Back to blogging

It has been a loooooooooong time since I last blogged! I decided to take a break of about six months for a very personal reason - which will be the subject of my next blog (keep them in suspenders, oops, suspense - blog in serial format).

it has been quite a discipline because there have been a number of days when I have wanted to give expression to my thoughts, frustrations and so on. Blogging seems to meet this need for me of putting my thoughts down in written form.

And so back to blogging . . .

Flying in an airplane!

Tomorrow morning I fly on Kulula.com airlines to Port Elizabeth to see my parents, due to a kind family in my church. I am thankful that I can travel so quickly, rather than go the 750+ kms by car. But I have reservations! I just read some of the reports of the Nationwide flight that left Cape Town the other day and LOST AN ENGINE! Below is one of the reports:

" VERNON BRICKNELL: I’ll run you through it David. During the departure of Flight 723 from Cape Town to Johannesburg - during the takeoff role just as the captain rotated the aircraft, that’s as the nose wheel leaves the tarmac - he heard a very loud bang. He proceeded with the takeoff and noticed a severe yaw of the aeroplane - which is a sideways slip of the aircraft - and on confirmation from the engine instrumentation he noticed he had lost power on the engine. He continued the climb and carried out the emergency procedures with an engine out - at that time he hadn’t realized that the engine had physically dropped off the aircraft. He continued the climb out and notified air traffic control that he had an emergency - they directed him to continue the climb and to return back to the airport. Only then was he told that the engine was missing. What had happened - we have since established after the civil aviation inspectors were on the scene this morning that some object went through the engine, and it had a catastrophic failure. The reason for the separation from the wing - which is a design feature of the Boeing aircraft to prevent any serious structural failure to the wing - the attachment structure of the engine to the wing fails and hence the separation of the engine.".

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I look out on the wing of the flight and check the engines, just in case the pilot does not notice!

For another take read the IOL account.

Zacchaeus : Luke 19 vs 1 - 10

I had such fun preparing for yesterday's sermon because I love it when Jesus challenges all the stereotypes of the culture. Some of the stereotyes are universal in nature and remain with us throughout history, some are culturally and historically bound.

The comment that always seem to attract attention is Zacchaeus's height. It tells us that he had to climb in a sycamore tree to see Jesus.

In preparing for the sermon I read a sermon by Roberta C. Bondi, a wonderful theologian who has balanced academia with a profound spirituality and prayer life. She writes about a sermon she heard in which the preacher said this:

"There was once a bad, rich man in Jericho named Zacchaeus who heard that Jesus was coming to town and wanted to see him very much. When Jesus arrived, however, the crowds were thick and Jesus was short, so Zacchaeus couldn’t see him. Then he hit on an idea. He would climb a sycamore tree".

The preacher then went to ask why it is that we assume that Jesus was the tall one. I guess because we have idealised Jesus to an almost un-humanlike (well there is a new word for wikipedia) quality.

And so, because I am short, (well actually the height of the average South African housewife - 5' 7" - too old to know what that is in metres) I could feel offended and have to constantly make jokes about my height! But I do not feel insecure about my height because I am the perfect height for me, as you are for you. And so, while the main focus of this scripture is, in my opinion, about reparations and the restoration of justice as Zacchaeus repays those he has cheated, we are often side-tracked by the minor issues of height and other peripheral matters.

Which makes me wonder about how often this happens without me even being aware of it.

The journey of death

"There is a season for everything,
a time for giving birth,
a time for dying;
a time for tears,
a time for laughter;
a time for mourning,
a time for dancing . . ." Ecclesiastes 3 : 1 - 2, 4

"Autumn comes, It always does.
Goodbye comes. It always does.
The trees struggle with this truth today
and in my deepest of being, so do I.

Every autumn, nostalgia fills me;
every autumn, yearning holds me.
I cling to the ripeness of summer,
knowing it will be many long months
before I can catch a breath of lilac,
or the green of freshly mown grass.

And so I begin my fallow vigil,
remembering the truth of the ages:
Unless the wheat seed dies
it cannot sing a new birth.
Unless summer gives in to autumn
springtime will never embrace me"

So writes Joyce Rupp in her wonderful book "Praying our goodbyes".

And so I embark on one of those journeys I would like to avoid. The man I have known for almost 50 years as my father is dying. He has a new journey to go on - a journey that he travels alone as he rests his body from the onslaught of disease. And I, and my mother and brothers, have to let go. Like so many that I have shared with in my ministry I too am reluctant. I want life to go on forever, but it does not.

Shakespeare wrote these powerful words that remind me of my dad:

As the lighting and storms sound outside (and in our hearts) Ceasar says to Calpurnia:
"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste death but once. Of all the wonders that I have yet heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear, Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it come".
Julius Ceasar Act II scene II

It is coming to a valiant man whom I love and wish for peace on this new journey.

Meetings, bloody meetings!

Last night I chaired my final Church Council meeting for the year! Now for a Circuit Quarterly Meeting, a Local Preacher's Circuit Quarterly Meeting, a Church Executive, a few Society Stewards Meetings . . .

What is it that we are so pre-occupied with meetings? I have read a few books and watched training material on how best to run a meeting (the best one I remember, hence my title, was a video "Meetings, bloody meetings!" by John Cleese - without the famous funny walk) and still they do not inspire me.

I also remember that I felt a call to ministry but somehow much of my work seems about having meetings, and the resultant preparation for these meetings.

I have used some of those famous ideas - no seats, no food or anything to drink, no papers - but all to no avail. Some people just like meetings more than others, I guess.

I think I am gonig to plan a meeting to discuss the value and regularity of meetings in our circuit and society. And then I shall plan another meeting to discuss process and procedure, oh, and of course, another meeting to discuss the rules of debate and decision making, and then . . .

Press Freedom Day

In a democratic country one of the most important aspects is the freedom of expression! For many years people in South Africa have stood against the idea of suppression of ideas and thinking. When we celebrated democracy we voted for the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press. Let us not allow any government or leaders to ever take that away from us!
Wear this virtual Press Freedom Day yellow ribbon with me.

Read more on Dion's blog, the blogger of all bloggers.

Gangs and groups: Us and them!

I have attended yet another church leaders meeting where the familiar terms "us" and "them" were used to separate that which God has made one! What is it that drives this fear of others? Is it ignorance? Loss of power? Need for control? I think it is all of these and more!

The church that I have served for a number of years seems intent on stopping people discover unity. All that we want is people who agree with us and are willing to be subservient. Any differences are ascribed to the need for them to change and adopt my way of thinking.

The meeting in question allowed one of the members to express concern about people of another colour who, to quote this leader, "if they are not led gently will come and take it". After questions for clarity I never really managed to discover what "it" is!

The church too often reflects the principles of gangs that are threatened by those outside instead of excited about discovering the richness of our unity in diversity. Lord, help us.