The Past Two Weeks
As time goes on here, with each passing week, I feel less like a tourist and more like an occupant. I'm not at a point yet where I can start making fun of the 'tourists' in a pretentious sort of way, but I'm certainly starting to feel settled in. For instance, I now have a pretty solid idea of the basic layout of Sea Point – it would be tough for me to get lost here at this point. Also, there's a coffee shop at the mall where I am almost familiar. I'm not sure what to think of the idea of being a 'regular' at a particular place (Stella's on Grant and Kenaston however...), but this is one of the few places close by where it's not unusual to get a coffee 'to go', something which isn't so common around here. And finally, I have a membership at the local movie store, as well as the local library. So, four months in, Cape Town is starting to feel more like home. Other than Canada, the longest I've stayed in a country was the 88 days I spent in Guatemala. That is interesting to me, because the three month mark here really seemed to be a turning point for me, from 'tourist' to 'temporary resident' it almost seemed. Whatever the matter, right now it seems that everything is clicking into place, I'm very happy to be where I am
Over 21's Bible Study
This past week I had the opportunity to lead the our 'Over 21's' Bible Study. This group represents a demographic which has been quite rare with any of the churches I've been involved with. After student graduates from high school or perhaps university they have tendency to slip off the church map until for a while, and then when they get married and have kids, some of the manage to reappear, yet almost consistently in churches across North America (I am told) this 'young adults' category is a bit of a mystery. At Sea Point we are very fortunate in that we have a number of folks who fit into that category attending our church. There are five of us who regularly attend the Wednesday Bible Study designated for us, and Mirjam normally leads. This past week however, I was invited to give a little presentation answering the question 'What is a Mennonite?'. Well, that's a good question isn't it? I gave a little presentation that I've give a few times, revising it each time, and then we looked at some select Bible passages afterwards. All in all it went well, I would say. It's always interesting for me when I'm confronted with the unfamiliarity that most people have when I tell them about what I believe. It consistently requires me to ask questions about my own faith, which has been good so far, but rarely easy.
Two Days Late, By the Way – Theology Conference in Stellenbosch
I'm not sure how many of you actually follow this blog day to day, so that if I'm late by two days you actually notice. However, if you do, you will notice that this post has appeared two days late. I hope that it will be worthwhile. The past two days were occupied entirely by a theology conference that I was fortunate enough to be able to attend in Stellenbosch on the nature of the missional church in the book of Acts. Mirjam is working with the International Institute for Religious Freedom, an organization definitely worth looking into, and one of her colleagues was presenting a paper at this conference, and I was invited to come along as well. The conference was very interesting, essentially it was a conference for Dutch Reformed pastors from in and around the Cape Town area, or at least that's 99% of whom attended. I was immediately struck by how white and male the attendants were, given the demographics of Cape Town. Beings that this was a missional conference, the issue of the lack of multiculturalism was raised, but not really in reference to the attending members on hand. So that was one thing. The other thing that struck me was how similar this conference sounded to other Mennonite conferences I have attended. The two main (seemingly) keynote speakers were narrative theologians from the US, one was even a self-proclaimed Anabaptist! I was shocked! The other was well-known Luke-Acts theologian Beverley Gaventa, whose text we used for studying Luke-Acts when I took the course CMU. So in terms of the theological dialogue I almost felt like I had a leg up, discussing the travel narrative of Luke, the critical importance of Acts 15 for a model of church conflict resolution, studying the 'choices of characters in the book Acts and what these decisions say about the nature of the Church in Acts.' Sounds very Mennonite/narrative theology to me (though 'narrative theology' and Mennonite theology' aren't always synonymous). So I thought the conference content was great, though the usual weakness of narrative theology did present itself in terms of it's lack of practical application. In my current context I'm seeing the need for practical theology especially these days, so the lack of practicality was something that stood out. Nevertheless, I was happy I attended the conference.
Visit from Phil
Just this morning I had the opportunity to meet with Phil Liddell Detwiler, a fellow Mennonite who is working out of Pietermaritzburg with his family. I had the good fortune of meeting them while I was up in Pietermaritzburg with Dan and Yvonne and at the retreat back over New Year's. It was great to talk with Phil again and hear more of what the Mennonites are up to in Africa on a more first hand basis. Phil had just come from Kylitsha (terrible mis-spelling), the huuuuge township in Cape Town. To my disgrace I haven't been there yet, and I was glad to fear from Phil what he's up to there and something about the church he's working with there. Phil and I had tea at the Scarborough house this morning, and it was very nice to have some discussion about our overlapping ministries and just the nature of ministry in Africa generally.
All for Now
I just booked my vacation at Valmoed, have I already told you this? It's probably not a great mindset to be looking forward to your vacation while it's still 6 weeks away, but nevertheless, I am excited. It's in Hermanas, a very lovely part of South Africa about an hour and a half's drive from Cape Town. The place where I'm staying is a religious retreat centre (if you're a minister you get a discount!) and I've been promised a week of rest and relaxation, which will be nice. Matthew and two of his friends will be joining me, but they are aware the main intent of the week for me will be to have some r 'n' r, so I'm not too worried about over-exerting myself.
OK, there you have it. I'm still very appreciative for all your thoughts and prayers. I miss and love you all as well!
Until next time,
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Visitation Week
Actually, This Coming Week is Visitation Week
I often find myself a little bit amazed at how quickly this year is passing by. I'm already making plans for my vacation at the beginning of July, and by that time the year will be more than half over, which seems bizarre.
Election
The big news of the past couple weeks around here was the election. It was really interesting being a different part of the world for a national election, it sure gives you a different perspective on democracy. Even before the election, really, before even any of the campaigning, everyone knew who was going to win, The African National Congress (ANC). This is the party that Mandela was and still is a member of, this is that party that, in many ways, led the struggle against apartheid. They have a long history in South Africa and really, you can't blame the people for being attached to this party. However, from how I understand it (which really isn't well at all) democracy doesn't quite work with only one dominant party. This is evident here in that currently the ANC and their current leader, Jacob Zuma, are constantly plagued with corruption charges. Zuma himself just escaped trial under charges of accepting bribes, and most people aren't happy with the way in which the charges were dropped. Also, he has something like six wives, and a few years ago he was also very mysteriously acquitted of rape charges, and apparently he didn't graduate from high school, etc etc. But of course, most if not all of my information comes from The Western Cape, the province in South Africa that has the richest population and the whitest population, and could possibly be accused of being biased against black leaders in some cases. Let me just say that the political situation here is COMPLICATED. With all the propaganda and bias everywhere, often I find it's tough to get a solid grip on what is fact and what is rumour, it can be frustrating.
Election Day
So that was a pretty negative assessment, which perhaps is a little unreasonable of me. There was a lot of good to what happened on election day. There was almost no violence, and millions of people across the country voted in free and safe elections and were free to vote for the candidate of their choice without fear of repercussions. Compared to what elections have been in the past, or compared to what elections are in some of our neighbouring countries, things went off fairly well. Election day here is a national holiday as well, so everyone got the day off, which was nice (frankly, North America could take a lesson from that one). That night was also Bible Study for our Over 21's group at my house, so it was nice to discuss and reflect on the day. Beings that it was assured that the ANC would win, we were just hoping that they wouldn't get 66% of the vote, which means they would have the power to change the constitution. The provincial vote was also up that day, and in the Western Cape the dominant party is the DA (Democratic Alliance, I think). I'm not sure what to think of them, in the national elections they were also represented and ran on a campaign of 'Stop Zuma' which seems to almost be unnecessarily negative and polemic.
I'm very much still in the learning stages about the political situation of this country. The whole thing is very much wrapped up in historical and social dynamics that have been playing out in this country, really for the past 400 years. I suppose it's pretty much a given that the history and society will affect the politics of a country, but here those stories are so rich and diverse and tragic, it makes for a complicated and interesting political system.
But Yes, I Have Been Doing Work As Well
My past two weeks with the church have been dominated (at least in my mind) with the preparation of my next sermon, really getting back to the basics of sermon preparation. This has been a difficult but very beneficial exercise, I believe. I don't preach again until July, but I'm happy to have the time to work on it before then, to make it something really worthwhile, something that will convey the Word of God to the people. So in the past two weeks I've been doing a lot of reading a writing, pouring through Biblical commentaries as well as doing some of my own reading on the side, and then doing some writing exercises that Thomas recommended. I wrote 4500 words in two hours! I could quit my day job and become a scribe! Whatever the matter, I think the process is going well, we'll see what I come up with by July.
Church Fete
Just Saturday we had what we call a 'Church Fete', which is where we set up booths inside the church and sell various goods in an effort to raise a bit of money. It was a good time, I helped out with the used book sale, and we did pretty well. One man came by and haggled with us over a purchase of 34 books at one time, I think he bartered me down to R140, which is like, 20 dollars, so, he definitely won. We were also selling things like used clothes, odds and ends, some baking, as well as tea and coffee. I am told this was just a 'Mini Fete', so we'll see what a real Fete is like. We were also only open from 9-11am (which involved me getting up earlier than I have in about two months to help set up...not a good time), so it was a pretty brief ordeal, yet even the we raised a pretty good sum of money. What were we raising money for, you might ask?
We Were Raising Money for the Tax Man
If you get my prayer letter you may remember my appeal for funds in regards to a major tax bill we got recently. About two weeks ago now we got a letter in the mail telling us that (for the first time in 120 years) we were being taxed on our 'profits'. Being a non-profit organization this was a bit confusing. What we are being taxed on is the money we make by renting out some of our property to a doctor's office, but that simply goes towards paying our bills. Either way, it is a bit absurd to introduce this new taxation policy. Internationally speaking, almost no government taxes their churches in such a way, and even if they did, you would hope they would give you more than two weeks to pay the bill! If I'm remembering correctly the bill was equivalent to about 10% of our annual budget. And we're supposed to figure out how to pay that by yesterday. Right. So our accountant and properties manager and the gang are looking for loop holes, trying to figure out what we're going to do. Keep us in your prayers, unless we can get out of this bill, we're pretty much up a creek. Yet even then, we are faithful that God will provide. If God wants us to stick around, I'm sure we will.
So, Now It's Visitation Week
Maybe that's a bad title for it, 'Visitation' seems to imply funerals and such, and that's not really what we're doing, we're just meeting with people and doing some visiting that perhaps is a bit overdue. I'm looking forward to it, I like visiting people, it's a chance to catch up and really to get involved in people's lives and give them some support, or hope or maybe even conviction. Such as the week will decide I suppose.
OK, so, as usual I will update you again in a couple weeks. I'm sure the time will fly by as usual. It seems to be the way things go around here.
Until next time,
I often find myself a little bit amazed at how quickly this year is passing by. I'm already making plans for my vacation at the beginning of July, and by that time the year will be more than half over, which seems bizarre.
Election
The big news of the past couple weeks around here was the election. It was really interesting being a different part of the world for a national election, it sure gives you a different perspective on democracy. Even before the election, really, before even any of the campaigning, everyone knew who was going to win, The African National Congress (ANC). This is the party that Mandela was and still is a member of, this is that party that, in many ways, led the struggle against apartheid. They have a long history in South Africa and really, you can't blame the people for being attached to this party. However, from how I understand it (which really isn't well at all) democracy doesn't quite work with only one dominant party. This is evident here in that currently the ANC and their current leader, Jacob Zuma, are constantly plagued with corruption charges. Zuma himself just escaped trial under charges of accepting bribes, and most people aren't happy with the way in which the charges were dropped. Also, he has something like six wives, and a few years ago he was also very mysteriously acquitted of rape charges, and apparently he didn't graduate from high school, etc etc. But of course, most if not all of my information comes from The Western Cape, the province in South Africa that has the richest population and the whitest population, and could possibly be accused of being biased against black leaders in some cases. Let me just say that the political situation here is COMPLICATED. With all the propaganda and bias everywhere, often I find it's tough to get a solid grip on what is fact and what is rumour, it can be frustrating.
Election Day
So that was a pretty negative assessment, which perhaps is a little unreasonable of me. There was a lot of good to what happened on election day. There was almost no violence, and millions of people across the country voted in free and safe elections and were free to vote for the candidate of their choice without fear of repercussions. Compared to what elections have been in the past, or compared to what elections are in some of our neighbouring countries, things went off fairly well. Election day here is a national holiday as well, so everyone got the day off, which was nice (frankly, North America could take a lesson from that one). That night was also Bible Study for our Over 21's group at my house, so it was nice to discuss and reflect on the day. Beings that it was assured that the ANC would win, we were just hoping that they wouldn't get 66% of the vote, which means they would have the power to change the constitution. The provincial vote was also up that day, and in the Western Cape the dominant party is the DA (Democratic Alliance, I think). I'm not sure what to think of them, in the national elections they were also represented and ran on a campaign of 'Stop Zuma' which seems to almost be unnecessarily negative and polemic.
I'm very much still in the learning stages about the political situation of this country. The whole thing is very much wrapped up in historical and social dynamics that have been playing out in this country, really for the past 400 years. I suppose it's pretty much a given that the history and society will affect the politics of a country, but here those stories are so rich and diverse and tragic, it makes for a complicated and interesting political system.
But Yes, I Have Been Doing Work As Well
My past two weeks with the church have been dominated (at least in my mind) with the preparation of my next sermon, really getting back to the basics of sermon preparation. This has been a difficult but very beneficial exercise, I believe. I don't preach again until July, but I'm happy to have the time to work on it before then, to make it something really worthwhile, something that will convey the Word of God to the people. So in the past two weeks I've been doing a lot of reading a writing, pouring through Biblical commentaries as well as doing some of my own reading on the side, and then doing some writing exercises that Thomas recommended. I wrote 4500 words in two hours! I could quit my day job and become a scribe! Whatever the matter, I think the process is going well, we'll see what I come up with by July.
Church Fete
Just Saturday we had what we call a 'Church Fete', which is where we set up booths inside the church and sell various goods in an effort to raise a bit of money. It was a good time, I helped out with the used book sale, and we did pretty well. One man came by and haggled with us over a purchase of 34 books at one time, I think he bartered me down to R140, which is like, 20 dollars, so, he definitely won. We were also selling things like used clothes, odds and ends, some baking, as well as tea and coffee. I am told this was just a 'Mini Fete', so we'll see what a real Fete is like. We were also only open from 9-11am (which involved me getting up earlier than I have in about two months to help set up...not a good time), so it was a pretty brief ordeal, yet even the we raised a pretty good sum of money. What were we raising money for, you might ask?
We Were Raising Money for the Tax Man
If you get my prayer letter you may remember my appeal for funds in regards to a major tax bill we got recently. About two weeks ago now we got a letter in the mail telling us that (for the first time in 120 years) we were being taxed on our 'profits'. Being a non-profit organization this was a bit confusing. What we are being taxed on is the money we make by renting out some of our property to a doctor's office, but that simply goes towards paying our bills. Either way, it is a bit absurd to introduce this new taxation policy. Internationally speaking, almost no government taxes their churches in such a way, and even if they did, you would hope they would give you more than two weeks to pay the bill! If I'm remembering correctly the bill was equivalent to about 10% of our annual budget. And we're supposed to figure out how to pay that by yesterday. Right. So our accountant and properties manager and the gang are looking for loop holes, trying to figure out what we're going to do. Keep us in your prayers, unless we can get out of this bill, we're pretty much up a creek. Yet even then, we are faithful that God will provide. If God wants us to stick around, I'm sure we will.
So, Now It's Visitation Week
Maybe that's a bad title for it, 'Visitation' seems to imply funerals and such, and that's not really what we're doing, we're just meeting with people and doing some visiting that perhaps is a bit overdue. I'm looking forward to it, I like visiting people, it's a chance to catch up and really to get involved in people's lives and give them some support, or hope or maybe even conviction. Such as the week will decide I suppose.
OK, so, as usual I will update you again in a couple weeks. I'm sure the time will fly by as usual. It seems to be the way things go around here.
Until next time,
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