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Would
you like this window?
Well
known stained glass window artist, Hunter Nesbit, will soon be
moving studio and has a beautiful window, attributed to Clarence
Currie who worked in PE between 1903 and 1914, which he’d like
to find a home for.
THE
subject of the window is “Alleluia”, depicting the Risen
Christ; it is 2.3m high and .51 wide and is in two sections. It needs
re-leading and Hunter will give the parish wanting the window a quote
on doing the work. The work is executed in opalescent mouth-blown
glass with vitreous painted and stained passages in the tradition of
the Glasgow Macintosh style.
Speaking
about re-leading of windows Hunter said, “Sadly so many
churches don’t have the leading redone until the windows start
falling to pieces and then the glass breaks. It is very important
that windows are checked regularly because, unfortunately, the
leading does start corrupting after as little as fifty years.”
Hunter can be contacted by cell: 082 457 2178 as soon as possible.
Other works attributed to Clarence Currie (1871 - 1951) are the three
windows “The Good Shepherd”, “The Sower Soweth the
Word” and “The Kingdom of God is like Unto a Net” in
the Chapel at St John’s, Walmer, and the panels in the door at
the Port Elizabeth Club.
Prison
Ministry
Craig
Dunsmuir writes that there is a need for people to take up the baton
of ministry to those in prison.
PRISONERS
are often a forgotten part of our society, yet just as the apostles
and other Christians found themselves behind bars, so God continues
to do great things in the lives of those who are in prison. It’s
often at the lowest moments in our lives that we turn to God out of
desperation, and this is no less true for those who ended up on the
wrong side of the law. Aubrey Joubert is licensed for ministry to
prisoners in this diocese and, for reasons of health is needing to
pass on the baton of that ministry. You’re welcome to give him a
call at 041 992 4766 to find out more about this work, or to go with
him on a visit and experience this ministry for yourself.”
Book
Review
Robert
Runcie - The reluctant Archbishop
Author
Humphrey Carpenter, published by Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN
0-340-571071.
Until
I got into this book I did not think that I would find its contents
so fascinating. The author, who had endless tape recorded interviews
with the Archbishop, as well as with his friends and critics, takes
the reader on an absorbing trip through the life of one of
Canterbury’s very high profile Archbishops. His early years and
university life are well covered and we discover how, in the war
years, this tank commander in the Scots' Guards received his
decoration. Theological College life, as described in the book, is
quite an eye-opener in the manner of how the ladder of promotion is
climbed in the Established Church. Amusingly he describes ‘The
Great Commandment’ during his student days as being ‘Thou
shalt love the Lord thy Dodd, and thy Niebuhr as thyself’.
His
relationship with the Queen, with Prince Charles and Lady Di provide
insights of which the man in the street knew little. His dealings
with the Pope, with Terry Waite, and with the awesome Margaret
Thatcher provide fascinating vignettes of where Canterbury’s
Archbishops fit into both the national and international scene. For
South African readers, let me end by including a fairly long
quotation from the book, lest the CPSA thinks that it manages its own
affairs - entirely! ...
“I
had a word with Waite (Terry) last night. He reminded me about when
we were in Vancouver (I think it was in 1981 for the WCC) and talking
with a South African delegate and asking him about the situation
there, and about getting more profile for Desmond Tutu. And I asked
him about the Diocese of Johannesburg where a pupil of mine, an
Englishman, was then the Bishop. And I said “I think he could
possibly come home now. If we were able to engineer a vacancy for him
in England, could you, do you think, get Tutu elected Bishop of
Johannes-burg?” And he said he thought they could! And I said,
“If you manage that, do you think that when Philip Russell
retires in two years' time, you could get Desmond translated
there?” And he thought they could!
So
I managed through the Crown Appointments Commission, to persuade the
Diocese of Portsmouth, to accept my man Timothy Bavin, who has been
an enormous success, and they got Desmond elected to Johannesburg,
which gave the ANC someone who was in a position to communicate that
the party wasn’t a bunch of communists. Now Waite said last
night “That was an example of what other people might think was
intrigue, but it was good diplomacy - it had a big effect on world
affairs” ...
Well,
readers of Iindaba, now we know! PDAB
Christ
Healing Fellowship
“Christian
healing rests in simple trust”
We
are a small group of believers who felt called to the Healing
Ministry and joined the Christ Healing Fellowship
(Interdenominational) a few years ago, after reading through their
course notes and attending Healing Missions led by the Revd Theo
Schmidt, when he was the director of CHF. WE believe that Jesus still
heals today, and uses His followers as instruments of His healing
power for the wholeness of His people - spirit, soul and body. Last
year we were invited to minister in four of the churches within the
Nelson Mandela Metropole as part of their regular Sunday evening
worship. It is our vision to expand this ministry to as many of the
parishes within our Diocese as will invite us to do so. Our
participation is to offer a reading, a Word from scripture and/or a
Testimony, followed by an invitation for people to come forward for
prayer for healing. If you would like us to visit your parish please
contact : Gail at 082 750 6226 or Lance at 083 439 2905
Anglican
news from around the world
While
I was languishing in hospital without a computer, the Anglican
Communion was being rocked by four events, three of them of seismic proportions.
The
Primates met in Brazil between the 19 and 26 May to discuss and
reflect on the affairs of our Communion, especially about the
divisive issue of homosexual behaviour. At the conclusion, the
Archbishops issued a pastoral letter declaring “there is no
theological consensus about same sex unions. Therefore, we as a body
cannot support the authorisation of such rites.”
However,
before the Primates were home, Bishop Michael Ingham in the Diocese
of New Westminster, Canada authorised the first same-sex
‘marriage’ which took place on Wednesday 28 May, 2003. This
sent out shock waves and immediate reactions from many throughout the
Church, the most notable being Nigerian Primate Akinola, head of the
largest Anglican Province in the world. Archbishop Akinola declared
that the diocese’s “flagrant disregard” for the world
wide Anglican Communion made it “inevitable” that the
jurisdiction of Nigeria sever ecclesiastical relations with the
Diocese of New Westminster, which covers Vancouver.
The
second shock wave occurred almost immediately, following in the
Diocese of New Hampshire in the United States Episcopal Church, when
Canon Gene Vicki Robinson was elected as the first gay bishop.
Robinson, divorced his wife and left his two daughters to join with a
male lover who has remained his sexual partner since. His election
will need to be confirmed at General Convention this year, but this
is regarded by many as a formality. If confirmed it will scupper
orthodox doctrine with regard to biblical morality in the American
Church. Massive reactions have resulted world-wide.
Thirdly,
and perhaps the heaviest seismic shock occurred with the appointment
of homosexual Canon Jeffrey John to be bishop of Reading in the UK.
Although claiming to be now celibate, his lover is also a curate in
the same Oxford Diocese. Now the shocks and reactions have begun to
take on nuclear proportions world-wide and in the Diocese of Oxford.
Not only Nigeria's but no fewer than fourteen other Primates and many
bishops representing some half of the Anglican Communion have reacted
negatively to these events, and for the first time schism has become
a possibility, many calling for a new Orthodox Province. The liberal
Archbishop of Canterbury is a close friend of Jeffrey John and is
determined that the consecration will go ahead in spite of his pledge
to uphold the Lambeth decision about same sex blessings, which Johns
supports in his teaching.
The
global south from Australia’s largest Sydney Diocese through
Asia, Africa [except South Africa which is actively pursuing same sex
blessings] and South America are, by and large, opposed to these
shocking innovations threatening to shatter the Anglican Church. I
close with the words of Primate Akinola of Nigeria, the Archbishop
responsible for 15 million members, and 80 bishops as he addressed
the Canadian situation. He said, “It is this flagrant disregard
for the Anglican Communion and what the vast majority of it stand for&ldots;.”.
Stop
Press: Monday 7 July - Dr Jeffrey John, under great pressure
announced that he will ask the Crown if he may decline consecration
as a Bishop, much to the relief of many and the rage of many others.
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