South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
Yesterday (November 2) Hugh Wetmore, 85, founder of the Evangelical Fellowship of South Africa (EFSA), the predecessor of the Evangelical Alliance (TEASA) and the Evangelical Seminary of South Africa (ESSA), went to heaven. Hugh grew up in Cape Town where he enjoyed mountain hiking and caving at Kalk Bay. On […]
This week I watched the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II at the majestic Westminster Cathedral. You probably watched it too. I was impressed with the imaginative choice of a standard evening hymn as the opening congregational song for her funeral — and that vast congregation knew how to sing […]
These days we hear a lot about death. Usually in sensational news reports. 21 under-age children found dead in eNyobeni Tavern, Gqeberha. Farm attacks leave so many dead. Man kills his partner, then himself, and leaves their three children orphans. Robbers with high-calibre firearms storm a township tavern, killing six people. […]
God’s own inspired songbook is The Psalms. 150 of them. Walter Riggans has written a provocative article* asking: “If the Psalms have many sad songs of lament, why is it that our church services are ‘overwhelmingly dominated by praise songs?” This is a valid question. It needs an answer, and it requires corrective […]
At our weekly “Chat” session here at Glenhaven Retirement Centre, the general manager Rene gave her usual announcements. One was this: “We will play background music during mealtimes in the dining room. There will music — not noise” “Music, not noise!”. This was a not-so-subtle commentary on the current sound that […]
We have all watched with interest the trial, in which Afriforum has charged Julius Malema for hate speech when he sang the struggle song Kill the Boer. They allege that these lyrics fuel anti-Arikaner hatred that has been inciting farm murders in South Africa. How does Julius defend the song? “The […]
An article written for the New Year was titled Januworry, lamenting all the troubles which the first month of the year bring. It saw only the dark clouds of debts accumulated through reckless spending at the Christmas season — on food, entertainment, holiday-travel, presents for the family and alcohol. And […]
In my last column I traced the changes that have taken place in the Church’s worship services. For the most part these were neutral’ changes. They were more superficial cultural changes that did not affect the deeper levels of our Christian being. We observed movements from formal liturgies to freer […]
During the Heritage Month of September we remembered our roots, as a nation. We traced our national evolution from what was to what now is, and we have been imagining our future. The one dominant word has been “change”. So it’s a good time to remind ourselves of our journey as […]
God has gifted humankind with the amazing, exciting, enjoyable, exploring gift of imagination. Do other creatures have Imagination? I don’t know. But I do know you and I have it.The ability to see things in one’s mind, even though they have not yet happened. God’s Gift of Imagination comes in very handy […]