Spring Comes Swiftly

I'll admit, it's becoming increasingly difficult to think of creative yet applicable names for my entries here. The reality of the matter is that every two weeks I sit down at the computer and say 'has it really been two weeks already?' South Africa is full of count-downs, and count-ups. Here we are counting down the days to the world cup (297 days, today) and counting up the number of days that President Zuma has been in office (today marks day #100). Whether counting up or down, it has become apparent to me that when this year does come to an end, it will surely have been the quickest year of my life. They say years speed up as you go on in life, but really I think circumstances have also allowed for this year to move on very quickly.

Into August
With the beginning of August I once again started a more structured schedule. However, starting this month Thomas added a practical assignment to go along side with my weekly academic assignments. This was in an effort to address areas I could still stand to improve on, for example public speaking habits (mumbling, rushing, etc.) that I still have. Also included in the more practical realm of things is the opportunity to go visit an NGO and a different local soup kitchen (or something of the like). I had been hoping to have opportunities such as these for a while, but I had not yet got around to plotting it out, so it's nice to have an excuse in my schedule to get things done.

And of course this month I will be continuing with the usual array of visits and counseling sessions and general ministry things. One highlight for me was that yesterday I got to teach our church a song from back home, "God of the Bible" it is called. Here at Sea Point Evangelical Congregational we are in the midst of updating our hymn supplement books, so hopefully this song will contribute to that process. Often the songs a church sings say a lot about what they believe, so choosing songs can be a pretty important task. During our search for a new director for our choir Thomas pointed out that in the Old Testament the song leader or director of music was a very important person in public worship, not just to be given to whoever wanted the job. So preparing this song seemed to me a good opportunity to reflect on the role of music in worship.

Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town
It seems I mention the Cape Town Philharmonia Choir that I am a part of quite often on this blog. Well, this month we got some VERY exciting news. Renee Fleming, the American soprano is coming to South Africa and doing three shows, only one in Cape Town, and OUR CHOIR has been asked to sing with her! So for the past two weeks we have been having extra rehearsals on Saturdays in order to learn a few selections from some of Verdi's operas. The performance is one September 1st, so we only have another two weeks to get ready, but everyone is so into it, I'm sure it won't be a problem. Now, I have been very excited about this for the past month, but really unless you follow the opera world you probably have never heard of Renee Fleming. Well, rest assured, this is a big deal, not just for our choir but to have her come sing in Cape Town is a big treat for a city where it is sometimes difficult to attract big names. The show sold out in minutes, good news for art music in Africa.



Looking Ahead in August
I think the rest of August will be good couple of weeks. I will be looking forward to the Renee Fleming concert, but in terms of my work here I am looking forward to getting around to the NGO type places that I have in mind to visit. On Wednesday I head down to St. George's Cathedral to check out what ministries for the poor they are working on there. St George's is the church Desmond Tutu served at while he was Archbishop of Cape Town, so there's a lot of history at the church, I'm looking forward to have the opportunity to visit there and see what they are up to by now.

Then it Will be September
Once again that is a brief glimpse of the highlights of the past two weeks, before you or I know it, it will once again be two weeks later, and I wil tell you how the rest of August was, and what I am looking forward to in September. About a week ago I booked my flight home, December third it will be - it is already approaching more quickly than I am able to comprehend right now. Whatever the matter, I will talk to you again in two weeks.

Until next time,

July, In Summary

Hey Everyone,

If you were curious as to my absence for the past month, it was due to the fact that I took a month off from writing on this blog of mine. That is to say, I guess, that I skipped one of my bi-weekly entries, and so it has now been a month since my last entry. So here we are, a month later, and of course July was another month full of activity here in Sea Point.

For me the tone of the month was set by the fact that rather than having daily assignments, I was assigned general assignments for the month that I was set to complete by managing my time accordingly. This flexibility allowed for me to set my schedule as I best saw fit, which was nice. Actually, in a way it reminded me of being back at university, being given assignments and projects to complete by a certain date and then having the rest of the time to do what you deemed best. So I tried to make the best of my time, I got a lot of reading done, and I also had a week's vacation. It was a good month.

Three Weeks as Pastoral Minister
Something I've been mentioning a lot in my prayer letters as well as this blog has been the time I spent with the responsibilities of the pastoral ministry at Sea Point Evangelical Congregational while Thomas was on vacation. I guess for me it was important experience beings that it was my first time have some sort of executive leadership in a church setting. And though it's kind of silly to think of any leadership as 'executive' in a church setting, however you want to call it, I was the one addressing the spiritual concerns of our church while Thomas was away. Thomas is back now, so that three week period is over, but reflecting back on those weeks, I think they went well. During this time Una Couchois, one of the woman at our church was admitted to the hospital with heart problems and later she had a pace-maker put in, and I went to visit her a couple times (a challenge when you don't have a car), and Angela, a woman I've been counselling, was admitted to the psychiatric hospital, so that required some special attention. It was these sort of 'crises' that gave me just a glimpse of what it is to be charged with the ministry of a church community. It was a good experience.

Michael McNally
And then, on the morning I was set to leave for my week's vacation, I received word that Michael McNally, a member of our church, commit suicide. Upon hearing that I was tempted to cancel the vacation and stay behind for the family, but I was encouraged to go nevertheless. So that news gave some tone to the rest of my week, though it didn't define it completely. The funeral wasn't until the Tuesday when I got back, so I was able to attend the service. Suicide is so difficult. Michael was an older gentleman, but not so old, he definitely went before his time. He left behind a wonderful wife, two sons and grandchildren as well. Michael was also well respected in the community, for his funeral the church was more full than I had ever seen it.

A Vacation Nevertheless
So with the thoughts of Michael McNally in my head I left for a vacation outside a town called Hermanus. I went to a Christian community called Volmoed, which is a small community set up on the coastal hills about two hours down the coast from Cape Town. After spending straight months in the city, I didn't realize how much I missed being out in nature again. There were some great hiking trails on the property, I think I did all of them by the end of the week. I was there for the week and the only responsibilities I had were cooking for myself, I had the whole rest of the week to myself. It was very nice. Every morning the community met for prayers and then they had coffee or tea together afterwards, it was so good to be among a close-knit community as they were.

While there I also had a chance to meet John De Gruchy and is his wife Isobel. John was Mirjam's supervisor while she was writing her thesis for her Ph.D, himself having many ties to the Mennonite world. John was also one of the chain of connections that enabled me to be placed in Sea Point in the first place, so it was nice to have a chance to meet him and his wife. On the last two days I was there Matthew and John from church joined me at Volmoed and we enjoyed some time off together, it was a great ending to the week.

From the End of the Vacation Until Now
I got back from vacation on July 20th and it was right back into things with Michael's funeral the next day. However, other than that funeral the following was pretty subdued, which I was thankful for. I continued to get some reading done and just did some miscellaneous visits and projects that I hadn't done before I left.

Then, last weekend Phil Lindell Detweiler from Pietermaritzburg came down to visit in order to check up on some of the projects they are working with down here, and he was able to set aside some time for us to connect once again. He proposed that we hike up Table Mountain, and that turned out to be an excellent idea. We left a little late in the afternoon, so it was dark as we descended the last of the hill, but it was a really good time. We had some great discussions on his ministries and experiences in South Africa as well as what I'm doing down here in Sea Point. It was good to be able to get his perspective on some of the issues and ideas that are going through my head. And then the hike itself was fantastic and beautiful as well, the icing on the cake really.

Finally, this past Saturday I went to visit Valkenburg (sp?) Psychiatric hospital where Angela, the woman I have been counselling, admitted herself. I was expecting it to be pretty dire conditions, so when I got there it wasn't as bad as I was expected, but then I didn't really get much of a chance to investigate the conditions of the place, I just took a walk to and from the grocery store near by while talking with Angela. I was once again struck by the frustrations and difficulties of mental illness and depression specifically, and how it is so easy to lose hope in such situations. Angela formerly had be convinced that admitting herself to this hospital would all but solve her problems, and how she's there and all she wants to do is leave, refusing to make decisions to help change her situation. So we pray, and we hope that Angela will persevere in seeing the positive sides of life.

There You Have it For the Month
Once again there seems like a million things I could say, but we only have so much time here I suppose, I will continue with regular updates in the future. Tomorrow Thomas and I will meet to set tasks for the next month, so we'll see what August will have to show.

Take care Until then