Blog
We remember the time when the two sisters welcomed Jesus into their home and Martha was kept busy with practical household arrangements while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened. Martha and Mary personify two postures: active service and quiet contemplation respectively.
This week, the press has been nervously pointing out how fragile our new government is. I was so frustrated to hear Helen Zille's provocative remarks in a recent interview - I found myself wondering if the perceived arrogance of her position was going to derail this hopeful thing that was taking shape in South Africa.
Our worship commission met for the first time this week. Our aim is to think creatively about our three worship services and consider how we can do everything possible to help people to encounter God in worship. When I asked the group what we value most about our experience of corporate worship, it was striking that the responses had nothing to do with the quality of music or preaching or anything like that, but we said that what we really longed for was to see all our people participating actively in worship and meeting with God (and we recognised that that encounter with God can take place in so many different ways).
On Sunday some 23 000 athletes of all shapes and sizes will start the Comrades Marathon in Durban. Choosing to run this race is not something that any of them decided spontaneously some time last week :) The Comrades requires many months (or even years) of careful planning and intentional action. In a society that prizes quick fixes and instant solutions, the Comrades runners are our heroes - they are committed to the long, slow journey.
We are certainly in for interesting times, but I am hopeful that the shakeup of our politics may yet be a really good thing for our country. As we enter an era of coalition politics, we should see much less power concentrated in the hands of the few, and our politicians will be obliged to work together across party lines if our nation is to move forward. There will be greater accountability with coalition partners watching each other closely, and hopefully a maturing in the South African political space.
It's a story that is so familiar to Methodists: On 24 May 1738 John Wesley went "unwillingly" to a meeting of a small church (society) in Fetter Lane, London. There he heard a lay preacher reading from the preface to Luther's commentary on the book of Romans, and, as he listened, Wesley felt a strong sense of assurance - the confidence that he was forgiven and accepted by God. He wrote of the experience that his "heart was strangely warmed".
During this last week, Methodist leaders and ministers from the Natal Coastal District have gathered at Montclair Methodist Church for our annual synod. Over the course of three days we worshipped and ate and talked and laughed and wept together as we wrestled with the work of God in our church.
This week we marked Ascension Day (40 days after the resurrection of Jesus). Looking back on that day, it must have been both a wonderful and yet terrifying moment for the disciples, watching Jesus leave in the way he did, and then realising that they were all alone and the mission that Jesus had entrusted to them was now their responsibility.
It seems then that God appreciates creativity (and we shouldn't be surprised for God is the Creator after all). How you and I express creativity will vary greatly between us - it may be with paint or music, by preparing a meal or arranging flowers, solving a problem or designing an administrative process. When we create, heaven applauds!
Last week I wrote about outward-looking mission projects at WMC and how you can get involved. This week our focus turns inward: we had a meeting during the week of our pastoral care team which focuses on providing care for members of our congregation. This group is growing and there a number of different aspects to this work...