A prayer for the invisible

This prayer seems so appropriate for diaconal ministry agents.......

A Prayer for the Invisible

Unseen behind the screen of our million dollar media entertainment are the millions of unnoticed suffering people on our planet..
Unseen behind the vast connections of social media are the lonely and marginalised.
Unseen behind the booming tourist industry are the millions of displaced people - refugees and asylum seekers.
Unseen behind the grandness of our courts and legal systems are those in places who hunger for justice.
Unseen behind our medical system are those who can't access adequate health care.
Unseen behind our towering economies and commercial enterprises are those who labour in sweat shops or in servitude.
Unseen behind our global trade endeavours are those who are trafficked.
Unseen behind the civilised veneer of our society are the forgotten, neglected, and ignored.

Invisible God,
Who works behind the scenes of our world,
We pray for those who seem invisible in our communities; our society, and our world.
Help us to look for the unseen .
Help us to glimpse the extent of their suffering
Help us to view their plight with compassion.
Help us to see what we can do to help
Help us to have vision for how we can change things for the better in the world.
Help us envisage your Kingdom and our role in its coming.
In Christ's name, may this be so.
 
Jon Humphries

Methodist Church in South Africa (MCSA)

Highlighting the MCSA:
Vernon van Wyk regularly posts updates on the Methodist Order of Deacons Facebook page, with news of Methodist Church of South Africa (MCSA) as well as issues of interest to the wider church. It has been interesting to read his updates from the MCSA Conference held in Mthatha in the last week.

Rev Elize Goddess (2nd left), Rev Ray Goddess & Deacon Vernon van Wyk

For instance, the Conference heard a report from the Child Care Desk which included this statement:

The Child Care Desk affirms the Methodist heritage to care for the poor by encouraging the people called Methodist to serve children and youth who are vulnerable and at risk due to displacement, and high unemployment.
War threats, poverty, disease, HIV/AIDS and deprivation continue to destroy many children’s livelihoods and future.
The collective family of Methodists, through their efforts are committed as they serve the structures established at district levels to attend to children who are vulnerable and at risk.
MCSA Districts are working hard towards becoming a compliant church and body of Jesus Christ fulfilling Gods intended mission for all children.
The Desk wants to ensure that “No Child is not Known”

Yesterday, the world news reported that South African police had lied about events in the "Marikana Massacre' last year, with the mass shooting of striking miners at Marikana last year, according to a commission of inquiry set up by President Zuma to investigate the killing of 34 miners at a mine run by the platinum giant Lonmin in August 2012. The report accuses police of falsifying and hiding documents, as well as giving false accounts of events. The accusations are bound to increase anger among miners. Last week they held a protest in Pretoria over the government’s refusal to pay legal fees for those giving evidence.

In response to the first anniversary of the 'Marikana Massacre', the MCSA Presiding Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa issued this statement:

"As we pause to reflect on the anniversary of the Marikana Massacre, we should take a moment to pray for the still grieving families and together mobilize resources in cash and kind to ease their plight.  To sympathise verbally is not enough. Our actions should include supporting the call for funding their legal representation at the Farlam Commission. Failure to represent workers and victims of the massacre at the commission would be a travesty of justice.

The Methodist Church pleads with all the mine workers and community members in Marikana, irrespective of union or political affiliation to work towards peace and stability as the on-going senseless killings are worsening an already intractable situation. We pray that the first commemoration of the Marikana tragedy on 16 August 2013 will be a solemn occasion devoid of political overtones and that both the mining authorities and Government will do everything within their power to ensure that the commemorative events are treated with the dignity they deserve.

May God guide us to find a just and sustainable solution to one of the darkest periods of our nation. God's heart bleeds when his people are treated unjustly and we implore the various stakeholders to heed the pain of God and His people. Our humanity is at stake". 

The ministry context for the MCSA is very complex. Please hold the MCSA diaconal ministers in your prayers, as well as the diverse work of the MCSA.

Season of creation

(adapted from a sermon at Pilgrim Church on 8th September)

On Sundays in September we celebrate 'seasons of creation', and we acknowledge the joy and delight we find in nature. Our Spring Festival next week will see our church filled with beautiful flowers and foliage. The garden bed alongside the driveway will be transformed into productive edible plants, and the vegetable garden in the corner will be given a spring clean ready for a new round of plantings. It is right we enjoy these delights.

But there is something deeper too as we recognize that nature and earth itself reveals God to us. As our spirits are lifted by beauty - and rugged awesomeness, we find God revealed to us. Photographer Ken Duncan loves to spend time in unique landscapes, which offer an invitation to pause and reflect on the beauty of our natural world. It was in such a time, on his own surrounded by nature, that he experienced a revelation of God and came to faith.

God is revealed in creation, as God has been revealed in the life of Jesus Christ, as God is revealed in each of us. God is everywhere, an embodied God always able to be revealed, ‘the ground of our being’ (Paul Tillich). “God is Love‟ rightly reveals love as energy which shapes life‟s relationships rightly, in ways that are more harmonious, empowering, joyous and just, reflecting “the divine‟.

Father Thomas Berry said, ‘We have no inner spiritual life if we don’t have the outer experience of a beautiful world.

He went on to say: 'The more we destroy the world the less a sense of God is possible...’.

It’s sobering to consider that a means to experience God may be diminished when the world itself is diminished through carelessness, and pragmatic decisions that sees earth as something to be used and exploited rather than treasured.

This understanding of God transforms our relationship to nature because the earth itself reveals God.

Jason John, who completed his doctorate in the area of eco-theology, says that ‘this understanding rejects human-centred theology which subtly endorses our destructive dominance of nature through human technology, in favour of a view which takes seriously the intrinsic value of all life. Our nobility as a species is contingent on us relating  rightly from a position of responsible dependence within the biosphere. Then, loving our neighbour includes loving nature. Then, unconditional love, grace or life abundant may begin to fill the Earth, for grace is that which is ultimately life-giving, allowing and enabling us to be who we really are’.

Australia has elected a new government (September 7th). As we go forward together, we need to be mindful about the common good, and policies that affect the poor, the dispossessed, the marginalized, the vulnerable.

But the knowledge of God’s self-revelation in creation also affects how we respond to projects and activities that exploit the earth. It changes how we relate to climate change. It changes our priorities about how we invest our money - whether into projects that are life giving or into those that damage the earth and damage communities.

The church can play a significant role in public discussion, decision making and advocacy on these vital issues, informed by a theology that recognizes God may be revealed in and through earth itself.

'In the season of Creation we celebrate Christ together with creation, we face the ecological crisis with Christ, and we serve Christ in the healing of creation' (Norm Habel). 

(Diaconal ministry has an important role to advocate not only for people on the margins, but for the welfare of earth itself, and for communities whose lives are tied so closely to the land).

Jeremiah & the potter (RCL reading for September 8th, 2013)

A thoughtful and hopeful reflection on Jeremiah 18:1-12 - and a word of encouragement to those offering diaconal ministry in challenging contexts.


The potter shaped clay as God sought to shape Israel:
but they said, "No use!"

The potter's wheel
turning, turning, turning;
centred clay shaped by the potter's hand
and water in small degree:
shaping, shaping, shaping,
creating a new thing of use and beauty.

In a moment the clay resists
spoiling, spoiling, spoiling,
the effort of the potter's hand.
Yet just as sudden work begins again,
building, building, building,
to reshape and bring to worth a creation altogether new.

Intention, love, free will, creativity:
possibility.

The prophet saw love amid his nation's bleak future:
intending yet reticent evil sitting with yearning and hope
for a fruitful, faithful people.
            © Jeff Shrowder, 2013.