Archbishop Thabo's lament for South Africa

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba led a prayer vigil on the steps of St George's Cathedral in Cape Town on Wednesday November 2. He ended the silent vigil, held under the theme "A lament for our beloved country”, with this prayer.

Let us pray:

Lord, where are you in these trying and challenging times and amidst these great developments in our country?

Shakespeare said: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”

Lord, we are living through a time of acute misery, amidst an unprecedented political crisis.

Lord, we know though that South Africa is not broken;

Call for action against xenophobic violence

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has called on Anglicans and other people of faith to join acts of public witness this week against xenophobic violence.

He appealed to the people of Cape Town and Gauteng to join:

• A service at 12 noon on Tuesday April 21 at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, and a silent vigil on the steps of the Cathedral at 1 pm, organised by the Western Cape Religious Leaders' forum;

• A civil society anti-xenophobia rally at 6pm on Wednesday at the Cape Town City Hall, organised by Cosatu; 

• A march in Johannesburg at 1pm on Thursday, beginning at the Peter Roos Park, Empire Road, and ending at Mary Fitzgerald Square in the city, arranged by the People’s Coalition Against Xenophobia & Friends.

• A “One Million March Against Xenophobic Attacks” beginning at 9am on Friday April 24 at the Pretoria City Hall and ending at 11am at Union Buildings in Pretoria. The Archbishop will join Mrs Graça Machel, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Prof. Pitika Ntuli as a speaker.

“Please join me in your numbers,” he asked Anglicans and other South Africans.

“Please pray for an end to xenophobia and for tolerance. Let us be voices of reason, acknowledging the anxiety and desperation which leads to attacks on foreigners.

“Let us look at sustainable ways of removing the conditions which cause these attacks, and each commit ourselves to one act of witness to change the situation.

“We need not fear the future,” he concluded. “During the season of Easter, we celebrate that God in Christ Jesus has overcome sin and death. ”

After issuing a statement on the violence last week, the Archbishop planned this week to join high-level initiatives, including walks of witness against xenophobia in affected areas in Gauteng.

In meetings he held last week with clergy and their spouses, as well as directors and staff of Church children's homes, they shared with me the xenophobia they observed among people they ministered to – including learners and workers – and supported his call for tolerance.

Sermon for the Easter Vigil – St George’s Cathedral Cape Town

Romans 6:3-11; Psalm 118:14-18; Mark 16:1-8

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Sisters and brothers in Christ, may all the fullness of Easter Resurrection life be yours!

It is a great joy to be sharing this Easter celebration with you in the mother church of the Diocese and Province. It is particularly special to be sharing with our Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who for me epitomizes in reality Julian of Norwich’s saying that “...all shall be well, and all manner of thing[s] shall be well.”

Mr Dean, your staff, licensed and unlicensed, the clergy, the wardens, the lay leaders of the Cathedral, those who conduct music and all your other ministries, including the office staff, the cleaners as well as the verger, thank you for all that you are and all that you do.

Everywhere I look, everywhere I go, there is a great anticipation about Easter. Unquestionably, Easter, and Holy Week leading up to Easter, are profoundly personal for Christians everywhere. But why do we celebrate Easter? What makes Easter so intensely important?

Listen to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba's Ash Wednesday sermon

The sermon delivered by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba in St. George's Cathedral on Ash Wednesday, 2015.

Television news report: St. George's Cathedral Midnight Mass - Christmas 2014

A news report by SA Broadcasting Corporation's television news, December 25. The full text of the sermon appears in the next post below:




The SABC's online text report:


Makgoba preaches against inequalities


Thursday 25 December 2014 07:30

SABC

Anglican Arch Bishop Thabo Makgoba says South Africa has become a society that has not only inherited massive inequalities, but also accepts the continuation of inequalities.

Makgoba was preaching during a Midnight Mass at the St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town which ended at 12.30am.

He used his annual Christmas sermon to highlight what he calls a new struggle in South Africa.

According to Makgoba, “We have become a mere driven society which accepts and perpetuates the cruel weight of massive inequality we have inherited.”

He adds that South African society accepts economic inequality, service delivery inequality, healthcare inequality, education inequality and most seriously, the inequality of opportunities.

Makgoba further says South Africa has become a country that has forgotten to become courageous. He told the congregation that South Africans can only become anti-corrupt if they are pro-courage.

In Makgoba's words,"Courage is like fire, it was courage which ignited the old struggle and kept it burning until we emerged from the darkness of apartheid."

He adds: “Courage enables us to set ourselves, our community and our nation on fire and it is the light of courage that we need to rekindle this Christmas. The South Africa that I have lived in, in the last years, has forgotten to be courageous.

"We have allowed ourselves to live in and accept a society that is punished, penalised and severely disciplined for being courageous."