Category: Covenant Sunday

The Church of Christ remains…

CMM, Cape Town / / Covenant Sunday, Sunday Letter

From 1879-1988 there were 17 clergy at Metropolitan Methodist Church
From 1883-1987 there were 17 clergy at Buitenkant Methodist Church
From 1988-2023 there were 8 clergy at Central Methodist Mission
 
Clergy come. Clergy go. The Church of Christ remains…

 

Dear Friends,

This is my final year at CMM.

Methodist ministers are gifted with 5-year commitments in church community. I use the word “gifted” because strictly speaking Methodist ministers are not “employees” of the church. I have never signed a work contract and I would not have a legal leg to stand on at the CCMA. Instead of the church employing clergy, the church gifts clergy with an opportunity to live out their Gospel calling within a specific community of faith. A covenantal, rather than a contractual, relationship exists between Methodist ministers and the Methodist Church. On 26 November 2023 I will complete my third 5-year commitment at CMM. In other words, I will have received three times the normal GIFT! Capital letters don’t get close to the size of this GIFT, but I will use them  in any case. I am so grateful for:

  • The GIFT of exploring what it means to do justice, love mercifully and walk humbly as a community with God in this city.
  • The GIFT of wrestling what it means to be followers of Jesus who said: “What you do to the least, you do to me”.
  • The GIFT of care when I’ve struggled, comfort when in grief, repeatedly forgiven and invited to begin again, when I have missed the mark of love by a mile.
  • The GIFT of welcoming me into your homes and into your lives and above all into your hearts.
  • The GIFT of trusting me with your story and for allowing me to walk a few steps of our journey together.

 

I remember when I arrived here, my mom said to me: “You have new people to love and new people to be loved by”. Mom’s summary of what it means to join and journey with a community is simple and beautiful. To love and be loved is how we become more fully human. Therefore, the greatest GIFT you have given me is the GIFT of deepening my humanity. I will leave CMM at the end of this year more human than when I arrived.

I don’t know what my future plans are yet, but I do have a desire to explore a different rhythm of life. A life with fewer words, especially weekly words. I look forward to exploring silence for a season and then wait and see…

We don’t know who will be replacing me yet. However, the process is underway. As always the Stationing Committee is faced with the challenge to align clergy availability and suitability with the local church and context. It is not an easy task and we offer prayerful hearts for those involved in this process.

As I write to tell you that this is my final year at CMM, I can’t think of a more appropriate day to be renewing our annual Covenant together. First prayed in 1755:

Beloved in Christ, let us once again claim for ourselves this Covenant which God has made with God’s people, and take upon us the yoke of Christ. To take Jesus’ yoke upon us means that we are content for him to appoint us our place and work, and himself to be our reward.

Christ has many services to be done: some are easy, others are difficult; some bring honour, others bring reproach; some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests, others are contrary to both; in some we may please Christ and please ourselves, in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.

Therefore let us make this Covenant of God our own. Let us give ourselves to God, trusting in God’s promises and relying on God’s grace.

Lord God, Holy Lord, since you have called us through Christ to share in this gracious Covenant, we take upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience and, for the love of you, engage ourselves to seek and do your perfect will.

We are no longer our own but yours. I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering*; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I fully and freely yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the Covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

In grace,
Alan

*Please note: The traditional words, “Put me to doing, put me to suffering,” do not mean that we ask God to make us suffer. Rather, they express our desire to do any faithful act regardless of whether there is suffering involved.

Rewilding

CMM, Cape Town / / Covenant Sunday, Holy Communion, Sunday Letter

 

Friends,

I heard the term ‘wild Christianity’ this week. As much as I found it intriguing, I thought it was also sad. For to preface the word Christianity with ‘wild’ is to admit that there is a Christianity that isn’t wild. A bit like prefacing the word ‘theology’ with the word ‘liberation’. If theology isn’t liberating can we really call it theology? But I get it, not all that is called Christianity is wild and not all that is called theology is liberating, therefore the need for one or other adjective to highlight what is now missing.

Even though ‘tame Christianity’ is an oxymoron, the taming of what commonly passes as Christianity cannot be denied. The wild of Christianity is tamed when control replaces curiosity as the primary spiritual value of community and where order and efficiency show freedom and wonder-wandering the door. The wildness of Christianity is most often traded-in for acceptance at the table of the powerful and privileged. At this table holiness is defined by uniformity according to strict criteria of sameness. Here everyone proudly declares: “We are one because we are the same”.  Throughout the ages Jesus has made it his business to rewild these tables. In fact he has been known to wildly overturn them. For those of us who covet sameness – we have been warned.

On Friday I was gifted with an opportunity to join in a tea* ceremony in one of the newly occupied shop spaces belonging to CMM. I have been asked what a tea ceremony is. Well, I am not sure, except to say …tea is made with love, poured with love, served with love and then sipped with love in the hope of tasting love. Anyway, for the tea ceremony Derek Gripper played his guitar … as always … in love, by love and for love.

Afterward he explained a little of the history of the tea ceremony. Its origins of simplicity only later to be tamed within a stiff fancy orderliness. He spoke too about how the guitar as an instrument had also been tamed over time. Originally it was an instrument for the bar and pub that would never have been allowed to (dis)grace a concert hall. Similar to the history of Methodist hymns that originated in pubs sung by less than sober beer drinkers and now tamed by Sunday choirs in suit and tie.

The once wild, now tame, needs rewilding. Of this environmentalists (https://www.rewildingmag.com) say Amen.

Today we join together as a community to renew our Covenant with the un-tame-able God. These Covenanting words truly are wild. I do fear that our familiarity with them however, may have tamed them. And so I pray that the Spirit that blows where it wills, comes and rewilds this Covenant in our hearts today.

With grace,
Alan

*Hibiscus tea from Burkino Fasso in memory and celebration of Malidoma Some who wrote “Of water and the spirit.”

 

THE COVENANT

Beloved in Christ, let us once again claim for ourselves this Covenant which God has made with God’s people, and take upon us the yoke of Christ.

To take Jesus’ yoke upon us means that we are content for him to appoint us our place and work, and himself to be our reward.

Christ has many services to be done: some are easy, others are difficult; some bring honour, others bring reproach; some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests, others are contrary to both; in some we may please Christ and please ourselves, in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.

Therefore let us make this Covenant of God our own. Let us give ourselves to God, trusting in God’s promises and relying on God’s grace.

Lord God, Holy Lord, since you have called us through Christ to share in this gracious Covenant, we take upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience and, for the love of you, engage ourselves to seek and do your perfect will.

We are no longer our own but yours. I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering*; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I fully and freely yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the Covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

*Please note: The traditional words, “Put me to doing, put me to suffering,” do not mean that we ask God to make us suffer. Rather, they express our desire to do any faithful act regardless of whether there is suffering involved.

 

Refugee update

CMM, Cape Town / / Covenant Sunday, Epiphany, Sermons

January, 19 2020 Alan Storey: The story in the sentence.
[Psalm 40:1-11; John 1:29-42]

January, 12 2020 Alan Storey: The Beloved Voice.
[Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34; Matthew 3:13-17]

On Sunday the 29th December there was conflict among the refugees – effectively a fallout between the refugee leadership resulting in a split among the refugees into two hostile groups (leaving one group inside the church and the other outside). For about five hours we tried to get the two sides to end the standoff without success. Violence erupted between these two groups in the late afternoon. The police intervened to restore order and to keep the two groups apart. The police remained at the entrance of the Church for nearly a week. It was due to this violence and the continued threat of violence that we decided to cancel the worship service at Central Methodist Mission (CMM) on the 5th January 2020.

And it is due to this violence and continued hostility between groups of refugees that there cannot be a worship service at CMM this Sunday. Therefore, until further notice CMM’s Sunday services will be held at the Observatory Methodist Church at 10am. [Corner: Wesley and Milton Street, Observatory].

The ongoing health and safety risks that exist within the over-crowed sanctuary are exacerbated by the day. As I have repeatedly warned, the sanctuary is no longer a safe space and therefore, asked the people present to vacate. Now on top of these health and safety risks is the unpredictable volatility of the present hostile situation.

This has been a very difficult time and as a church we have struggled to find the balance between providing sanctuary to the refugees while they engage with international bodies and local authorities and take steps to prevent fire hazard and the spread of disease and basically keep people safe. You will know that we have asked the refugees to vacate the sanctuary numerous times. They have not done so. Sometimes simply reneging on their word and at other times due to circumstances beyond their control, like the tragic drowning of the four teenagers in Sea Point.

As the Church we have taken the long road of listening deeply and graciously. However, on the 29th December things changed. The sanctuary was turned into a battle ground by some and our welcoming space into a blockaded fortress. Hospitality was replaced with hostility. As a church we cannot provide sanctuary to violent groups, nor are we equipped to deal with them. It is within this context that as a church we will now pursue other avenues to address this situation.

This matter is not simple. There are layers within layers being played out. We must be able to hold more than one truth at a time and resist the temptation to simplify the situation to a soundbite. We have every right to feel angry and saddened and yet we must guard against our feelings having the final say of how we respond. When our desire for things to “return to normal” becomes greater than our desire for the wellbeing of people – especially the very vulnerable (there are between 50-100 children in the sanctuary) then we need to stop and check ourselves and hold each other accountable to another way, truth and life. A way that attempts to be faithful to Jesus’ call on our living.

As difficult and stressful as all this is I continue to invite you to seek out the gospel-ness of this moment. We must be especially mindful of what moves us: fear or love? May we be alert to complacency and cynicism. At all times let us resist the limiting binary of condoning and condemning and instead seek to honour compassion. Compassion that is ever-open to critique and growth.

This Sunday we break bread together reminding us that we are one body … one body yet broken. We will share the cup of forgiveness … a joyful celebration, yet also a gruesome reminder of blood shed world over. We will remember our Baptism and be thankful as we are invited to accept the good news that we are God’s beloved and to live out the good news for the world that everyone … everyone, is God’s beloved.

Grace, Alan

 

Mercy knows your name

CMM, Cape Town / / Covenant Sunday, Sunday Letter

Grace and mercy to you

Look what arrived in my junk-email box on Thursday morning:

“Dear Beloved,

I am Mrs. Mercy John from United Kingdom, a 60 years old dying woman who was diagnosed for cancer about 4 years ago. I have decided to donate to you for charitable goals. Please get back to me if you are interested in carrying out this task, so that I can give you more details and arrange the release of the funds to you. Hoping to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,
Mrs. Mercy John”

Normally I would send such an email straight to trash, but the sender’s name paused my deleting finger mid-air – as mercy does. And I am glad it did because it gave me an opportunity to read the email in full. I can see why it ended up in my junk mail. It is obviously spam and it is obviously a scam of sorts, but on a fuller reading it does contain great grace. And isn’t it just like grace to attach itself to junk and thereby transforming it into a jewel? So here are The Seven Steps from Junk to Jewel:

  1. Although the email is sent to me it is safe to assume that it was sent to many others. The Phisher of people does not discriminate. In other words, the grace and truth, which it bears is for all and not simply for me. What I am saying is – this is your mail too, yes, Mercy knows your address!
  2. Mercy knows your name. Notice the mail addresses us by our correct name by using our original Baptismal name, spoken from the heavens. We are indeed Beloved. This is 100% accurate.
  3. Read again – slowly – the first five words of greeting: “I am Mrs. Mercy John”. As Moses can confirm God’s name is beautifully fixed in the present: “I AM”. “I AM who I AM”. Mrs. Mercy is probably the most accurate description of I AM. ‘God is Mercy’ is a three-word summary of everything Jesus came to teach us about I AM. John? Yes, we still don’t know who exactly John the letter writer is – but John did pen the most succinct character sketch of I AM ever written. Just read: 1 John 4:7-21.
  4. Mercy resides in the United Kingdom. Obviously. I mean where else? A Kingdom that is united where there is “no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised; slave or free; but Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:11. As Jesus prayed, “That they may be one as we are one”.
  5. Mercy has never been shy to ask for help. In fact, Mercy’s most frequent request is for partners to partner with her in healing this broken world.
  6. Mercy promises to bless us, to donate to us, to give to us. If this is not grace I don’t know what is, but please notice to what end: “for charitable goals”. Yes, not for our own private benefit but for the common good. Mercy invites us to be a conduit of love and justice.
  7. The next line jarred a bit. I was not expecting Mercy to say: “if you are interested in carrying out this task”. How did gift turn into a task between sentences? Yet on reflection, a truer word has not been spoken, for grace is gift that instantly turns into task the moment it is received… and task in turn releases and realises the grace. Like forgiveness: We are forgiven (gift) as we forgive (task).

So Mercy hopes to hear from us. Isn’t that the truth!?
Alan

Banana or Orange?

CMM, Cape Town / / Covenant Sunday, Sunday Letter

1956: “A young 16-year old Hugh Masekela leaping in the air, clutching the trumpet that had been sent to him by Louis Armstrong.”

Photograph by the late Drum photographer Alf Kumalo.

 

Grace and peace to you

The other day I read an article in the Harvard Business Review about how to get people to change. The article explains the “Banana Principle”. It goes like this: On the office counter there are two bowls of fruit for all employees to freely help themselves. A bowl of bananas and a bowl of oranges. Every day without fail the banana bowl is emptied first. And many of the staff who arrive after the bananas are finished, choose to leave without taking an orange even though there are plenty of oranges still to be had. On reflection and research they realised that the reason for this is not because bananas are deemed that much more delicious than oranges, but rather that they are easier to eat. They are easier to manage. Easier to peel. Bananas are less messy than oranges.

So according to the authors, if you want people to start doing something that they are not – give them a banana-like-option. In other words make it easy. And if you want people to stop doing what they are doing – give them an orange-like-option. Make it more difficult or costly, because people employ the principle of the least effort. This is obvious in each of our lives I am sure.

But it raises this question for me: what if the change needed is not easy and cannot be made to be easy? What if the change needed is messy – like much meaningful change is.

This raised another question: is easy really what we want? Surely we have enough insight into our lives to know that easy seldom hits the spot within us that is crying out for transformation.

More than easy I think we desire truth. The truth that we can change. The truth that it is difficult. The truth that it is costly. The truth that it may happen in hidden ways over long periods of time. The truth that we will be helped along by grace again and again.

This is why I think the Covenant Commitment still holds our attention over 250 years after it was first prayed. It holds our attention because it holds the real desires of our heart. In our depths we want truth, not easy. As it states in the introduction: “Christ has many services to be done: some are easy, others are difficult; some bring honour, others bring reproach; some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests, others are contrary to both; in some we may please Christ and please ourselves, in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves.”

Grace,
Alan

 

Covenant Prayer

We are no longer our own but yours O God. 

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering*;

let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,

exalted for you or brought low for you;

let me be full, let me be empty;

let me have all things, let me have nothing;

I fully and freely yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,

You are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the Covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

*NOTE: “Put me to suffering” – does not mean that we are asking God to make us suffer! Rather it means that we are even willing so suffer if that is a consequence of being faithful.

The Gospel according to Yellow and Stripe

Alan / / Covenant Sunday, Sunday Letter

Grace and Peace to you

Hope for the Flowers was one of the first books I remember my mom giving to me. I have never stopped reading it and never stopped trusting in its truth. It could have been called The Gospel according to Yellow and Stripe.

It is about two caterpillars named Yellow and Stripe. Yellow and Stripe were in love with each other. They decided that there was more to life than getting to the top of the caterpillar pile and decided to journey in a new direction. To live for each other instead of themselves and to focus on loving. For caterpillars this meant that they did a lot of hugging – well actually caterpillars don’t hug, they curl. They really are good curlers!

I won’t spoil the whole story for you … but just to say at some point they had to make a big decision. It was full of risk. The decision terrified them both. They had to give up the only life they knew in the hope of a new life they barely thought possible and yet somehow they could not give up the belief that it was possible. They had to die … in order to live more fully — yes even fly.

For me this is the most beautiful and clear picture of the new life that Jesus invites us into when he invites us to walk in his ways. It is a huge risk and it is terrifying. It involves dying to oneself and giving ourselves to each other in love. Just the idea bubbles with promise within my belly — how about yours?

In today’s Covenant Service we are invited to risk giving up our lives for Love’s sake. When we do we die. When we do we are re-born. When we do, we soar like on the wings of eagles … or is it butterflies?

Grace, Alan

Prayerful Preparation

“I shall look at the world through tears.
Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see.
The tears streamed down, and I let them flow as freely as they would,
making of them a pillow for my heart. On them it rested.”

– St Augustine