The text of remarks by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at Bishops School in Cape Town:
Today we give thanks to God for our founder Bishop Robert Gray and his wife Sophy Gray. Thank you, the Revd Terry Wilke, for the invitation and thank you, Mr Pearson, educators and students for your warm welcome.
Today we celebrate the 169th anniversary of the arrival on our continent of Robert Gray, first Bishop of Cape Town and the founder of this school. As you will hear shortly, in the prayer the Church prays to commemorate him, we remember today “the constancy and zeal” with which he laid firm foundations for Anglicanism in Southern Africa.
Showing posts with label Robert Gray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Gray. Show all posts
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Thursday, 8 May 2014
King Letsie III Renews Family Ties With Bishopscourt
King Letsie III of Lesotho renewed family ties with Bishopscourt going back more than 150 years when he paid a courtesy call on Archbishop Thabo and Mrs Lungi Makgoba in Cape Town on May 2.
He had visited Bishopscourt previously, but said he learned for the first time on this visit that two of his ancestors - the younger sons of King Moshoeshoe I, Tlali and Tsekelo - had studied there. He had known they had been educated in Cape Town, he said, but not that they had been at Bishopscourt.
Tlali and Tsekelo were among the sons and daughters of southern African leaders, among them Maqoma and Sandile of amaRharhabe, who were taken to Cape Town in the late 1850s as part of a project of the British colonial authorities.
They received an education at Bishopscourt in an institution which was first established at the residence of the first Bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray, and which later became Zonnebloem College in District Six.
According to a history of Zonnebloem College by Janet Hodgson, Gray described the aim of the Cape colonial governor, George Grey, in starting the school as being "That England might exercise, through means of an institution which conferred great benefits upon them, her due influence over the native chiefs around us, and at the same time give a high education to those who are likely to influence the destinies of the various tribes within our reach."
For his part, Robert Gray hoped that the students might become "witnesses for Christ to their fellow-countrymen, and, if we qualify them for the work, as schoolmasters, catechists, and we trust also, even as ordained ministers".
Bishop Gray also said the aim of the initiative had been to bring the students into "contact with the highest intelligence and the most striking proof of England's power, and of the advantages of civilization to be got in this country".
PHOTOS by Shaun Cozett: Top, Archbishop Thabo and King Letsie III; Middle, the Archbishop and the King with Mrs Lungi Makgoba; and the King's delegation with Archbishop and Mrs Makgoba and Bishopscourt chief of staff, the Rev Margaret Heyns.
He had visited Bishopscourt previously, but said he learned for the first time on this visit that two of his ancestors - the younger sons of King Moshoeshoe I, Tlali and Tsekelo - had studied there. He had known they had been educated in Cape Town, he said, but not that they had been at Bishopscourt.
They received an education at Bishopscourt in an institution which was first established at the residence of the first Bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray, and which later became Zonnebloem College in District Six.
According to a history of Zonnebloem College by Janet Hodgson, Gray described the aim of the Cape colonial governor, George Grey, in starting the school as being "That England might exercise, through means of an institution which conferred great benefits upon them, her due influence over the native chiefs around us, and at the same time give a high education to those who are likely to influence the destinies of the various tribes within our reach."
For his part, Robert Gray hoped that the students might become "witnesses for Christ to their fellow-countrymen, and, if we qualify them for the work, as schoolmasters, catechists, and we trust also, even as ordained ministers".
Bishop Gray also said the aim of the initiative had been to bring the students into "contact with the highest intelligence and the most striking proof of England's power, and of the advantages of civilization to be got in this country".
PHOTOS by Shaun Cozett: Top, Archbishop Thabo and King Letsie III; Middle, the Archbishop and the King with Mrs Lungi Makgoba; and the King's delegation with Archbishop and Mrs Makgoba and Bishopscourt chief of staff, the Rev Margaret Heyns.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Sermon at St James the Great, Worcester
This sermon was preached at the Patronal Festival of St James the Great, Worcester, on 28 July 2013.
Jeremiah 45; Acts 11:27-12:3, Mark 10:35-45
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, dear People of God of St James the Great, Worcester, dear friends. It is a great joy to be with you as you celebrate your patronal festival!
Thank you, to Fr Victor Adams, for your invitation. Thank you, also, to your wardens; and to everyone else who has contributed to today’s service, and made me feel so welcome. May I also thank you, on behalf of all the other visitors here today. Mr Mayor (Basil Kivedo), I thank you for your welcome – and I am honoured and humbled by the city’s ‘appreciation’ that you are extending to me later today.
154 years is a very long time – and I congratulate you all on celebrating this wonderful anniversary of the founding of St James the Great. When I visit churches such as yours, I am very moved by the knowledge that I am walking in the footsteps of my predecessors – and especially of the first Bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray himself.
As we all remember, Bishop Robert saw his calling as the three-fold – to Preach the Gospel, Build Churches and Plant Clergy. Here in Worcester he did all three: he preached and confirmed on his first two visits, and he encouraged the church to be built, and brought its first Rector, the Revd John Melville Martine, from England.
His first visit was in December 1848. In his journal, he records that he got up at 3am and set off at 4am, to begin the journey from Swellendam, and arrived at 5pm the following afternoon. Well, I am glad that my journey was considerably easier, and that at 3am this morning I was still fast asleep in my own bed!
I’ve been thinking about Bishop Gray, in relation to our gospel reading.
James and John come to Jesus with very ambitious ideas. Their grand desires are rather modified by Jesus’ questions but they still claim commitment to their ambitious goals – to follow him, share in his life, and stay close to him, in the coming of his kingdom. They really have no idea what they are asking, or what they are letting themselves in for. Yet, in a way, in the end they get what they ask for – to drink the cup that Jesus drinks. For they do follow Jesus in faithfulness, faithfulness even to an early death, in the case of James.
And I wonder to what extent Bishop Gray found himself in a similar position. Did he really have any idea what he was letting himself in for when he agreed to become the first Bishop of Cape Town?
It seems from his letters that he had plenty of grand ideas about how he would go about his ministry. But I suspect he found the reality more daunting than he anticipated! Having arrived in the Cape in February 1848, in August he set off on his first visitation. It lasted four months, and he covered nearly 3,000 miles – that is, just a little short of 5,000 kilometres.
Yet in his journal as he finally reached home, he writes a very moving passage. He had set off, he said, ‘enfeebled and worn’, yet returned ‘in strength and health’. His early discouragement had been transformed into optimism. Why? Because, he records, although it had been an extremely demanding time, both physically and spiritually, he had found God at work at every turn.
He wrote (and I paraphrase slightly)
‘I have seen our people, though long neglected, still clinging to their mother church, ready to make great personal exertions and sacrifices … I have seen very remarkable effects resulting from the mere celebration of our holy services – sufficient to prove them to be of God; and apparently showing that God has been pleased to bless the Church in this desolate land with a double measure of his gracious presence …’
He gives thanks to God, who has clearly encouraged him, and given a fresh vision, for all the difficult and demanding work that still lay ahead, and which he pursued with such energy and diligence for the rest of his life.
But to return to today’s gospel passage: often we read it and we warn ourselves against the hot-headedness, and naked ambition of James and John.
Yet today I think I want to preach in favour of this recklessness!
I support the way that, in moments of rash enthusiasm, we can make great commitments, which have us wondering later, what on earth we were thinking! For it seems that God honours whatever is good in this impulse within us. He will keep this fire burning, and help us channel our energies so that, in the end, we do, in a way, achieve what we had yearned for. Most of all, he helps us achieve it in ways that bring glory to God and build his kingdom, rather than bringing glory to us and building our egos! This is God’s invitation and promise to us all.
Let us go back to the gospel reading: the two brothers come to Jesus, with a request. And Jesus responds ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He invites us to bring to him the deepest yearnings of our hearts.
If we step back from superficial desires, what do we find? We long to matter; we want our lives to matter. We want to be noticed, to be acknowledged and loved for who we are. We yearn to be special.
And God wants all of this for us too – but he wants it for us in ways that are good for us, and good for the world. God sees us – he sees us with his eyes of love. We matter to him. And he wants to help us do great things – not necessarily to achieve wealth and status and power. These are the world’s superficial attempt to acquire the deeper riches, and lasting satisfaction, that only God can give. God wants us to live significant, meaningful, lives, which share his love and build his kingdom.
We can see in James and John’s desire to sit beside Jesus in his glory, how our deeper, spiritual, genuine, yearnings get tangled up with the ambitions of the world. But then we see how Jesus steers their desire into commitments that are more closely aligned with the call to follow him – and to be united with Jesus in our Baptism, and following his example of a life of self-giving and faithful service. As we trace the lives of James and John through the gospel, and into the book of Acts, we see how Jesus continues to teach them, and guide them. As they follow him on his last journey to Jerusalem, through Holy Week, and the Last Supper, we see him lead them into greater understanding of who he is, as the Messiah, the Christ; and of what it means to follow him. Then, of course, they meet the risen Jesus; and the Spirit comes upon them at Pentecost, and they are empowered to become leaders of others in the life of faith.
This is the way that God works with us all, if we let him. For myself, I had no idea when I made my first rash commitments to the Church, that God would lead me to Bishopscourt. Yet when I look back, I see his hand at work, again and again: leading me away from avenues that would have been destructive, and nudging me in the right direction.
We have been thinking so much about dear Madiba in recent weeks – and we can see God at work in his life in a similar way. In the last chapters of Long Walk to Freedom, he writes about how first of all it was personal freedom that he sought; then he realised that he should pursue freedom for those discriminated against by apartheid; and finally he saw that freedom was what everyone needed, no matter what their race. And so he records that he realised his life must be dedicated to ‘preaching reconciliation, binding the wounds of our country, engendering trust and confidence’.
It is gospel-shaped stuff.
But I don’t think it was what he had in mind when he first became involved in politics, and helped found the ANC Youth League. Yet the vision that first fired him, nonetheless held the seeds of what became his life of great service. God plants those seeds, and longs to water them, nurture them, tend them – even prune them when we need it – so they may flourish and bear the fruit that will last!
So do not be afraid to set your heart on ambitious goals for God.
St James, who, in our gospel reading, seems to have got it so wrong, became the first great leader of the Church. And his brother, St John, equally hot-headed and misguided, became the first great theologian, writing his gospel, in which he reflects not just on the actions of Jesus’ life, but interprets their meaning and significance for us and for the world. They wanted to lead – but they had to become servants first. Only then could they give the authentic lead that reflects the Lordship of Jesus, the servant king.
So today, let us not be afraid to embrace the great ambitions that God plants within us. Let us dare to think big, and reach far! Let us not be too afraid of our own mixed motives, our complicated hopes and fears, the grip of our egos, and our insecurities. Let us place them all into the hands of God, so he can thin out the weeds and nurture the good seeds until they bear much fruit.
Today, I am very privileged to be honoured by the city of Worcester. But let us dare to imagine what it might mean for every inhabitant of Worcester to receive ‘the freedom of the city’ – freedom from the shackles of poverty, unemployment, and inequality, and from the emotional and spiritual oppression that can overcome any one of us, rich and poor alike.
Let us ask God to dream in us the sort of dreams he dreamt through Madiba – dreams of reconciliation, unity, non-racialism, and lasting peace and justice. Let us share Madiba’s passion for constitutional democracy – and may our passion drive us to live and work for the fuller realisation of all the hope and promise enshrined within our Constitution.
In just over a week we shall be celebrating women’s day. We know that rural women are among the most marginalised people in South Africa. Let us dare to make wild and rash commitments to pursuing genuine equality for all women, and true freedom – including freedom from all forms of violence, and from fears of violence.
And may God turn these commitments into concrete reality.
Dear people of God of St James the Great, today we celebrate 154 years since your foundation. We don’t know the people who first built this church – no doubt they were much like us, ordinary human beings, each with their gifts and their flaws; their ambitions full of mixed motives. But we know this – that God honoured the risks they took, and the sacrifices they made. And over more than a century and a half, that God has been faithful to the generations who followed them, through all the turbulent history of this town, this country.
This same God will be faithful to us in our turn. Like Baruch in our first reading, we may not get what we think we want, and we may not have an easy life – but we will certainly receive God’s guaranteed gift of life, flowing in us and through us for the good of his world.
So today we thank God for all that has been, and for all that is. And we say our Yes to all he has in store for us!
To echo the words of Robert Gray, after his first visit, May God be pleased to continue to bless this Church with a double measure of his gracious presence …’ Amen
Jeremiah 45; Acts 11:27-12:3, Mark 10:35-45
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, dear People of God of St James the Great, Worcester, dear friends. It is a great joy to be with you as you celebrate your patronal festival!
Thank you, to Fr Victor Adams, for your invitation. Thank you, also, to your wardens; and to everyone else who has contributed to today’s service, and made me feel so welcome. May I also thank you, on behalf of all the other visitors here today. Mr Mayor (Basil Kivedo), I thank you for your welcome – and I am honoured and humbled by the city’s ‘appreciation’ that you are extending to me later today.
154 years is a very long time – and I congratulate you all on celebrating this wonderful anniversary of the founding of St James the Great. When I visit churches such as yours, I am very moved by the knowledge that I am walking in the footsteps of my predecessors – and especially of the first Bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray himself.
As we all remember, Bishop Robert saw his calling as the three-fold – to Preach the Gospel, Build Churches and Plant Clergy. Here in Worcester he did all three: he preached and confirmed on his first two visits, and he encouraged the church to be built, and brought its first Rector, the Revd John Melville Martine, from England.
His first visit was in December 1848. In his journal, he records that he got up at 3am and set off at 4am, to begin the journey from Swellendam, and arrived at 5pm the following afternoon. Well, I am glad that my journey was considerably easier, and that at 3am this morning I was still fast asleep in my own bed!
I’ve been thinking about Bishop Gray, in relation to our gospel reading.
James and John come to Jesus with very ambitious ideas. Their grand desires are rather modified by Jesus’ questions but they still claim commitment to their ambitious goals – to follow him, share in his life, and stay close to him, in the coming of his kingdom. They really have no idea what they are asking, or what they are letting themselves in for. Yet, in a way, in the end they get what they ask for – to drink the cup that Jesus drinks. For they do follow Jesus in faithfulness, faithfulness even to an early death, in the case of James.
And I wonder to what extent Bishop Gray found himself in a similar position. Did he really have any idea what he was letting himself in for when he agreed to become the first Bishop of Cape Town?
It seems from his letters that he had plenty of grand ideas about how he would go about his ministry. But I suspect he found the reality more daunting than he anticipated! Having arrived in the Cape in February 1848, in August he set off on his first visitation. It lasted four months, and he covered nearly 3,000 miles – that is, just a little short of 5,000 kilometres.
Yet in his journal as he finally reached home, he writes a very moving passage. He had set off, he said, ‘enfeebled and worn’, yet returned ‘in strength and health’. His early discouragement had been transformed into optimism. Why? Because, he records, although it had been an extremely demanding time, both physically and spiritually, he had found God at work at every turn.
He wrote (and I paraphrase slightly)
‘I have seen our people, though long neglected, still clinging to their mother church, ready to make great personal exertions and sacrifices … I have seen very remarkable effects resulting from the mere celebration of our holy services – sufficient to prove them to be of God; and apparently showing that God has been pleased to bless the Church in this desolate land with a double measure of his gracious presence …’
He gives thanks to God, who has clearly encouraged him, and given a fresh vision, for all the difficult and demanding work that still lay ahead, and which he pursued with such energy and diligence for the rest of his life.
But to return to today’s gospel passage: often we read it and we warn ourselves against the hot-headedness, and naked ambition of James and John.
Yet today I think I want to preach in favour of this recklessness!
I support the way that, in moments of rash enthusiasm, we can make great commitments, which have us wondering later, what on earth we were thinking! For it seems that God honours whatever is good in this impulse within us. He will keep this fire burning, and help us channel our energies so that, in the end, we do, in a way, achieve what we had yearned for. Most of all, he helps us achieve it in ways that bring glory to God and build his kingdom, rather than bringing glory to us and building our egos! This is God’s invitation and promise to us all.
Let us go back to the gospel reading: the two brothers come to Jesus, with a request. And Jesus responds ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He invites us to bring to him the deepest yearnings of our hearts.
If we step back from superficial desires, what do we find? We long to matter; we want our lives to matter. We want to be noticed, to be acknowledged and loved for who we are. We yearn to be special.
And God wants all of this for us too – but he wants it for us in ways that are good for us, and good for the world. God sees us – he sees us with his eyes of love. We matter to him. And he wants to help us do great things – not necessarily to achieve wealth and status and power. These are the world’s superficial attempt to acquire the deeper riches, and lasting satisfaction, that only God can give. God wants us to live significant, meaningful, lives, which share his love and build his kingdom.
We can see in James and John’s desire to sit beside Jesus in his glory, how our deeper, spiritual, genuine, yearnings get tangled up with the ambitions of the world. But then we see how Jesus steers their desire into commitments that are more closely aligned with the call to follow him – and to be united with Jesus in our Baptism, and following his example of a life of self-giving and faithful service. As we trace the lives of James and John through the gospel, and into the book of Acts, we see how Jesus continues to teach them, and guide them. As they follow him on his last journey to Jerusalem, through Holy Week, and the Last Supper, we see him lead them into greater understanding of who he is, as the Messiah, the Christ; and of what it means to follow him. Then, of course, they meet the risen Jesus; and the Spirit comes upon them at Pentecost, and they are empowered to become leaders of others in the life of faith.
This is the way that God works with us all, if we let him. For myself, I had no idea when I made my first rash commitments to the Church, that God would lead me to Bishopscourt. Yet when I look back, I see his hand at work, again and again: leading me away from avenues that would have been destructive, and nudging me in the right direction.
We have been thinking so much about dear Madiba in recent weeks – and we can see God at work in his life in a similar way. In the last chapters of Long Walk to Freedom, he writes about how first of all it was personal freedom that he sought; then he realised that he should pursue freedom for those discriminated against by apartheid; and finally he saw that freedom was what everyone needed, no matter what their race. And so he records that he realised his life must be dedicated to ‘preaching reconciliation, binding the wounds of our country, engendering trust and confidence’.
It is gospel-shaped stuff.
But I don’t think it was what he had in mind when he first became involved in politics, and helped found the ANC Youth League. Yet the vision that first fired him, nonetheless held the seeds of what became his life of great service. God plants those seeds, and longs to water them, nurture them, tend them – even prune them when we need it – so they may flourish and bear the fruit that will last!
So do not be afraid to set your heart on ambitious goals for God.
St James, who, in our gospel reading, seems to have got it so wrong, became the first great leader of the Church. And his brother, St John, equally hot-headed and misguided, became the first great theologian, writing his gospel, in which he reflects not just on the actions of Jesus’ life, but interprets their meaning and significance for us and for the world. They wanted to lead – but they had to become servants first. Only then could they give the authentic lead that reflects the Lordship of Jesus, the servant king.
So today, let us not be afraid to embrace the great ambitions that God plants within us. Let us dare to think big, and reach far! Let us not be too afraid of our own mixed motives, our complicated hopes and fears, the grip of our egos, and our insecurities. Let us place them all into the hands of God, so he can thin out the weeds and nurture the good seeds until they bear much fruit.
Today, I am very privileged to be honoured by the city of Worcester. But let us dare to imagine what it might mean for every inhabitant of Worcester to receive ‘the freedom of the city’ – freedom from the shackles of poverty, unemployment, and inequality, and from the emotional and spiritual oppression that can overcome any one of us, rich and poor alike.
Let us ask God to dream in us the sort of dreams he dreamt through Madiba – dreams of reconciliation, unity, non-racialism, and lasting peace and justice. Let us share Madiba’s passion for constitutional democracy – and may our passion drive us to live and work for the fuller realisation of all the hope and promise enshrined within our Constitution.
In just over a week we shall be celebrating women’s day. We know that rural women are among the most marginalised people in South Africa. Let us dare to make wild and rash commitments to pursuing genuine equality for all women, and true freedom – including freedom from all forms of violence, and from fears of violence.
And may God turn these commitments into concrete reality.
Dear people of God of St James the Great, today we celebrate 154 years since your foundation. We don’t know the people who first built this church – no doubt they were much like us, ordinary human beings, each with their gifts and their flaws; their ambitions full of mixed motives. But we know this – that God honoured the risks they took, and the sacrifices they made. And over more than a century and a half, that God has been faithful to the generations who followed them, through all the turbulent history of this town, this country.
This same God will be faithful to us in our turn. Like Baruch in our first reading, we may not get what we think we want, and we may not have an easy life – but we will certainly receive God’s guaranteed gift of life, flowing in us and through us for the good of his world.
So today we thank God for all that has been, and for all that is. And we say our Yes to all he has in store for us!
To echo the words of Robert Gray, after his first visit, May God be pleased to continue to bless this Church with a double measure of his gracious presence …’ Amen
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Confirmation Sermon
This sermon was preached at the confirmation of young people from Bishops, Herschel, St Cyprian's and St George's Grammar Schools, Springfield Convent, and UCT, held at Bishops on 2 September 2012.
Readings: 1 Ki 2:1-4, 10-12; Eph 6:10-20; Mk 7:1-23
May I speak in the name of God, who calls us all to a life of worship, witness and service. Amen.
Let me start by acknowledging the presence of all the Heads of schools and chaplains here this morning. A special thanks to Mr Nupen , head of Bishops, and chaplain, Revd Terry Wilkie, for hosting us. It is always a joy to come to Bishops, especially for confirmation, and even more especially when one’s own son is being confirmed (sorry for embarrassing you, Nyaki!).
May I repeat my welcome to you all – most of all to you who are being confirmed today; but also to parents and guardians; families and friends; as well as educators, learners and the wider communities of these three, great, Anglican schools, Bishops, Herschel and St Cyprian’s. I also welcome those from St George’s Grammar, Springfield Convent, and, not least, a confirmand from UCT. It is a joy to have you all here.
Yesterday Anglicans in Southern Africa celebrated the life and ministry of Robert Gray – the first Bishop of Cape Town. As I follow in his footsteps I continually thank God for the great foundations he laid, in so many areas of life, and from which we continue to benefit. When he arrived in Cape Town in 1848, he set himself three tasks: to preach the gospel, build churches, and plant clergy. Well, he did all these, and far more besides. Education was one of his other great prioritites – with both Bishops and St Cyprian’s owing their establishment to him, and Herschel and St Georges Grammar following in the same strong tradition of Anglican commitment to excellence in education. So this week, we thank God for Bishop Robert Gray.
Earlier this week we celebrated another great Christian on this continent. St Augustine, who became Bishop of a place called Hippo, which is in current day Algeria – and was one of the most influential theologians of all Christian history. We tend to think of Augustine as a great intellectual. But even more important to him was that he had found God’s love. He knew that, above all, human beings are made for love – to know ourselves loved by God, and then to share that loving care and compassion with others. St Augustine famously wrote ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’
Let’s think about restlessness, in the context of confirmation.
Confirmation is not like passing an exam. It is more like receiving a passport, so you are ready for travel, ready for adventure! God is inviting you to embark, for yourself, on the journey of life. In confirmation, you are responding, saying, ‘Yes, I am ready for the path ahead – and I will make my journey as a citizen of heaven, my allegiance is to God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’
Today begins your journey of taking responsibility for your own life, for your choices about how you will live, what you will do, where your life will take you. St Augustine’s message to you is ‘don’t be afraid of restlessness – let it help guide you where you want to go’. Especially in our teens and our twenties, restlessness is often a large part of life. We are on a voyage of discovery, trying to explore: What do I want to do with life? Who am I really? How shall I become that person? Harness your restlessness, says St Augustine. Tap into the yearning that God has placed deep inside of you: a yearning to live an authentic life, a meaningful life; a desire to ‘be real’, to be ‘connected’.
Our first reading was about the advice King David – very old, about to die – gave to his son Solomon, on how to live well. ‘Follow God’s commands, obey him, and you will prosper in all you do’ he said. Now, we need to be careful here. This does not mean that tick-box, rule-following, behaviour will guarantee you win the lottery and never have a day of sadness!
Both following God, and the prosperity God offers, are far less superficial, far more profound. This is what our Gospel reading was all about. Jesus taught that it is what is inside us, which makes us who we really are. Our attitudes, our thoughts, our dreams, our imagination – these are what shape our words, our actions, and the sort of person we become. How much we earn, how big our car or house, how fancy the title of our job, these things don’t make us who we really are. And anyway, it is well known that money cannot buy happiness. Once people are above the poverty line, more money doesn’t make you more happy. Indeed, more money often brings more worries and more stress!
True success, prosperity, lies in that ‘being real’, that ‘connectedness’ of which I spoke. It is about finding the rest in God, towards which our restlessness urges us. The big question, then, is how do we pursue ‘being real’, that feeling of wholeness and peace?
I want you to think about times when you got that sort of a ‘high’ – a deep inner high of everything coming together. Perhaps it comes with sport – you really know, with every fibre of your being, when your boot, or bat, or racket, has connected just right with the ball. Perhaps it is when you achieve that near-perfect dive, or dance – when you are really in the zone. Perhaps you find that you and your oar; or you and your horse, are moving as one, without having to think about it.
Perhaps it is more of a mental thing – when your brain is on fire as the maths problems, the chess moves, the big ideas, fall into place like pieces in a jigsaw; or it’s like lights going off in your head. Or when you write, and the exact right words flow like a stream, welling up so deep inside, that you hardly know where they are coming from. Or when you create a piece of art that speaks with power. Or when you sing or play an instrument, or compose, and you feel in harmony with the universe.
Do you know that feeling? It is a strange combination of having worked hard to get there, and yet, when it happens, it feels almost effortless! Well, that is what it is like, when our restlessness for God finds rest in him. This is the life that God wants all of us to enjoy – deep peace, when we ‘connect’ with him.
But, like sport and study and music and everything else worthwhile, it takes effort to get to that effortlessness. And our second reading tells us something of what that effort looks like. It tells us to develop good habits that shape our imaginations, attitudes, thoughts, dreams – it tells us to set our hearts and minds on the good things of God. Then they become foundational for us – like a soldier’s armour and equipment, says St Paul. Or we might say like the tools in a toolbox; like the ingredients for the recipes from which our live feeds and we feed others; like the software on which we run, like God’s ‘apps’ for living.
Base your lives on truth, on love, on faith, on trust – and do it with prayer and reading the Bible. Get into the habit of having a running conversation with God about all you do – it is better than talking to yourself inside your head! St Paul also put it in other words in his letter to the Philippians, saying: ‘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, think about these things’ – or, as another translation puts it, ‘let your mind dwell on these things’ (Phil 4:8).
Focus on the good stuff. That’s God’s message. If we let problems shape our lives, we will always be dragged down. If we focus on all that is best, that is what will shape our lives.
Last week, on Thursday, spoke at the Memorial service for the Lonmin miners . It was a sad occasion for all involved. You could feel and touch the pain and sadness around the service and in Marikana itself. I pleaded that politicians should not try to score cheap political points over this tragedy but respect the dead and their loved ones who were in mourning. After the service, somebody came to me and said, Archbishop, thanks for providing the space for us to mourn and wrestle with God, even more than for what you said. This was moving for me indeed. It seemed she was, in essence, expressing thanks for the restlessness and the space to find God even in the midst of pain and this tragedy.
So find time in your life to converse with God. I recently read about a study which reported that people from 18 to 30 years old spend more of their time texting, Blacberry messaging, using Facebook and other social media, than they do actually conversing with other people. This kills the ability to form relationships and risks annihilating the ability to receive this gift of Godly restlessness and rest. The study reports that this group text on average 88 times a day – how can they have adequate time to wrestle about the important thing?! So,ensure you find time and space to inculcate restlessness, for it is in through this that we also find the living and loving God.
Well – I have preached for long enough. It is enough to make anyone restless! So let me end by repeating St Augustine’s words: ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’ Dear Confirmation candidates, may God give you that gift of restlessness, and keep you journeying, until you find your rest in him! Amen.
Readings: 1 Ki 2:1-4, 10-12; Eph 6:10-20; Mk 7:1-23
May I speak in the name of God, who calls us all to a life of worship, witness and service. Amen.
Let me start by acknowledging the presence of all the Heads of schools and chaplains here this morning. A special thanks to Mr Nupen , head of Bishops, and chaplain, Revd Terry Wilkie, for hosting us. It is always a joy to come to Bishops, especially for confirmation, and even more especially when one’s own son is being confirmed (sorry for embarrassing you, Nyaki!).
May I repeat my welcome to you all – most of all to you who are being confirmed today; but also to parents and guardians; families and friends; as well as educators, learners and the wider communities of these three, great, Anglican schools, Bishops, Herschel and St Cyprian’s. I also welcome those from St George’s Grammar, Springfield Convent, and, not least, a confirmand from UCT. It is a joy to have you all here.
Yesterday Anglicans in Southern Africa celebrated the life and ministry of Robert Gray – the first Bishop of Cape Town. As I follow in his footsteps I continually thank God for the great foundations he laid, in so many areas of life, and from which we continue to benefit. When he arrived in Cape Town in 1848, he set himself three tasks: to preach the gospel, build churches, and plant clergy. Well, he did all these, and far more besides. Education was one of his other great prioritites – with both Bishops and St Cyprian’s owing their establishment to him, and Herschel and St Georges Grammar following in the same strong tradition of Anglican commitment to excellence in education. So this week, we thank God for Bishop Robert Gray.
Earlier this week we celebrated another great Christian on this continent. St Augustine, who became Bishop of a place called Hippo, which is in current day Algeria – and was one of the most influential theologians of all Christian history. We tend to think of Augustine as a great intellectual. But even more important to him was that he had found God’s love. He knew that, above all, human beings are made for love – to know ourselves loved by God, and then to share that loving care and compassion with others. St Augustine famously wrote ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’
Let’s think about restlessness, in the context of confirmation.
Confirmation is not like passing an exam. It is more like receiving a passport, so you are ready for travel, ready for adventure! God is inviting you to embark, for yourself, on the journey of life. In confirmation, you are responding, saying, ‘Yes, I am ready for the path ahead – and I will make my journey as a citizen of heaven, my allegiance is to God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’
Today begins your journey of taking responsibility for your own life, for your choices about how you will live, what you will do, where your life will take you. St Augustine’s message to you is ‘don’t be afraid of restlessness – let it help guide you where you want to go’. Especially in our teens and our twenties, restlessness is often a large part of life. We are on a voyage of discovery, trying to explore: What do I want to do with life? Who am I really? How shall I become that person? Harness your restlessness, says St Augustine. Tap into the yearning that God has placed deep inside of you: a yearning to live an authentic life, a meaningful life; a desire to ‘be real’, to be ‘connected’.
Our first reading was about the advice King David – very old, about to die – gave to his son Solomon, on how to live well. ‘Follow God’s commands, obey him, and you will prosper in all you do’ he said. Now, we need to be careful here. This does not mean that tick-box, rule-following, behaviour will guarantee you win the lottery and never have a day of sadness!
Both following God, and the prosperity God offers, are far less superficial, far more profound. This is what our Gospel reading was all about. Jesus taught that it is what is inside us, which makes us who we really are. Our attitudes, our thoughts, our dreams, our imagination – these are what shape our words, our actions, and the sort of person we become. How much we earn, how big our car or house, how fancy the title of our job, these things don’t make us who we really are. And anyway, it is well known that money cannot buy happiness. Once people are above the poverty line, more money doesn’t make you more happy. Indeed, more money often brings more worries and more stress!
True success, prosperity, lies in that ‘being real’, that ‘connectedness’ of which I spoke. It is about finding the rest in God, towards which our restlessness urges us. The big question, then, is how do we pursue ‘being real’, that feeling of wholeness and peace?
I want you to think about times when you got that sort of a ‘high’ – a deep inner high of everything coming together. Perhaps it comes with sport – you really know, with every fibre of your being, when your boot, or bat, or racket, has connected just right with the ball. Perhaps it is when you achieve that near-perfect dive, or dance – when you are really in the zone. Perhaps you find that you and your oar; or you and your horse, are moving as one, without having to think about it.
Perhaps it is more of a mental thing – when your brain is on fire as the maths problems, the chess moves, the big ideas, fall into place like pieces in a jigsaw; or it’s like lights going off in your head. Or when you write, and the exact right words flow like a stream, welling up so deep inside, that you hardly know where they are coming from. Or when you create a piece of art that speaks with power. Or when you sing or play an instrument, or compose, and you feel in harmony with the universe.
Do you know that feeling? It is a strange combination of having worked hard to get there, and yet, when it happens, it feels almost effortless! Well, that is what it is like, when our restlessness for God finds rest in him. This is the life that God wants all of us to enjoy – deep peace, when we ‘connect’ with him.
But, like sport and study and music and everything else worthwhile, it takes effort to get to that effortlessness. And our second reading tells us something of what that effort looks like. It tells us to develop good habits that shape our imaginations, attitudes, thoughts, dreams – it tells us to set our hearts and minds on the good things of God. Then they become foundational for us – like a soldier’s armour and equipment, says St Paul. Or we might say like the tools in a toolbox; like the ingredients for the recipes from which our live feeds and we feed others; like the software on which we run, like God’s ‘apps’ for living.
Base your lives on truth, on love, on faith, on trust – and do it with prayer and reading the Bible. Get into the habit of having a running conversation with God about all you do – it is better than talking to yourself inside your head! St Paul also put it in other words in his letter to the Philippians, saying: ‘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, think about these things’ – or, as another translation puts it, ‘let your mind dwell on these things’ (Phil 4:8).
Focus on the good stuff. That’s God’s message. If we let problems shape our lives, we will always be dragged down. If we focus on all that is best, that is what will shape our lives.
Last week, on Thursday, spoke at the Memorial service for the Lonmin miners . It was a sad occasion for all involved. You could feel and touch the pain and sadness around the service and in Marikana itself. I pleaded that politicians should not try to score cheap political points over this tragedy but respect the dead and their loved ones who were in mourning. After the service, somebody came to me and said, Archbishop, thanks for providing the space for us to mourn and wrestle with God, even more than for what you said. This was moving for me indeed. It seemed she was, in essence, expressing thanks for the restlessness and the space to find God even in the midst of pain and this tragedy.
So find time in your life to converse with God. I recently read about a study which reported that people from 18 to 30 years old spend more of their time texting, Blacberry messaging, using Facebook and other social media, than they do actually conversing with other people. This kills the ability to form relationships and risks annihilating the ability to receive this gift of Godly restlessness and rest. The study reports that this group text on average 88 times a day – how can they have adequate time to wrestle about the important thing?! So,ensure you find time and space to inculcate restlessness, for it is in through this that we also find the living and loving God.
Well – I have preached for long enough. It is enough to make anyone restless! So let me end by repeating St Augustine’s words: ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’ Dear Confirmation candidates, may God give you that gift of restlessness, and keep you journeying, until you find your rest in him! Amen.
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