Welcome to my blog! It's a collection of pictures I've taken and thoughts that have come to me since I began my sabbatical wandering. There's no specific theme other than my desire to experience the spirituality of different cultures and places. I welcome your comments and conversation. It's a wonderful trip for me and I thank you for sharing it.

Friday 20 March 2009

Feast of St. Cuthbert

Br. Robert asked me to preside at their daily Eucharist today. I packed my alb knowing I would preach and celebrate at the Cathedral, but it was an unexpected treat to be invited to celebrate the Eucharist for the brothers.

I didn’t know in advance that it was the feast of St. Cuthbert. It’s customary in churches who observe lesser feasts to read a synopsis of the saint prior to the Eucharist. As it was read it was my turn to chuckle silently at God’s sense of humor. St. Cuthbert lived in the seventh century AD and was a monk and Prior of Lindesfarne in the north of England. He went on to live the life of a hermit monk on an island, ultimately founding a monastery there as well. That island has become known through the centuries as Holy Island, one of my next destinations.
Time waxes and wanes. Since I have passed the midpoint of my visit to South Africa I’m more aware of time waning. The reading about Cuthbert reminded me that I’m called not to stay here, but move on. Still, there is a lot I will do and see here. There is still much to learn and soak in. But I’m mindful that in many ways our lives move from location to location in bitter sweet pace. I second guess myself thinking I should have spent all three months of the sabbatical in this wonderful place. Yet, if I had, I wouldn’t be able to spend time in other places meeting other people and experiencing other ways of living and praying. Ultimately choices get made and each is of great value.

We are guests in this life of all the places we visit and people we come to know. Time waxes and wanes in each place and relationship often without knowing the duration. It’s so important to relish each day for what it has to offer and each person for who they are. While being mindful of the movement of time and making plans to the next transition, we can’t let it rob us of the pleasure of finding God in any particular place at any particular moment.

Cuthbert may be on the horizon calling, but I’m still here now!

Thursday 19 March 2009

Of Specks and Logs

“Why do you try to take out the speck that is in your brother or sister’s eye, when you have a log in your own?” (Mt. 7:4 )
While in Cape Town Clark and I had the opportunity to meet and talk with some white South Africans. It became clear to us that there is a wide spectrum of interpretation of the Apartheid years and those since. Their opinion of the Apartheid period is that is was a bad thing but that it was falling apart even before it was ended officially. They believed it was ended non violently and told us of the lack of information that white South Africans were given of the conditions and happenings in the townships. At times the conversation was tense and could have gone in a negative direction. We were left dumbfounded by the lack of concern or collective accountability for the obscenity of Apartheid. We were similarly struck by the complacency around the horrendous living conditions in current townships.
In later reflections, I had to swallow my indignation as I thought of the above biblical quote. I suspect Native Americans have their own reflection of the topic of Apartheid still in effect. Our history of slavery, Jim Crow, and active racism in society today is a shame we’ve made our peace with. Our general complacency that greets the horrendous living conditions of projects and unequal education in the US makes criticism of other countries border on hypocrisy.
Even moral outrage must be conducted in humility. Critique of another without self examination can be self righteous and empty. Jesus told them , “Take out the log that is in your own eye before you can take out the speck that is in your brother or sister’s eye.”

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Robben Island


Thursday was dubbed “tourist day” and Br. Clark and I made our way up to Table Top Mountain via the gondola on a spectacular day to be treated to a magnificent view of Cape Town and the surrounding region. Since we were able to do this in the morning, we were able to catch the ferry to Robben Island in the afternoon. This island is best known as the location of the prison that held Nelson Mandela for 18 years. The other 9 years of his total imprisonment were in other locations.

Robben Island (the Dutch work for seals) was first a trading post, then a leper colony, a military site during the world wars and finally the prison for which it is best known today. The tour is in two parts, the first is a bus ride around the island with a talk about each phase of its history and the buildings that were added for them. The second part of the tour took place in the prison buildings. Whereas the bus tours are directed by younger South Africans, the tours of the prison buildings are given by former plitical prisoners. The impact of their pain and experience within these walls was conveyed in the quiet, yet forceful description of those years. Physical and psychological torture were employed routinely. Many broke, which was the intent. But those who survived were galvanized in their resolve to build a new South Africa that would have to rise from the old.

Having driven by and seen the lime quarry where many prisoners worked in searing heat and freezing cold, we learned that the cave along the far end was known among the prisoners as the “university” where leaders such as Nelson Mandela would debate and strategize while also taking time to teach the illiterate prisoners by drawing in the lime dust on the ground of the cave.

Despite the sounds of the birds and buses, there is a quiet on the island. A peace has descended on this place where healing is also happening. A location that housed those suffering from leprosy and later political prisoners is now a teaching place telling the story and uncovering the secret shame of this country. Most of the white residents of South Africa were given heavily censored information and kept ignorant of that island’s deeds. Part of the healing work involves not only the anger, bitterness and inequities of the Black and Coloured people abused through Apartheid, but the guilt and shame of the White people who lived side by side with them. It’s an immense task. But as the truth is being spoken, hope for that same healing grows.

These words are inscribed on a plaque in the prison yard: While we will not forget the brutality of Apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument to our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil. A triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness; a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness; a triumph of the new South Africa over the old. (Ahmed Kathrada, imprisoned 26 years)