//Category: News
//The bell, banners & blasphemy – book launch
//
NB: Please note the new starting time.
Books are also available at CMM’s office and in the sanctuary.
The bell, banners & blasphemy – Available Now!
//Alan Storey‘s book – The bell, banners & blasphemy –
is now available from CMM.
The Cape Town Book Launch is on 11 April 2024 at 18.30 at the Book Lounge
(corner Buitenkant & 71 Roeland Streets, Cape Town City Centre)
Durban and Johannesburg launches will follow shortly.
Cost: R300.00 per copy. Delivery charges are additional.
Orders: aslowwalkbooks@gmail.com
Proceeds to Stepping Stones Children’s Centre in Cape Town.
Fast to Reclaim Parliament
//Remove_Sfiso_Buthelezi_and_Corrupt_MPs_-_Endorsement_(2)[1]
Fast to Reclaim Parliament
Remove Sfiso Buthelezi and All Corrupt MPs
Implement Zondo Recommendations
Corruption Causes Hunger
Most working-class people in our country and across the world worry about where their next meal will come from. Millions go hungry every day. The members of our movements, campaigns, organisations and their children go hungry too. State capture, corruption, fraud, mismanagement and maladministration has destroyed most entities such as PRASA, Eskom, Transnet and most departments at all levels of government.
Corruption and greed have cost lives, increased unemployment, inequality and hunger.
BUT we are prepared to show Parliament that hunger will not deter us from struggling to reclaim parliament and #FixTheState.
#UniteBehind, Zackie2024, and Movement for Change and Social Justice (MCSJ) call on you to join our three-day fast outside Parliament on 20-22 Sept 2023.
We take this action because nobody trusts Parliament any longer. Former Presidents Thabo Mbeki, the criminally convicted Jacob Zuma and the current President Cyril Ramaphosa have all promoted and protected corrupt Ministers and MPs.
Sfiso Buthelezi, Robben Island Museum and PRASA
Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of Sfiso Buthelezi who is one of the most senior MPs and the current Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations and responsible for allocating the budget.
Buthelezi is the former chair of the PRASA Board. He orchestrated state capture at the State-Owned Entity (SOE), which caused its ultimate destruction leaving millions of working-class people without safe, affordable, reliable and quality commuter rail services. A former political prisoner himself, Buthelezi tested the blueprint for state capture and corruption at the Robben Island Museum which is a world heritage site and a symbol of resistance to slavery, colonialism and apartheid.
Buthelezi succeeded in paralysing the Robben Island Museum when his ferry company, Autshumatu (Pty) Ltd broke their contract and demanded millions of rands for an inefficient, unaffordable and unreliable ferry service. The capture of the Robben Island Museum Board, management and the deployment of corrupt employees was promoted by Zuma and his state security agents.
The Auditor General, Public Protector, Treasury, Werksmans, the Courts, the Zondo Commission and the Hawks
The Auditor-General, former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, Treasury, Werksmans Attorneys, the Courts, the Hawks and Chief Justice Zondo exposed the role of Buthelezi and the Boards he led, in state capture at PRASA. They recommended that he and they be investigated and charged for his corruption at PRASA. Charges were also laid against Buthelezi and his gang with the Hawks and the National Prosecution Authority.
#UniteBehind filed complaints with Parliament’s Ethics Committee against Buthelezi and five other MPs responsible for PRASA’s demise, as identified by the State Capture Commission of Inquiry. However, Parliament has failed to act on five of the six complaints. Instead of Parliament calling Buthelezi to account, he has remained Chair of the Standing Committee on Appropriations. #UniteBehind is in court against Parliament and the Ethics Committee for secretly protecting the corrupt former Ministers and MPs.
Buthelezi remains protected by the ANC, Parliament, the Hawks and the NPA. Together, we must make his name and face a symbol of corruption.
Today, Sindisiwe Chikunga, the longest serving Deputy-Minister of Transport who was a part of the state capture gang at PRASA is the Minister protecting another corrupt Board.
The Zondo Commission
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector and Organs of State Commission made structural recommendations to create an open, responsive and accountable Parliament that puts the needs of people first through holding the President, Cabinet Ministers and the state accountable.
Chief Justice Zondo recommended that Parliamentary committees’ resources be increased, and an Oversight Advisory section be created. Further, the he recommended that Parliament play a central role in appointing Boards of SOEs, such as PRASA. Parliament has not implemented these and other crucial recommendations.
We are asking individuals, community-based organisations, and political parties to endorse our call for the removal of corrupt MPs and the implementation of the Zondo Recommendations.
We call on you to join our 72-hour fast on 20-22 Sept 2023 for as long as you are able. This call only applies to people who are able to fast.
If you would like to speak or hold an event during the fast, please reach out to us.
Thank you for your support. Let’s reclaim Parliament and #FixTheState together!
Join us at Central Methodist Church, 151 Longmarket St, Cape Town, on Thursday 31 Aug 2023 at 09:30.
#UniteBehind, Movement for Change and Social Justice and Zackie2024 invite you to join our public briefing on state capture at Parliament, our demands and programme for the fast.
Buthelezi and his gang have also taken Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and the Zondo Commission to court. At the public breifing, #UniteBehind will announce the launch of its case to defend Zondo Commission’s findings and further expose Buthelezi and others.
Please send an endorsement of this campaign to include in our programme for the public briefing.
Email:
info@unitebehind.org.za
mymcsj9@gmail.com
campaign.a@zackieachmat.com
Celebrating Archbishop Emeritus Tutu
//
Today we celebrate the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu who died a few hours ago.
We give thanks for his life lived in faithful partnership with God
to heal this broken world:
A life shaped by the character of Jesus.
A life of compassion and justice.
A life of truth and forgiveness.
Archbishop Tutu put flesh on the words from today’s reading from Colossians 3:12-17.
We have a special Yellow Banner that was raised earlier today
in the Archbishop’s honour.
I include a line to a most beautiful and appropriate “hymn” to mark this day:
“It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world…”
(Mary Oliver)
Deep peace, Alan
COVID-19 Message
//Please click on this link for a message on COVID-19 from the Presiding Bishop Rev. Purity Malinga and the Secretary General Rev. Michel Hansrod.
Message from the Presiding Bishop
//Please click on this link to access the message from the Presiding Bishop to all Methodists.
Relocation of Refugees
//2020 04 03 Alan Storey in conversation with John Maytham of CapeTalk 567.
CMM Refugee & Coronavirus Update
//I was informed early in the week that the refugees in the church will be evacuated by Friday. They will be relocated to a designated area determined by the City of Cape Town. The evacuation will be in accordance with the State of Disaster Regulations relating to Covid-19. This is good news because it would be unsafe for people to continue to remain in such a completely overcrowded space, such as the church, during this pandemic. Please pray for all those involved in this transition. It is traumatic for all those involved.
As in the rest of the world, slowing down the spread of Covid-19 is going to be an incredible challenge, and this is why we all need to take the directive to stay at home very seriously. This Lockdown will potentially save tens of thousands of lives. There is no other slowing-down-solution in the world at the moment. I plead with you to stay at home.
The consequences of not going into lockdown are unimaginably dire, but there are also dire consequences that come from this slowing-down-solution. This is what made it such a courageous call by the President. In South Africa this pandemic comes on top of other pandemics like poverty and unemployment and millions of people with compromised immune systems due to TB and untreated HIV. Small and informal businesses are now to close, placing even many of the employed at risk of little or no income. In other words, though we are all vulnerable to Covid-19, many will suffer from the “slowing-down-solution” which will in turn make them more vulnerable to the actual virus. The homeless of Cape Town will have no one to beg from. Their nothing will become less.
One thing is for sure, Covid-19 will expose the ugly face of inequality in the world and especially in SA. I plead with you to consciously keep your heart open to others and creatively reach out in care. I am not sure how we will do this exactly – but I am sure ways will emerge. We can all prepare ourselves to be part of the emergence by praying this prayer: By Your Love, set me free from fear to love. To love, according to our tradition, is to be just, merciful, humble, gentle and generous.
Our fast-from-gathering is not a fast-from-caring. As a church I remind you that “the world is our parish” and we are all ministers. The profound lesson in this crisis is to see the reality of our radical interconnectedness. Only now do we realise how impossible it is to live an untouched life. The truth is that our life is relational or nothing. May this great truth take root in our innermost being (soul) over this time so that it is incarnated by us in the present and into the future.
If you need someone to talk with, please don’t hesitate to call or message me. If you become ill over this time from Covid-19 or any other illness please let me know. Hospital visits are not allowed over this Lockdown period. Funerals are allowed as per the National Disaster Regulations.
Our Lenten fast-from-gathering deepens from tonight at midnight. It is now a forced fast, but I hope we can “freely choose” it as Jesus did [John 10:18].
Like you, I will be discovering along the way how to live these days. To live these days in life-giving ways. Though a national lockdown is unprecedented I believe we can learn from those who over centuries have freely lived a “vocational lockdown”. I am referring to those who live a monastic life. And here I am thinking particularly of the daily rhythm and daily practice of monastic life. A practice that includes prayer (meditation) study (reading) meals (community) manual labour (exercise) and sleep (rest) at set times every day. I invite you to create your own daily pattern of practice. If you live with others you may want to invite them to join you (or online) – or in the very least to let them know of your intended practice which will therefore determine times of togetherness and times of spaciousness.
In closing I hope you will take courage from the beautiful and challenging insights of Fr. Rus Blassoples about our 21 Day National Lockdown:
“Our beautiful Chapel is but a dim reflection,
a faint echo of the sanctuary found within every human heart.
May our national lockdown awaken us to this sanctuary within and make us not be so reliant on mediated experiences of everything ? including God.
Every human being is but a breath away from an unmediated, first-hand experience of the numinous.
Good spiritual practices will teach you to access this. Bad theology makes you unduly reliant on others to fatten and feed you constantly. It is God’s Spirit within that groans, murmurs and knows how to pray.
Perhaps now’s the time to delve into that forgotten or neglected part of our nature, and not ? dare I say ? be spoonfed a diet of spirituality that distracts us from being alone with ourselves, alone with our demons, and alone with God for days (21 or more). We do Lent such lip service!
Nor is it a time to be too glued to our small or big screens, to be fed a streaming diet of Eucharists. I mean, honestly!
We are so addicted to our screens anyway. Why are we so afraid to be alone with the Alone?
This is our wilderness moment. Our Jesus in the heremon moment (often translated as desert, but better still, Jesus in a place of solitude, devoid of others, distractions and addictions, tablets, laptops, podcasts, cellphones)…
Good liturgies will always take you to a place where you will find the courage to dispense of them ? put them aside – for a first-hand experience of God.
I pray you the blessing of one such liturgy.
The blessing of truly being alone with the Alone”.
Grace,
Alan
CMM’s response to the Coronavirus
//At CMM our Lenten Journey is about to change. Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus we have decided to suspend all worship services with immediate effect until after Easter at which time we will review the situation.
In Lenten language we are going to FAST from on-site worship services and meetings. Fasting is seldom easy or comfortable and I am aware that this particular fast will be challenging for us because of how deeply we hold onto our Lenten and Holy Week practice, which over the years has brought us much life.
The gift of fasting is a sense of heightened awareness. Absence heightens our awareness and paradoxically becomes a form of presence. Therefore, my hope is that as we cancel services, we will discover that Easter itself has not been cancelled. My hope is that we will live into a heightened awareness of the terror of crucifixion and the wonder of resurrection in the world and in our own lives. My hope is that as we cease to gather together that we will become increasingly aware of the excruciating pain of loneliness and the great gift of gathered community.
The hunger and the emptiness are the painful gifts of any fast. Let us therefore embrace this and resist the temptation to fill the ache and gap with something else. For this reason, we will not simply be “moving CMM services online”. Instead I encourage you to allow the fast to have its way with you. In other words, that we allow time for the restless emptiness to prune our inner being. Take note of what happens when we replace our singing with silence; our dancing with stillness and our gathering with solitude. Our Lenten work is to be attentive to the journey that our fast takes us on.
Now at risk of contradicting the previous paragraph I also realise that not all fasts are for everyone. Some have a “water only” fast while others choose to augment their fast with fruit. Please allow the same grace for yourself regarding this fast from gathered community. I invite you to explore other ways of connecting with people especially if this particular fast causes overwhelming anxiety within you.
Finally, fasting is never purely for the good of the individual but always for the sake of the whole. As I wrote last week, the Coronavirus has reminded us of our interconnectedness that we are inclined to forget in our hyper-individualistic world. We are one. Fasting is to awaken us to our oneness and deepen our sense of social solidarity. Already the Coronavirus is exposing how deeply unequal our society is, and as a result, how fragile. My hope is that we will emerge from this with a clearer understanding of what a just and compassionate world looks like and that we will realise that changing the world is possible. It is long overdue that we called a state of emergency for the state of the world.
Now let me say a little more about the motivation behind this decision to suspend all on-site worship services. In point form:
- Our decision honours our Lenten theme this year: “Do no harm”.
- Our decision is based on the science and data from around the world over the past three months which shows that we need to “flatten the curve” (slow down the spread of the virus) if we are to limit deaths. To slow the virus from spreading we need to all act as if we already have it. Due to the fact that it is possible to be contagious (able to transmit the virus) without feeling any symptoms, we need to take precautions that are based on how the virus works rather than simply on how we feel. To slow down the spread of the virus will save lives because it will spare our health system from being completely overloaded at once.
- Our decision is rooted in love for all. We have not made this decision out of fear of others for our own individual well-being. Our physical distancing rests in our social solidarity.
- Our decision is based on the common good of all but, especially for the vulnerable, namely those of increased age and/or those who have a compromised immune system due to a pre-existing underlying condition like TB, HIV and chronic respiratory conditions. The vulnerable are also those who live in over-crowded areas as well as areas without running water. People in such circumstances known to us or in our employ will need active and generous support.
- Our decision is based on our faith that seeks understanding. A faith that invites our heart and our head to join hands. Christian faith is not an insurance policy against illness, but rather a way of life that invites us to live justly, mercifully, humbly, gently and generously. To say “the blood of the Lamb will protect me” is not faith. It is superstition. The way of living life justly, mercifully, humbly, etc. acknowledges that we are all potentially contagious and all potentially vulnerable. We will therefore refrain from blaming and scapegoating others.
- Our decision based on our faith to live justly, mercifully, humbly, gently and generously means that we will not panic-buy and hoard. Hoarding kills. It is generosity that will save us.
I realise it is an uneasy feeling to think we can actually be most caring by being physically distant, but this is the truth at this time. The sooner we honour this truth, the sooner we will be set free from it. Please call us at the office if you have any questions or concerns. (021) 422 2744. This is a dynamic situation and may change. We will keep you posted if things do.
In closing, I have a great concern about the refugees in the CMM sanctuary. I met with Environmental Health Officials a week ago about the Coronavirus risk. I have since written to and met with the refugee leaders within the sanctuary. There is sadly no movement on their side. Since Monday they have placed a sign outside stating: “We will not be allowing any visitors or tourists in the church (CMM) due to the coronavirus. This is for our health and well-being, as well as for many others. Thanks for understanding.” They are attempting to practice frequent handwashing, etc. But the truth is the conditions inside the sanctuary are ripe for a virus of any sort to spread, let alone the highly contagious coronavirus. As a result, our legal processes are addressing this matter with increased urgency.
Grace,
Alan