Category: Sunday Letter

Witnessing Death

CMM, Cape Town / / Easter, Sunday Letter

Tuesday morning remains of Monday afternoon death.

 

Friends,

On Monday afternoon I was walking through the Company Gardens. Up ahead on the left side of the path (Government Avenue) there was a blur of movement. A person had toppled over. There was no alerting cry. No gasp or yelp. In that slouching moment breath had simply left him. He had no pulse. He was dead.

Soon there was a crowd. Respectful and concerned. The cops came. A triangle area cordoned off. The anonymous person’s body was covered by a space blanket. From outside appearance it was likely the person had been living rough for some time. An unhoused person, like so many on the city streets? He was probably younger than he looked. We wondered: “Who will let who know that their son, father, husband, brother, uncle, friend had died?” We held the sadness of the public, yet loneliness of his death. I fear this winter there will be many more lonely deaths.

Later in the evening I thought of the age-old question: “If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?”  Do our lives make a sound if no one hears us? Do our lives matter if we are not noticed? Do we exist if we are never seen? Don’t we sometimes say: “They walked past me like I didn’t exist.”? Unhoused people living on the streets experience this all day every day. They are literally ignored out of existence. Spoken to and not with. They are constantly told to “move on, move on”. 

To declare faith in a God who notices every fallen sparrow is to work for the restructuring of society so that everyone is seen and recognised as precious and essential. Where no one is ignored out of existence. In these days of growing suffering may we be given strength to resist the temptation, out of anxiety and discomfort, to turn our eyes away from the heartache and pain. In all our relationships and encounters with others may we listen in such a way that we affirm not only their existence, but their sacred worth.

In grace, Alan

—

Below is the extract from Etty Hillesum’s diary [An Interrupted Life] that was quoted during
last week’s sermon.

“In the darkest years of Nazi occupation and genocide, Etty Hillesum remained a celebrant of
life whose lucid intelligence, sympathy, and almost impossible gallantry were themselves a form
of inner resistance. The adult counterpart to Anne Frank, Hillesum testifies to the possibility of
awareness and compassion in the face of the most devastating challenge to one’s humanity. 
She was killed in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of twenty-nine.” (Quote from book cover.)

 

Sunday Morning Prayer

“Dear God, these are anxious times. Tonight for the first time I lay in the dark with burning eyes as scene after scene of human suffering passed before me.

I shall promise You one thing, God, just one very small thing: I shall never burden my today with cares about my tomorrow, although that takes some practice. Each day is sufficient unto itself. I shall try to help You, God, to stop my strength ebbing away, though I cannot vouch for it in advance. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me: that You cannot help us, that we must help You to help ourselves. And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves. And perhaps in others as well. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances, about our lives.

Neither do I hold You responsible. You cannot help us but we must help You defend Your dwelling place inside us to the last. There are, it is true, some who, even at this late stage, are putting their vacuum cleaners and silver forks and spoons in safe keeping instead of guarding You, dear God. And there are those who want to put their bodies in safe keeping but who are nothing more now than a shelter for a thousand fears and bitter feelings. And they say, “I shan’t let them get me into their clutches”. But they forget that no one is in their clutches who is in Your arms.

I am beginning to feel a little more peaceful, God, thanks to this conversation with You. I shall have many more conversations with You.

You are sure to go through lean times with me now and then, when my faith weakens a little, but believe me, I shall always labour for You and remain faithful to You and I shall never drive You from my presence”.

 

 

The Joy and Grief of Mothers

CMM, Cape Town / / Easter, Sunday Letter

Melanie Kiel – mother of Dudley who was murdered 10 years ago
by a “Prinsloo Gun”.

 

Friends,

Today is Mother’s Day. A day when many families celebrate mothers with joy and gratitude. It is also a day of heightened remembrance for those whose mothers have died. And for mothers whose children have died, it is a day of heightened grief. I witnessed the heart wrenching grief of mothers this past week. Mothers recounting the killing and injury of their children from gun violence. Mothers who will feel the heightened pain of loss today.

Cape Town is not a very big place when you think about it. Communities that are just a few kilometres from each other might as well be on different continents – such is the difference in life … and death. The mothers spoke of the trauma of living in communities on the Cape Flats that are saturated with gang and gun violence. They told of the necessity to text each other before they walk to the store. “Is it safe to go now? Is it all clear?” Tragically things can change in an instant and even a text message is soon out of date. Another shooting. Another casualty. Another killing. Another grieving mother.

The mothers were speaking at the launch of a class action lawsuit brought by Gun Free South Africa and partners against the Minister of Police with the aim of: [1] Claiming for damages associated with deaths and injuries resulting from the actions of Christiaan Prinsloo for coordinating the sale of guns to gangs; [2] Addressing failures in the SAPS’ weapons and ammunition management system, which allowed Prinsloo and others to leak guns from police stores undetected, for years.

According to GFSA, in 2012, the South African Police Service began recovering an excessive number of guns on the Cape Flats that had been professionally ‘cleaned’ of identifying marks – proof that a sophisticated gun smuggling syndicate was at work. To track the supplier, two senior police officials, Major-Generals Peter Jacobs and Jeremy Vearey, registered Operation Impi in December 2013. Their investigation led to the arrest in 2015 of Christiaan Prinsloo, a Colonel in SAPS. Prinsloo confessed to his role in smuggling over 2 000 guns, that had been confiscated by, or surrendered to, the police for destruction, to gang leaders on the Cape Flats and entered a plea bargain with the State, providing detailed information on the syndicate in return for a lesser sentence. He was sentenced to 18 years but was released after serving less than four.

Operation Impi revealed that 888 of the guns stolen by Prinsloo were forensically linked to 1,066 murders in the Western Cape between February 2010 and 5 June 2016. 187 children between the ages of one and 17 years were shot and 63 killed with Prinsloo guns. [That is two Marikana Massacres – of children]. Of the 2,000+ Prinsloo smuggled guns (from which he earned R2million), 1,000 are still missing … still taking lives.

After Operation Impi received an affidavit in 2016 implicating the then President Zuma in state capture, Operation Impi was shut down and Jacobs and Vearey were demoted. A year later they challenged their demotion and won in the labour court.

You can find out more about the class action at classaction@gfsa.org.za. If you or someone you know was shot, injured or killed from between 2010 till today please inform them or their families about this class action.

One of the mothers who spoke at the launch was Avril Andres from Hanover Park. Her son Alcardo was shot and killed in 2015. She is the founder of Moms Move for Justice. Hers, like so many, is a story of tragedy and incredible resilience. Please see her story here.

In grace, Alan

For more information visit: www.prinslooguns.org.za & www.gfsa.co.za

A Psalm against Tyranny

CMM, Cape Town / / Easter, Sunday Letter

Masha Moskaleva

 

Friends,

The first two lessons in Timothy Snyder’s best-selling book: On Tyranny – Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century read:

  1. “DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE.
    Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”
  2. “DEFEND INSTITUTIONS.
    It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So, choose an institution you care about – a court, a newspaper, a law, a labour union – and take its side. “

I highly recommend the full reading of Snyder’s book. South Africa and the world-over need reminding.

Regarding Lesson 2: On Tyranny

I wrote a while ago warning how the Constitution of SA was being used as a scapegoat to cover for the governing party’s failings. The truth is the Constitution has not failed us. We have failed the Constitution. Going forward, it will need attentive defending. Similarly, just this past week the government embarrassingly resigned, then retracted its resignation, from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Again, scapegoating the ICC to cover its own desire not to be held accountable by it. SA’s participation in the ICC requires defending.

Regarding Lesson 1: On Tyranny

A recent example concerns the Russian school girl Masha Moskaleva. She was 12 years at the time when she drew a Ukrainian flag in April last year with the words “Glory to Ukraine”, rockets and a Russian flag with the phrase “No to war!”

As missiles fly in from the direction of Russia, a mother and her child stand defiantly in their path.

Her teacher informed the school director, who then informed the authorities about Masha’s schoolwork. The police were called and her father, Alexey Moskaleva, was put under watch for “poor parenting”. Alexey Moskaleva, who was raising Masha alone, was given a two-year prison sentence in absentia on 28 March for discrediting the army. The authorities say he fled from house arrest the night before he was due to appear.

Yelena Tarbayeva, an activist present outside the court, was arrested for holding a placard with a version of Masha’s drawing and the words “Putin eats children”. Masha is now with her estranged mother.

A regime that is afraid of a child’s drawing is a clear definition of a tyrannical regime. Notice how the teacher and the school director “obeyed in advance”. They broke Lesson 1 on Tyranny.

Today we reflect on the beloved 23rd Psalm – The Lord’s My Shepherd. If for a moment we release this psalm from its funeral home and hear it speak from its original context, we will hear it bravely honouring Snyder’s Lessons 1 and 2. We will hear a psalm against tyranny.

In grace,
Alan

 

Practicing Resurrection on the streets of Cape Town

CMM, Cape Town / / Easter, Sunday Letter

Friends,

“Practice resurrection” are the last words of Wendell Berry’s 1973 poem – Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
that we printed in our last bulletin. Practice resurrection is the most beautiful and subversive invitation. Who would have thought that resurrection could be practiced? And who would have thought that each of us could make this our practice? What is it? What does it look like?

One wonder-filled example of practicing resurrection is the Streetscapes Roeland Street Garden. Some of you will remember the vacant lot alongside the parking of Fruit and Veg in Roeland Street. For years and years it was littered with rubbish, strewn with broken glass and was often the scene of drunken brawls. Today it is an abundance of nourishing food, life-giving community and dignified employment. And their resurrection practice is also green – duh. See their Green Revolution below.

The 350 square meters of land produces locally organic, affordable food for the residents in the city. It is actually one of 3 garden projects currently run by Streetscapes which started a work-based approach to wholistically address issues of unemployment, homelessness and reintegrating people fresh out of prison. They work closely with the police and the magistrates court to help petty offenders get a second chance working in vegetable gardens. In total they have created around 600 jobs.

Inspired,
Alan

—

According to their website: 77% of participants in the project have since moved off the streets thanks to the income they earn from the project. 68% of the participants have addressed their substance abuse issues in a very positive way… Work provides income, dignity and cross-race cross-class contacts – beyond their immediate community. Big part of poverty is lack of social networks needed for navigating out of poverty. Streetscapes demonstrates that people living on the streets are highly motivated to work and rebuild their lives.

Streetscapes, Khulisa’s flagship programme, provides a model for sustainable urban regeneration and addresses the neglected needs of this very vulnerable population. Departing from typical emergency relief type of services for the homeless, Streetscapes is structured to address their multi-dimensional needs. The ten project sites combined support employment, psychosocial support and a ‘housing first’ type of accommodation.

As long as poverty, injustice & inequality persist, none of us can truly rest. It doesn’t take much to change a life. Get in touch today and start making the difference.

Impact over the past 6 months:

  • Daily attendance 84%
  • 47% move off the streets in 3 months, 79% in 6 months
  • 110 full time participants, all previously chronic homeless
  • 87% have chosen to participate in substance recovery programme
  • 100% have received IDs and bank accounts
  • 100% have done primary health assessments and either have no health issues or are in treatment
  • Earned income for each participant R 2300 – R 3500 per month.
  •  

At Streetscapes, we’re all about being green – in more ways than one. Our organic veggies and fruits are grown without pesticides, and we produce our own seedlings, compost, and fertilizer made from chicken manure. Plus, we’ve got South Africa’s first off-grid laundromat, which is both eco-friendly and affordable at just R20 per kilogram.

Our water treatment and recycling system, expertly designed by our Swiss university partner ZHAW, is solar-powered and tested twice daily to ensure safety. And, with our naturally eco-friendly washing detergents and soaps, we’re doing our part to protect the planet.

We’re not just growing crops, either – we’ve also introduced beehives to our project. With 120 000 little farmers buzzing around, we’re producing fresh honey while promoting pollination. And, with the support of experienced beekeepers, we recently landed a spot at the Honey Festival in Paarl.

But we’re not stopping there – our latest green endeavour is the development of 28 new homes at Kuils River Farm. Partnering with ‘Natural Homes,’ we’re using net carbon-negative building materials made from alien invasive species. With a 3-hour fire rating and great insulation, these cost-effective slabs are half the weight of conventional concrete.

These two-storey homes will be naturally powered by solar and will use purified well water for drinking, while grey and black water will be treated and recycled for irrigation. With the help of the Stellenbosch University Water Institute team, we’re evaluating the social and environmental impact of the project and hope to replicate our model in housing projects throughout the city. At Streetscapes, we’re proud to be green – and we’re just getting started.

From: Streetscapes latest News and Views which you can sign up for and hopefully also donate towards.

 

Poor Pretenders

CMM, Cape Town / / Palm Sunday, Sunday Letter

Friends,

Following on from what I wrote last week about The National Conference on the Constitution, some very true words were spoken by Adv. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi:

“I hear a lot of scepticism and dismissal of constitutionalism as a concept – sort of embedded in some of these remarks. I want to take them seriously that there is a sense of constitutional scepticism, but I want to consider a possible alternative to constitutional nihilism …

Consider a different perspective.

My own experience – having studied and lived in this country – is that if you destroy the rule of law, what you are left with is a state of chaos. People who benefit from a state of chaos are people with money and guns.

A state without the rule of law never benefits the poor, but the promise of the big man, you know who promises you a different future if you destroy the rule of law, is always that things will be better, but they never are.

So we have to sustain the rule of law for the poor, but not any kind of rule of law, but a rule of law that is grounded in justice, not to sustain it for the rich, but to sustain it for the poor. And we’ve got to understand that if we destroy the rule of law we destroy it primarily for the poor and we benefit the elites who pretend they are acting for the poor, but they are simply exploiting the poor by deploying their language, but ultimately what they are interested in is themselves.

So whenever someone uses constitutional nihilism as an entry point in the debate we have to be very, very concerned about what their true agenda is. So I am very sceptical about claims about selling out and very sceptical about the claims for constitutional nihilism.”

[Interesting trivia: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi was born on the 25th December 1976. Use it, don’t use it].

Now as we look forward to next week – Holy Week – we will be reminded of the story of Jesus’ anointing with costly perfumed oil. In John’s telling of this story, we hear Judas complain about the wastage and how it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. John adds a whisper to the reader regarding Judas’ motive: “Judas said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief…” This points to Ngcukaitobi’s insight about how there are certain “big men – elites – who pretend they are acting for the poor”. Yet, as he says: “… they are simply exploiting the poor by deploying their language, but ultimately what they are interested in is themselves”. Sounds like Judas would have fitted in well with those who wear RET (Radical Economic Transformation) T-shirts. The ancient story remains disturbingly relevant to our days!

During Holy Week (Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday evenings) we will be investigating who killed Jesus – but looking at some of the hidden players.

Spoiler alert: it was us. Not them. It is us.

With grace,
Alan

Scapegoating the Constitution

CMM, Cape Town / / Fifth Sunday in Lent, Lent, Sunday Letter

 

Friends,

This past week President Ramaphosa gave the opening address at The National Conference on the Constitution. The words of his written speech provide a distilled clarity of our Constitutional democracy. I encourage you to read his address in full.

What baffled me was how the event was repeatedly being reported through the media. The impression I got was that the conference had gathered to evaluate the Constitution to see how it may have failed us or not. This was the exact opposite question we need to be asking. It is not how the Constitution may have failed us, but how we have failed the Constitution. Here is an example of the repeated media coverage:

President Cyril Ramaphosa believes that, 26 years since the Constitution came into effect, it is time to reflect on its efficiency and whether it has “served the aspirations of our people”. 

If you have read the President’s speech you will know that these words do not exist in the written text. The written speech is clear that we are to account for our honouring of the Constitution or lack thereof and not the other way round. Was this a case of media mischief?

No.

In watching the recording of the President’s speech he deviated from his written speech on a few occasions. And the words above quote him correctly. They are from his off the cuff introductory remarks. Was he playing to another audience or were these words simply spoken unthinkingly? I do not know but I know that it is very unfortunate that he said what he said and that this was the only angle picked up by the media. The result is not only at odds with his speech but at odds with what we need to hear as a people of this country, namely, the truth.

We dare not use the Constitution as a scapegoat for our failings. To do so is to crucify the innocent and allow the guilty go free. This may bring brief relief to the ruling party but it will not bring life to the nation.

Then, after The National Conference on the Constitution, the ANC Chief Whip, Pemmy Majodina is reported to have said: “This is the 25th anniversary of the Constitution, and that Constitution needs to be amended. Remember, this was a transitional Constitution, to accommodate everyone.” With these words Majodina invites us to remember something that does not exist. We do not have a transitional Constitution. We have a Constitution finish and klaar.

Note how the conversation has begun to slip down the slippery slope. We have moved from a question to an answer both based on falsehoods and blame. The truth is that this Chief Whip is more concerned about the 2024 elections than Constitutional integrity. If only she knew that the best electoral strategy for her party (and every party) in 2024 is to tell the truth of how they have betrayed the Constitution. This confession may set people free to begin to trust them again.

Now here is the beautiful and revolutionary preamble to our Constitution. It is remarkably non-nationalistic. It is Gospel in its truth-telling, desire for healing and call for justice. I invite you to read it today as a prayer:

 

We, the people of South Africa,

Recognise the injustices of our past;
Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land;
Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and
Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.

 

We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to—

Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;

Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;

Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and

Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.

 

May God protect our people.

Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso. God seën Suid-Afrika. God bless South Africa. Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. Hosi katekisa Afrika.

In grace,
Alan

Blessed are the Peacemakers

CMM, Cape Town / / Fourth Sunday in Lent, Sunday Letter

 

Friends,

South Africa is a very violent society. This is confirmed every day in the news. It follows that we are a violently traumatised people. This is confirmed by our hyper alertness and the high levels of fear and anxiety within so many of us. Rage and the threat of violence never seem far from the surface in SA. For our own sanity we block out large parts of this traumatising truth. We become numb by necessity. All this is so normalised that we are barely aware of it, yet ask anyone who has had an opportunity to travel outside of South Africa what they most enjoyed and without fail we hear: “It was just so good to walk around freely.”

Sometimes the constant high tide of violence feels like it surges even higher or perhaps we just seem to catch more of the headlines than usual or our own experience and the headlines collide. Like the person who was mugged two months ago. She told me she is so grateful that she was not physically harmed, yet her physical body begs to differ with her: she still cannot sleep through the night and all she wants to do is retreat into her house and never come out. For others their house is no place of safety at all as the statistics around GBV and domestic violence testify. Still others live with low intensity threats on their life every day, like the city fruit seller who must deal with threats of intimidation most mornings while setting up his stall. The threat is: “Let me help you set up your stall, or else…” Just take a moment to mull that over in your mind…

While Martin Luther King jr said: “A riot is the language of the unheard”, violence seems to be the 12th official language of South Africa with just about everyone fluent in it and if not fluent then at least schooled in it Whether it be a university student or a health care worker on strike or a member of the police the message is the same: “Violence is the only language they understand.” Or “Unless something burns no one will take notice.” Even though we have all seen the horrors of violence play out we keep returning to it again and again asking it to be our saviour.

Some argue violence is only a ‘last resort’ but the last soon becomes the first resort. Take for example the horror of a fortnight ago, when Four electricians were killed by Ekurhuleni residents while trying to restore power to their suburb. The community thought they were copper-cable thieves, as if that would have justified their mob murder. Again, mull this over for a moment… How do the families of the killed ever heal from this? And how does the community responsible ever process this?

The most pervasive crime and violence in our country is not actually named crime and violence, and yet this is exactly what poverty is, especially poverty in the presence of wealth. The violence of poverty differs from gun violence in the number of fingers on the trigger. Instead of one finger on the trigger there are many hands on many levers over much time, but the result is the same: death. Poverty is not a natural phenomenon. It is systemically designed. Take the story from two weeks ago: Girl, 4 found dead in pit toilet in Eastern Cape. See how poverty and the neglect of care kills? This particular form of violence repeats itself even though a very simple solution exists:

News24 has reported that, according to the 2021 National Education Infrastructure Management System report, more than 1400 schools in the Eastern Cape had pit toilets. Over the last decade, a number of children have died in pit toilets. In December, the body of a three-year-old boy was found in a pit toilet in a village outside Vuwani in Limpopo. In 2018, a five-year-old girl died after falling into a pit toilet at Luna Primary School in Bizana in the Eastern Cape. In 2014, Grade R pupil Michael Komape died at Mahlodumela Primary School in Limpopo after he fell into a pit toilet.

What we call “service delivery protests” are in fact cries for the means of life. When these means of life are withheld people die. This is violence. This is crime. Poverty is a primary form of violence that is not recognised as violence, yet it begets violence that is recognised as violence.

This cycle of violence is so clearly portrayed in the work of Anthony Collins. He suggests we turn the problem on its head and ask what we should do if we actually wanted to create a violent society. Presented this way, Collins shows that some key suggestions are easily identified:

  1. Teach children violence through observation and personal experience.
  2. Expose the young and vulnerable to overwhelming distressing emotions without appropriate emotional support, so that they develop unstable emotional defenses.
  3. Expose people to stressful situations that they are unable to manage.
  4. Maintain many types of inequality.
  5. Withhold the provision of non-violent skills for resolving conflict and stress.
  6. Normalise violence by maintaining socially acceptable forms of it, and forms that are legitimated by social authorities.

 

Jesus says: “Blessed are the peacemakers”. Now we know what peace-making means. It means we must address these 6 ingredients of violence.

In grace,
Alan

 

 

betrayal | resistance

CMM, Cape Town / / First Sunday in Lent, Sunday Letter

Friends,

On the cover of this bulletin is my colleague Leon Klein’s prayer (as best I remember it) that he prayed at the beginning of our District gathering two weeks back. I invite you to adopt it as your own Lenten prayer this year. As I mentioned on Ash Wednesday, what makes Leon’s words so powerful for me is that he prays as one recovering from long COVID. His unprepared prayer was spoken slowly – by one who has had to literally teach himself to speak again. He has also taught himself to walk again. So, from one who has lost so much control of movement and independence over the past 2 years, to be praying for the ability to “sacrifice our comfort, need for predictability and control” is nothing short of remarkable. As we make Leon’s words our own this Lent, may we embody his humble and courageous spirit.

This coming Thursday in the gallery on the corner of Church and Burg Streets we will be exhibiting CMM’s Yellow Banners. The exhibition is called betrayal | resistance.

The exhibition makes three things clear: the betrayal by the powers – the resistance of the people and how these issues are sadly as relevant today as they were when they were first raised. I hope you will attend on Thursday.

Grace, Alan

 

Solitude, Stillness and Silence

CMM, Cape Town / / Sunday Letter, Transfiguration Sunday

Friends,

The 40 days of Lent begin this Ash Wednesday (22nd February). Lent is wilderness time – desert time. Having spent a week in the Karoo in 40 degree January-heat, I can tell you that desert time is slow-time. No one is rushing about in 40 degrees °C! Lent is slow-time. A time to withdraw from the noise and distractions that keep us detached from ourselves, others and life as a whole. It is time to go inward … so we can re-enter the world more deeply. It is time to seek out the shade of Silence, Solitude and Stillness and to deepen our practices of each.

In preparation for Lent I remind you again of the pattern of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daily life. A daily life punctuated with prayerful pause. Tall towers are dependent on deep foundations to keep standing. This was equally true for Tutu. His public life of prophetic action and courage was under-pinned by his private life of prayer and contemplation. His life was one of daily discipline. May his example inspire us to shape our own days with greater deliberateness to nurture our inner life so that our outer life may stretch to new heights of integrity, courage, wisdom, justice and mercy.

Here is a summary of Tutu’s daily practice:

04:00 – Personal prayers (weekdays)

05:00 – Fast 30 minute walk or slow jog

05:30 – Shower

06:00 – Devotional reading / reflection

07:30 – Recite formal Morning Prayer in chapel

08:00 – Daily Eucharist

08:30 – Breakfast (a glass of orange juice)

09:00 – Office work / appointments

11:00 – Tea break (again at 15:30)

11:00 – Office work / appointments

13:00 – Personal prayer

13:30 – Lunch and hour-long nap

15:00 – Office work / appointments

15:30 – Tea break

18:00 – Evening prayer in chapel

19:00 – A drink (usually a rum and coke) and supper at home

21:00 – In bed by 21:00 or 22:00

23:00 – Asleep (after Compline prayers)

“In addition to his daily prayers, Tutu fasted until supper on Fridays and observed a “quiet day” every month and a seven-day silent retreat once a year. During Lent he ate only in the evenings.”

It soon became apparent to the staff of Bishops-court that Tutu the ebullient extrovert and Tutu the meditative priest who needed six or seven hours a day in silence were two sides of the same coin. One could not exist without the other: in particular, his extraordinary capacity to communicate with warmth, compassion, and humour depended on the regeneration of personal resources, which in turn depended on the iron self-discipline of his prayers.”

[Summarised from: Rabble-Rouser for Peace – The Authorised Biography of Desmond Tutu. By: John Allen. Pages 174/5]

Grace,
Alan

PS:
Ash Wednesday Service at 7 p.m. on 22 February.
Manna and Mercy: 3-5 March at Rosebank Methodist Church and 5-7 May at Table View Methodist Church.

When Grace Strikes …

CMM, Cape Town / / Epiphany, Sunday Letter

16th March 1959  |  When Grace Strikes…

 

Friends,

Last week I quoted from Paul Tillich’s sermon entitled: You are Accepted. Richly dense and worth every hour of thoughtful reflection from the reader. He begins by admitting that: “There are few words more strange to most of us than “sin” and “grace.” … But there is a mysterious fact about the great words of our religious tradition: they cannot be replaced.”

Tillich then proceeds to dive into the depth of our human existence to rediscover the meaning of these two great words. Near the end of his sermon he describes what happens when grace strikes us. Seldom have I read words that provoke such longing:

We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by that stroke of grace. It happens; or it does not happen. And certainly it does not happen if we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that we have no need of it.

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage.

Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: “You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!” If that happens to us, we experience grace.

After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may riot believe more than before. But everything is transformed. In that moment, grace conquers sin, and reconciliation bridges the gulf of estrangement. And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but acceptance.

In the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to others … We experience the grace of being able to look frankly into the eyes of another, the miraculous grace of reunion of life with life. … We experience the grace which is able to overcome the tragic separation of the sexes, of the generations, of the nations, of the races, and even the utter strangeness between [humanity] and nature. Sometimes grace appears in all these separations to reunite us with those to whom we belong. For life belongs to life. … And in the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to ourselves. … For it is such moments that make us love our life, that make us accept ourselves, not in our goodness and self-complacency, but in our certainty of the eternal meaning of our life. We cannot force ourselves to accept ourselves. … But sometimes it happens that we receive the power to say “yes” to ourselves, that peace enters into us and makes us whole, that self-hate and self-contempt disappear, and that our self is reunited with itself. Then we say that grace has come upon us.”

Grace is not just amazing. It’s radical and revolutionary. Political and personal in saving scope. Transforming relations between nations as well as transforming our inner most being. If these words also provoke a longing within you, may our longing be our prayer for grace to strike.

Grace,
Alan