Blogs

To one man, Jesus said, “You cannot see or enter the kingdom of God without being born again.”

To another he said the way to inherit eternal life is to keep the commandments, and in order to do that, you need to sell all that you have and give to the poor.

January 16 was the third Monday in January, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as observed in the United States of America. Marking this day is in my blood; growing up, I used to attend the festivities hosted by Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, for the wider community in honor of Dr. King. Since living in Africa, the continent of King's ancestors, I've used this day to reflect on the connections between the American story and the South African story, and the place of my own experiences within those larger streams. I do so again now.

“For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed;
nor is anything secret except to come to light” (Mark 4:21-25)

Next to the biblical nativity stories, Dr. Seuss’ story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the most popular stories during Christmas time. This story has been one of my favorites, and it is one that we read, along with the biblical nativity stories, as a family on Christmas Eve.

There has been a raging controversy in the letters column of the Cape Times over the past few weeks about science and religion. You can be sure that this hoary debate will resurface several times a year in the newspapers, and that the same old arguments will recur on both sides. The endless repetition of clichés is tiresome but the heated discussion demonstrates a passionate interest in either denying or defending the existence of God. A comment in one of the letters struck me as a worthy introduction to this meditation.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…” 1 Cor. 1:27

Re-imagining Church for 21st Century South Africa – a somewhat presumptuous title for an article. But I beg your indulgence in my presumption. What makes this article even more presumptuous is that based on some of my thought patterns over the past few years, I would not have imagined myself writing on the church in the 21st Century. My imagination of what church can be like had caused me to be somewhat disenchanted about what I saw church to be like.

Since the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) came into force in 1995, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNCCC has met annually to assess progress in dealing with global climate change. From November 28 until December 9 in Durban, South Africa, the Conference of the Parties will meet again, for the 17th time, thus the title “COP17”.

This evening Isobel and I set off on a five week journey that will take us first to London and then to the United States. I can’t say we are looking forward to the eight flights that lie ahead or waiting in airports and going through security checks and passport controls. But the anticipation of spending time with family and friends explains why we embark on these mad escapades.

Every year on this coming Sunday the parish of St. George’s Cathedral celebrates the life of two heroes of the struggle against apartheid, Steve Biko and Beyers Naudé. This year this coincides with the tenth anniversary of “9/11”, that terrifyingly dark day so deeply etched in our memories. I have been asked to preach in the Cathedral on Sunday so I share some of my preparatory thoughts with you. What do we as Christians say and do in a world of terror and war, violence and vengeance?