Central Methodist Mission

Dear Friends,

 

I watched a documentary this past week on Howard Zinn – a long time historian and peace activist who recently died.  As a young man he participated in the Royan bombing (dropping napalm for the first time in Europe) just weeks before the end of WWII: “And we don’t know how many people were killed or how many people were terribly burned as a result of what we did. But I did it like most soldiers do, unthinkingly, mechanically, thinking we’re on the right side, they’re on the wrong side, and therefore we can do whatever we want, and it’s OK.” said Zinn.

 

Only afterward did he learn the human effects of bombing, mostly harming civilians – including children, women, and the elderly. He flew at “30,000 feet, six miles high, couldn’t hear screams, couldn’t see blood. And this is modern warfare….soldiers fire, they drop bombs, and they have no notion, really, of what is happening to the human beings that they’re firing on. Everything is done at a distance. This enables terrible atrocities to take place.” And it’s happening now in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

“And that while some societies can rightly claim to be more liberal, more democratic, more humane than others, the

difference is not great enough to justify the massive, indiscriminate slaughter of modern warfare.”

 

He asked shouldn’t the real motivations for war be examined. Shouldn’t the claim of fighting for democracy, liberty, a just cause, and human rights be questioned. Wouldn’t it be clear that all nations fight for power, privilege, wealth, territory, supremacy, national pride, and dominance of one side over others, the notions of freedom, righteousness, and innocent victims never considered. Tyranny is in the eye of the beholder when one side is as bad as the other.

 

“War isn’t inevitable”, said Zinn. “It doesn’t arise from an instinctive human need. Political leaders manufacture it, then use propaganda to justify it to the public and mobilize them to fight.  War is the moral equivalent of the worst kind of terrorism.”

 

Toward the end of his life he wrote:  “Wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not as politicians. They didn’t just moan. They worked they acted, and organized to bring their situation to the attention of people in power. And that’s what we have to do today.”

 

Alan

 

 

Dear Friends                                                                                                  

 

As we begin our service, they begin their trial

As we meet to support Ecclesia they meet to judge

As we meet in solidarity they meet in legality

As we begin in prayer, so do they

We are us and they are them

Yet we are one

We are them and they are us

As a body within Your body

We feel and see Flesh parting – from a flogging

The paschal range is played out before us

Hasty trials

Expedient decisions

Multiple denials

Bystanders from a distance

Courage

Some help to carry the cross

Mocking, hate, rejection,

Many victims

The state watches, bemused

Blood and water flow, separated

The water no longer offering the eternal welcome of Baptism

We trust You Lord to have the last word.

AMEN

   

[This is a prayer written by my colleague Rev. John Wessels.  John prayed this prayer at a service that was held in support of and in solidarity with Rev. Ecclesia de Lange.  The service of solidarity took place at the exact time as the Church appeal court met to decide on  Ecclesia’s future as a Methodist minister as a result of her   marrying her partner Amanda on the 15th December 2009.  This past Wednesday we heard that Ecclesia had been discontinued as a  Methodist Minister.  If you would like to know more about Ecclesia you can collect a copy of “Ecclesia’s Story” from the back table.  In grief, Alan]

 

Dear Friends                                                                                                                           

 

It is a special occasion to have Stepping Stones Pre-School joining us in  worship this morning.  Today we salute the wonder-full work of all those involved in this amazing school.  During the service we will have the        opportunity to support the staff of Stepping Stones as they seek to            re-dedicate themselves to the awesome task of caring for young lives and educating fertile minds.  Thank you for being among us today! 

 

 

Today is Valentine’s Day.  A day on which our “Cardies culture” encourages us to risk telling another of our love for them with cards, flowers and  chocolates.  And this week is ASH Wednesday that marks the beginning of Lent—the long journey of Jesus to the Cross—the culmination of Jesus risking his life to tell us of his love for all the world. 

 

A Cross—not a card—is the real sign of love.  Let us bare this in mind that when Jesus commands us to love—both neighbours and enemies alike—he is not referring to a soppy or romantic feeling.  He is referring to the       constant commitment to pursue, promote, preserve and protect LIFE in and for the other.  Cross-shaped love is for LIFE.  Cross-shaped love will even give up its life for the sake of saving another’s life.  Cross-shaped love will choose to be killed rather than to kill.  Cross-shaped love continues to  treasure the sacredness of life in both neighbour and enemy. 

Peace, Alan. 

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                     

 

Today is Harvest Festival.  Today we celebrate the life sustaining goodness of God.  We declare our gratitude for God’s generosity for providing an abundance for all of God’s creatures. 

 

In response to God’s generosity we are invited to consider our own.  Today each of us is given an opportunity to commit ourselves to a way of generous living and giving.  Inside this bulletin there is a pledge form.  We are invited to anonymously write down the gifts we commit to offering God.

 

Please note that at CMM we do not believe giving to God should ever be reduced to giving to the Church.  We “believe the world is our parish”  and so we trust that every gift of generosity given to anyone or any organization anywhere at any time is a sacred offering to God to take and use to mend this broken world that God so loves. 

 

The aim of today is to encourage us to become thoughtful and deliberate about our generosity in partnering God to make a Gospel difference in the world. 

 

Please be reminded of my role at CMM.  I am not here to fund-raise for the Church—as pastor I am here to remind us that we are called to grow in generosity just as we are called to grow in love and mercy and truth.  Please also note that our aim is never to become a rich church but rather an enriching church.  

 

Peace,  Alan.

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                 

 

At 6am this past Wednesday I was canoeing—doing my usual 10km stretch between 3 Anchor bay and Clifton.  It was slightly drizzly without a breath of wind.  The water was like glass.  A few hundred meters out I came across a seal enjoying an octopus for breakfast (the octopus was not enjoying!).  A little further out I saw two Southern Right whales and paddled right up close to them.  They were around 15m in length.  Huge animals—gently floating—powerfully blowing—and one waved at me with a vertical show of its enormous tale.  A few minutes later I saw some other whales that were slightly smaller and finally on my way back again as the sun was breaking through the morning cloud I almost bumped into the original two whales who were now swimming only about 150m off shore. 

 

This magical moment reminded me of psalm 19 that tells us how the beauty of God’s creation is ”day to day and night to night” preaching and proclaiming about God’s glory.  According to the psalmist, God’s creation/creatures preach loudly yet silently:

 

“There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” [Ps 19:3].

 

There were no words spoken in my encounter with the whales YET I was surrounded with a sense of God’s glory and the pure and rich gift of just being alive.   With gratitude, Alan.

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                           

filmul legend of the guardians: the owls of ga’hoole download

      

 

In two weeks time we celebrate Harvest Festival Sunday.  Traditionally Harvest Festival would have included parishioners bringing fresh produce from their own farms or plots to the church, but these days very few of us are tilling the soil in such a personal and fruitful manner.  Modern life is lived with an increasing detachment between people and creation.  We forget that we are dependent on the soil and in our forgetfulness we foolishly contaminate it.  Perhaps one way we celebrate Harvest Festival is to make a commitment to grow a little of our own fruit, vegetable or herbs if we are fortunate enough to have a little furrow of soil where we live. 

 

We are nevertheless encouraged to flood the front of the church with food (both fresh and non-perishables including potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, apples, cucumber, tomatoes, cauliflower, jungle oats, maize meal, weet-bix, peanut butter, baked beans and fishoil etc.) on Sunday the 7th February.

  Food that will be donated to Ons Plek, Stepping Stone and City Care.

 

During the same Harvest Festival Sunday we will all have an opportunity to pledge to live as an ever growing generous people.  We care invited to be deliberate in our generosity—not just towards the work of God in and through this place—but throughout all the world. 

Peace, Alan.

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                 

 

When Jesus sent out his disciples on their first missionary journey he instructed them, “…proclaim the good news, ‘The Kingdom of heaven has come near’.  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…”  (Matt. 10:7-8). 

 

That is quite a mission statement!  I believe if Jesus were among us today he would say exactly the same to us….including “raise the dead”! 

 

I hope you will join me tonight as we wrestle with what this mission statement of Jesus means for us living in South Africa today and as members of this planet earth.  Tonight we will take time to reflect on where we have come from as a country and church community and where we trust God wants us to be.  Most importantly we will try and discern where we are right now.

 

I am sure you have seen those maps in the shopping malls, provided at the entrances.   The one area of those maps that are always highlighted is the place that flashes “you are here”. 

With the help of Scripture, tonight we hope to locate where we are as a nation, church and perhaps even where we are as individuals.   Come and see!!!

 

Peace, Alan.

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                

 

We are still in the first fresh days of the New Year.  Even if you are not a “New Year’s Resolution” type of person —I am sure the desire for newness stirs in you.  The yearning to live differently—to walk more fully in the foot steps of Jesus… 

 

Reminding ourselves of what Jesus and James both advised may help us to walk in the light-filled paths that lead to new Life:  “…let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no.”  (Matt. 5:37 and James 5:12).

 

Here they invite us to be clear in the words we speak and the deeds we do.  In other words, to say or do what we mean and to mean what we say or do.  To be unambiguous.  To be authentic, genuine and transparent.  This is no easy task.  It will demand that we “know thyself”.  This knowing and clear and unambiguous way of being will originate from silence—prayerful      silence and reflection.  This is where you and I are called to invest. 

 

Furthermore these words invite us to reflect on when we should say “yes” and when we should say “no”.   Sometimes we say the one instead of the other so not to offend someone or conversely to please them.   At the heart of this may be a shallow trust in our own preciousness rooted in Jesus’ holding love of our lives.  This trust will deepen through prayerful silence and reflection.  This is where you and I are en-courage-d to begin.  Alan

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                

 

I am not sure where your New Year’s resolutions are inspired from.  I hope they are connected to the longings of God’s heart for this world.  I hope they embody God’s dream for your life.   To this end I encourage you to allow Scripture to be the basis for your resolutions going forward.  Here are a few verses of Scripture that if each of us decided to adopt prayerfully this new year will be remembered for more than just the Soccer World Cup!

 

I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  (Eph. 4:1-3)

 

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:8-11).

 

Loving Lord give us the desire to pray these words daily until we live them faithfully.  Peace, Alan.

 

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                

 

A special welcome to Rodger Florist who will be sharing God’s word with us this morning.  Trust you are among family Rodger!  May God give you words to draw us to drink from the fountain of God’s faithfulness today.

 

Just two days ago we celebrated Christmas.  We were reminded that is about Jesus.  And Jesus is about the utterly-loving-Creator-God’s desperate desire for all of creation to know that we are all utterly loved.  We reflected on Edwin Markham’s poem: Outwitted suggesting that Christmas is God’s outwitting move drawing us in…

 

He drew a circle that shut me out—

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout,

But love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in. 

 

Now on the other side of Christmas, but still bursting in its glow, we are challenged to do as God has done to us.  As God has expanded the circle of God’s love to include us we are invited to do the same towards others.  I invite you to think of just one person or group of people who in all honesty we have yet to include in the circle of our love.  Lets write down their name………………………………. and begin to pray that God will help us stretch the circle of our love to include them.  With love, Alan.