Central Methodist Mission – Page 78 – Cape Town, South Africa

Equal Education

Alan / March 18, 2012 / Sunday Letter

Equal Education is an NGO of great importance in our country. I would go so far as to say that the future well-being of our country rests on whether its agenda is accepted and implemented nationwide. Their recent campaign includes the development of “Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure”. In short our schools need fixing.

Of our 24 793 public schools, these are the current backlogs:

3 544 schools (14%) have no electricity supply, while 804 schools (3%) have an unreliable supply.

2 402 schools (10%) have no water supply, while a further 2 611 schools (11%) have an unreliable water supply.

22 304 schools (90%) do not have stocked Computer Centres.

11 450 Schools (46%) still use pit-latrine toilets while 913 schools (4%) have no toilet facilities at all.

22 938 schools (93%) do not have stocked and functioning libraries.

23 562 schools (95%) do not have stocked laboratories.

[Stats from the National Education Infrastructure Management System Report, Department of Basic Education 2011].

If you would like more information about ways in which you can help, contact Equal Education 021 387 0022 or at www.equaleducation.org.za

Alan

Listening leads to loving

Alan / March 11, 2012 / Sunday Letter

In a small Eastern European town there was a local inhabitant who continually slandered the local rabbi.

One day, realising the wrongfulness of his behaviour, he asked the rabbi for forgiveness and offered to perform any penance required to make amends.

The rabbi told him to fetch a feather pillow from his home, cut it open, scatter the feathers to the wind, and then return. The man followed the rabbi’s instructions to the letter, then came back and asked, “Am I now forgiven?”

“You just have to do one more thing,” answered the rabbi, “Go and gather all the feathers.”

“But that’s impossible,” the man protested, “the wind has already scattered them.” “Exactly,” explained the rabbi, “And although you truly wish to correct the evil you have spoken, it is as impossible to repair the damage done by your words as it is to recover the feathers.”

Do you ever wish there were words that you had never spoken? Sometimes we speak words that we regret because we have not taken the time to really listen before we speak. As it says in Scripture: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…” (James 1:19).

Oh wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were quick to listen and slow to speak!

I invite you to attend our “To Listen is to Love” Workshop next Sunday evening – 18 March from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. in the Sanctuary.

Alan

Words, words, words

Alan / March 4, 2012 / Sunday Letter

Words and their meanings are important. Sometimes a word carries different meanings and associations for different people, which is one of the things that we were reminded of at “The Jesus School” this past week. Take for example the word ‘sin’. What comes to your mind? How would you define it?

Nadia Bolz-Weber (a Lutheran pastor) has this to say about sin:

“I love to talk about sin, which makes little sense to people who want to label me as a liberal. I think perhaps that actual liberals equate admitting we are sinful with having low self-esteem. And then the conservatives equate sin with immorality (only sometimes do sin and immorality converge). So one end of the church tells us that sin is an antiquated notion that only makes us feel bad about ourselves so we should avoid mentioning it at all. While the other end of the church tells us that sin is the same as immorality and totally avoidable if you are just a good, squeaky clean Christian. But when sin is boiled down to low self-esteem and immorality then it becomes something we can control or limit in some way, rather than something we are in bondage to. The reality is that I cannot free myself from the bondage of self. I cannot keep from being turned in on self. I cannot by my own understanding or effort disentangle myself from my self-interest, and when I think that I can … I am trying to do what is only God’s to do.

To me, there is actually great hope in admitting my mortality and brokenness because then I finally lay aside my sin management program and allow God to be God for me. Which is all any of us really need when it comes down to it.”

There are other words within the Christian lexicon like salvation, repentance, eternal life, hell, heaven, justice, neighbour, life, death … that all invite our exploration.

Alan

Birth may feel like death

Alan / February 26, 2012February 26, 2012 / Sunday Letter

Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent — the period of 40 days that precedes Easter (excluding Sundays which remain forever days of resurrection celebration). 40 days is the great Biblical metaphor for new life — hinting towards the 40 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy reaching full-term. Lent is therefore an invitation for us to be open to conceive, labour and birth new life. In doing so, we fulfill our calling to imitate Jesus who came to bring new and abundant life.

This is why confession has always gone hand-in-hand with Lent. Confession is the courage to wrestle with the truth of our lives in the presence of another. Not so that they may forgive us — but that they may help us to accept the truth of our lives, as well as to accept the already-available forgiveness of God. You see, we can only fully confess (dare to touch the truth of our life) if we know that we are already fully forgiven. The grace of knowing that we are held is what sets us free to vulnerably let go. Only when I know that I am loved can I face the unlovable-ness of who I am.

Before we ask God to reveal to us our sin (our addictive self-centeredness) let us ask God to reveal to us God’s grace.

Defining sin as “addictive self-centeredness” reminds us that there are areas of our living that are uncontrollably dependent on that which is killing us (and others). And please let us not reduce addiction to alcohol and other drugs — some of us are addicted to blaming, exaggerating, working, interfering, controlling, gossiping and the like … all destructive in their own way. To give up any addiction feels like we are dying. So let us pray for God to remind us that birth may often feel like death. It is Lent — it is time to get pregnant.

Alan

Nourishing living

Alan / February 19, 2012February 19, 2012 / Sunday Letter

So I asked a friend of mine how to collect the seed from my present crop of tomatoes in order to have seeds to plant next season — this is what she told me to do:

“You need to identify the best plant (healthiest, strongest, prettiest, happiest) and on that plant identify the best tomato (same standards as above). Let it ripen on the vine, but not over-ripen.

Pick that tomato, set it on your kitchen counter for a day or two and smile upon it/smile as a result of it. Once it is perfectly ripe, cut it open and remove the seeds into a small bowl. Now eat the rest of it like it’s the gift from God we know it is. Let that small cup of seeds and juice sit on your kitchen counter for a day or two or three, until a layer of mould forms on top. Dispose of that layer of mould, and rinse the seeds clean. I usually get the tomato guts off them, then set to dry on a piece of foil or parchment, trying to spread them out so they don’t dry as a clump.

Once the seeds are dry, free them from the foil or parchment, put them in an envelope, and label (St. Pierre Slicer, and the date). They need to go through a period of being frozen, so here I just keep the envelope in an outbuilding for the winter (to replicate our season) but you can put them in your freezer for a month or two, which would work fine.

Obviously you can do this with more than one tomato, but even just one produces enough seeds to share.”

Oh my — so much to learn from a tomato! To live to nourish others — to die — to rise again (next season). And to think that God has chosen us and smiled lovingly upon all of us … enjoy the taste of that.

Alan

Loyalty is Truthful Living

Alan / February 12, 2012 / Sunday Letter

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life”. In other words, to follow Jesus is to live in a particular way that honours truth more than anything else. Jesus did not say: “I am the way, the peace/provider/safety and the life”. If he had said this then we would be excused for shaping our lives around acquiring peace, material comfort and safety, which is what so many of us do. (We only have to reflect on the content of our prayers to see whether this is true or not.)

The truthful way is the Jesus-way. Therefore the truth-full way is the life-enabling/life-giving/life-receiving/life-creating way. The promise of the Jesus-way or the truth-full way, is LIFE. Truthful living brings life — life before death, and after. And when we experience this life — this abundant life — conceived, laboured and birthed — by truth-full living, then true peace is given to us (even in the midst of conflict), and material comfort becomes more immaterial, while safety is exchanged for salvation — which is (among other things) the liberation from the fear that provokes our need for safety in the first place.

Not only is truth-full living loyalty to Jesus — but it is also the highest loyalty we can offer others, organisations institutions, our country and world, as a whole. With this I conclude with a quote:

“Loyalty that hides problematic conduct is a false loyalty, for it elevates reputation over reality, and esteems image over character. Though we may believe we are acting to protect the institution, in reality we do the institution and individuals far greater damage …” John I. Jenkins

Alan

The First CMM Times of 2012

Alan / February 10, 2012February 11, 2012 / Sunday Letter

Our first CMM Times issue for 2012 is our ‘Back To School’ edition. Like school children all around the world, we too need to frequently enroll in classes on how to live loving and life-giving lives. As such our feature for the month is ‘The Jesus School‘, which reminds us how to live life and love others ‘The Jesus Way’. Below you will find a download link for this issue of CMM Times, as well as a link to the archives with all the previous CMM Times releases.

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[button sid=”button-1328908936″ link=”https://www.cmm.org.za/cmm-times/” type=”pointer” shape=”small”]Access previous issues[/button]

Growing Community the Jesus Way

Alan / February 5, 2012February 5, 2012 / Sunday Letter

We have changed the name of “Wednesday Church” to the “Jesus School”. Why? What is in a name after all? Well, to be Church is to be Christ’s body. It is to live as Christ lived — to think, speak and act like Christ as well as to even die and rise again like Christ. In other words to embody Jesus in all things. Now I don’t know about you but I am nowhere near doing that — but in my more fearless moments — I long for that more than anything else. The way I see it is that I may call myself an astronaut all I like — I may even worship the moon and stick pictures of rockets on my bedroom wall and even dress in an astronaut suit — but that does not make me an astronaut. All I am doing when I call myself an astronaut is — well — calling myself an astronaut. Similarly we may call ourselves “Church” but that does not make us Church. Church is a Christ-centered community doing life the Jesus Way — risking being loved and risking loving.

The “Jesus School” reminds us that we will always be students of Jesus and never graduates!

Jesus will be our subject – week in and week out. Quite often we will be going through the gospel text for the previous Sunday.

Our prayer will not only be “Open my mind to understand your ways Jesus”, but also “open my heart to love you more.” We will study together — reading the texts — commentaries about the texts. Bring a bible and note book and let’s go on a journey together. It is for everyone — I promise you every one of us will have something to give and receive. School starts at 7 p.m. every Wednesday — or 6:30 p.m. for 30 minutes of silent-sitting.

Let the term begin, Alan

Picture: ‘WE’ — stands for West End — which is a marginalised suburb in Birmingham Alabama, USA. The Community Church Without Walls started an urban garden which was for me an amazing sign of the Kin-dom, Alan.

Joyful and just generosity

Alan / February 1, 2012February 1, 2012 / Sunday Letter

At CMM we believe that we are born in the image of a very generous God who lovingly shares with us everything that has been created. We also believe that we are called to partner God in mending our universe by generously giving back what God has already provided so abundantly. We may choose to do this through CMM or any other organisation or individual or initiative. It is not important where we give but it is very important that we give. In order to become more like God, we are encouraged to give justly and joyfully so that we can help God mend our universe!

Remember …

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it, for the Lord has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.” Psalm 24:1
Everything belongs to the Lord. We own nothing.

“There will, however, be no one in need among you … give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so … open your hand to the poor and needy.” Deut. 15:4,10,11
Everything of the Lord’s is to be joyfully and justly shared.

“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” 1 John 3:17
Sharing reveals God’s love in us.

As difficult as this may sound it is actually what each of us is born for – and here is why:
• God is joyfully and justly generous
• We are born in God’s image
• We are therefore born to be joyfully and justly generous.
We are on the journey from the image of God to the likeness of God!