Blog
Our Exec met this week and we reflected on just how hard things have been for so many people in our community recently. We have seen a fantastic response from our congregation when it comes to helping flood victims and the ongoing work of our other relief projects, but as we met we wondered how we might also more effectively support our WMC members.
Over the course of this last week our District synod has gathered, principally in Westville, but also via Zoom in locations around the province. As always, synod has had wonderful moments of celebration and re-connecting with Methodists from across KZN. We have however also had to grapple with significant challenges that our church is facing in the fallout from the pandemic and other crises we have experienced recently in KZN.
This week we are hosting ministers and lay leaders from around the greater Durban area for our annual District synod. If you’re unfamiliar with Methodist-speak, in our language Westville Methodist Church is a SOCIETY which belongs to a CIRCUIT (the Durban Metro Circuit) in a DISTRICT (the Natal Coastal District) all of which is part our CONNEXION (the Methodist Church of Southern Africa).
Our lectionary readings this weekend include the 23rd psalm and a passage from John 10 where Jesus says that he is our shepherd and we are his sheep. It’s not the most flattering image – being a sheep, that is – sheep are constantly in need of rescuing and are not known for their intellectual gifts!
Easter Sunday felt to me like a bright light in the midst of a very dark season. As we moved through Lent and drew nearer to the cross, it seemed that our whole community was plunged into darkness – in some cases literally (due to the power cuts we have experienced) but also through the terrible devastation of the floods. And so it was wonderful to be together on Easter Sunday and to feel our hope renewed as we were reminded that God is able to redeem even the most awful circumstances.
The sun is shining brightly this morning (Thursday) as I write this, but we’re all still feeling bruised by the events of the last few days. Some of us have experienced significant trauma and loss; others are trying to get on with life amidst water shortages, power issues and ongoing clean-up efforts in our neighbourhoods; still others are experiencing a kind of ‘survivor guilt’ – aware of the loss around us and conscious that we have come through this relatively unscathed. In the midst of all this, there are hopeful signs as community members rally to comfort and practically support each other (look out for the appeal in this week's Staying Connected to see if you can help in any way).
The first part of the year always seems to fly by at speed and this year again it feels like we’ve just taken down the Christmas decorations and now Easter is upon us! Holy week this year will be a little different – we haven’t previously had services all through the week, but this year we will have evening services (18h30) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then a Tenebrae service on Thursday night (18h30) and the usual Good Friday (09h00) and Easter Sunday services (06h30 and 08h00).
The largest non-glacial underground lake in the world is in Dragon’s Breath Cave in Northern Namibia. You would never guess that the location is home to this huge body of water as the lake lies beneath the Kalahari Desert. It is possible then, in the heat of the day, to be standing on the burning sand with your tongue swollen from thirst, desperate for water, and yet not realise that the world’s largest underground lake is literally beneath your feet.
In the USA, a recent survey found that “more than half of all Republicans and nearly half of all Democrats believe their political opponents to be ‘immoral’.” That seems to be a sign of the times, doesn’t it? Our world feels more and more polarized – we hold a strong view on a subject (eg: politics, theology, even Covid vaccines) and then anyone who sees things differently is wrong, crazy, or even immoral!
I'm sure that some of your carefully laid plans for the last week were disrupted by the sudden re-implementation of load-shedding. It's always frustrating, but sometimes these enforced "Eskom sabbaths" bring unexpected gifts. This last Wednesday, the load-shedding schedule managed to take out both sessions of our Lent course with incredible precision! So, in the office, we spent two hours that morning working with ancient technology (pens and paper) - Laura and Valda took the chance to work through and update our membership list, and I made more progress on a sermon with pen in hand than I normally would in front of a PC with all its email and internet distractions