South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
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 […]
Those of us who live in South Africa are horrified, disgusted, perplexed or deeply concerned about the recent chaotic events that are destroying the fabric of our society. What began as a protest against ex-president Jacob Zuma’s 15-month imprisonment for contempt of the Constitutional Court, has morphed into nationwide looting […]
“Preach the word of God” –2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly … as you sing” — Colossians 3:16 (NIV) From these Scriptures, we can draw a guiding maxim: “If it’s in the Bible, you can preach it; If it’s in the Bible, you can sing […]
I have a sneaking suspicion that many people, especially pastors and preachers, could write relevant songs to support their sermons, but they don’t realise it. Yet this is not such a difficult challenge as one might imagine. As I opened my Bible for my devotional reading the other day, God’s […]
