Charge by Bishop Thabo Makgoba to the Synod of the Diocese of Grahamstown, 8 September 2007

 

Theme: Counting the costs and taking the risk or versa visa

Luke 24:13-35

 

Let us pray:

 

Loving God, in your great mercy, you made glad the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord; given us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life, and serve you continually in holiness and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

Dear Friends, I greet you in the name of our Loving God, Sustainer and Redeemer. Amen.

 

It is an honour for me to share these thoughts as we gather today, as the people of God, to take counsel together in the matters of Church and of God. It is my earnest prayer that what we will discuss and decide upon during the Synod, will be to the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus and the building of God’s Kingdom here on earth and in particular, in this Diocese. 

 

Thank you all for being here. A special thank-you to the office staff, Media Officer Maggy and all who have helped in the preparations for this Synod.

 

Turning to our Gospel passage, Cleopas and his companion are engaged in a conversation or dialogue on their way to Emmaus. As they converse on their way, Jesus joins them and participates in this dialogue or conversation. They are fully not aware of his real presence, but still allow Jesus into their life and space, for we all know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus indeed joins their company and shares in their way to Emmaus. St Luke 24:30 tells us that eventually, at a meal, at a dinner or a Eucharistic feast, he who is the Way, he who is the Word of God reveals himself and is recognised by Cleopas and his colleagues, as he “takes the bread, blesses and breaks it”. They comment in verse 32: “...did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?”

 

Something is burning in our hearts, it is making us restless. Christ Jesus present in scripture, and in our lives, is urging us to go to “Jerusalem” and proclaim that the “Lord is risen indeed …” (verse 34).

 

Jerusalem is a resolute focus for our journey, according to St Luke. We who have a post-resurrection glimpse and partial knowledge of it, know what it entailed and evokes. It is a destiny at and from which the passion, crucifixion and resurrection accounts are based, and for us it can be emotional, literal, spiritual and for some metaphorical. What it means for me, is a journey of pain, refining, sacrifice and that hope unveiled by God through Jesus Christ. In our current social justice issues, it may entail naming what demeans God’s people and bearing the price. For example, I pose my questions again to all our leaders, political, business, traditional, church, and to us as the diocese: are we on track for the Millennium Development Goals, especially on maternal deaths and infant mortality rates, as well as the provision of primary education for all? Are we celebrating our heroic and selfless health professionals working in difficult contexts and supporting safety in schools, to mention but a few? Are we just indifferent?

 

We, as the Diocese, have been engaged in an intense dialogue and journey about the multiplication, so that there may be effective mission and ministry and ministry, and adequate response to God’s needs and God’s people in the North of our diocese, since 2004. We were joined along the way by the Diocese of Free State, and for now, they have sadly decided not to divide their Diocese. But we are continuing on this journey. We all know that journeys are full of risks and uncertainty, but St Luke reassures us that we are never alone on this journey, because Jesus, unseen, unknown, uninvited, through the power of the Holy Spirit joins us, and will leads us as we seek to respond to: “who is God in Jesus Christ?” and “what is God up to in our context, and diocese?” This is what our mission is and should be about. Journeying with God in Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, and learning and doing things the God way.

 

Going back to Jerusalem was indeed risky for Cleopas and his friend. So is the process we have started over the last three years in this diocese. However, we are reassured that there can never be a greater risk than that taken by God in Jesus Christ for our own salvation, through the incarnation, the greatest risk that God took for us through his Son Jesus Christ.

 

This quotation from Catholicos Aram the 1st, Moderator of the WCC, is also apt for us as we move forward in faith and declare a new Diocese in the North and a  smaller geographical Diocese in the South. I quote Aram the First:

 

Clearly a self-sufficient and inward-looking church cannot survive in radically changing societies. Only a church that is liberated from its self-captivity, which is a church in creative dialogue with its environment, a church courageously facing the problems of its times, a church with the people and for the people, can become a living source of God’s empowering and transforming grace.” (Report of the Moderator to the 9th Assembly of the WCC, Porto Alegre, Brazil, February 2006. My italics.)

 

Friends, the risk God has taken in the incarnation is immeasurable, and the words of Aram the First are very appropriate for us in this stage of our journey.  We are reminded we are on a journey in the “here and now”, in a radically changing context, seeking to liberate ourselves from self-captivity so that we are free to respond to what God is up to in his World and Church. So we are thus called to be courageous. We are invited to journey with and for God’s people in our beautiful world, but a world is yearning for integrity, love, justice and “God’s empowering and transforming grace.”

 

Therefore, the strategic issues facing us as we multiply and give birth to a new Diocese are the following, and not exclusively limited to these, to intensify:

 

Christian discipleship and leadership formation

Planting new parishes

Strengthening existing congregations

Peace and nation-building

Responding to socio-economic challenges of our time

Fostering  a healthy communion within our global church

 

This mission of God is a risky business and as Bishop Michael Doe of USPG says, “...it must be holistic, responding to all God’s liberating activities so that people may grow spiritually, thrive physically and have a voice in an unjust world”. Friends, people of this Diocese present here today and scattered in the Diocese, step out in faith, a faith in Jesus Christ, equipped with the living hope and love of God, to create a way for the people of the North to count the costs and take the risk, and develop a new Diocese. Let us take the risk knowing that this journey is not possible without Jesus, and that Jesus will be with us at every step of the way, in Scriptures, amongst his people and as the faithful take, bless, break and share the bread, and constantly send all into the world to proclaim his love and justice.

 

In conclusion, let me quote T S Eliot, to remind ourselves that this journey already undertaken by Gray and all our predecessors, was begun in Jesus Christ and ended (the journey) in him. I quote:

 

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And to know the place for the first time*

 

- even Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

May God bless our journey and deliberations.

Amen

 

+Thabo

Bishop of Grahamstown