truly become a turning point. We have been changed, and our church has been changed. We have received a wonderful vision from God for our future, ‘a vision for the appointed time; and if it seems to tarry, we will wait for it, for it will surely come, it will not delay.’ We know we will face many challenges when we go home, even within ACSA. We are also more than aware of the enormous challenges in our communities and nations, and of the huge and ever faster changes our world is experiencing. But we are not daunted. We know that our calling is to keep listening to God, and to be faithful and obedient, and open to God’s leading, and then to leave it to him to ‘do his bit’, recalling that ‘Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
We also believe that God is calling us ‘to bless and not to curse’: to step back from the critical habits of contemporary society and stop complaining about our church, our societies and our governments. Where we see faults and failings, we should instead be beacons of light and hope, and bearers of God’s redemptive promises. ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise’ we will let our minds dwell on, and our mouths speak of, such things.
Deep within us, our spirits speak in the words of the song that has been so significant during our time together: ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul.’ In our listening, praying and speaking, we have felt God offer images of holy fire and living water: flames that blaze, with flying sparks that spread the fire, and a flaming arrow pointing the way ahead; and waters that cleanse like wetlands, or dissolve hardness, or well up in unquenchable life-giving springs.
We are learning we need to be increasingly anchored in the love of Christ. We have learnt not only to say ‘God is good, all the time’, but also ‘God is love, all the time’ and ‘God loves us, all the time’ and ‘God loves me, all the time.’ And, having learnt this lesson, we have heard the voice of God coming to us as it came to Moses and the ancient Hebrew people, ‘You have been in this place long enough – it is time to break camp, and move on.’ Amen.
Some Bible Passages
Deut 1:6 – We have been here long enough: now is the time to break camp, and move on.
Habbakuk 2:3 – ‘… a vision for the appointed time … If it seems to tarry, wait for it: it will surely come, it will not delay.’
Haggai – Rebuilding the Temple
Luke 5:38 – new wine in new wineskins
John 15 – ‘Abide in my love’ …
Romans 12:2 – ‘…be transformed by the renewing of your minds’
I Cor 3:6 – ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
Phil 4:6-8 – ‘Whatever is true .. honourable … just … pure … pleasing … commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’
1 John, especially 3:14–4:21 – ‘God is love’ … ‘We love because he first loved us’ …
Some Quotes from Speakers
Bishop Graham Cray: ‘Mission will never be effective without authentic discipleship; and discipleship will never be taken seriously unless we engage in mission’ and ‘Renewal without mission is self- indulgence; mission without renewal becomes legalistic or triumphalist or disillusioned.’
‘Our theology would improve if we thought more of the church being given to the Spirit, than of the Spirit being given to the church.' John V Taylor
Sunday, 14 October 2012
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
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
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Anglicans Ablaze - Overview from Listening Group
The Anglicans Ablaze conference was a wonderful, inspiring time! Here is the overview given by the Listening Team during the closing Eucharist on 6 October 2012.
We came, close to 1400 of us, because we wanted to be, and wanted the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to be, Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, Transformed by the Holy Spirit – believing this is not just our vision, but God’s vision for us.
We came with excitement, anticipation, commitment; even if a little unsure of what to expect, perhaps a bit lost or fearful, or aware of obstacles in our lives and in our church. But we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and has done far more than we could ever ask or imagine! God is love, and has met us in love, and called on us to abide in his love.
God offered us a turning point, and we have found it so: a turning point for many individuals, and for our church, which may also go on to become a turning point for our parishes, our communities, our nations.
It has been a time of renewal, of genuine renewal, as God sees it. It brings cleansing, healing, wholeness and newness of life for us, in every aspect of what it is to be human, made in the image of God, sharing in the body of Christ, loving our neighbours and God’s world. It is renewal that is about the abundant life which Christ promised. It is about evangelism and discipleship and integral mission and social justice. This is God’s comprehensive, holistic, renewal, far wider and deeper than we had expected, and he desires it to be at the heart of our church. He has come to us with power, yet he has also dealt with us gently and naturally.
We have been here to learn, and God has blessed us with some wonderful speakers. We have learnt that ‘the plural of disciple is church’, and that we need to move from being ‘welcoming’ to ‘inviting’ churches. We have learnt to have courage in God’s love not to minister from the damaged, wounded, places of our lives (which so often leads us to damage and wound others) but to live out of a brokenness that finds its place in the brokenness of Christ upon the cross, and shares in the weeping of God the Father for his children and his world. We have also learnt that power and authority belong to God, not to us, no matter what position we have. It is God’s gift. We must hold power lightly and share it.
We’ve also learnt that God will hold us, safe in his love, when life brings difficulties or obstacles, as inevitably happens. So we will not be afraid when everything seems to grind to a halt – if God says wait, then we will wait, but keep listening and ready to learn more. We will have courage to see the issues that we battle with as stepping stones not stumbling blocks, believing that God lets them come to us so that he can teach us what it means to take us through them to a better place. We’ve learnt that we should trust God to take us through our fears; to cleanse us from shame; to take our hardness and dissolve it in his cleansing waters of life. We have heard his call to let go of – or allow him to prune – all that holds us back.
We believe our time together has delighted the heart of God. God has given us a fuller vision, not only of being ‘Anglicans who ACT’, but of what we might become if we dare to live into the fullness of all that Anglicanism can be in Southern Africa, under God’s grace. In this way, he is calling us to become more, not less, Anglican! We have been the largest, and most diverse, gathering from across ACSA that anyone can remember: we have enjoyed being together as Archbishop and 12 more bishops and bishops-elect, as clergy, as religious, as laity, and as young people (we acknowledge that we have not had children among us, but affirm that the promise of God’s vision is for our children also). We have experienced God’s love breaking down the barriers of the social, political and historic divisions within our nations, and breaking down the differences of tradition, style, and labelling within our church. ‘God’s love is the glue that holds us together’ the Archbishop told us on our first evening, and we have come to know the truth of this for ourselves.
We believe this holding together in joyful, celebrated, diversity is a precious gift which God calls Anglicans to model to the world around us. It is as if we have experienced a foretaste of what the societies of our nation have the potential to become. For we have found ourselves enriched by one another, and know we have more to learn from each other. We have been delighted to experience something of what it means to live with this ‘mixed economy’ of church identity (as we heard Archbishop Rowan has described the best of our historic traditions alongside authentically Anglican newer forms of worship and church life), as we share together, anchored in the love of Christ. We have heard a clear call to hold on to the new links we have forged across old divides, as we go from here to our homes.
We thank God for the great blessing he has brought us through our times of worship (including our early morning Eucharists), and through our praying with and for one another. We have especially enjoyed having so many young people with us. As was said, their passion and energy, when joined with the wisdom of experience, is a winning combination!
Our time together has been significant. It has truly become a turning point. We have been changed, and our church has been changed. We have received a wonderful vision from God for our future, ‘a vision for the appointed time; and if it seems to tarry, we will wait for it, for it will surely come, it will not delay.’ We know we will face many challenges when we go home, even within ACSA. We are also more than aware of the enormous challenges in our communities and nations, and of the huge and ever faster changes our world is experiencing. But we are not daunted. We know that our calling is to keep listening to God, and to be faithful and obedient, and open to God’s leading, and then to leave it to him to ‘do his bit’, recalling that ‘Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
We also believe that God is calling us ‘to bless and not to curse’: to step back from the critical habits of contemporary society, and stop complaining about our church, our societies and our governments. Where we see faults and failings, we should instead be beacons of light and hope, and bearers of God’s redemptive promises. ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise’ we will let our minds dwell on, and our mouths speak of, such things.
Deep within us, our spirits speak in the words of the song that has been so significant during our time together: ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul.’ In our listening, praying and speaking, we have felt God offer images of holy fire and living water: flames that blaze, with flying sparks that spread the fire, and a flaming arrow pointing the way ahead; and waters that cleanse like wetlands, or dissolve hardness, or well up in unquenchable life-giving springs.
We are learning we need to be increasingly anchored in the love of Christ. We have learnt not only to say ‘God is good, all the time’, but also ‘God is love, all the time’ and ‘God loves us, all the time’ and ‘God loves me, all the time.’ And, having learnt this lesson, we have heard the voice of God coming to us as it came to Moses and the ancient Hebrew people, ‘You have been in this place long enough – it is time to break camp, and move on.’ Amen.
Some Bible Passages
Deut 1:6 – We have been here long enough: now is the time to break camp, and move on.
Habbakuk 2:3 – ‘… a vision for the appointed time … If it seems to tarry, wait for it: it will surely come, it will not delay.’
Haggai – Rebuilding the Temple
Luke 5:38 – new wine in new wineskins
John 15 – ‘Abide in my love’ …
Romans 12:2 – ‘…be transformed by the renewing of your minds’
I Cor 3:6 – ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
Phil 4:6-8 – ‘Whatever is true .. honourable … just … pure … pleasing … commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’
1 John, especially 3:14–4:21 – ‘God is love’ … ‘We love because he first loved us’ …
Some Quotes from Speakers
Bishop Graham Cray: ‘Mission will never be effective without authentic discipleship; and discipleship will never be taken seriously unless we engage in mission’ and ‘Renewal without mission is self- indulgence; mission without renewal becomes legalistic or triumphalist or disillusioned.’
‘Our theology would improve if we thought more of the church being given to the Spirit, than of the Spirit being given to the church.' John V Taylor
We came, close to 1400 of us, because we wanted to be, and wanted the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to be, Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, Transformed by the Holy Spirit – believing this is not just our vision, but God’s vision for us.
We came with excitement, anticipation, commitment; even if a little unsure of what to expect, perhaps a bit lost or fearful, or aware of obstacles in our lives and in our church. But we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and has done far more than we could ever ask or imagine! God is love, and has met us in love, and called on us to abide in his love.
God offered us a turning point, and we have found it so: a turning point for many individuals, and for our church, which may also go on to become a turning point for our parishes, our communities, our nations.
It has been a time of renewal, of genuine renewal, as God sees it. It brings cleansing, healing, wholeness and newness of life for us, in every aspect of what it is to be human, made in the image of God, sharing in the body of Christ, loving our neighbours and God’s world. It is renewal that is about the abundant life which Christ promised. It is about evangelism and discipleship and integral mission and social justice. This is God’s comprehensive, holistic, renewal, far wider and deeper than we had expected, and he desires it to be at the heart of our church. He has come to us with power, yet he has also dealt with us gently and naturally.
We have been here to learn, and God has blessed us with some wonderful speakers. We have learnt that ‘the plural of disciple is church’, and that we need to move from being ‘welcoming’ to ‘inviting’ churches. We have learnt to have courage in God’s love not to minister from the damaged, wounded, places of our lives (which so often leads us to damage and wound others) but to live out of a brokenness that finds its place in the brokenness of Christ upon the cross, and shares in the weeping of God the Father for his children and his world. We have also learnt that power and authority belong to God, not to us, no matter what position we have. It is God’s gift. We must hold power lightly and share it.
We’ve also learnt that God will hold us, safe in his love, when life brings difficulties or obstacles, as inevitably happens. So we will not be afraid when everything seems to grind to a halt – if God says wait, then we will wait, but keep listening and ready to learn more. We will have courage to see the issues that we battle with as stepping stones not stumbling blocks, believing that God lets them come to us so that he can teach us what it means to take us through them to a better place. We’ve learnt that we should trust God to take us through our fears; to cleanse us from shame; to take our hardness and dissolve it in his cleansing waters of life. We have heard his call to let go of – or allow him to prune – all that holds us back.
We believe our time together has delighted the heart of God. God has given us a fuller vision, not only of being ‘Anglicans who ACT’, but of what we might become if we dare to live into the fullness of all that Anglicanism can be in Southern Africa, under God’s grace. In this way, he is calling us to become more, not less, Anglican! We have been the largest, and most diverse, gathering from across ACSA that anyone can remember: we have enjoyed being together as Archbishop and 12 more bishops and bishops-elect, as clergy, as religious, as laity, and as young people (we acknowledge that we have not had children among us, but affirm that the promise of God’s vision is for our children also). We have experienced God’s love breaking down the barriers of the social, political and historic divisions within our nations, and breaking down the differences of tradition, style, and labelling within our church. ‘God’s love is the glue that holds us together’ the Archbishop told us on our first evening, and we have come to know the truth of this for ourselves.
We believe this holding together in joyful, celebrated, diversity is a precious gift which God calls Anglicans to model to the world around us. It is as if we have experienced a foretaste of what the societies of our nation have the potential to become. For we have found ourselves enriched by one another, and know we have more to learn from each other. We have been delighted to experience something of what it means to live with this ‘mixed economy’ of church identity (as we heard Archbishop Rowan has described the best of our historic traditions alongside authentically Anglican newer forms of worship and church life), as we share together, anchored in the love of Christ. We have heard a clear call to hold on to the new links we have forged across old divides, as we go from here to our homes.
We thank God for the great blessing he has brought us through our times of worship (including our early morning Eucharists), and through our praying with and for one another. We have especially enjoyed having so many young people with us. As was said, their passion and energy, when joined with the wisdom of experience, is a winning combination!
Our time together has been significant. It has truly become a turning point. We have been changed, and our church has been changed. We have received a wonderful vision from God for our future, ‘a vision for the appointed time; and if it seems to tarry, we will wait for it, for it will surely come, it will not delay.’ We know we will face many challenges when we go home, even within ACSA. We are also more than aware of the enormous challenges in our communities and nations, and of the huge and ever faster changes our world is experiencing. But we are not daunted. We know that our calling is to keep listening to God, and to be faithful and obedient, and open to God’s leading, and then to leave it to him to ‘do his bit’, recalling that ‘Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
We also believe that God is calling us ‘to bless and not to curse’: to step back from the critical habits of contemporary society, and stop complaining about our church, our societies and our governments. Where we see faults and failings, we should instead be beacons of light and hope, and bearers of God’s redemptive promises. ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise’ we will let our minds dwell on, and our mouths speak of, such things.
Deep within us, our spirits speak in the words of the song that has been so significant during our time together: ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul.’ In our listening, praying and speaking, we have felt God offer images of holy fire and living water: flames that blaze, with flying sparks that spread the fire, and a flaming arrow pointing the way ahead; and waters that cleanse like wetlands, or dissolve hardness, or well up in unquenchable life-giving springs.
We are learning we need to be increasingly anchored in the love of Christ. We have learnt not only to say ‘God is good, all the time’, but also ‘God is love, all the time’ and ‘God loves us, all the time’ and ‘God loves me, all the time.’ And, having learnt this lesson, we have heard the voice of God coming to us as it came to Moses and the ancient Hebrew people, ‘You have been in this place long enough – it is time to break camp, and move on.’ Amen.
Some Bible Passages
Deut 1:6 – We have been here long enough: now is the time to break camp, and move on.
Habbakuk 2:3 – ‘… a vision for the appointed time … If it seems to tarry, wait for it: it will surely come, it will not delay.’
Haggai – Rebuilding the Temple
Luke 5:38 – new wine in new wineskins
John 15 – ‘Abide in my love’ …
Romans 12:2 – ‘…be transformed by the renewing of your minds’
I Cor 3:6 – ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’
Phil 4:6-8 – ‘Whatever is true .. honourable … just … pure … pleasing … commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’
1 John, especially 3:14–4:21 – ‘God is love’ … ‘We love because he first loved us’ …
Some Quotes from Speakers
Bishop Graham Cray: ‘Mission will never be effective without authentic discipleship; and discipleship will never be taken seriously unless we engage in mission’ and ‘Renewal without mission is self- indulgence; mission without renewal becomes legalistic or triumphalist or disillusioned.’
‘Our theology would improve if we thought more of the church being given to the Spirit, than of the Spirit being given to the church.' John V Taylor
Monday, 26 September 2011
Anglicans Ablaze - Vulindlela Conference
From 20 to 22 September 2011, around 80 leaders from ACSA renewal movements met in Kwa Mashu, in the Diocese of Natal, under the shared banner ‘Anglicans Ablaze’. Seeking a fresh vision from God for the ongoing renewal of the Anglican Church, they reflected on the Provincial Vision for Anglicans in Southern Africa to be ‘Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, and Transformed by the Holy Spirit.’
The Vulindlela (‘Opening the Way’) conference followed a meeting last year, convened by Bishop Martin Breytenbach, the Province’s liaison bishop, at which representatives of IVIYO, Anglican Renewal Ministries, Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA), New Wine, and Soul Survivor, together with the Provincial Youth Council and Growing the Church, agreed to work together under a common umbrella.
Below is the message of greeting sent by the Archbishop of Cape Town to the Conference, and their reply.
Archbishop's Message to the Anglicans Ablaze ‘Vulindlela’ Conference
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
I greet you all in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour!
Be assured that we shall be remembering you in the Chapel at Bishopscourt as you meet this week – praying that God our Father, through his Spirit, will indeed be setting your hearts on fire with love for him. May he fan into greater flame the gifts he has given you, and ‘Open the Way’ ahead for you within the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, so you may enrich our common life and help us become more fully the people of God whom he is calling us to be.
Please keep me in your prayers also, that I too may listen and respond with faithful obedience, and with joy, to the life and ministry that God sets before me.
Yours in the service of Christ,
+Thabo Cape Town
20 September 2011
Anglicans Ablaze Response
Dear Archbishop Thabo
Warm greetings in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.
First we want to thank you most sincerely for your letter of greetings and well wishes which we received. It meant a lot to us that you took the time and trouble to remember us. It was read out by Bishop Martin and received with warm applause. Many thanks once again.
You will no doubt know that the ACSA vision statement was at the very heart of the program of our meeting together. In the context of prayer and worship we sought to listen to God and to one another. Out of that time, the leaders decided to formulate a brief statement on behalf of the various ministry groups which reads as follows:
“Dear Archbishop Thabo, the leaders of the various formations meeting together in KwaMashu under the banner of “Anglicans Ablaze”, having reflected prayerfully together on the ACSA vision statement, wish to say to you that if our understanding of the statement is correct, then you can be assured of our whole-hearted support both for you and for the working out of that statement. This concise statement is easy to remember, provides clear direction, provides space for bold leadership and we are excited by it.
• We are Anchored in the Love of Christ
• We are Committed to God’s Mission
• We are being Transformed by the Holy Spirit.
We also affirm and express our commitment to the ACSA Mission Statement. Please be assured of our love and prayers. We have been praying for you here and will continue to pray for you, as you asked”.
Yours in the love of Christ,
+Martin St Mark the Evangelist
On behalf of Leaders of Anglicans Ablaze: Iviyo, New Wine, SOMA, GtC, Anglican Youth, Soul Survivor
22 September 2011
Further details are available at http://www.growingthechurch.org.za.
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