To the Laos – To the People of God, Christmas 2011- Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

About half way through this article the Archbishop speaks about  his recent trip to Namibia for the Ordinations

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

To the Laos – To the People of God, Christmas 2011

Dear People of God
A blessed and joyful Christmas to you all! May the love of God overflow in you and all those you love, this festive season, as you share in celebrating the greatest Christmas present of all, God’s gift of himself, Emmanuel – God with us, always and everywhere, no matter what we face in life.
There is a story about a small girl, who was taken by her granny to see the nativity scene at her local church. ‘Isn’t that beautiful?’ said the granny. ‘Look at all the animals, and Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.’ ‘Yes, Granny’ replied the little girl, ‘it’s lovely, but there’s one thing I don’t understand. Isn’t baby Jesus ever going to grow up? He’s still the same size he was last year.’

Whether the story is true, I have no idea. But I do know that sometimes we concentrate on Christ’s infancy, and fail to grasp that Christmas is at least as much about his deity – the eternal Word taking flesh, to be the Saviour of the world. His complete vulnerability and weakness as a tiny baby points to the vulnerability and weakness he will embrace as he allows himself to be crucified for the sins of the world, to bring healing and redemption wherever there is brokenness and destruction, and to overcome death so we might have life in abundance, in this world, and in all eternity.

St John the Evangelist, in the famous words that begin his gospel, speaks of Christ being to us a light in our darkness, a light that no darkness can put out. These words of course resonate more strongly at Christmas time in the northern hemisphere winter, but even in the height of our southern summer, I find them powerfully speaking of the promise of true hope, no matter how bleak our circumstances.

The hope we have in Christ, for this world and the world to come, was very much in evidence at the beginning of December, when I fulfilled a long-standing desire to go to Namibia, to participate in ordinations. It was especially moving to visit Northern Namibia, where so many wars were fought, and so many lives destroyed. Though what Namibia faced was unique, there are many similarities, as well as interconnections, with South Africa’s apartheid history. Achieving independence in 1990, they were an inspiration for many of us as we hoped and prayed to follow a similar path to freedom and justice. St Mary’s Mission at Odibo, in Ovamboland, is one of the oldest Anglican centres in the country, in time building not only a church, but also a school and seminary, and a hospital. The Mission produced many clerics and political leaders, and educated the current President of Namibia as well as the present Bishop and his two predecessors. The iconic leader, Herman Andimba Toivo ja Toivo, who spent 16 years on Robben Island, was both a pupil and a teacher at the Mission school.

The Angolan border is only 5 minutes away, and this area was ravaged by the South African Defence Force, with much destruction and loss of life. Ruins from those times, including of our seminary building, are still evident, while the emotional, spiritual and physical scars remain among people on both sides of the border (as well as among those who were exiled there, or coerced by the SADF into fighting an illegal and unjust war there), as I saw when I made a brief excursion into Angola, and felt in exchanges with Bishop Andre Soares and 4 of his clergy, who in turn came to join us in Odibo.

Yet, against such a dark background, the light shone, as we gathered for the ordination of 40 deacons and 2 priests. Present with us where the President of Namibia, the governor of the North, the Queen mother of the North, and the head of the local council, and I was able to voice a public apology for all that South Africa had done during the illegal occupations. I stressed how knowing and making known the truth of this terrible past and its atrocities can become, through Christ’s redemptive power, a means for us to find healing, and to be made his conduits for reconciliation and peace-building. As Christmas draws near, it seems to me that in bringing, as we must, our stories, our memories, our woundedness, to Jesus, we are almost offering them as the Wise Men offered their gifts, the marks of their own lives, kneeling before the infant king – so that he can transform them for his own, life-giving, purposes.

The Wise Men came to the manger because they had spent long years learning how to interpret the heavens, and so recognised the importance of the star when it appeared. I said to those being ordained that reading the signs of the times is the task of all Christian leaders, so that we can bring to bear the truths of the gospel, with all its promises of life and liberty, wherever we find war, death, oppression and their lasting effects at work. This is God’s promise for Namibians, and for all his children throughout his world. And so we must not be afraid to speak truth to power, and be responsive to the needs of God’s people, whom we are called to serve through joining in God’s mission. In ordination, in particular, we aspire to be like the prophet Isaiah, responding to God’s call by saying ‘Here am I, send me!’ (Is 6:8) Yet, the words of St Paul in Romans 12, which are also read at ordination services, remind us that this response finds its place within a far wider missional context of presenting ourselves as ‘living sacrifices’. (This is, of course, an essential part of the incarnation – culminating in Christ’s sacrificial death upon the cross.) St Paul goes on to remind us that we must not ‘think too highly of ourselves’, but rather find our place within the body of Christ, the Church, called to serve one another with whatever gifts we are privileged to receive; and together to serve the world around us. ‘Peace be with you! As the Father sends me, so I send you’ said the risen Christ to his disciples, in our Gospel passage (Jn 20:19-23) – and this is still his message and his call to all who would follow him.

The ordination of 40 deacons was the fruit of a 3-year ministry formation course, promoted by Bishop Nathaniel and his team, the Dean, retired Bishop Petrus, and the Ven Kaluwapa L Katenda, who ably steered the 3 year ministry formation course: study by correspondence, with support both from COTT and the US, funded by Trinity Wall Street and USPG. I congratulate them all on taking theological formation so seriously. I am delighted that some of those who followed the course will go on to pursue Masters and Doctoral studies. The importance of having well trained theologians, who can themselves become theological educators, cannot be underestimated, and is one of the key planks of our commitment to theological education within our ACSA vision.

My visit to Namibia came as COP-17 was ending, and drove home the message that our reading of signs of the times must also include both political awareness, and responsiveness to the scientifically measurable changes that we see in our environment – from flooding to droughts and desertification. We need to recognise the effects of human activity on our surroundings, and respond appropriately.

I’ve written about Namibia at some length, so you may all pray for this vast Diocese, in its many needs. If some of you feel moved to offer support to a Namibian student at COTT for 3 years, please get in touch with the PEO at Bishopscourt. COTT too needs our support, including resources to upgrade the college so we can continue training future generations of servant leaders for God’s people and God’s world.

So then, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may you all have a wonderful celebration of Christmas – worshipping the Christ-child, and also growing in your own knowledge and love of God so you may not be mere ‘children, tossed to and fro and blow about’ by every difficulty and temptation that comes your way, but rather may come ‘to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.’ (Eph 4:13,14). To him be glory in his church, at Christmas, and always.

Yours in the service of Christ

+Thabo Cape Town

The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba is the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa

Archbishops Blog

Sermon on Tolerance in Three Parts

Children of Men

“Help, LORD, for no one loyal remains; the faithful have vanished from the children of men.” Psalm 12:2

© Universal Studios 2006

This past Sunday, on the fourth Sunday of Advent, I used the movie Children of Men to illustrate the point that Mary as the Mother of Jesus, Mother of God incarnate, was a scandal beyond compare. In the movie a young woman named Kee, an African refugee, is pregnant with the first child on earth in 18 years.  She is quite literally carrying the salvation of mankind inside of her.  Towards the end of the movie there is an incredible scene after the child has been born. She and several others are walking/ running through a military battle. As she walks through soldiers and guerilla fighters begin to see the baby and hear it cry. As they do all fighting stops, the guns and bombs are silent, their faces are transformed into awe and wonder and some begin crying. The film goes almost silent at this point and for several minutes all you can hear is footsteps walking across rubble.  Kee and those with her walk out of a building into the light in silence.But no sooner than they had crossed the street a bomb explodes breaking the peace.

As I stood preaching yesterday at Church of the Holy Spirit, I was standing between two icons of Mary, the one behind the altar and behind me was Our Lady of Guadalupe the one directly in front of me was Our Lady of Alaska. One Mexican Mary and one Native Mary to lift up the point that Mary was not a suburban white woman. She was a poor, middle eastern child with no rights in first century Palestine. The scandal to the powers and to the world is that God came to her. God chose the lowliest to show the world who God was and where God was. That God was not sitting on a throne all powerful and separate from those He loved. In coming to Mary God placed himself with those that the world calls “other”.

In my home state of Alabama and in many places across this country human beings are being judged and discriminated against based on what they look like and where they come from.  Laws are being passed about who the “right” kind of people are, and who is welcome.  What we know about God from the story of Mary is that he is with those that we might otherwise ignore and that when we ignore them we miss the opportunity to meet God in a new place and to be touched by His spirit.

Ordinations of a Mammoth Proportion by Nancy Robson, St Mary’s Odibo

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Ordinations December 2011 by Nancy Robson, St. Mary’s Odibo

After much planning and preparation the day dawned for the arrival of the Archbishop Thabo Makoba for ordinations of a mammoth proportion.  Together with the Dean of the cathedral in Windhoek – Mike Yates they flew to Ondangwa on the early flight.  Fortuitously on the same flight was the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, the Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest, in Austin Texas, and her daughter Rachel.  Dr Kittredge had been tutor to one of the deacons who was to be priested and had studied in Austin thanks to the generosity of donors.  They were met at the airport by a delegation meeting for Chapter at St Mary’s.  They were met at the airport by a delegation from Chapter.  They then came here in convoy leaving their cars at the new gate (one job that was not quite completed) and processed through the ‘avenue’ of people singing, dancing and ululating as they came by.  The Arch shook hands with many of those in the ‘avenue’.  His hand must have been quite tired after all that hand shaking.

On Sunday the service was due to start at 9am.  For some unknown reason the Arch and his party were delayed in getting here and the service did not start till 10h30.  The Queen and President were both invited to the service but had to wait for the Arch and his entourage to arrive.  The church having been prepared was then closed for security reasons regarding the President.  One big advantage in having the President here was that his security controlled all the vehicles and most had to find parking outside the mission.  There would certainly have been quite a traffic jam within the mission otherwise.  The sniffer dog came and did his bit too. The Arch then met with Chapter after which the bishop took him for a walk-around the mission before they went back to Ondangwa for the night.  The Kittredges were booked into a lodge at Oshikango 5 kms away, however on arrival we were told there was no booking for them (that receptionist had been fired for inefficiency!) so an unplanned trip to the Protea hotel in Ondangwa had to be made, some 60 km down the road.  Fortunately the Archbishop and Dean were also staying there which solved the morning transport back to the mission form the BIG service.

The President and the Queen joined the procession to the church, probably well over 100 people in the procession.  The 40 to-be deacons and 2 already deacons to be priested were all part of the procession as were 2 Lutheran bishops, the bishop from Angola, our 2 retired bishops as well as our own bishop and the Arch.  Stoles for many of the ordinands were made by the sewing Project at the mission while some of clergy stoles had been made her previously.  A very colourful sight.

The ordinands had been prepared for the past 3 years through TEE and this was now the next step along the way.  As these ordinands were to lie prostrated on the floor where there was only one long and fairly wide red isle carpet more had to be purchased.  Red with silver speckles in them!From start to finish the service took 5 hours which was not bad for all that was happening.  I remember an earlier ordination service with Bp James in 1993 which lasted 7 hours and only 4 to be ordained!

Following the ordinations was the Eucharist and communicating of somewhere around 1000 people.  There was a shortage of chalices and I noticed one old fashioned pint milk bottle with a wide top being used.

A marquee had been acquired that could seat 200 and the church probably 800 on this occasion as seats were arranged to be best advantage for the ordinands and most of the clergy in the Diocese.  In the marquee on the north side of the church a TV & sound system had been set up so that those outside could follow the service.

Apart from one priest who was overseas and another who had a young baby all our clergy were present.  The clergy still active (many overdue for retirement) are 56, deacons now 41 and 3 perpetual deacons.  This does not include the already retired priests.  How the numbers have grown from the 60’s when you could almost count them on one hand.  Likewise congregations have grown and flourished and gradually spreading over the whole country especially along our eastern (as far as Katima Mullilo) and west to Opuwo but they have been there for a while.  This increases the number of clergy needed as well as kilometres to cover especially by the bishop.

One of the last things to happen in the church was Sr Gertrude receiving one of Hope Africa’s awards.  She had put in a submission for this competition based on the work she and her small community are involved in and was one of 3 in the whole province of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (previously CPSA) to win a prize of N$30,000 which will be used to further the work her Community of the Good Samaritans are doing.

After the ordinations the handing out of certificates and licences took well over an hour.  The followed the giving of gifts, mainly to the archbishop and other VIPs.  The president gave a speech.  At the end of the service and outside many group photos were taken and the 2 newly ordained priests were blessing numerous people as well as a number of bishops.  The Arch and Mike Yates left at 17h00 to catch the late plane back to Windhoek.  I don’t think the Arch will ever forget the day (that went on forever)

From the church the party moved over to Tobias Hall for the customary feast.  I understand 2 oxen were slaughtered.  The deacons all arranged their own private celebrations at their own homes.

The Kittredges went to Linea’s home for her feast and then got themselves on to Ondangwa for the night.  As the Kittredges were keen to see a traditional homestead and how things ‘work’ we had arranged to go to the local sub headman who is always keen to share things with visitors.  To do this the Kittredges and Linea had to hike by taxi back to the mission -65 kms.  Not the way normal Americans would travel!  We then proceeded to the homestead where we had been told a meal would await us.

When we got there the headman had been taken to hospital the previous afternoon accompanied by his wife.  (He died that same day unbeknown to us till the next day) There were only the young children in the homestead who showed us around and the use of various areas and how they pound the millet, also to the threshing area and other activities.  Obviously no meal had been prepared so back to my home and we managed to put together some left overs from the day before after which it was a return trip to Ondangwa via a supermarket and a craft shop before dropping them at their hotel.

I found the drive back home tiring as I was obeying speed signs very carefully.  On Saturday when I had taken them back I was too tired to keep a look out to see if I was in a 60 km speed are or not.  The only consistent thing about the speed signs here is their inconsistency!  Towards the home end of this road (the last 30km) you get 60 km sign then later an 80km with 60 km just beyond (100 meters) which means you cannot go above 60 even though it is just a bush area.  That is where the speed cops like to catch you.  On this occasion I was too tired to care.  I never even saw the cop trying to stop me.  He caught up with me at the road block (a permanent one) and asked me to return to read the camera.  I did and told them my story and also added that I was trying to get home before sunset as I am a hopeless driver after sunset as it gets dark about 15 minutes after.  They accepted my explanation & let me go.  As I had only been expecting to go ‘down the road’ to Oshiakngo when I left home I did not even have my purse with me (in which is my driver’s licence) let alone money for petrol – I just managed to get back with what I had.  Then at the road block where all know/knew me there had been a change of the guard who asked for my ‘documents’  I told him I had nothing then spoke to him in the vernacular and he let me move on.  So ended another very tiring day and the end of a very special occasion.

Forgiving Jim and Tammy Faye

This was originally a newsletter article from 2007. I found it recently and thought it was still relevant. Enjoy

Forgiving Jim and Tammy Faye

In 1989, the year I graduated from high school, Jim Bakker was convicted of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Two years earlier he resigned from PTL ministries after allegations of rape and payoffs to Jessica Hahn. He was, for me, an example of everything that I came to despise about the “Christian” church. I saw Jim and Tammy Faye as examples of the hypocrisy and excess of the church and swore to never be a part of it again.  Only recently did I realize how deeply I had been affected by their lies and theft in both positive and negative ways, and only in the last month did I forgive them for what they had done.

The negative ways they hurt my faith are easiest to count. I was pushed away from the Church and from Christianity because I never wanted to be associated with people like them. I allowed them to define Christianity for me as something that was to be avoided. It was full of the worst kind of people, charlatans and frauds, and Christians became, in my mind, those people who talked a good game but never lived up to the hype. They would say one thing and be another, “do as I say not as I do” types who were quick to send you to hell if you disagreed.

On the other hand Jim and Tammy Faye gave me a healthy dose of cynicism and skepticism about those who claim to be holy and have a special connection to God. A wariness toward those who claim to hold the keys to the gates of heaven and decide who gets in and who doesn’t.  This has always helped me remember we are not called upon to be judges, we are called upon to show mercy and compassion for our brothers and sisters.

Most of all I was angry at the Bakkers and I stayed angry until very recently. A few weeks ago I came across an interview and article on CNN about Jim and Tammy Faye’s son Jay. Jay Bakker has started a church called Revolution  inBrooklyn,New York. His ministry is also the focus of a new documentary called “One Punk Under God”. He is a pierced and tattooed 30 year old preacher.  My skepticism about this new venture went through the roof until my curiosity got the best of me and I went to his website to prove to myself that he, like his father, was just another show with a hidden agenda.

A couple of things happened as I perused the site. First I found myself agreeing with most of what he had to say theologically. As I listened to a few sermons online I really liked his approach. Secondly I heard him talking about his mother and father as real people, warts and all. He spoke of how his mother is in the final stages of a battle with lung cancer and the strained relationship he had with his father.  He was there, just a teenager, as his world collapsed around him in the late 80’s. His mother and father got divorced and his father went to prison.

In spite of all this on October 29 of this year he invited his father to come and preach at his church in Brooklyn. Revolution meets in a bar. How ironic, I thought. I was surprised at what came from his mouth. He is now 66 years old and the first words that came out of his mouth were, “The farther I go along in life, the more people I let into heaven and the more people I love.” He went on to tell of his transformation, by finally, really accepting grace for the first time. He admitted that he had been looking for grace in all the wrong places for all these years.  As I continued to listen to his process of being broken, my heart softened towards him and the dying Tammy Faye. I realized that after all these years they still had a hold on me. These two frail human beings who had taught me in a backward sort of way about mercy, were, after all, just two frail people who were loved by God. I have no doubt that when Tammy Faye dies she will be welcomed into the loving arms of her creator and that Jim Bakker in spite of all he was done is known by God. At that point I forgave them for what they had done to me.

Then it hit me that this is the message we are to take from the Christmas season into the New Year.  “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:3-5. Darkness takes many forms in our life, and in the life of the world, but, the light of the incarnation of Jesus Christ shines over all creation. It shines so that we can see each other as God sees us. The way God has always seen us.  This light makes it possible for us to forgive one another because we can see one another truly in the light and because we can see ourselves. We are all broken and we are all holy. This is what we see in the light of Jesus Christ. May Gods light through Jesus help us to know that whoever we are to one another, we are always loved by the one who created us and cares for us still.

The Lewis River

“the thing i found offensive, the thing i hated about mohican-mountain-makers, gill-netters, poachers, whalehunters, strip-miners, herbicide-spewers, dam-erectors, nuclear-reactor-builders or anyone who lusted after flesh, meat, mineral, tree, pelt and dollar – including, first and foremost, myself – was the smug ingratitude, the attitude that assumed the world and its creatures owed us everything we could catch, shoot, tear out, alter, plunder, devour…and we owed the world nothing in return.”
― David James Duncan, The River Why

December 11, 2011

Sunday will mark an end and a new beginning in the Anglican Diocese of Namibia. On Sunday December the 11th the first group of 45 new priests will be ordained at St. Mary’s Church in Odibo Namibia. This is a project that I have worked on since its beginning in 2007. It was then that I was asked to take part in a data gathering trip by my old friend Bill Yon from the Diocese of Alabama. A group of 6 of us traveled for three weeks throughout Namibia in the summer of 2007. On June 6th, 2007 I wrote in my journal;

“I keep asking myself the question, Why? Why am I coming to Africa? What is it that I hope to do here. I know that I cannot save Africa, but if I don’t believe I have anything to offer then I have no reason to be here. It would be stupid to come here and just accept the way things are but at the same time I have a lot to learn”

Over the next year I worked with our team to develop and write the grant to fund the project and to help design the overall structure of the classes. We had no idea if what we were planning would work. The distances these students traveled were vast, of them coming from more then 8 hours away. So in the summer of 2008 I moved to Namibia. Over the next 6 months I worked with the Anglican Diocese of Namibia to develop the actual 3 year plan to train 50 students in rural Northern Namibia. In January of 2009 the students arrived for their orientation week and the Training Program was off and running. On January 8, 2009 I wrote the following words while I was attending the orientation of the training program;

“Northern Namibia is an abandoned place. It is rural, poor, sub-Saharan Africa. Its children get sick, starve and die. Malaria is rampant, waterborne sickness everywhere… What does it mean to be abandoned? Abandoned suggests that at one point we knew one another and then we left. The truth is that we have never known this place or its people and therefore we feel no responsibility for it. How could we abandon someone that we never knew, we ask. We ask this to assuage our own guilt. The answer is that as Christians, we believe that we were all created in the image of God, and we must recognize our brothers and sisters. We must remember that they are part of us and we are part of them and when we insulate ourselves behind gated communities and 24 hour infotainment we are abandoning our family. This is the trauma we feel, that emptiness in our heart is a longing to know our family again”

Over the course of the next 3 years, culminating this Saturday the 11th, these students studied for countless hours, traveled for days and learned so much about what it means to be an Anglican priest in Namibia. I know that they will serve the people of the Diocese with joy and humility and that they will become the foundation of the diocese for years to come. I want to congratulate The Rt. Rev Nathaniel Nakwatumba for his vision and leadership The Rt Rev Petrus Hilakiluah for his dedication and service and The Ven Lukas Katenda for his unfailing work in support and leadership in this program. I am proud  to have been a part of this work.