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Vol 19 No 3 April 2008 ONLINE The official gazette of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth: Anglican Church of Southern Africa

Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage PAGE 4  •  Go, and reach out in the Karoo  •  The Lord God made them all  •  One more! One more!  •  Night of the stars  •  A celebration visit to the CR Sisters Go, and reach out in the Karoo [Nolene Voster] When God said, “Go and reach out in the Karoo”, the Nehemiah Mission Team from Pretoria had no idea what he had in mind. That was, until they were introduced to the farm workers in the Tafelberg and Conway area in the Middelburg district, part of the Parish of the Karoo. Since then they have had numerous outreaches in the area, and a rather special relationship has built up between the workers and the team. On a visit during November, the team promised the Conway school children a trip to the sea. They kept their promise and the children were taken to Jeffrey’s Bay early this year. We are grateful for the loving care God put into the hearts of the team members. They managed to get sponsorship which enabled them to give each of these underprivileged children a shoulder bag containing a Bible, some basic needs and a bathing costume. This meant the world to the children. During the camp, time was spent with the Word – building relationships and trust with these very shy children. On their first trip to the beach, many a nervous comment was passed on the ‘deep, unknown waters’, but when the children discovered what the sea really was like they had the time of their lives. It was here that they dropped their guard and connected with the team members. They played soccer on the beach and made such an impression that other people joined in spontaneously.  Apart from the spiritual impact, the children were taken to Port Elizabeth where they visited the Oceanarium, the Boardwalk and even ate pizza, all of which made it an experience they will never forget. It was a message of love from their God and the team which they will never forget.  They had such a wonderful time many did not want to return home.  We thank and praise God for their love and commitment and that of the teachers at Volmoed Primêr who put a lot of effort into preparing the children for their trip. Pic: Some of the Karoo farm children who saw the sea, the ‘deep, unknown waters’, for the first time The Lord God made them all  Sunday 2 March was a beautifully sunny morning and on the banks of the Swartkops River a large crowd of people gathered for a Communion Service.  But, they were not alone, as nearly all had a pet or two in tow. The service was the annual Zwartkops River Valley Parish Pet Blessing and the rector, Sharon Nell, was praying that nobody turned up with a snake to bless! There were lots of dogs, a  guinea pig, budgies and even a baby duck – who stood proxy for his eight siblings and a snake - which turned out to be plastic. Some of the children were delightful as they joined in with comments and questions, none of which floored Sharon. SABC TV2 was there to capture the moment and a short snippet was shown that evening on the main news. Pic: The rector of ZRV Parish, Sharon Nell, holds a duck up as she blesses it, and the eight siblings, at the Pet Service. One more! One more! When the Worship Watch Band from Ireland finished playing ‘Be Thou my Vision’, having announced it was their closing song of worship, they were greeted by shouts of, “One more! One more!” To the delight of everyone present they obliged.  Young and not so young packed into Holy Trinity, Central, on Friday night 7 March to be led in worship by this talented group of men from Belfast in Ireland. They had folk clapping, waving, kneeling or just standing quietly, lost in worship. The music changed from beat to quiet at different times during the evening and, almost two hours later, people had still not had enough worship. The group are one of Christian Fellowship Church (revival in Belfast) main bands - they have eight. The band members say, “We see the act of worship as a sacrifice of praise and a life-style rather than an event we and specialize in extended times of worship and waiting on God.” They lead a monthly worship event lasting five hours called ‘Worship Watch’, hence the name of the band. They were visiting South Africa because they felt that God had opened doors to allow them to minister in worship here. Pics: 1) The worship was awesome and young and older folk joined in.  2) Chris, Martin, Terry, Ken on drums, and Thomas of the Worship Watch Band. Night of the stars  “He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name.” Amos 5:8  It was a night of the stars when the iindaba editor attended a talk entitled, “Focussing on Creation: a Tour of the Universe”, given by Prof Geoff Booth, on Thursday evening 31 January at the Redhouse Yacht Club.   What an awesome evening! As Geoff spoke and showed photos of how enormous the universe is and how ‘ordered’ the stars, suns, moons and planets are, various verses from scripture would come to mind. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has some 500billion stars in it, and is about 100 000 light years in diameter - a light year is 9.3 trillion kms. We looked at the life of a star in a stellar nursery, the Orion Nebula, a kindergarten, the Pleiades, and also at planets in the making. Geoff closed his talk by saying, “Astronomy remains for me a deeply spiritual experience of Creation writ large. The sheer enormity of it in both space and time produces a sense of wonder which hasn’t gone away in over three decades.” Later in the evening we were able to look through a telescope at a few of the stars and planets closest to us. How great is our God! The editor looks forward to the next instalment. Geoff is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, as well as being a lay minister at the Parish of the Zwartkops River Valley - although he did make it clear that the evening was a private initiative organised by a group of Christians acting in their own capacities and not tied to any Church. Pic: Geoff Booth prepares the telescope for people to view some of the closer stars. A celebration visit to the CR Sisters [Report by Hazel Braun] St Mark’s Mission chairman, Elroy Damon, rector of St Francis Xavier, and members of the committee visited the Community of the Resurrection in Grahamstown on 20 February to celebrate the commemoration of the death of Mother Cecile, the foundress of the Community. They joined Mother Zelma and the Sisters in their time of worship. Pic: St Mark’s Mission chairman, Elroy Damon, with Sr Dorianne CR and Mother Zelma CR.  World-wide Anglican news The Anglican Church is going through many challenges at present such as: The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) being held in the Holy Land and being attended by many bishops who are boycotting the Lambeth Conference; The Archbishop of Canterbury saying, the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK "seems unavoidable", and much more.  Stay in touch through: http://contact-online.blogspot.com Do visit the blog and check out what all the news and views - and the simple way it works. If you have any suggestions or comments to make, please email David MacGregor at dsmacgregor@gmail.com Keep up to date with what is happening among Christians in the NMM: www.pechurchnet.co.za iindaba Editor: Frankie Simpson Layout / design : Frankie Email: iindaba@anglicandiocesepe.org.za Tel/fax +27 041 360 6808 - evenings only. iindaba is the vehicle for sharing your parish news with the rest of the Diocesan family. Please send contributions and photos to the editor. Deadline for contributions: 6th of the month prior to publication Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Bishop nor the editor. Articles may be reproduced but credit must be given to iindaba. Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage