Sainthood 101

During All Saints Sunday last week we reflected on Naomi in the book of Ruth. From her life we drew out the qualities of a Saint.

  • Saints are not spared from suffering. Instead they allow suffering to enlarge them.
  • Saints are open to meet and engage with their enemy.
  • Saints grieve (they value the preciousness of life).
  • Saints welcome foreigners as family.
  • Saints cry – they feel.
  • Saints feel the pain of others as if it were their own pain.
  • Saints respect the free choice of others – especially when it comes to matters of the heart.
  • Saints have the capacity to bless others even when their own life feels like it has been cursed.
  • Saints set others free.
  • Saints trust testimonies of God’s nourishing goodness even if they have run out of such experiences themselves.
  • Saints wrestle with God and tell God what for.
  • Saints are alive to God-lines in people, even if they don’t experience God’s presence and power in their life.
  • Saints stay in solidarity with the suffering.
  • Saints trust enough to start over often.

Continuing the fill the “spaces in-between”

The planting of our garden on Longmarket Street was a great success – the plants continue to flourish and generate discussion. Now we would like to do the same to the area behind the railings on Burg Street as well as the area around the main entrance.

Let us know if you wish to become involved in this next exciting phase of filling the in-between spaces around our sanctuary.

Peace, Alan

Gardening is Godly

Thursday was All Saints Day – and it was also the day we planted an urban food garden on our boundary fence living out the word of Leviticus 19:9-10:

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the foreigner: I am the LORD your God.

We planted the length of this Sanctuary – now we need to plant the breadth. But this time we are going to do it a little differently. Instead of getting an outside contractor to help us we are going to do it ourselves – after all we now know how.

Here are the instructions:

  • Find a grey or black milk crate
  • Line the bottom with 4 layers of hessian
  • Line the sides with a single layer
  • Fill with sexy soil
  • Pray – plant – pray some more
  • We will advise on the types of plants that will complement each other

Thanks to everyone for your participation on Thursday! And don’t forget that we also launched h e a v e n coffee – so when in town during the week be sure to visit.

This is the incredible new wall art that surrounds Ons Plek. This is something that must be seen to be believed. The artist goes by the name of FAITH47. Her artwork covers the globe and can be found covering high rise buildings and shacks in informal settlements and on the ruins of dilapidated buildings.

I encourage you to check out her website at www.faith47.com.

Peace, Alan

heaven on earth

On Thursday this coming week we officially open h e a v e n (coffee shop). We also get our hands dirty while we plant a food garden in the “space in-between” the steel railing and this sanctuary on the Longmarket Street side.

The aim of h e a v e n is to contribute to the hospitality offered through the Open Doors Ministry of CMM. To provide a space – a sacred space – where people can meet. It has already introduced many new people to each other and to this place. Someone said to me the other day that he has walked past this church for 19 years but he had never before entered through its doors.

My real hope is that we will be able to communicate the values of Jesus that this broken world so desperately needs to embody for its healing in fun and creative ways. In ways that do not rely on people being churchgoers or religious or even Christian, to engage with. [See below what will be on the coffee cup sleeves.] All the profits of the coffee shop will go towards the vulnerable poor of this city.

With the food garden we are offering this city a parable to engage with – a parable with many different interpretations to get people thinking about God’s dream for this world. Through the garden we will be reminded that God commanded that we do not harvest all our crops – but that we must leave enough for the widow, orphan and foreigner (vulnerable) of society. I hope others in the city will be inspired to grow food in their “in-between spaces” too. And may we all be reminded that food comes from the earth, and not from the shops. Now I know parables are risky – not everyone will “get it”. Some people have also said to me that the plants may just be stolen. Which is of course true – they may. But what a great witness it will be if they are not! And besides we don’t just want to harvest the produce but the principle that hunger is all our responsibility to address.

things to remember on earth as it is in heaven …

you are born in love by love and for love • you are beautiful • your enemy is also beautiful • the stranger is actually a member of your family – in fact everyone is family – all 7 billion of us • all violence is family violence • forgive • the real heroes are those who wrestle with addiction in truth and grace • widows orphans foreigners are the holy trinity • breathe and smile • hunger is a weapon of mass destruction (disarmed by generosity) • it is difficult for the rich to enter the Kin-dom of God – affording to pay for this coffee means you are rich – uncomfortable? now you know why JC was crucified • you can’t have love without truth • start over often • God is not a possession of the church • love casts out fear • forgive again • the holy land is not a place to visit – it is every place to value • food comes from the earth and not from the shops • plant some seeds • seek silence • JC rode a donkey not a car • the gentle inherit the earth • humankind: be both • repeat out loud: “I am beautiful” • now tell someone else that they are beautiful • homeless people are people first • we own nothing – everything is a gift • when you throw rubbish away, ask yourself where away is • forgive yourself • to listen is to love • explore the mystery of prayer • to say that some people are saved and others are not is hate speech • walk back to your office the long way round • make time for music • difference is divine • don’t worship your religion • you are forgiven – like completely forgiven • grace makes the world go round • go in peace • all profits go towards the vulnerable of this city • twitter @heavenscoffee

coffee conversation checklist
is it true? • is it kind? • is it necessary? • does it improve on the silence?

Peace, Alan

Gospel imagination

Prof. Jonathan Jansen (picture above) writes: “Unless it is part of a mandatory Anger Management Course, do not drive along the N12 on the road between Kimberley and Beaufort West; it will drive you nuts. What seems like every 15 minutes, you are forced to stop and wait forever so cars can travel from the other side on the narrow strip of tar road while your side of the national road awaits fixing. In your boredom, take a look at the three young workers at every stop-go station. One lazily waves a flag to slow you down; another sits chewing gum (you hope) while waiting to move the yellow barrier out of your way when they release you to go; and a third walks aimlessly back and forth across the road.

I watch these three young people and realise how this country delinks work from education, labour from development. The three youngsters are bored stiff. For the whole day, they sit in blazing sun waiting for cars and trucks to come and go while inhaling a steady dose of dangerous exhaust fumes. Yes, they have temporary jobs thanks to the massive roadworks springing up all over the country…

Now imagine if these young people at every stop were taught mathematics as they sat there. They would be required to count the number of cars passing by, and the number of trucks. They would count the number of occupants per stationary vehicle. And they could identify the origins of cars by number plates. That data would be very useful for all kinds of transportation planning purposes.

But, in the meantime, these youth could learn not only maths, but how to use a calculator and complete a self-administered survey questionnaire. They could discuss results and compare traffic flows on weekdays to weekends. In other words, not only would the hands be working, so would the heads.

Imagine an entrepreneur gave all these stations a mobile refrigerator with ice-cold drinks for sale in the Karoo sun. In the 10 or 20 minutes of waiting, the youths could learn how to account for income and expenditure on a balance sheet instead of sitting there waiting. While a vital cold drink service was offered in the heat, learning could be taking place.

With the growing number of unemployed youths floating in and out of temporary jobs, and with the increase in the numbers of semi-literate adults who did not finish school – or finished school with weak foundational competencies (writing, reading, calculating, reasoning and so on), we need to make every job count as a simultaneous learning experience.

We do the future of this country no favours by exacting physical labour from workers without asking three questions:

  • What are the educational inputs required for this work?
  • What are the educational experiences worth organising in this work?
  • What are the educational consequences of this work?

There was a time when South Africa had the most noble, inspiring visions for adult education and literacy. We recognised the many who were left out of schooling either because they sacrificed their education during the struggle or they dropped out to work to enable a sibling to continue in school. Now nobody in government talks in these elevated ways about non-school education for adults. We spend all our time fighting over the crisis in formal education. This loss of focus on the learning needs of working adults as well as unemployed youth and adults is a tragedy.

The three young workers will become unemployed again when the roads are repaired. Then what? They could either leave those jobs with the kinds of elementary skills and insights learnt on the job, or they could leave only with compromised lungs from car smoke.

This kind of ambition for learning is something I constantly raise with my colleagues. If the workers who work at the university do not leave with more and better education and skills – whether they work for the institution or for contract firms – we would have failed in our duty as a place of learning. This kind of orientation towards building a learning society requires a dramatic shift in the ways employers think about work, especially among those who had little opportunity for formal education.

So if your domestic worker leaves your employ after many years and she is still a domestic, let me be blunt: you are a terrible employer.”  [The Times 18/10/2012]

Prof. Jansen writes with a gospel imagination – an imagination that breaks open the way things are to allow for the way things should be, to be seen. He reminds us that people are more valuable than their function. In every situation and in every relationship we have an opportunity to provide ways for people to grow and flourish.

Let’s pray for gospel imaginations …

Peace, Alan

Include the invisible One

The reason the sanctuary is so empty today is because many of us are attending CMM’s annual weekend away in Simon’s Town. So you will have to sing extra loud today!

Well actually what I have just said is not really true. The sanctuary is not empty — oh it may have fewer people in it today — but it is not empty. In fact it is full — really fully! For those with eyes to see and ears to hear — it is full of the grace-full presence of God.

It reminds me of a story that Barbara Brown Taylor (a preacher/author) told of the time when no one showed up for Holy Communion except her and her assistant Bernard. She writes…

“Do you want to cancel?” Bernard asked me. “I don’t think so,” I said, although my hands were starting to sweat. In the absence of a congregation, there could be no mistake about whom the service was for. Bernard looked at timid as I felt. “Will you come inside the altar rail and say the service with me?” I asked him, and he nodded. For the next 30 minutes we were the church. We praised God’s holy name. We proclaimed God’s word. We interceded on behalf of the living and the dead, and we confess the sins of the whole world. After we hand received absolution, we exchanged God’s peace. Then we broke bread and fed each other from God’s table.

After it was all over we returned in silence to the sacristy. We both knew that there was no sense trying to talk about it, so Bernard put on his coat, hugged me and left. I hung up my alb and turned to fill in the service book. Everything was obvious except “Number Present.” I knew that “2” was right, but it did not seem true. I would have written “infinity” if I had thought I could get away with it. I finally settled on “3,” to include the invisible One whose presence is all that really counts.” [Christian Century 2001-01-17]

Enjoy the FULL-ness of the Sanctuary today.

Peace, Alan
Sunday 14 October 2012

Belonging

Some of you have asked me lately: “What must I do to become a member of CMM?” Well, I must be honest and say that membership is not really what it is about. Everyone is ALREADY a member of Jesus’ family. So this church has 7 billion members — give or take one or two! We all know that we can have our name on some Membership List and it really doesn’t mean much. And please note there is no service that this church will not offer you because you are not on some Membership List. If you die I will bury you regardless — I promise. But if you want to get involved and really have a sense of belonging then I want to suggest two things: [1] Come away next weekend! We go away for a weekend once a year and it is a great time to get to know one another. You can simply pay what you can — and if you can’t pay anything — it is FREE. [2] Make a commitment to attend the Jesus School on Wednesday evenings (7 – 9 p.m.). If we are going to grow in community — and more specifically a Christ-centered community it will take more than an hour on a Sunday. I invite you to commit your Wednesday evenings to the Jesus School.

Finger Labyrinth Instructions

  • Lay the finger labyrinth on your lap or a table.
  •  Begin by taking a moment to reflect. Is there any thought, prayer or problem that you want to “carry into” the labyrinth? Or would you prefer to just open yourself to see what God might want to say to you?
  • Then, using the index finger on your non-dominant hand, trace the path into the centre of the labyrinth. Go at whatever speed feels natural to you, but try not to rush. As you trace the path, try to release any preconceptions, prayers or desires that might arise. The task here is to let go and prepare to open yourself.
  • When you reach the centre of the labyrinth, let your finger continue to rest. Relax your body, slow your breathing and open your heart and mind. If any insights come to you, take note of them, or meditate on them for a time. If not, just allow God’s peace to fill you.
  • When you’re ready, trace the path back out. Again, try not to rush. Think about how you will carry the insights, or peace of God, back with you into your daily routine. Take note of any new insights or practical ideas that may come to you.
  • As you end the path, take a moment to give thanks, to remember anything that you have received or learned from the journey. Then, when you are ready, put down the labyrinth and move on.
  • It may be a good idea to journal anything that came to you during the labyrinth journey.

Peace, Alan

Praying for parents

Bruce Clark writes a heart-wrenching book as a stay-at-home-dad. A story of how becoming a father heals and humbles him. In its sadness there is joy — in its darkness there is light, and in its irreverence there is a hint of the sacred.

According to Bruce a parenting manual should “state clearly on page one, ‘The Clock is ticking’”. It is the first thing that every parent should see. The words should be rubber-stamped on your infant’s forehead the very moment he or she is born. You’ve got ten years — maybe fifteen — and only that. On some arbitrary day — which will arrive a lot earlier than you think — it will astonish you to know that your influence has gone. While you were out doing something you thought was important, Elvis left the building. Yes, you might still be doing the school run together and, yes, your opportunities to interact will seem limitless, but the tectonic plates will have shifted. Your child’s personality will be hard-wired. The little person who was once pliant is no more. In his or her place is a unique human being who may look like your child, but has his or her own unchangeable views. The structure is built. The floors, walls, and roof are in place. All that remains is the choice of curtains. And just who will that person occupying your child’s body be? It’s up to you; it’s entirely in your hands. Bringing up children will be the most selfless thing you ever do — if you do it right. If you don’t, if you leave things to chance, if you’re too busy, if you are not respectful of the word ‘promise’, it will be the most selfish. Your efforts will both pave the way for your child and reward future society a thousand-fold, or consign your child to a life of bad options. It’s easy to fix a bellyache but how do you fix bigotry? How do you fix things that require a time capsule to fix them? What can be done about yesterday? What can you do when your child exhibits behaviour of which you’re most likely the cause? … Having children is easy; bringing them up is not.” (Warning: Book contains strong language.)

Praying for parents! Alan

Pray the Scriptures

This coming week I invite you to be deliberate in carving out time to pray the Scriptures. We don’t need to know the Bible backwards to do this — so all of us can give it a go.

First we carve out a quiet moment of solitude — acknowledging our desire to connect with God through the Scriptures. After an initial prayer for openness to God “who is at work in you” (Phil. 2:13), we read a passage from the Gospels, perhaps the Gospel lesson from the Lectionary readings (see next week’s Scripture readings — Esther 7: 1-6; 9-10; 9: 20-22; Psalm 124; James 5: 13-20; Mark 9: 38-50).

Then, as Wendy Miller suggests: Read the passage slowly, lingering over the phrases and words, as you would enjoy and linger over a good meal. As a word or a sentence catches your attention (even slightly), pause and stay with those words.

Meditate/reflect on the word or phrase; turning it over in your mind and heart. Listen deeply to the meaning, allowing the word to enter all the rooms of your life. Respond to God in prayer about what you are discovering as God uses the word from Scripture to read your life. Be still, and rest in the spacious and gracious presence of God. Following the times when you embark on this inner journey, you may want to pause and notice how the journey was for you: How has God’s presence surprised you through praying the Scripture? What feelings or attitudes did you carry with you as you began? What change in feeling/attitude has occurred in you? Where is this shift taking you? In what way are you more aware of what is within your heart? Gently remember, that God invites us to turn to him with all of our heart.

Fast and Pray

The Presiding Bishop, Rev. Zipho Siwe has called on the Methodist Church of Southern Africa to fast and pray during September to “push the frontiers of evil back, especially in the area of education” and violence in our land. There are many different ways to fast. Here are some options for us to consider. With each option we would have to decide how long we would implement the fast for — a day or month.

• A complete fast, going without food and drink
• A liquid fast
• A fruit-only fast, or raw food only
• A sunrise to sunset fast
• A one-meal-a-day-fast
• A fast from certain foods and drink.

Substitute the time for eating with a time for prayer as well as an extra generosity in sharing with others.

Alan

We are already one

Last week we heard the piercing question from the letter of James asking us: “Do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” (James 2:1). James was referring to the different ways his congregation treated the rich from the poor. It made James question whether they really believed in Jesus or not. That is heavy stuff!

James is correct to connect his congregation’s behaviour to his congregation’s beliefs — because ultimately it is our behaviour that reveals what we truly believe — not the songs we sing or sermons we preach.

One of the areas we have struggled with as a congregation is how we can share tea/coffee after worship with one another — and with the homeless that visit. Many of us feel overwhelmed, inadequate and uncomfortable. We leave rather than stay. We “hand-out” rather than share. In so doing we miss an opportunity to imitate God’s free welcome and undeserved hospitality of us. We also miss attending to Jesus who comes to us in those who society says are the “least”. How we behave around the tea/coffee table is probably more important to God than what we do around the Holy Communion table. In fact, the tea/coffee table is the real Holy Communion table that we should “do in remembrance of Jesus”.

I know this stuff is not easy — but we must wrestle with it as a community if we are to try to hold Christ at the centre. The truth is that we are all family. No one is a guest. No one is a visitor. No one is a stranger. We are one. Maybe this is the great underlying sin — that leads to so many other sins, and that is the belief that we are separate from God and others when the truth is we are all ONE. We do not have to become one — we are one already.

When we resume tea/coffee again let us accept Jesus’ invitation to live out our oneness.

Fast and Pray

The Presiding Bishop, Rev. Zipho Siwe has called on the Methodist Church of Southern Africa to fast and pray during September to “push the frontiers of evil back, especially in the area of education” and violence in our land. There are many different ways to fast. Here are some options for us to consider. With each option we would have to decide how long we would implement the fast for — a day or month.

• A complete fast, going without food and drink
• A liquid fast
• A fruit-only fast, or raw food only
• A sunrise to sunset fast
• A one-meal-a-day-fast
• A fast from certain foods and drink.

Substitute the time for eating with a time for prayer as well as an extra generosity in sharing with others.

Lord have mercy on us, Alan.

Time as currency

A little while back I watched the movie: In Time. It’s a parable in which time (years, hours, minutes and seconds) is the currency of the day. Instead of being paid in money one is paid in time. The first 25 years of one’s life is given for free — after that your clock (implanted in people’s forearms) starts ticking. When that clock reaches zero, one dies instantly. Society is divided by social class living in specialised towns called ‘Time Zones’. The poor live in the ghettos, where youth predominates, and must work each day to earn a few more hours of life. The rich live in a bubble of luxury where the middle-aged and elderly predominate, though they look young because they have stopped aging at 25 years old as well.

Society is structured in such a way that “for few to be immortal, many must die”. The poor are always in a hurry — anxiously mindful of every second — where the smallest delays (like missing a bus) can result in their death. The Salvation Army equivalent receives donations of time to distribute to those with only seconds to live. All the while the rich have ‘immortal’ amounts of time but very little meaning — or as one character says, “I have time, but no life”. Indeed, there are none so poor as those who only have time/money. The movie continues in Robin Hood fashion where ‘Time Banks’ are robbed causing a global time-crash for the rich. As time is redistributed the time zones of the rich are ‘occupied’ by the poor.

Using time as currency is clever because we have an innate sense that time is free and fair for all. The fact that some have too much while others have too little is easily discerned as unjust, yet in our society today inequality is often justified on the basis that some are more deserving than others. Marikana has unearthed for us again the brutality of inequality where some risk their lives every day doing hard, hard work only to earn 152 times (there is that word again) less than the manager of the same company.

Fast and Pray

The Presiding Bishop, Rev. Zipho Siwe has called on the Methodist Church of Southern Africa to fast and pray during September to “push the frontiers of evil back, especially in the area of education” and violence in our land. There are many different ways to fast. Here are some options for us to consider. With each option we would have to decide how long we would implement the fast for — a day or month.

• A complete fast, going without food and drink
• A liquid fast
• A fruit-only fast, or raw food only
• A sunrise to sunset fast
• A one-meal-a-day-fast
• A fast from certain foods and drink.

Substitute the time for eating with a time for prayer as well as an extra generosity in sharing with others.

Lord have mercy on us. Alan