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Vol 15 No 9 October 2004 ONLINE The official gazette of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth: Church of the Province of Southern Africa

Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage PAGE 3  • The Bishop writes ...  • The view from pulpit and pew  • Tag lines  • Church must take a stand  • God's message is abstinence The Bishop writes ... The saving grace of God My dear people of God, Greetings in the Name of Christ, our Lord and Saviour! I am writing this letter, after just returning from the Provincial AWF Conference in George, the Synod of Bishop (SOB) and Provincial Standing Committee (PSC) in Houghton, Johannesburg. Already, I am receiving calls of concern about homosexuality issues and the unity of the Anglican Communion. It is my wish to state as follows on this issue: 1. We need to understand that, thus far, there are no conclusive agreements as to the cause of homosexual orientations. Some are persuaded that biological causation is the primary and sole explanatory factor. Others believe that such behaviour is due to imbalances of socialization of the child and or psychological factors (True Union in the Body ? : Archbishop Drexel Gomez Pg 14). 2. Whatever the case might be on the above, the written Word (the Bible) condemns homosexuality as sin (Lev 18:22; 20:13 ; 1 Cor 6:9). The traditional teaching of the church upholds marriage as part of God’s given gift for sexual expression (Mtt 19:1-12; Eph 5:22ff.). Otherwise we follow the calling of abstinent singleness. Further to this, the Church of the Province of Southern Africa upholds the Lambeth Resolution 1.10 wherein it is categorically stated that homosexuality is incompatible with the Word of God, and that pastoral ministry should be exercised to those who feel they have homosexual orientation. Articles XX and XXXIV on the authority of the Church and her traditions warns us that we cannot deliberate or “ordain anything that is contrary to God’s written Word” (Constitution and Canons. Pg 143). The CPSA does not bless Same Sex Union. Salvation is a pre-requisite to our relationship with God. Let us continue to be a loving, inclusive Church, embracing those who feel marginalized. Yet the principles of the gospel which bring us nearer to God should not be compromised. We must entertain those strange to us on the basis of the transforming love of God and his amazing grace. The Church needs to be visible, vocal and compassionate to all people. We have ministry to perform to eliminate poverty and unemployment, abuse, HIV/AIDS, crime, racism and sexism. Family life is in a shambles in our communities. I rejoice and thank God for those parishes engaged in mission and outreach through Isiseko Sokomeleza. Every pastoral charge needs to account to me when I visit in terms of outreach programmes. Finally, remember to say this prayer of St Teresa of Avila: Christ has no body now on earth but yours. No hands but yours. Yours are the eyes through which is to look out Christ’s compassion to the World; Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now. Amen. May God bless you. Yours in the love of Christ, Bishop Bethlehem Nopece   The view from pulpit and pew Iindaba is sad to record the death of Natalie Rayner, widow of Ron, who was Missions to Seafarers’ Chaplain. Natalie’s funeral service took place from St Cuthbert’s, where she worshipped for many years. In spite of having no family in South Africa, St Cuthbert’s was full - a wonderful tribute to Natalie. Natalie lived in a cottage at Fairhaven. Another death that took place was that of Philip Jourdan’s twin sister, Phyllis Fenton - also from Fairhaven. It was always a family joke that Phyllis turned 20 when Philip turned 80, as he was born on 28th February, and she on the 29th. Our condolences to her family. Iindaba also expresses its condolences to Sandra and Barry Sendall on the death last month of Sandra’s father, Julian Bailes. Julian is survived by his wife, Joyce, Sandra and her brother Trevor. Manfred Hartslief, a retired Presbyterian minister, also died last month, and was very much the Presbyterian Peter Bowen - known and loved by many! In the 1970s, before the formal links with the establishment of the Church Unity Commission, bringing closer together the Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian and Anglican churches, Manfred, for many years the minister at St Columba’s Presbyterian Church in Perridgevale, visited and preached at St Paul’s in Parsons Hill, then under the Rectorship of the late Ted Smithers. Iindaba congratulates Ndumiso Mbele of All Saints' in Kabega Park on being elected Junior Mayor of Port Elizabeth. Ndumiso, who is in Grade 11 (that is Std 9 to the ‘oldies’) at Westering High School, will serve for a year. An accomplished speaker, and a person with a caring disposition and much confidence, Iindaba is sure that he will make a great success of his year. Well done, Ndumiso. Many have been asking about the court case regarding the theft of money from St Francis Xavier. A full report will be given to Iindaba by the Archdeacon, Christopher Holmes, when he returns from Sabbatical in November. Iindaba did not report the birth of a daughter, Jessie, to Musa and Levidia Daba. Musa, who was ordained to the diaconate on Trinity Sunday, is the son of Mxolisi Sampson Daba, a priest, who served in this diocese in the 1980’s. Iindaba congratulates them. The Haya family has never severed its ties with St Stephen’s, New Brighton, where the late James was rector many years ago. His widow, Jesse, continues to worship there, and has given much of her time and talent to the music of the church. Now her daughter, Bonnie Haya, is the parish secretary, carrying on the Haya tradition of service to the church, and no doubt helping the new rector, Andile Mbutye, getting to know all the names in the parish, where on Sundays there are over 700 communicants! Iindaba is pleased to report that Sheila Lancaster, whose husband is the rector of All Saints' in Kabega Park, is out of hospital after two bouts of nose problems. Iindaba hopes that any further contact Sheila has to have with hospitals will be strictly that of her work as a radiographer at Mercantile Hospital. At the Elective Assembly held on 14 September, Dean Les Walker was elected the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Mpumalanga, which came into being when the Diocese of Pretoria multiplied. See PSC reflections on page 4. Tag lines We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.   Church must take a stand The founder of African Enterprise, and international evangelist, Michael Cassidy, told church leaders in Port Elizabeth that they must stand within historic Christian orthdoxy. Speaking to leaders at a dinner held at the Port Elizabeth Club on Friday night 10 September, Michael reminded them that the church needs to take a stand as both salt and light. "Salt dispels decay, and light dispels darkness," he said, "And if the church is not salt there will be decay and if there is no light there will be darkness." He reminded his listeners that, according to Christian and Jewish scripture, same sex relationships were sinful. He went on to say the church needs the power of the Holy Spirit to help it stand firm, "The church needs to rediscover, reappreciate and revisit the person and work of the Holy Spirit." Picture: Sharing words of wisdom - Andrew Symes, one of our self- supporting priests attached to St Nicholas church in Charlo, managed to get time to speak to Michael Cassidy after the dinner. Michael also reiterated the need for the church to deal with the seven 'giants' which SACLA 11 had named - Poverty and Unemployment, HIV/AIDS, Crime and Violence, Abuse, Racsism, Sexism, Family in Crisis and Environmental Issues. He also spoke of the verse given him for AE, "Go in and take possession of the land", and how the Lord has been working throughout Africa through the AE teams and the youth Foxfire teams. Readers wishing to know more about the work of AE can e-mail: aesa@ae.org.za or visit their web site at: www.ae.org.za or write to: Box 13140, Cascades, 3202 To contribute to the work of AE: First National Bank, Boom Street Branch code: 221325 Account: African Enterprise 50950005121 Picture: Sharing words of wisdom - Lawrie Wilmot, also a self-supporting priest attached to St Nicholas, with Michael Cassidy and Dick Forster, who is in charge of AE operations in Port Elizabeth. God's message is abstinence Four years ago when Jacqui Brill was trained, her goal was to take God’s message of abstinence (from sex) until marriage to as many young people as she possibly could, teaching them it was the only answer to unplanned pregnancies, STD’s, HIV/AIDS. She was trained in using the Focus on the Family programme “No Apologies” message of abstinence. Over the past four years Jacqui has visited many schools and church youth groups with the message and had very positive feedback. However, she told Iindaba, “Little did I realise that I would actually end up training MANY other educators - mandated by the Department of Education, National Government - to take the same message, thus duplicating myself over and over and over. What an awesome God we serve!” Over the past three weeks she has completed facilitating two three-day courses with over 20 educators from the Uitenhage district on each course. From there she went to Humansdorp for yet another course for over 20 educators, and then to Port Elizabeth (Zwide area) with over 20 primary school educators. “The feedback from these folk is awe-inspiring, but what is more awe-inspiring is that by the end of October at least 6 000 students will have been taught by these educators that abstinence-until-marriage is the ideal and can be achieved. These courses are currently running all over South Africa. Thereafter, the information will form part of the curriculum. Please ask the Iindaba readers to pray that we will also be able to introduce the programme into Primary schools here in the Uitenhage district for grade 7 learners.” Jacqui is happy to travel to any of the parishes that would like her to do a course with their youth or Sunday School members. Her contact numbers are 041 966 2271 (evenings) or 083 721 5606. Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage