Two Days Late

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,