|
Quick Links: Page 1 | Page
2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top
| Homepage
PAGE 2
• Arriving late
• Our Metropolitan writes ...
• An ideal gift
• Control your spending and eliminate your debt
• ECUSA chooses a woman Presiding Bishop
Arriving late
In
his letter to the Diocese of the Free State Bishop Paddy Glover writes
on “Latecomers ... a besetting problem.” iindaba
asked him for permission to print part of the letter as punctuality is
of great concern in this diocese too.
Bishop Paddy quoted from a letter he had written to his clergy and expanded on it:
Punctuality ...
A
besetting problem in the diocese and one which concerns me greatly is
the prevalence of late arrivals at Sunday services. Not only is this
disrupting and discourteous to the officiant and congregation, it is
disrespectful in the extreme to the Lord, who is hosting the
celebration.
According to my liturgical and theological
understanding, anyone who has not been present for the Confession and
Absolution is not eligible to receive Holy Communion. It is a
requirement that we should truly and earnestly repent and be in love
and charity with our neighbours before partaking of the Blessed
Sacrament. Consequently I would ask you to bring this requirement to
the attention of your people and impress upon them the importance of
good timekeeping when it comes to attending church services.
In
any event, in order to minimize interruption, late comers should only
be permitted to enter the church during the singing of hymns and not
during the prayers, scripture readings and sermon etc.
Punctuality is an important part of our stewardship and should most certainly begin with our relationship with Almighty God.
I
really hope that our people will develop an improved mind set when it
comes to punctuality- particularly at Sunday services. Lateness is a
bad habit which needs to be challenged.
I am asking you to join
me and the clergy in promoting the good habit of arriving at church
early and of waiting upon God quietly and reverently, until the service
of worship begins. Let us cultivate the habit of worshipping the Lord
in the beauty of holiness. Arriving at church in good time is a good
way to begin.
Our Metropolitan writes ...
‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ taught Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5).
The ending of apartheid held out the promise of peace, yet our papers are full of crime, violence, bloodshed and murder.
Peace
doesn’t just happen. Peace needs to be worked at, and the time
has come for that work. All of society must declare together that the
levels of violence are unacceptable. All of us must act to promote
peace.
The peace of which the Bible speaks, true
‘shalom,’ is not just the absence of strife, but a peace of
wholeness, where wounds are being healed, divisions reconciled, and
broken hearts mended. We know that we are all wounded by our past, in
many different ways, and some of those wounds - not least the economic
violence done to some communities - will take a long time to recover.
But we are not victims of the past. Twelve years after
democratic elections, we cannot always be blaming apartheid, as an
excuse for not taking responsibility for what we can do today.
At
the end of May, I held a meeting with Premier Ebrahim Rasool, and
leaders from the faith communities and every other walk of life,
including academia, the media and business. We agreed that we need a
holistic approach. We must tackle the root causes of instability in
society, which become a fertile breeding ground for violence -
including, in some areas, widespread abuse against women and children.
But we must also address what is happening now, to overcome the
tendencies to violence, and to channel those energies into productive
activities that build up, rather than undermine, our communities and
nation.
It is here, in particular, that the Church must play a
leading role. We, with the other faith communities, are those who deal
in healing and hope, in reconciling and restoring the human heart. We
must be the oil that enables the different parts of our societies to
run smoothly. We are the ones who know, not just that there is a better
way, but what this promise of peace really means, for it is the Way of
the Lord we serve.
Jesus said to his followers at the
Last Supper ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you - I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled
or afraid.’ We should not feel daunted - even though this
violence is, for some of us, on our very doorsteps, touching us and
those who are dear to us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said we may
well be insulted for standing up for his ways, but then went on to
teach how we are the salt of the earth. No-one else can provide the
saltiness that is ours to share. No one else can be his light in the
dark corners of the world.
There will be other actions too. A
document will be drawn up - perhaps a new ‘Kairos’
document, for this is certainly an issue whose time has come - which
will raise the bar on the unacceptability of crime and violence. That
will be released in August, on Women’s Day, when the Church has
committed itself to promoting special events across the country, to
honour women, to proclaim support for their full role in every part of
our society, and to pray. Later in the year, there will be a range of
programmes, focusing on the 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against
Women and Children in November and December.
In your own
parishes and communities, may the Lord give you courage and
encouragement as you take up this challenge. And remember his promise
of blessing: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be
called children of God.’
Archbishop Njongongkulu Ndungane Cape Town
Bishop Bethlehem asked that this article from the July issue of Good Hope be shared with the people of our diocese.
An ideal gift
Soon most parishes will be having their annual Confirmations. Parents and god-parents wonder about
gifts to mark these.
It has been suggested that every candidate and every new lay minister should be given Fr Roy Snyman’s excellent book
‘Travelling along the Anglican Way’.
It will serve as a valuable reference for years.
They are obtainable at the Diocesan Office or from Fr Roy himself :
Tel. 041 373 1283
Southern Anglican gave it a glowing write-up!
Cost: R45.00 per copy, and R5.00 packing and postage in RSA
Control your spending and eliminate your debt
Charles
Qoto, the chairman of the Diocesan Debt Management Committee, writes
about how easy it is to get into debt and the need to ask God
to help you get out of it.
Recent
hikes in fuel prices are of concern to many of us. They increase our
cost of living through increased prices for petrol, diesel and
paraffin. Economists tell us that the recent round of fuel price
increases stems from not only higher crude oil prices but also a
weakening of the rand in relation to the US dollar, which is the
currency of trade in crude oil internationally. These fuel price
increases are likely to be inflationary, i.e. the prices of other
consumer goods and services are likely to go up as well. This, in turn,
contributes to an increase in the consumer price index (CPIX). With
reduced cash in hand many people resort to borrowing money to buy goods
and services they cannot afford. With more people borrowing, the cost
and the interest rate goes up. Many people then find themselves in
trouble. They cannot balance their income with their expenditure. They
find themselves in debt - they are unable to pay back what they
borrowed. For many people incurring debt is a habit that has been
acquired over time. They are caught in a debt trap they cannot escape
except by God’s help. With God’s help people can stop doing
what got them into debt so that they can get out of it.
Spending is a habit
Some
people spend money as if it will burn a hole in their pockets if they
kept it there. After spending their money unwisely they, are out of
pocket and so they go into a state of depression that is temporarily
relieved by further expend-iture of money they do not have. So the
vicious cycle goes on and on. “Your debt becomes a heavy load.
You feel stressed out. As a Spirit-filled believer you become
embarrassed that you have allowed this to happen to you. You also
become confused and filled with fear. You hide away from other people
and cannot answer your phone anymore.” (William V Thompson with
Faith H Horton in their book Debt Trap).
If this sounds
familiar, you are in desperate need of help to manage your spending so
you can buy the things you need now, and also save for the things you
will need in the future. You have lost control over your own affairs.
Hand it all over to God and ask him to take control of your life.
How to change the habit
Luke
16:11 says, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling
worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (NIV Study
Bible)
People need to learn to handle the smallest thing God has
put under their authority-their money. Therefore, if the following
guidelines are followed, it should help them control spending. (Adapted
from an article in CBN by Crown Financial Ministries)
Establish self-discipline.
Let
God take control of your spending. Once you do that, you become a
manager of God’s finances, and all spending should then be from
the vantage point of whether He would be pleased with the purchase.
With God’s guidance, any bad habit can be broken.
You
need to learn to recognize the drive that places you in a difficult
spending situation. When you shop, you can avoid the spending pitfalls
produced by that drive by having a purpose for the shopping, a time
limit, and a written plan. Make a list before you go shopping, and
stick to it. Also limit the number of trips to the store or mall and
never shop when hungry or depressed.
Be in control of your money.
How
far money goes usually depends on how badly you want something. As
such, you need to be in control of the money, under God’s
direction, instead of having the money control you by limiting what you
do.
Once spending has been brought under control, there should
be a determination of how much needs to be spent each month in every
area of an implemented budget; and, since the basic idea behind
budgeting is to save money up front for both known and unknown
expenses, there must be a commitment to stick to the budget.
Next month Charles will look at more ways of ‘How to change the habit’.
ECUSA chooses a woman Presiding Bishop
A media report received from ACNS
The
Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA), 30 years after it allowed women to
become priests and bishops, has elected a woman as its Presiding
Bishop.
Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of the Diocese of
Nevada, was elected the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church,
on 18 June, on the fifth ballot cast by the House of Bishops. Her
election was confirmed by the House of Deputies, as is required by
church canons. She is the first woman to hold the top post in the
church’s nearly 400-year history. Her nine-year term officially
begins on 1 November 2006; and she will be invested and seated on 4
November
during a liturgy at Washington National Cathedral.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, issued the following statement on 19 June:
I
send my greetings to Bishop Katharine and she has my prayers and good
wishes as she takes up a deeply demanding position at a critical time.
She will bring many intellectual and pastoral gifts to her new work,
and I am pleased to see the strength of her commitment to mission and
to the Millennium Development Goals.
Her election will
undoubtedly have an impact on the collegial life of the Anglican
Primates; and it also brings into focus some continuing issues in
several of our ecumenical dialogues.
We are continuing to pray
for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church as it confronts a
series of exceptionally difficult choices.
Quick Links: Page 1 | Page
2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top
| Homepage
|
