I was once given a piece of advice that it would be a good idea to keep a sermon notebook. I listened, but I wish I was actually better at keeping a notebook of the many stories and theological experiences we have had over the past few days. I've made extensives notes, and maybe this will actually suffice.
After we spent the night in "Googes" we made a group decision to NOT travel downtown to St. George's Cathedral and experience high-church worship with the Anglicans, but rather we stayed and worshipped with our new township friends. Sunday morning in the township is actually someting else. Many, many of the residents dress up in their finest clothes and walk to their neighborhood church. We decided to attend the Harvest House. It is a new church (10 months) in that area and they still worship in a big tent (supported by two middle poles but they hope to grow to 5 poles soon). They have a chancel area and sound equipment to be heard from all over. IT WAS LOUD! Beautifully, when it was silent in the tent, you could actually hear the other churches in the neighborhood praising their Maker.
So here it is...their ministry is to reach out to those who live in the shanty town next to it, but it is also located next to the township dump. So, I wondered what it meant, theologically, to worship and sing praises to God next to this massive amounts of trash and in sight of the shanty homes. Well, I need to continue to cogitate on this, but hospitality was really the word of the day and theologically, it was powerful.
We were obvious visitors, and they welcomed us quite warmly and as more people arrived for worship, we gave up our seats for them, but then several fellas went down the block and began carrying formal, padded-seat, dining chairs from their homes for us to sit on. It was hot. It was in the middle of worship. It was some distance. It was some effort. The sermon on was on what it meant to worship God all day long, and that worship of God doesn't stop when when you leave the tent. I got a true sense that this community, this body of new believers understood something that I believe many of us struggle throughout our lives to understand. It's about delivering your very best for the stranger in your midst without second thought because that is what Christ has done for you. When you do this, you will never mind the effort or the heat or the timely inconveniences. When you do this, you will glorify God.
May it be that we would be so quick to extend such a welcome to those in our places of worship who have come to hear the good news of God's love and grace and to worship God. May it be that we would bear witness to Jesus Christ when we do our very best to make our guests feel authentically welcomed into God's kingdom.
January 12, 2009
Penguins and ostriches and baboons, oh my!
No need to wait for an official safari to see some of the amazing wildlife of South Africa. Today we went to see the African "Jackass" Penguins (named for the donkey-like braying call they make while mating). They were SO cute. I mean...SO cute. I could have watched those little guys all day. We went to their penguin colony this morning and learned all about how they came to settle there. The penguins wander freely in a protected natural environment. It was so fun to see them waddle along the beach and dive into the water. Ohhh they were SO cute!
Continuing on our day's journey, we traveled to Cape Point. On the way, we came across a family of wild ostriches roaming freely near the road. A mom, dad and 5 babies (well, more like teenagers, we were told). Naturally we stopped the bus and jumped off to take several pictures. I have never seen such wild birds just freely wandering the land. How cool!
The final animal on our unofficial African wildlife tour was the baboon. OK, to be fair, we never saw an actual baboon, but we were in a baboon area. Road signs warned drivers not to leave their cars unattended because baboons can easily break into cars. Along the walking trails we took, signs warned walkers of the possibility of baboons. Our guide gave us advice on how to deal with a baboon if we should encounter one--drop all food items and back away slowly. To withhold food would most likely result in a baboon bite, which, according to our guide, is worse than being bitten by a bear. Ouch. Needless to say, with all the warnings, I think we were all glad not to have seen one up close. But where else have you seen a baboon warning sign!?
Penguins and ostriches and baboons, oh my! What a great day in Africa!
Continuing on our day's journey, we traveled to Cape Point. On the way, we came across a family of wild ostriches roaming freely near the road. A mom, dad and 5 babies (well, more like teenagers, we were told). Naturally we stopped the bus and jumped off to take several pictures. I have never seen such wild birds just freely wandering the land. How cool!
The final animal on our unofficial African wildlife tour was the baboon. OK, to be fair, we never saw an actual baboon, but we were in a baboon area. Road signs warned drivers not to leave their cars unattended because baboons can easily break into cars. Along the walking trails we took, signs warned walkers of the possibility of baboons. Our guide gave us advice on how to deal with a baboon if we should encounter one--drop all food items and back away slowly. To withhold food would most likely result in a baboon bite, which, according to our guide, is worse than being bitten by a bear. Ouch. Needless to say, with all the warnings, I think we were all glad not to have seen one up close. But where else have you seen a baboon warning sign!?
Penguins and ostriches and baboons, oh my! What a great day in Africa!
Thinking about Michael
Cape Town is quite the cosmopolitan city. The British and Dutch colonialism of the past has left it now as a bustling "Europeanized" city. It is not what I expected. A westernized city where KFC is known by everyone, the clothing is of all the latest styles, cars are a popular thing to have, and the waterfront (of a huge port) the other night was alive with the sounds of South African Jazz music.
Today amongst our activities we drove along the western coast home from Cape Point. We drove past the Clifton Beaches, and in and amongst some of the pricest properties in Africa. It is rumored that Posh Spice, Elton John, David Beckham, and Steven Speilberg play here to the tune of millions of dollars.
Amongst all of that abundance we stopped the van at a local store to purchase a couple of gifts. As some of the group were waiting outside there was a gentleman pushing a grocery style cart. He said his name was Michael, and that these were all of my things as he pointed to the cart. He had stopped to talk to the group when I walked up. He was yelling at one of the other nearby drivers who had asked him to move along. It is amazing how curse words are pretty universal no matter what language you speak or understand. Michael sang a song to one of our group and as we all boarded the bus and drove away he waved goobye to us.
As I go to sleep in such a cosmopolitan city tonight Micheal is just one of the things on my mind. His situation, regardless of why. We have been able to bear witness to some pretty powerful images over the past week through work AND play. Most of our work has been just sitting and listening to the stories of the residents of townships (aparteid slums), anti-apartheid workers and freedom fighters, and also to one another as we begin to process all that we encounter. In two weeks we will return to the United States and begin thinking about how to translate what we saw and apply to our individual and collective future ministries. From heart wrenching, to sensual overload and delight...all preconvcieved expectations and conotations are out the window!
Today amongst our activities we drove along the western coast home from Cape Point. We drove past the Clifton Beaches, and in and amongst some of the pricest properties in Africa. It is rumored that Posh Spice, Elton John, David Beckham, and Steven Speilberg play here to the tune of millions of dollars.
Amongst all of that abundance we stopped the van at a local store to purchase a couple of gifts. As some of the group were waiting outside there was a gentleman pushing a grocery style cart. He said his name was Michael, and that these were all of my things as he pointed to the cart. He had stopped to talk to the group when I walked up. He was yelling at one of the other nearby drivers who had asked him to move along. It is amazing how curse words are pretty universal no matter what language you speak or understand. Michael sang a song to one of our group and as we all boarded the bus and drove away he waved goobye to us.
As I go to sleep in such a cosmopolitan city tonight Micheal is just one of the things on my mind. His situation, regardless of why. We have been able to bear witness to some pretty powerful images over the past week through work AND play. Most of our work has been just sitting and listening to the stories of the residents of townships (aparteid slums), anti-apartheid workers and freedom fighters, and also to one another as we begin to process all that we encounter. In two weeks we will return to the United States and begin thinking about how to translate what we saw and apply to our individual and collective future ministries. From heart wrenching, to sensual overload and delight...all preconvcieved expectations and conotations are out the window!
Educational Irony Found in Africa
Today we visited the Cape of Good Hope. How ironic is it that for five years, as I taught high school geography (among many other subjects), that I would teach them about the Cape of Good Hope. The point of Southern Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans converge.
It was an awesome experience to stand there and look out into the big blue vastness and reflect on this past week and the two more weeks that we have left here in South Africa, but I think it was even more telling and moving for me personally to stand there at a place that I had introduced so many students to all those years. The water was a bright blue, the sun was beating down, the waves were crashing into shore, but I was there. Kaappunt!! Cape Point!
It was an awesome experience to stand there and look out into the big blue vastness and reflect on this past week and the two more weeks that we have left here in South Africa, but I think it was even more telling and moving for me personally to stand there at a place that I had introduced so many students to all those years. The water was a bright blue, the sun was beating down, the waves were crashing into shore, but I was there. Kaappunt!! Cape Point!
January 11, 2009
Joy..In So Many Ways
Friends, we have not yet been in South Africa for a week, and already it feels like a month. As my colleagues have said we have climbed Table Mountain and experienced God in our midst, we have been to the beach, the Waterfront, and swam in the Indian Ocean..
..and we have experienced Joy in so many ways. I say this because we spent most of yesterday and last night in the Township of Guguletu. Guguletu is in the Cape Flats, where it is windy constantly and there are always people around. The guest house that we spent the night in is owned by a wonderful woman named Joy. Joy sees her guest house in the Gugs (as Guguletu is known in Cape Town) as something that represents what she and her fellow sisters and brothers are. Joy showed us a true hospitality when she invited friends and neighbors to be with us, talk with us, to teach us songs, and giggle at us while they taught us to dance. There is a constant smile on Joy's face, and it is her desire to help us understand who the people of Guguletu are, and to show the people of Guguletu that she hopes to bring people to the guest house for their benefit, not their destruction. My favorite night thus far was spent feeling a true sense of South Africa, with people who are proud to be from Gugs, who are proud of their heritage and who are deep grounded in their faith. I can only hope that I am able to mirror Joy and all that she is to herself, her community, her family, and God.
Peace & love.
..and we have experienced Joy in so many ways. I say this because we spent most of yesterday and last night in the Township of Guguletu. Guguletu is in the Cape Flats, where it is windy constantly and there are always people around. The guest house that we spent the night in is owned by a wonderful woman named Joy. Joy sees her guest house in the Gugs (as Guguletu is known in Cape Town) as something that represents what she and her fellow sisters and brothers are. Joy showed us a true hospitality when she invited friends and neighbors to be with us, talk with us, to teach us songs, and giggle at us while they taught us to dance. There is a constant smile on Joy's face, and it is her desire to help us understand who the people of Guguletu are, and to show the people of Guguletu that she hopes to bring people to the guest house for their benefit, not their destruction. My favorite night thus far was spent feeling a true sense of South Africa, with people who are proud to be from Gugs, who are proud of their heritage and who are deep grounded in their faith. I can only hope that I am able to mirror Joy and all that she is to herself, her community, her family, and God.
Peace & love.
January 9, 2009
Standing at the top of Table Mountain...the view of the city on one side, the view of the ocean on the other...breathing in the crisp cool air...getting lost in the clouds as the wind carried them over the mountain...it was hard not to feel God's presence. Surrounded by such beauty, the grace of God seemed closer than our own breath and as powerful as the gusts of wind at the top of that mountain. That was Wednesday. Today as we walked through one of the townships I wondered where that overwhelming sense of God's grace had gone. It was heartbreaking. I was so humbled by the people we met there and the way they live. And I was so angered at the injustice that led them there. Tomorrow we are returning to one of the townships...hopefully tomorrow will help me continue processing and thinking about where the hope is...where the grace is.
On a lighter note, yesterday for lunch we went to a BBQ restaurant. Well, butchery, not really restaurant. You first picked out which raw meat you wanted--it looked like a deli counter at the grocery store. And then you took it in the next room where BBQ pits were set up and you grilled your own meat! Our lunch was already prepared when we got there, so we didn't cook the meat ourselves. The food was delicious! I was big fan of the chicken, but they had lamb and sausage too. It was yummy! Not so much for our vegetarian friends though.
Yesterday we also went to the Warehouse. It is a local ministry that ministers to local churches. It's like a mission outreach organization that provides ministries to churches. For example, if a family needed clothing, the church would contact the Warehouse and the Warehouse would put together a box of clothes specific to that family, then send that box to the church where the church would give it to the family. The Warehouse, then, goes virtually unnoticed--and that is the way they want it, to be invisible. The Warehouse also has several programs that are all grounded on relationship building. All of the people there seemed to echo the idea that prayer, patience, and perseverance are vital to social growth and social change.
On a lighter note, yesterday for lunch we went to a BBQ restaurant. Well, butchery, not really restaurant. You first picked out which raw meat you wanted--it looked like a deli counter at the grocery store. And then you took it in the next room where BBQ pits were set up and you grilled your own meat! Our lunch was already prepared when we got there, so we didn't cook the meat ourselves. The food was delicious! I was big fan of the chicken, but they had lamb and sausage too. It was yummy! Not so much for our vegetarian friends though.
Yesterday we also went to the Warehouse. It is a local ministry that ministers to local churches. It's like a mission outreach organization that provides ministries to churches. For example, if a family needed clothing, the church would contact the Warehouse and the Warehouse would put together a box of clothes specific to that family, then send that box to the church where the church would give it to the family. The Warehouse, then, goes virtually unnoticed--and that is the way they want it, to be invisible. The Warehouse also has several programs that are all grounded on relationship building. All of the people there seemed to echo the idea that prayer, patience, and perseverance are vital to social growth and social change.
January 8, 2009
You know how in Exodus where it talks of how the cloud descended upon the tent whenever God was speaking to Moses. Last night while walking on the streets of Cape Town, I was able to see an awesome vision that made me remember those scriptures. We looked up and there was this great fluffy cloud that had descended on top of Table Mountain.
Day Two Photos
The Warehouse works in partnership with churches in Cape Town, South Africa as they respond to the poverty and injustice that pervades society.
Maurie, volunteer and tour guide.
We got a chance to work in the warehouse sorting clothes.
Frances getting instructions.
Gillian, project director for Workspring at The Warehouse gave an overview of her program and her testimony.
We had lunch at Maphindi's Butchery, which wasn't a primo selection for our four vegetarians. It is located in the township Gugulethu, and operated by Kyle Maphindi who hosted us. It is a self serve BBQ (braai). You select your meat, pat for it, throw it on a grill and grill it yourself or tip the workers to grill it for you. Fascinating experience, and extremely commendable employer in this highly unemployed community.
O Lord,
we can never fully comprehend
the length, breadth, depth and height of your love:
but we pray that that love may so transform us
through your suffering
as to make us reach out to
the despairing and the desperate
and work for peace and reconciliation between all people:
for Jesus’ sake, hear our prayer. Amen.
—Douglas Bax, Cry Justice! Prayers, Meditations and Readings from South Africa
We had the privilege of listening and interacting with The Revd Douglas Bax who is a Calvin scholar and Presbyterian minister active in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Day One Photos
View from Table Mountain.
Gene & Melissa Gee
Bre Harmon, Lisa Hermann, Emily Miller, & Katie Strednak conquering Table Mountain.
Theresa Walton & Jamesetta Ferguson
Table Mountain
District 6 Museum
Notes to HIV/AIDS victims.
Katie Stednak looking at names of former slaves as the Slave Lodge Museum.
John our tour guide and Johnny Hill.
Frances Adeney striking a pose.
Gene Gee, the shutterbug.
2010 World Cup Arena in progress.
Josh Robinson, 3,569.75 ft on top of the world!January 7, 2009
Thinking about Biko and the Power of Words on a Wall
Today we went to a place called the Slave Lodge. It was a housing facility in Cape Town for the slave labor brought in to work the farm built in the cape, as it was made a refueling stop for ships in the colonial era. The slaves were a global mix culturally. They were from Indonesia, Madagascar, India, and other parts of Africa. Slaves in this part of Africa were imported; unlike the slave trade that Americans are more familiar with (i.e.-The Middle Passage and the slave traingle from Western Africa to the Carribean to the Colonies) slaves as an export.
There are two parts of this museum that I am thinking about and will continue to do so as the next three weeks unfold, and I return to Louisville, KY.
The first is a man whom I had never heard of until now, Steven Biko. Biko was a leader in the anti-apartheid movement with the pinnacle of his leadership being in the 60's and 70's. Biko was the President of the BCP or Black Consciousness Party. Biko was taken into custody by the national police for a variety of reasons, but seriously, it was fear. Biko hit the nail on the head and was able to articulate to those far and wide what apartheid was and why such a devious institution must come to an end. Biko died in police custody. Was it a hunger strike or was it brain damage that lead to Biko's death? There are conflicting reports, and in the exhibit it is evident that the police comissioner/minister at that time was sending specifically ambivilent and mixed signals about the actual causes of Biko's death.
The second piece of this museum that I continue to think about is a long gray hallway that had a bunch of quotes painted on the walls in the various authors' handwriting. They looked like chalk, but were actually white paint. I was struck by one in particular -
"Never doubt what a few committed human beings can do to change the world."
I am not sure who the author is because their name was written in such a way that I was unable to read it. Although I am not sure who wrote it, I could hear their voice in my head as I stood in that dimly lit gray hallway reading the words that had rolled off their pen. Committment and changing the world...
There are two parts of this museum that I am thinking about and will continue to do so as the next three weeks unfold, and I return to Louisville, KY.
The first is a man whom I had never heard of until now, Steven Biko. Biko was a leader in the anti-apartheid movement with the pinnacle of his leadership being in the 60's and 70's. Biko was the President of the BCP or Black Consciousness Party. Biko was taken into custody by the national police for a variety of reasons, but seriously, it was fear. Biko hit the nail on the head and was able to articulate to those far and wide what apartheid was and why such a devious institution must come to an end. Biko died in police custody. Was it a hunger strike or was it brain damage that lead to Biko's death? There are conflicting reports, and in the exhibit it is evident that the police comissioner/minister at that time was sending specifically ambivilent and mixed signals about the actual causes of Biko's death.
The second piece of this museum that I continue to think about is a long gray hallway that had a bunch of quotes painted on the walls in the various authors' handwriting. They looked like chalk, but were actually white paint. I was struck by one in particular -
"Never doubt what a few committed human beings can do to change the world."
I am not sure who the author is because their name was written in such a way that I was unable to read it. Although I am not sure who wrote it, I could hear their voice in my head as I stood in that dimly lit gray hallway reading the words that had rolled off their pen. Committment and changing the world...
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