July 2007
St Francis of
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St
Francis of Deacons:
Martzi Eidelberg, Grant Thistlewhite, Youth:
Megan Winn; Children’s Church: Heather Napier. |
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ForewordI was in the
fortunate position of having too many articles for this edition of The Franciscan! This means that I now
have 4 articles, already typed and formatted, waiting for the next one.
Don’t let this dampen your enthusiasm – please continue to submit
your contributions, so that the Advent/Christmas issue will also be a bumper
edition. The main contribution in the present edition is
the May Update of ‘Bridges of Care’ – our Social Outreach Projects.
Many thanks to all who prepared these reports and especially to Erik Buiten
who collated them. The work being done through these projects is truly
inspirational.
Jill
Daugherty, Editor Letter from the RectorDear
Parishioners, Well, half of 2007 has come and gone and, from
now on, it’s downhill to Christmas! Firstly, no, this letter is not from your
Rector, nor is this a coup d’état with me as deacon trying to take over
the parish; but, because of Fr Tim’s preparation for his long leave, he
asked if I would write this ‘Letter from the Rector’. By the time
you read this, there is a very good chance that Fr Tim will be away at the
Community of the Resurrection Fathers in When Gary Player was taking part in one of his
many US Opens, he hit his ball into a bunker just off the green. He took out
his sand wedge and chipped in to win the Open. One of the spectators
commented on what a lucky shot that was. In today’s world of instant everything,
discipline is a very hard thing to practise – instant food, instant
relationships, immediate forms of communication. We expect to be able to pick
up the phone and instantly have an answer to many of our questions. There
should be no time delay, as we experienced in the days of letter writing.
This goes for all communication, as letters have now been replaced with
e-mails (some of you may even be reading this letter electronically), and so
we expect the same to happen with prayer. But in today’s world, disciplined
Christian lives are the exception, not the rule. We cannot say that this is
how it has always been, because it has not
always been like this. In the Anglican Church, we teach and practise a
disciplined form of spirituality and this comes with the Liturgy; this
liturgy does not only include the Eucharist, but also all the other services
like Morning and Evening Prayer that are found in the Anglican Prayer Book.
The problem is that, with our increased work loads, our spiritual discipline
has diminished and we have started to have what we can only call
‘instant spirituality’. We look back at the Saints of old (and new
ones) and desire the same kind of relationship that they had with God. The
only problem is that we want it to be instant and we do not acknowledge the
time that they spent on building their relationship with God. We dive in and
out of instant formulas that are put to us in many of the books and
programmes that have flooded the Church market and, in so doing, move away
from traditional Anglican spirituality. This is one of the main challenges that Bishop
Jo has put to his clergy and thus to all of us in the Diocese of Pretoria
that falls under his guidance. This is that we are not to reinvent Anglican
spirituality, but to embrace and practise that which has survived for 400
years. This challenge has been pursued through our teaching sessions of
Advent and Lent. But we also need to encourage more and more parishioners to
say Morning and Evening Prayer, or even to use other services like the Midday
Office or the Angelus in praying for the country and against crime when the
church bells toll at noon. Bell-ringing is also an old traditional way of
calling the community to prayer. This discipline can also be furthered in
one’s reading and studying – either by oneself or in Bible Study
Groups (or whatever we want to call the different groups we belong to)
– of works on traditional Anglican Spirituality. We will continue with the teaching on Anglican
Spirituality during Advent this year and this will lead us to experience God
in a new way. We will also be conducting a silent parish retreat that will be
steeped in traditional Anglican spirituality. This will challenge us as
individuals and as a community in our walk with Christ. We should also accept the challenge to take
this new sense of discipline and deploy it through the rest of our lives
– in our family life, our work and all our relationships. We may be
surprised to find that a lot more will go right in these areas when we apply
this discipline to them than previously was the case. May
we as a congregation draw closer to God through our newly found old spirituality. Rev Grant
Thistlewhite What do we mean by Spirituality? Many people identify Spirituality
with ‘piety’ or ‘other-worldliness’,
or even ‘religiosity’. This I feel is
far too narrow a definition, but this could be the subject of another
article. Sufficient now to say there are many diverse
spiritualities – mostly in a particular culture or an early
formative influence – but here I wish to deal with our own form of
Christian, and specifically, Anglican Spirituality. I believe that Christian
Spirituality is concerned with bringing God into the whole of our lives. All
life is meant to be sacred. As We are all spiritual beings, born
with a divine spark within us, we all have a spiritual dimension, we are made
in the image of God, but this spark must be nourished and fed in order to
grow into a conscious relationship with God – it must be quickened by
the power of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality includes then, not
only theology and prayer, but also the practical outworking of our Christianity
in all areas of our lives and in community. Spiritual progress is not
measured by visions and thrills, but rather by the faithful fulfilment of the
duties of one’s particular state in life or calling, whatever it may
be. We must implement the words of Jesus, who said: ‘You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbour as
yourself.’ Jesus, in his ministry, was concerned with and dealt with
social issues. He was concerned with the poor, the sick and the hungry. I believe that we are very blessed
in the Anglican Church to have great riches to draw upon in order to grow, to
help us achieve our goal, to help us live continually in the presence of God,
who is not only transcendent, but also immanent, very much involved in our
world. As Anglicans, we have built on the three pillars of Holy Scripture,
Tradition and Reason, thus giving ourselves a strong and balanced foundation. Apart from Holy Scripture, we have
inherited that wonderful Resource Book that we know here in South Africa as
the Anglican Prayer Book, which has been handed down to us in its revised and
latest form from the 16th century Book of Common Prayer, which was
based on early liturgical tradition, in turn influenced by the monastic
movement with its sevenfold office of prayer and, even beyond that, by the
Jewish tradition of prayer. In Psalm 119, verse 164, the Psalmist says: Seven times
a day I praise you: because of your righteous judgments The seven canonical hours, as they
are known – Prime & Lauds, Terce (3rd hour), Sext (6th
hour), None (9th hour), Vespers and Compline at bedtime –
are now reduced in today’s world, for practical purposes, to Morning
and Evening Prayer. You may remember from the Acts of the Apostles that the
followers of Jesus were gathered together ‘at the 3rd
hour’ when the Holy Spirit came upon them. We read that Peter went up
to the housetop to pray ‘at the 6th hour’ and again
Peter and John had gone up to the It would take too long to go into
the whole history of the Anglican Prayer Book here, but, as it has come to us
today, it can, in conjunction with the Bible, meet the needs of every
occasion, and is available in Afrikaans and in several of the other nine
official languages spoken in Apart from the two offices of Morning and Evening
Prayer, which themselves are rich in collects, canticles, psalms, litanies,
prayers and readings from Scripture, the APB contains 4 Eucharistic Prayers,
where we are fed with Word and Sacrament. The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
is the central act of the Church’s worship, along with liturgical
prayer, the prayer of the people. The APB also contains forms of service for
every occasion, from baptism to burial, and prayers concerning every aspect
of life, living and dying. The Church in her wisdom has given
us Holy Days in order to remember some of the great Christian Festivals and
events, as well as the calendar of the Church’s year, which begins with
the start of Advent, taking us through Christmas and the Epiphany to Ash
Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday and Easter, Ascension Day, on to Pentecost
(that important day when the Holy
Spirit came upon the disciples as they were assembled together) and Trinity
Sunday, which focuses our attention on one of the central teachings of the
Christian faith, that the One God whom we worship exists in three Persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The season of Trinity covers many weeks during
which the general teaching of the Christian Faith is systematically covered. Each Festival or Season has its own
specific liturgical colour: red for the blood of martyrs and the Holy Spirit,
Purple for Penitence, e.g. Lent and Advent, White for special celebrations or
seasons, green for growth, for days when there is no special celebration,
also know as Ferial Days or Feriae. Because Worship is central to our Faith,
we use what I would call ‘aids to worship’ in the form of
candles, flowers, sacred music, art, stained glass windows, vestments,
architecture and incense, all helping to make an atmosphere conducive to
raising our hearts in praise. Lastly, I would draw your attention
to the value of having a Rule of Life, an example of which you will find on
p.434 of the APB – to:
I suggest that, along with your
Bible, each person should have copy of the APB and so enrich your prayer life
by using the Offices with the relevant passages from Holy Scripture to be found
in the Lectionary, which is available through the parish office. May God bless us all as we make our
pilgrimage through this world. Rev June de Klerk
 Dodgeball Teams
Once there were two men in hospital. The first
man had been in a car accident and had hurt his back badly. He was not able
to sit up. The second man had fluid in his lungs. He had to sit up. This fluid
had to be drained every morning. His bed was by the only window in the ward.
Every morning the second man would sit up in his bed and tell the first man
what he could see outside:
The first man used to lie in his bed and
imagine all the wonderful things the second man described to him. One day the second man died. The first man was
sad and disappointed. After a few days he asked the nurse to move him to the
bed next to the window. She did. He
levered himself up onto his elbows, which caused great pain. He looked out of
the window. He saw a brick wall! He asked the nurse, ‘Who built this brick
wall?’ ‘What do you mean?’ she asked, ‘It’s
always been there.’ ‘But what happened to the park?’
‘What park?’ the nurse asked. ‘The park that the man who
passed away told me about,’ he replied. The nurse answered, ‘But
that man was blind!’ The man was blind, but he did his best to
spread a little happiness. Megan
Napier
(aged 10) From
the Parish Registers
Baptisms 6 May Megan Leigh Innes 6 May Jade Morgan Flynn 20 May Xavier Binsbergen Marriages 17 March Ryan Gerard Peter van Coolwijk & Natalie Jessica Mullinder 29 March Dirk Cornelius le Roux & Jeanette Marian Rens Faithful departed 19 Jan Vivienne Laurie 21 Jan Annette McMillan 06 Feb Betty Pickard 31 March Kenneth de Villiers 31 March Nel Meyer 11 May Terry Oliver 9 June Jonathan Denning Photos from Calcamite Files
CEO Paddy Telford with Proud Owners of a New Toilet
Installing
Septic Tanks at
Note from Fr Timothy I was the one who persuaded Paddy to let me
publish the article about him. It was brought to my attention and I felt it
warranted publication in the Franciscan,
because I felt it so powerfully summed up the man (Paddy) I know and have
known for probably 30 years. Few (of the new generation) are possibly aware that
Paddy, one of our lay ministers, has been a member of this Parish for
decades. He has seen the likes of me come and go (and will probably continue
to do so) and in this time, if I have one image of Patrick Telford, it is of
a faithful Christian servant who has brought hope, joy and the very presence
of his Christ into the lives of thousands – in so many, many ways. He
was for many years the Diocesan Youth Leader and ran (amongst other things)
what was probably the most successful suburban Youth Group of the Diocese
here at St Francis of
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ContentsBRAND
SPANKING NEW PARISH
/
DIOCESAN BULLETIN
(First published in the Pew Leaflet on 15
July 007) I am hoping that this
Bulletin will serve as a means of communicating more effectively about parish
and diocesan activities. Firstly, as read out
recently at the Sunday services, our very own bishop has been nominated for
the office of Archbishop of Cape Town; as was requested in the Ad Clerum,
please continue to pray for him, Timeya and the rest of the family. The
Archbishop’s office has informed us (for general prayer) that Father Professor
Barney Pityana (Vice Rector of Unisa) and the Rt Revd Thabo Makgobo of
Grahamstown are also in ‘the
running’. Our prayer is that
God’s will be done in this matter.
Secondly, on my
request to our new Dean, the Very Rev Canon Livingstone Lubabalo Ngewu, to
provide us with a short profile, he reminded me that in fact there had been
one in the previous Kingdom, I refer you back to
this. After what seems an
interminable period (certainly if you have been living and working in the
midst of it), the renovations to the parish centre (including the courtyard
and the toilets for the disabled) are mercifully coming to an end (though I
warmly thank Pebblestone Projects for their highly professional and own
gracious patience throughout). Council agreed that canonically the Diocesan
needs to be invited to bless what our Treasurer rightly called ‘a whole
new parish centre’. To this end, I have managed to book the Bishop for
Friday 28 September (our Patronal Festival Weekend). Please diarise this
event now. Let us have this centre chock-a-block for this momentous occasion.
In the meantime, to celebrate the completion of the project (you will
hear loud alleluias from the parish office), the idea is that on the evening
of the 27th July at 7 p.m. a ‘roof-wetting’ party will
take place. On the Missionary
front, you may recall that we are going to help the good people of Refilwe
complete their parish church. There is a delay in this, though I am hoping
that my meeting on site with a few pertinent parties will go some way to
resolving the impasse. I am exceedingly proud that at the heart of the
Diocesan Social Development work Hank Doeg (a 07:30 parishioner) is to be
found. Hank is going to do an article on this area of ministry for The Franciscan, but he is also in the
process of producing a fairly regular update in the pew leaflet. Equally
pertinent in this regard is the work of Chana Majeke, Erik Buiten and the
rest of the Parish Social Development Team who have given me some excellent
ideas – these too I will convey via the bulletin. Further on the
Missionary front is that this parish has formed visiting teams under the able
leadership of Fr Heath and the idea is that these teams will complement the
visiting strategy in the parish – this is an initiative inspired by the
Diocesan’s 3-year Please know that you
have, by your kind generosity through the St Francis special collections,
brought warmth in these cold times. Blankets have been purchased and donated
and June’s Craft Group was given a sizable amount to enable them to buy
tracksuits for the Tumelong Orphans. It has also enabled me to give temporary
employment to two people whose work in fact has proven to be invaluable in
all kinds of ways – not least of all the dignity it affords them.
Parish Retreats We have booked Some of you will have
noticed a ‘Red Candle’ in the sanctuary. Its presence was
explained in the pew leaflet a few weeks ago, but by way of update I will ‘re-enlighten’ you. I got the idea from
Bishop Ruben Phillip in Sabbatical
Finally, in the mad milieu
which is my life, Council approved that I take six weeks Sabbatical which
will include the month of August and two weeks in September. Bishop has
approved (he wanted me to take three months, God bless his soul and I am sure
he had your interests at heart), but I am pleased to tell you that I will be
spending the bulk of it with the Community of the Resurrection Fathers at
their House in Mirfield, Yorkshire. (You may want to look them up at
mirfield.org.uk and you will see that it
is rather a delightful place – which I am hoping will afford a glorious
time of R & R, with a little bit of work thrown in.) I have arranged with
the Bishop and the Fathers that I will produce a short a ‘mini thesis’
on Anglican Spirituality. Anything
more intense will detract from the refreshment side of things, so I am
grateful for the Bishop’s ‘laxity’ in the matter. The last two weeks are
even more exciting, as far as I am concerned, because Nina and I will spend
some time together (for our 25th Wedding Anniversary) with her
mother in Many blessings and I
hope you find this format useful. Fr Timothy By the time you read this, you might have become
accustomed to seeing me in the Sanctuary at St Francis now and then. Some of
you may have wondered who I am and where I came from. This serves to tell you
a little about myself. My name is I grew up in Along the way, I became a committed Christian. I
believe all Christians are called to serve in some way or another. I
therefore became a Sunday school teacher in A year ago, Rodney and I moved with John and his
sons from our home in Irene, where we had lived for twenty-five years. A new
six-laned throughway is planned for Because John wants his boys to go to Pretoria
Boys’ High (where both John and his father, Stanford Todd, went to
school), I hunted for a house in the area zoned for that school. We finally
settled on a large old house in For six months, I continued to serve as deacon at
I would like to thank all those people who have
been so charming, friendly and welcoming in our new church home. We are happy
to worship at St Francis, and I am happy to be of some use in the Parish when
I am needed. Tree
of Life Window When I was invited by
Heatherlynn Lewis to join Colette Donkin and Melanie Gardner for coffee at
the Melanie wished to be
involved in the making of the stained glass window. It was to be quite small.
She asked me to do the design. I was thrilled and terrified at the same time,
but when I sat down that evening with some aquarelle crayons, ideas seemed to
flow. I felt quite inspired, some higher force driving me. I was quite
pleased with what appeared, although I did wonder what it would look like
when blown up to the correct size. (How amazing is technology today –
this little drawing was enlarged to the exact size of the window.) Melanie
and a friend were able to cut the glass exactly – the colours
exquisitely beautiful. I had spoken to Martzi
Eidelberg about the colours and she stressed that ecclesiastic colours should
be used. We had all decided that a design would be preferable to any figures.
The liturgical colours are purple for penance and Advent; white or yellow for
Heaven and celebration; red for the Holy Spirit and the blood of martyrs; and
green for growth and the ordinary times of life. Blue is not a liturgical
colour, but is regarded as a holy colour, being associated with the Virgin
Mary. I decided to design a
tree of life depicting growth, our wondrous earth, the creation, the
resurrection. I started with the roots and the soil, the flowers, the leaves
of the trees, the life sustaining water and the sea, the sky, sun and moon,
sunset and sunrise, all reaching upwards. In fact, I thought, people could
decide for themselves what they found in the little window. The sun shining
through the glass is in itself so very beautiful and inspirational. Margaret Couper
Our worship team has expanded to welcome 8 new
members with varying musical skills and we’d like to welcome them on
board. We also took part in the Bishop’s Youth Day on 16 June, which
was held at the cathedral, and I’d like to thank those who went along.
It was great and very interesting to hear what other parishes in our diocese
thought. Our
term ended with a Bring ’n Braai and then, from 25 – 29 June, we
joined Brooklyn Methodist for the holiday club. The theme was Barnyard. We taught the kids many
lessons about God’s Family, God’s Boundaries, God’s
strength, God’s Love and God’s Style. It was thoroughly enjoyed,
and I think even more fun was had by the leaders. I would like to thank
Chrispie, Mina-Moo, Bessie, Woody, Postie and Maggie for all their hard work.
I also want to thank all the St Francis kids who came and supported us
– you guys
ROCK!! I
pray that God has kept you all safe and warm this holiday and that He brings
you back safely into the new term, which I am so excited about! God bless. Megan Winn
aka Stitch Septic tank manufacturer
uplifts communities At 63 years of age, Calcamite’s chief executive,
Paddy Telford, has seen a lot of changes in his lifetime, although not all
for the better. ‘I remember the early days when a business
deal was concluded only with a handshake,’ says the man who believes
that transparency and honesty are the best attributes needed to run a
business. With a track record of 122 000 single treatment plants (septic
tanks) successfully installed, at an average of 600 per month since 1989, one
has to believe that he knows what he’s talking about. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS ‘I realised very early on in life how to
start and run a business successfully,’ he says. ‘I worked for my
father’s construction business during the school holidays and learnt a
lot from him. I run my business on the basis of treating people, including my
staff, with dignity and respect, therefore receiving years of loyalty in
return.’ When asked what he does differently from other
employers, As the youth director for the Anglican Church in
the 1980s, When cyclone Demoina devastated As a result, Calcamite has had a positive
influence on the lives of one million people. He has been involved in
‘bringing dignity to the rural areas’ through sanitation ever
since and is presently part of the government’s drive to replace all
bucket toilets by 2008. ‘Our involvement is mostly in the rural
areas and informal settlements throughout the country, especially where there
is no waterborne sewage.’ He adds that Calcamite also works closely
with several municipalities and provincial governments in providing septic
tanks. Being the great grandson of the very first chief architect in the
Republic, Sytze Wierda, ACHIEVEMENTS ‘We are a company of firsts,’ Calcamite’s reach into Despite his decades in business, He says, ‘Of our 40 employees, there are
several fathers and sons working here, including my own son, John, who will
take over the business one day.’ ˇ
Visit www.calcamite.co.za
for more information. by SAMESH
MOHANLALL (First
published in Gauteng Business, 5-18
June 2007) |
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