This week was our Women’s Auxiliary Christmas Party and we were beautifully led through a series of carols and reflections on the various characters in the Christmas story. We looked at Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, the Magi and then we were asked, ‘who have we left out?’ and someone called out the right answer, ‘Jesus, the newborn Messiah’.
‘Oops!’ said someone sitting near me, ‘I was going to say that we had left out the innkeeper’.
We laughed, but the comment got us thinking and talking. It is true that the innkeeper who gave the holy family shelter that first Christmas had a small...
How good are you at waiting for things? Some times we are better at waiting than at other times - waiting for food at a restaurant, waiting in a queue at Home Affairs, waiting for a phone call, a test result. We live in such an instant generation, waiting is not something we have to do very often.
Often a key feature of shops, or products or services is in their claim that they won’t make you wait. Instant online banking, same day delivery, buy now pay later. Waiting is not really a feature of life these days.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and today begins a season of waiting. This seas...
As I come to the end of my 3 year term as a Society Steward, and look back on my initial reaction, like Moses – “Oh No, Not Me Lord, I’m not worthy, I can’t do that!” I admit, I have certainly been stretched completely out of my comfort zone, but - what a privilege and a blessing it’s been to serve Our Lord in this way.
I have been amazed at how much more there is to running a Church, and preparing the Sunday Service. Also, how crucial it is and how grateful we are to have reliable and dedicated people serving in the various areas, not only on Sundays, but during the week as well. It’s been fan...
This last Sunday we were all together in one service (incorporating our annual society meeting) and had a chance to look back on 2018 and share some of our plans for 2019. Here are some of the highlights if you missed out:
The founding pastor of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, Rev Gordon Cosby, said once that we must “always remember that each person you see … sits next to his or her own pool of tears”.
He’s right. The brave face we present to the world hides all sorts of brokenness and pain in our lives. Not to say that that is our whole story (we certainly also have our joys and our triumphs), but it’s definitely a significant part of the story and our behaviour, our fears, our words and our sense of self are all powerfully shaped by our particular pool of tears.
Cosby says that ‘each’ person – every p...
Part of our daily bedtime routine is to read with our children. Michael and I are very pleased that they have moved on from picture books about 'Spot the Dog' to books that we also enjoy reading. At the moment, Anna and I are reading a book called 'Mahlangeni'. It tells the (true) story of the family of a game ranger, who live in a very remote part of the northern part of the Kruger National Park. So far, they have been accosted by hippos in their boat (they have to park their vehicle on the opposite side of a hippo-infested river, and boat across to get to their home), charged by elephant...
85 year old author and pastor Eugene Peterson died this week. You’ll know his translation of the Bible (The Message) and you may have read some of his books. He’s often been been described as a "pastor to pastors" because much of his written work addresses the pastoral vocation, but he’s worth reading no matter the shape of your vocation. Here’s a sprinkling of some of his words:
Hellen Keller said 'walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.' The real sadness is that, too often, we walk alone in the dark too. But when God created us, God created us in community, for community, knowing that it is not good for us to be alone. As an introvert, married to an introvert, I will always advocate for what we call in our family 'alone time'. But I have been reminded this week of what a gift community relationships are. What a gift friends are.
This week saw the final session of the Griefshare course. The Griefshare Course takes participants thr...
This last week saw the appointment of yet another Minister of Finance in South Africa. It turns out that former minister Nhlanhla Nene, despite heroically resisting intense pressure to approve a nuclear deal that we couldn’t afford, has feet of clay. He admitted to having deceived the public about his inappropriate contact with the Gupta family and as a result, offered to resign. Journalist Stephen Grootes comments that “it may be remembered as the first time in our democratic history that a person resigned from the Cabinet for ethical reasons.”
Disappointed though we may be by the actions of ...
Welcome back to those of you who have been travelling to different parts of our country and the world. We recently spent some time in the Kruger National Park and on one occasion parked off and watched an elephant for a considerable length of time as he browsed contentedly not far from the car. The thing that struck us was how nimble and dexterous the end of his trunk was. At one stage he assisted his trunk with a little kick of the front foot which got the clump of grass into a more manageable position and then with the end of his trunk twisting and winding around and around he proceeded to p...