Family Visit!

I suppose I've been rather silent for the past couple weeks, you'll have to excuse me, but I was on something of a vacation, beings that my sister and brother in-law came to visit me here in Cape Town.

Of course, I was very happy to have them here, actually, I was so excited when I was picking them up at the airport, I didn't even notice that Jon had an arm sling, due to a shoulder injury he attained a week earlier.

While they were here we toured around the various sites of Cape Town, going to the Company Gardens, Table Mountain, St George's Cathedral, Robben Island, all the mandatory sites of Cape Town. We also had a chance to get down to Hermanus, a coastal town that advertises fantastic whale sitings from the coast. And finally we also took a three day trip down to Port Elizabeth in order to spend an afternoon at Addo National Elephant Park.

So it was a very full 10 days, they went by very quickly. If you get the chance, I recommend you check out Jon's pictures, in fact, I think I could post the link to them right here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathan.hines/JonKristenAndPeterInSouthAfrica?authkey=Gv1sRgCPKo4O3KvJLxtgE&feat=directlink

You'll have to copy and paste that, but I hope it works. I dropped Kristen and Jon off at the airport on Monday, and it was sad to see them go, I'll admit, it made me just a little bit more homesick. Yet it seems I have such little time left here, there's not much point to being homesick. Six weeks.

Rossini's Stabbat Mater with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra

Tonight we (the Cape Town Philharmonia Choir) performed Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. The soloists were Nozuko Teto, soprano; Monika Voysey, mezzo soprano; Willem Bester, tenor and Patrick Tikolo, bass.

To start with, for the soloists, the piece is a difficult one. There's lots of chromaticism and some intricate syncopation, not to mention the a capella quartet in the eighth movement. So, the fact that none of them were really up to the task isn't too big a deal, but the reality is that they were not that great.



The conductor for the evening was Arjan Tien, a dutch fellow, and I actually really liked him. He was good to work with in rehearsals. I'm pretty picky with my conductors, but Maestro Tien was top notch, really passionate about the work and good humoured about his criticisms.

The choir itself did fine, but the basses were less than good on our solo a capella entry in the 5th movement, even though we cheated and got the note before-hand. But other than a few hiccups of that sort, our over-all performance was fine, and our a capella movement went fine (which I was the most nervous about), so I was satisfied with that.

The Philharmonic Orchestra was also fine, but they didn't seem to really respond to the passion that they were getting from Maestro Tien. During rehearsals he was often asking for more passion, more life, but in the end it didn't really come across so effectively as I wanted it to.

Anyway, that's my take, apparently I'm an critic now.

The Future is Now!

Yesterday Hawkesville Mennonite Church took a huge leap into the 21st Century, hosting me for a live video-chat as a special 'announcement' during their worship time. It was actually a great experience, though it was hard not to feel the disconnect, beings that I was talking to Hawkesville while sitting at my kitchen table in Cape Town. But I took around five minutes to give a bit of a snapshot of my ministry down here and what it's like to be in Africa. It gave me a small taste of what it will be like to get back home and try and give an account of what this time has been for me. Speaking with my family yesterday evening (also by skype) they indicated that the conversation at church had gone well, and that people had gotten something meaningful out of it, so I am glad of that.

It did get me thinking though. I am a self-professed 'Luddite' (if you want to know what a 'Luddite' is, check this wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite ) but here I am comfortably referencing wikipedia articles and promoting skype conversations. I think the key component to being some one who questions the value of technology for the sake of technology is asking what role the particular invention is playing. If it is something that is promoting individualization, advocating materialism, harming the environment or is just an unnecessary luxury, then it is worth questioning. Simply demonizing technology on the principle of 'all technology is evil' seems to me unwise, but I believe it is appropriate to question the extent to which we rely on technology to make our lives easier.

Take a look at this article on technology and fear to get another perspective on the discussion of a faithful approach to technology (it's also where I stole my idea about the true nature of a Luddite)
http://iamrevolting.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/confessions-of-an-irrational-fear-mongerer/

Mennonites in Africa

Yesterday and Saturday and I the opportunity to meet with some of the Mennonite Witness workers who are also serving in South Africa. Phil Lindell Detweiler was in town facilitating a conference on Conflict Resolution for church leaders in and around the Cape Flats in Cape Town. The conference is going to be held from the 7th to the 9th at the university of Cape Town, I felt fortunate that Phil was able to spare the time to spend with me, pulling such a conference together is no small task. Phil had me over to the place he was staying at in Observatory (another subdivision here in Cape Town) and made a meal for us to share. It was delicious! and very edifying conversation as well.

And then just today I had the opportunity to meet Karen and Andrew Suderman, the couple currently residing at 17 Croft Rd in Pietermaritzburg where Dan and Yvonne used to live. I would say they are Dan and Yvonne's 'replacements' but I don't think that's quite an adequate term under these circumstances. Each person that come through here on behalf of Mennonite Missions brings their own unique gifts to the table, and today I was happy to be able to get to know Karen and Andrew as well as to find out about their ministry in South Africa. They told me that they have been in South Africa for almost six weeks, and have already spent half of that on the road! So needless to say they have been busy taking in the country and discerning what exactly their time here will be all about. Having now had the opportunity to talk with them, I am optimistic for their time here and their ongoing contributions to Anabaptism in Africa, I'm sure they will be a blessing to those they come in contact with.

Priesthood of All Believers

Mennonites fall under the bracket of those denominations who confess the 'priesthood of all believers.' I remember growing up every week in the bulletin at my home church there was the contact information for the pastor, all the elders, and just underneath that it said: "Ministers: All the congregation". It's one of those things you don't notice until you understand what it means. The idea of your whole congregation being part ministers or priests in the church implies that everyone who is a member contributes to the life and ministry of the church, that it's not one leader, bishop, priest, synod, dominee or whatever that 'runs' the church. This is the policy of the Mennonite Church, this is also the policy of the Congregational Church.

In that vein, on Saturday Thomas and I gave a young woman, Thato, a crash course in worship leading. By 'worship leader' I refer to the one who facilitates the service, introducing the call to worship, hymns, prayers and etc. I can tell you it's a nerve-wracking job if you've never done it before, but I believe that Thato will be more than capable. She performs her debut on Sunday the 18th, the day I'm preaching, so we'll see how it goes!

The idea of getting different people involved with worship in the church, I believe, contributes to this idea of the priesthood of all believers, making the congregation generally conscious that each person can serve the church, that we are all called to contribute our gifts to the church community.