Harmony of Grace

Last week Sunday was our church's confirmation service where seven young folk publicly pronounced their faith in Jesus and committed their lives to follow in his footsteps, with God being their helper.  It brings me great joy to see young people experience the abundant life that God has to offer and choose to follow the way of Jesus. The most powerful part of the confirmation service for me is not the confirmees' promises to follow Jesus, but the congregation's response and promise to care for the confirmees. Here are some of the words that the congregation declares together: "With God’s help, we will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life." It is in these beautiful words that we are faced with the wonderful reality of the church's true purpose - to be...

This past weekend was our annual confirmation camp where the youth of our church go away for the weekend to prepare for their upcoming confirmation service. We were extra lucky this year as the farm that we were staying on does not have access to electricity (although I don't think lucky  would be the word that our youth would use when describing that fact). But it was a great opportunity to set aside all of the distractions that come with constantly being glued to our electronic devices and focus on connecting with God and each other.  Spending a few days in the wilderness, away from technology and the busyness of life, was truly refreshing for my soul. I have always enjoyed withdrawing to a still, private place for an occasional spiritual retreat, but I was reminded this weekend of the value of good community. One of the biggest things that the COVID pandemic has robbed us of is regular, deep connection with others. Yes, we can experience community virtually and some might e...

 Mark 1:9-11 1 Peter 3:18-22 Just before Jesus retreated into the wilderness, he was baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Peter compares this event to God's cleansing of humanity in the story of Noah that we looked at yesterday. While only eight people were saved in the ark during the great flood, God's offer of salvation through Jesus' life, death and resurrection is for all of humanity. The act of baptism symbolises the cleansing that takes place when we become children of God. As Peter notes, it is not a removal of dirt from the body, but the removal of our sins and transgressions against God. Peter also reminds us that it is not because of any doing of our own that we are saved. We are saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we reflect on this story of Jesus' baptism, may we be reminded of our own baptism.  Being baptised with water is a sign that we have been made clean in Christ. All of our sins have been forgiven and we have been made new. It i...

Since the national lockdown was implemented in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, most churches in South Africa have been offering online ministry to their members. I am fully aware that the Church is not a building, but for the purpose of this blog post, I am specifically referring to church worship services.  We have all become accustomed to a new way of going to church over the past several months.  Many churches are offering online worship services that people can tune into via YouTube, Facebook or other streaming services. There are many benefits to having church services this way. I hope that churches will continue to utilise the internet to reach God's people in the future as well. But I also believe that by attending worship services online at our convenience, there is a danger of seeing our faith as something that is done for us, rather than something that we get to partake in ourselves. It is easy and comfortable to tune in to an online worship service at a ...

Image Source:  Jason Blackeye It has been five months since my last blog post. This has been the longest break that I have taken since I began  Harmony of Grace three years ago.  When our church in Bethlehem decided to close our Sunday services back in March, I committed to sending out daily audio devotions over Whatsapp and Facebook. This has taken up a lot of my time and effort so I decided to take a break from posting written blog posts during this time.  While researching and writing a new article for SUMag recently, I realised how much I missed writing. I am excited to announce that I am going to be posting regular blog posts to this page once again.  I will continue to send out daily audio devotions until our church is able to meet again. If you have not been receiving these and you would like to then please like our church's FaceBook page here:  Bethlehem Methodist Church . This past week, I sent out my hundredth audio devotion and recorded my t...

This past weekend, Mel and I attended the baptism service of Zoey Gerber. She is the daughter of two of our closest friends, Jaco and Lisa. It was an incredibly special service that we were honoured to be a part of. Baptism is one of two sacraments that are officially recognized by most mainline churches (the other being Holy Communion). A sacrament can be defined as an outward, visible sign of an inward, invisible grace . In less academic terms, it means that through the sacraments, we are able to experience the grace of God in tangible ways. The sacrament of baptism represents two of God's graces to us. First, it is a sign of being welcomed into the Christian Church family. This welcoming into God's family is symbolised by the community of believers that are present to witness a baptism service. In most churches, the congregation are invited to make promises to nurture and care for the newly baptised person. It is a visible reminder of the loving and welcoming spirit...

Image Source:  Markus Spiske When I was younger, I was only aware of common colours: red, blue, green, yellow, etc. But as I grew up, I encountered a much larger variety of colours that I had no idea even existed: cyan, magenta, turquoise, azure, fuchsia, etc. It is only once we learn about these new colours that our appreciation for the full spectrum of colour really grows. I have noticed how most post-apocalyptic stories (that aim to portray life after everything has fallen apart) are full of bland colours... The landscape is a dusty brown, the clothes are washed-out greys and the lighting is dull. In contrast, stories that describe paradise are often filled with lush green fields, clear blue oceans, yellow sandy beaches and bright sunny days. All we have to do to observe this phenomenon is to look at the impact of a rainbow. Often during rainy, overcast days, the mood of those around us matches the dreary colours of the day. But when the skies clear and the multicolou...

This past year has been filled with anxiety and uncertainty about our future. Mel and I knew that we would be moving away from Pietermaritzburg at the end of 2019, but we had no idea where our destination would be. We recently received the news that I have been placed in Bethlehem in the Free State. We will be moving there near the end of this year where I will be ministering to the Central Methodist Church's congregation in Bethlehem. The stationing process has been stressful, with little to no information shared with us until the very last minute. This meant that we could not do anything to plan for our future until very recently. Although I have served in churches in various capacities over the past couple of years, this will be my first official placement to serve as a reverend in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Mel and I were invited to visit our new church and home this past weekend. We were both nervous, but equally as excited as we left Pietermaritzburg ...

Image Source:  Stefan Kunze One of the benefits of studying at a Seminary is that we get to attend chapel services six days a week. Every year we get to hear the lectionary being preached by more than 120 Seminarians and Ministers from a wide variety of contexts with varying theological beliefs. As great a privilege as this is, there are many days where I just do not feel like going to church. There have been many reasons for this. Perhaps I have a couple of assignments due that week or I am simply not a fan of the person scheduled to preach. I am sure that I am not the only one who has experienced this. Sometimes after a late night on a Saturday, we would prefer to wake up late on a Sunday morning. Sometimes we would prefer to join our friends for a round of golf or brunch than attend our local church service. I am in no way denying that certain urgent matters might cause us to miss the occasional church service. However, Sunday worship services are the lifeblood of b...

This past week, my dad took our family on a 10-day tour of the UK with the intention of hunting down our family roots and discovering the origin of the Taylor name. It was an awesome trip and we got to experience some truly beautiful areas, making memories together that will last forever. We spent a lot of time in Scotland viewing some of the majestic castles and villages that the Taylor clan used to reside in, some of them are still in good condition while others are sitting in ruins. Throughout the trip, as we sat in the local pubs and the small living rooms of our Airbnb's, my dad shared the stories of the origin of the Taylor clan - wondrous stories about an abandoned, illegitimate child of the Cameron Clan who was raised by the local village tailor (hence the name), eventually becoming a fierce warrior known for his dark, relentless side when in battle. It is a blockbuster tale that would make a seriously good book! This trip reminded me of my other heritage, th...

Image Source:  Aditya Chinchure I can clearly recall a local preachers meeting that I attended a couple of years ago where one of the members commented that one should not use humour in their sermons as it dishonours the word of God and preaching the gospel is a serious affair. I can't remember where he got his justification from, but it was well supported from various sources. This comment has stuck with me through the years and recently got me considering the way that we conduct our worship services. I have been to many church gatherings where the sound and lighting shows have rivaled Coachella and the beautifully-edited, tear-jerking promo videos of the church's current events could very well have been produced by Steven Spielberg himself. Is the entertainment factor a healthy addition to the church worship service or does it do more harm than good?   Is there there a place for it in our churches? How much is too much? Personally, I believe that God can work th...

Image Source:  Joshua Hibbert Today's post follows on from my previous post,  Leave A Light On . In his song with the same title, Tom Walker sings about leaving the light on for his drug-addict friend as a constant reminder that he will always be welcomed home. Here are the lyrics again: If you look into the distance, there's a house up on the hill Guidin' like a lighthouse To a place where you'll be safe to feel our grace 'Cause we've all made mistakes If you've lost your way… I will leave the light on I will leave the light on I will leave the light on I will leave the light on In my last post, I shared that God uses a similar approach to us, that no-matter how far we stray, God will always leave the light on for us as a constant reminder that we will welcome be welcomed home into God's open, loving arms. So this got me thinking... what is the church's role in all of this? While God is the one who accepts us and...

Image Source: Business Insider The age old debate: Should toilet paper be placed so that it is pulled from over the top or from under the bottom? It's amazing how heated the debate of this seemingly insignificant topic can get. This made me consider how many of these "toilet paper" issues do we let consume us when it comes to our faith? What is the best way to worship? Hymns or contemporary? When is the best time to have church? Saturdays or Sundays? Mornings or Evenings? Should Christians be reading fictitious books with debatable theology? What is the right way to baptize someone? Full immersion or sprinkling? What is the right way to serve/receive Holy Communion? How often do we see issues such as these dividing religions, denominations or even local churches? I believe that there are primary issues and secondary issues in our Christian faith. Primary issues are core to the universal church and deserve to be debated. Secondary issues are beliefs that we personally ...

Image Source:  Community Immunity Peter Storey, a former bishop of the Methodist Church in Southern Africa, makes the bold claim that Christians who can't worship together, can't be together. This realization raises a number of important questions: If our churches want to be a true unified community of believers, can achieve that if there are certain groups of people who do not feel comfortable worshiping with us? If old and young people can't feel comfortable worshiping together, can they do church together? What about black and white people? Hetero and homosexuals? Foreigners and locals? Women and men? Sometimes our churches can be exclusive when we gather for worship. We are often set in our ways and so comfortable with our own methods of doing corporate worship that if people don't relate to what we are offering, we are happy to send them away to find a new church somewhere else that might cater to their needs better than we do. To me, this just seems...

Image Source:  Tim Marshall At Wesley Methodist Church, we have been studying the Apostle's Creed during the Lenten period, breaking down each line of the creed in detail each week leading up to Easter Sunday. The Apostle's Creed is a statement of Christian belief, based on what the apostles of Jesus Christ taught. At our Sunday worship services at the Seminary we sing or recite a Zulu version of the Apostle’s Creed. This is a practice that is common in most African churches as well as many Western churches. The danger with reciting these creeds so regularly is that they can become familiar to us, losing their ultimate meaning in the process. I wonder whether we sometimes recite these church creeds without thinking about the words that we are saying. I know that personally I am often guilty of this. Hillsong Music wrote a song titled This I Believe (The Creed) which is their personal adaptation of the Apostle's Creed. Here are the words of the Chorus: ...

Exactly a month has passed since I began my blog. I would like to say a quick thank you for reading these random thoughts of mine and supporting me in this scary but exciting adventure.  I have to leave my comfort zone every time I sit down to write a new post, but it is said that we never grow in places we feel comfortable. Thank you for challenging me to push myself. This week I want to address the topic of church bulletins . Image Source:  St. Andrews Presbyterian Church There are many different ways that churches deal with their notices and  announcements. In this current age of technology, it is easy to add church notices to a website or an app for easy viewing.  Some churches prefer to stick to the classic hard copy church bulletins that are handed out before a service. Others display a slideshow of their notices as the congregation enters.  Still others are coming up with innovative new ways to do their announcements, like my f...