The Eight O’Clock
News July 2019 8 am Service, Christ Church Kenilworth 021-797-6332
Logos : The Mystery of the Word I’ve always wondered about John’s use of the word Logos in the first verse of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” What exactly does this mean? Of all the terms John could have used to refer to Jesus Christ, why call Him Logos? In ancient Greek philosophy the word logos denoted an underlying principle of order in the universe, and by extension, the logic behind an argument. English bibles most often translate this Greek term as “word.” But because this Word is God, it obviously means much more than what we mean by the word “word.” Or does it? After all my wonderings about this passage over many years, I’ve realized that its meaning is really quite simple and clear. Words, after all, are the primary way in which we communicate. By calling Jesus the Word, John is saying He is God’s way of communicating with us. Of course, there are certain differences between God’s Word and our words. For one thing, our words are approximate, whereas God’s Word is exactly what He means. Hence we must use many approximate words to try to express something of what we mean, while God uses only one Word—His Son—to say perfectly everything He means. Another obvious difference is that our words are puffs of air, while God’s Word is a Person. Indeed, God’s Word is Himself. God is the Word, and the Word is God. The Centurion of Capernaum knew this when he said to Jesus, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed” (Matt 8:8). Since Jesus is the Word, for Him to say the word is exactly the same as if He had gone in person to heal the sick servant. A further difference between God’s way of speaking and ours is that our words usually fall to the ground, whereas His Word is always powerful, effectual, authoritative, and generative. As He says in Isaiah 55:11, “My word that goes July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
out from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire.” This is how the universe was created. God spoke and it was so. Through His Communicator, the Word, who was with Him in the beginning, God communicated life and being to everything that is. In a sense, one might say that God told a story, and as He spoke, everything in His story immediately sprang into reality. He could just as easily have written it, like a book. For the universe, together with its long history, is not just a jumble of things but a narrative, a story all about its Author. And finally the Author Himself stepped into His own story, lifting it up into an altogether greater reality. This is what the Gospel writer wishes to announce right off the bat in John 1:1. Listen: * God—the One who made the universe, was here, on Earth, in Person, speaking and acting! * The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory! (v 14) * I announce to you that what was from the beginning— the Word of life—we have heard, we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have touched! (1 John 1:1) What a marvelous Word this is—the one Word that sums up everything we have always longed to say, to hear, to do, to be. The Word which is not just an audible or visible symbol of reality, but which is Reality. It’s as if all the words in this blog post were suddenly to assemble themselves into a living person—the author Mike Mason—who all at once stands before you and speaks. Thankfully, it is not I who have entered your world in this stupendous fashion, but Jesus, the Living Word of God. - Mike Mason Posted on blog 29/3/2019
Our Testimony We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 1 John 1:1-4 [New Living Translation]
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My Camino Adventure In May, from Pamplona, in NE Spain, I set off on foot for a planned 6-week walk along The Camino (“The Way”), to Santiago de Compostela in NW Spain. I was well prepared, with a rucksack weighing about 7 kg, carrying the bare essentials: one change of clothing, a lightweight sleeping bag, a guidebook, a down jacket, a poncho and a hat. I had two walking poles, New Balance trail shoes—not the state-of-the-art hiking boots worn by everybody else. I was fortunate not to have any blisters nor any aches and pains, experienced by many others—even the young ones. They tended to walk long distances very fast and then suffered as a result. I met many wonderful, friendly and kind people from all over the world. Most were shocked when they realised that I had decided to walk without a watch, a phone or a camera! What freedom! I felt that the whole experience was such a privilege to walk, as an older woman, with all my worldly goods on my back and all my money, in euros, around my waist. My alarm clock was the early morning twitter of the birds and I walked from dawn until about 2 p.m. each day and never had any worries about safety. I loved meeting and walking with different people of all ages and backgrounds. I also enjoyed childhood memories of farm sounds, smells and sights, as I plodded through farmyards with domestic animals and drystone walls. Villages with 11th Century churches had storks nesting on their turrets and I heard cuckoos calling in the nearby forests. I covered the distance of 700 km from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela by walking 500 km and catching up time and distance by, for the middle 200 km, going on horseback up a very steep hill and boarding one train and one bus. The pilgrims’ accommodation was clean and well managed, often in convents and monasteries, with up to twenty pilgrims in a dormitory, usually shared by both men and women. I coped with keeping in touch with John by phoning him from Internet cafes in the four cities en route. I discovered that, being freed from the stresses and distractions of normal life, I could conscientiously practice living the fruit of the Spirit. In turn, I had a general feeling of gratitude and I became less judgmental. Long may this continue!! I love being back in our own home, city and church, while July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
loving the freedom of 40 days of quiet reflection on all the wonderful people, including the 8 O’Clock Congregation, who have been part of my life for much of my 73 years. - Phil Rogers Phil with Dr Janet Giddy, niece of Wilma Tindall, in Santiago de Compostela in June, 2019.
It Must be the Collar
Janet Fry 1930—2019 The relationship between a mother and her daughter can be many faceted but I count myself lucky and blessed and could never have asked for a better mother. Mum was someone who had very solid standards—born out of her Scottish Protestant background (the Rev William Shaw, an 1820 settler, was her great great grandfather and James Stewart, a missionary with David Livingstone, was her great grandfather) and she imbued these standards and values into me by her own life and example. Mum was a great story teller and her knowledge of her family was encyclopedic and she would often regale us with stories of the various ancestors—not all of which were flattering to the person concerned! Luckily, she wrote many of these down for us in a mini-autobiography, “The Life and Times of Janet Fry”. She was born in Cape Town and went to Micklefield School in the days when it was both a boys’ and girls’ primary school. She then returned to the region of her forefathers by attending the DSG* in Grahamstown—and many of her friendships today extend back to these school days. She earned her BA at UCT, studying history, English and art, and also Xhosa, which according to a fellow student was unusual for her generation. She then had a stint in England, teaching at a very eccentric girls’ boarding school in the country—many stories surround that time—and experienced being presented at court as well as being a South African Girl Guide representative in the crowd in the mall for the coronation. She recalled it as being an amazing experience even if they had to sit in the rain for twelve miserable hours, getting soaked to the skin. On her return to South Africa she worked on a newspaper—often covering weddings—until she herself became a bride and moved up to Southern Rhodesia with her land-surveying husband. Their early life was very different from what she had experienced before. When they spent some months in Nyasaland (now Malawi), they stayed in a house where they could hear the white ants chomping though the door frames! She also stayed with dad on-site when he had jobs in the bush and so her home would be a tent for many months. When Ryan, the first child was born, he added to the number in the camp, along with two cats, but after one scare they realised that being so far from “civilisation” and July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
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hospitals, it would be better for mum to stay in town. And so, our home in Salisbury (now Harare) was built, followed by two more children— Richard and then finally me, Mary. Mum and Dad returned to the
Cape in 1985 and re-established their friendships from many years previously but ones which they had consistently maintained during their time in Zimbabwe. Mum and Dad celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary in February this year and have been an incredible example to us of dedication, love and commitment. However, as each of us move through this earthly life, we are all different things to the different people who cross our paths, so I will endeavour to touch on some characteristics that stood out for many who wrote to us on her death. Mum valued both family and friends—and took trouble with people in ways that no-one else realised. One of her Godsons said this: “Your mother was so very special to all... and especially to me, her Godson. The memories, the affection and the laughter are legion and eternal. Your Mum is etched into them all... especially that she never ever forgot a birthday of mine. Literally 54/54...” Being of good missionary stock mum’s hands were never idle... painter, gardener, reader, knitting and tapestries... Painter: Mum came from a long line of accomplished pastime painters—professionals who always kept a sketch pad on hand to capture a scene, a building, a landscape—what today’s generation do with their cell phone cameras. Many of our friends speak lovingly of having a “Fry Original” hanging on their walls. Whilst her family were often her most honest critics, Dr Marion Arnold, an art historian, artist, writer and lecturer at Loughborough University, had this to say: “She painted with enthusiasm but her paintings were far more than competent amateur art—they had integrity and a particular vision that was the result of pushing formula
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painting far away. I do hope you all have lots of her work in your homes.” Gardener: Mum loved her gardens and with the eye of an artist planted and tended them—colour, contrast, texture—all contributed to creating something beautiful. She could also be pretty ruthless with plants that didn’t thrive or conform. With her love and appreciation of flowers and plants, she was a talented flower arranger and was part of the CCK flower guild for many years and helped arrange the flowers for two of her grand-daughters’ weddings. Flowers, trees, pods, seeds also were a big part of her drawings and sketches. Reader: Mum was a voracious reader and liked a good “gentle detective story” in amongst the biographies and histories that she consumed. With her wide and diverse reading she was never short of a topic to discuss or have an opinion on! Knitter and tapestries: as children we did not always appreciate her knitting. My brothers’ school jerseys were not a success, but her tapestry cushions were commissioned by family members. Latterly she knitted many hundreds of little dolls for the “Valuable to Jesus” project that Lindy Tomalin helped coordinate at CCK. So, thanks to these hands that were never idle, we now have many wonderful mementos that bring a smile to our faces when we look at a particular painting, cushion, plant or book. I put all the words and memories that people sent to us when they heard of her death into a word cloud and it reminded me of a fingerprint. Mum didn’t have any fingerprints left—worn out from years of painting and gardening and hard work, but her fingerprint on our lives remains. - Mary Lister *Diocesan School for Girls
Worship The deepest level of worship is praising God through the pain, thanking God during the trials, trusting Him when we’re tempted to lose hope and loving Him, even when He seems distant.
At my lowest, God is my hope. At my darkest, God is my light. At my weakest, God is my strength, At my saddest, God is my comforter. - Source unknown
Joan Evans & her new housemate settling well in her new home in Port Elizabeth
Letter to/from the Editor Good morning Rosemary [In response to a request to receive the News each month.] I’m attaching the May issue as I’m sure Mary Birch gave you the June issue? I am so encouraged that you want to receive the News! This seems to be a growing list totally unsolicited by me. The News now goes to ex-CCK members in New Zealand, Australia, London, Ireland and several in SA – CT, Johannesburg, PE, East London and Somerset West. It’s not a long list–15–but God’s doing all the work!!! As a youngster would say, ‘how cool is that?’ Response from Rosemary Sundgren:
Thanks so much for sending this edition to me—out of the goodness of your heart! I was feeling lonely and a bit sorry for myself tonight but now I have new spirit within me. Reading all this was a tonic and I feel full of praise to our heavenly Father who ‘doeth all things well’ - through people like you. BLESS YOU. July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
Andre & Andy Frieslaar on the Bosphorus, Turkey
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Verwoerd : My Journey through Family Betrayals I have just finished reading this well-written and deeply moving book. It’s the account of a man’s journey, both spiritual and political, as he confronts the role played by his grandfather in a very painful period of South African history. It was a personal experience for me because I lived through the Verwoerd era. I can recall the day South Africa became a Republic. My Dad would not let me go to the special ceremony at school on that day, or to receive a commemorative medal, because he didn’t approve of the new republic. I can also clearly recall the day in 1966 when Hendrik Verwoerd was assassinated. Another point of connection is that our son and his wife live in Lynedoch, the eco village in Stellenbosch, across the road from Wilhelm and Sharon. Their neighbour, Emily, mentioned in the book, is the grandmother of our grandson’s best friend. This has made the print in the pages of the book come alive for me in a special way. Wilhelm was born in 1964, so was only two years old when his grandfather was assassinated. His Afrikaner Christian National background shaped his thinking. When he was thirteen he became a Christian and later planned on studying theology and becoming a dominee in the Dutch Reformed Church. En route to do a three year degree as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University he spent the summer doing some research in Holland. His housemates in the shared digs were to engage with him in conversations that rocked his world, changed his thinking about himself and his Verwoerd family, and his particular version of Christianity. This set him on a new route that led to the story shared in the pages of this book. His time at Oxford University further shaped his thinking in this new direction. He joined the ANC in the early 1990s, worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and later in reconciliation processes in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and South Africa. The book tells of his often very painful journey as he comes to terms with what it means to be a Verwoerd in a country where so many people have a hate for the name which is so strongly linked to apartheid and suffering. His family, especially his father, were very upset with his change of direction, and they were estranged for some years. Desmond Tutu encouraged him to use his name for good, to move forward and make a difference. He helped him to see that he had to face his own history, accept who he was, be in his family and love it, but move forward in new ways. He felt he was betraying and shaming his family and their way of thinking, but realised that apartheid had betrayed many people. Over the years his many black friends have enabled him to understand the sense of respect for the family you come from (respect for ancestors, respect for elders), but also the responsibility to bring about change and right wrongs. His faith commitment compels him to hold these things in tension. July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
In trying to come to terms with his Verwoerd identity the author spent time reading through the diaries of his Ouma Betsie, trying to reconcile the loving, caring husband, father and grandfather she portrays with the hated Verwoerd known as the Architect of Apartheid. The story is interspersed with inserts from both Betsie’s diaries as well as his own. He felt he had to write letters to his grandfather, even though he was dead. There was a need to write down what he was feeling. These letters are moving and thought-provoking, the struggle of a grandson who loves his family, but is horrified by what his grandfather represented. His interaction with his family is honestly portrayed. The story takes place in a variety of countries and involves many different people and experiences. The author describes his emotion when, returning to his seat after going forward for communion in St George’s Cathedral, he came face to face with the controversial previously banned painting, 'The Black Christ' by Ronald Harrison. The person on the cross is portrayed as Chief Albert Luthuli, the face of the soldier who thrust his spear into Jesus' side is that of his grandfather, Hendrik. He didn't see it as blasphemy, or an attempt to deify Luthuli, but rather a radical questioning of Christian Afrikaner Nationalism. Was there too much for him to ask forgiveness for? There are accounts of meeting many people who told him they rejoiced when they heard of his grandfather’s death because they saw it as the beginning of an end to their suffering under apartheid. Many are people who have become his friends and learned to trust that his view is different. I appreciate his honesty about his own blindness for so many years. He is open about what he still sees as needed change in this country, and is not blind to the current issues in our leadership. Above all, this is the humble, painfully honest story of a Christian who has experienced real hardship as he comes to terms with the stigma of his surname and the need to walk a different path. Much food for thought. - Jeannette Harris Wilhelm Verwoerd Tafelberg Cape Town 2019
Talking to the right person can be very helpful
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Financial Investigation Aka International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR): Financial Investigative Skills Development
I was asked after church recently about interesting
places I have visited such as Kosovo and to write an update for the 8 O ’Clock News. I immediately remembered that 1 June 2019 was the 10th anniversary of my employment with the Basel Institute on Governance in Switzerland! This dramatic life and career change after 23 years as a prosecutor in South Africa and five years with the Deloitte Forensic Unit in Cape Town has brought an international dimension to our lives, with all the resulting excitement and challenges. How time flies—and how privileged I have been to conduct training workshops in more than 30 countries. Training individuals with such differing backgrounds and cultures has been an eye-opener and enormously rewarding and enriching, and at times demanding and energy-sapping! As I have also been asked to contribute to the Basel Institute website on the scope and nature of my training (in a nutshell), it seemed good to combine the two, and provide some basic information on our approach. The South African Judicial Commission of Enquiry into State Capture (Zondo Commission) highlights the need to ensure that those responsible for inducing or influencing for gain state institutions, amongst others, are properly investigated and duly prosecuted. As with many countries across the globe, it is crucial to build capacity to “follow the trail of the money”. Let me start with a fictitious example: In return for highly lucrative mining contracts with the country, Turania, a company called Fero Gold paid large bribes to the public officials awarding the contracts. Yet a direct transfer from Fero Gold to the officials in question would be extremely suspicious, even to a government intent on looking the other way. Instead, Fero Gold used a middle-man insulated from the company and the ultimate recipients in Turania, by two shell companies with nominee directors and shareholders—one between the middleman and Fero Gold and the other between the middleman and the recipients in Turania. The financial flows between each link in the chain are disguised as payments for vague ‘consultancy’ and ‘marketing’ services. To prove that a corrupt agreement has been struck, investigating authorities face the very complex task of following each link in the chain across different jurisdictions to prove that these ostensibly independent parties are, in fact, all part of the same criminal enterprise. Demystifying the Financial Investigation Sophisticated and complex financial crimes span the globe. “Following the trail of the money” can involve many jurisdictions, each with their own laws and practices, and varying capacity or willingness to provide international co-operation. The fight against corruption and money laundering, and the recovery of criminal proceeds, involve intricate and multiple proceedings, inevitably requiring specialised legal, financial accounting, analytical and investigation skills. Unique Approach of the Basel Institute on Governance Having delivered training programmes in financial investigations and asset recovery to practitioners all over the world for more July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
than ten years, the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), a part of the Basel Institute on Governance, has perfected a uniquely effective approach to capacity-building. I am the ICAR Head of Training, and my training team specialises in conducting practical and interactive training programmes customised to country-specific needs, and taught both in person and on-site in partner countries. This has taken us from Malawi and Egypt to Peru, Israel, Bhutan and Indonesia, to name but a few countries, and exposed us to many varied criminal justice systems, laws and practices. An integral part of our philosophy is to build or enhance capacity and knowledge in partner countries, thus increasing their autonomy in the fight against financial crimes and money laundering as well as in their pursuit to repatriate stolen assets. Our training programmes generally target practitioners in the public sector, including investigators, prosecutors, members of the judiciary and Financial Intelligence Units. Programmes are specifically designed to enhance skills and competence to analyse, investigate and prosecute complex corruption offences, financial crime and money laundering cases, and to recover criminal proceeds. What sets this approach apart from other training programmes? ICAR programmes offer a balanced mix between hands-on exercises and interactive learning methods. By using a combination of foundation building lectures, workshops and country-specific practical exercises, we take participants from the basics to an advanced level of financial investigative techniques and asset tracing. The centrepiece of our training is a practical exercise—an intricate, simulated investigation that replicates the real world as closely as possible. Participants learn how to unravel the web of deceptive financial transactions. This enables
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investigators to find their way through the murky world of international banking transactions, offshore shell companies, financial centres and nominees. With our assistance and mentorship, participants are taken through complex, simulated evidence including a maze of financial transactions. Our exposure to the laws, legal systems and practices of more than 30 countries, enables us to share not only international best practice but also country-specific information. To ensure accuracy and credibility, my training team and I consistently first conduct a scoping mission in the country itself to fully understand its legal system and practices, and to gather relevant legislation. This enables us to design and customise ICAR’s training material to the exact needs of the local practitioners engaged in the investigation and prosecution of corruption and money laundering, and recovery of assets. Additional Benefit The training also promotes and develops inter-agency collaboration in the investigation and prosecution of corruption and money laundering, as well as asset recovery. This is achieved by integrating representatives of various law enforcement agencies within ICAR training programmes. Practical Application The participants are divided into investigative teams, working as independent task force groups for the whole duration of the programme. Group discussions focus on key topical areas,
From Skye to the Skelligs While my wife, Phil, was adventuring along the Camino in May and June this year, solo at her request, I revisited friends and relatives in the UK and Ireland. I travelled mainly via immaculate modern trains, using a Seniors’ RailCard to lower the cost for an impecunious traveller from South Africa. On 6th May, I celebrated my 75th Birthday with my sister and brother-in-law in Ashford (Kent, the county of my birth) meeting, for the first time, my only maternal cousin. My main birthday present was an Internet cafe phone-call from Phil, five days after parting at Heathrow, whose Early Stone Age cell-phone refused to work in Span. On Sundays, I planned to attend services, the first in Tiverton in Devon, a Said Communion, followed by bell-ringing for the following service that morning. Built in 1073 not long after 1066, its claim to fame is that Mendelsohn’s Wedding March was first performed there, in 1847. They display their embroidered kneelers, where one normally places prayer books. This was a beautiful sight, the best kneeler being one sporting both a giraffe and an elephant! While hiking for a day on the Pilgrims’ Way in Hampshire, with my GeoCousin, Roger Epps, we sought shelter from the rain and hail in the porch of St Nicholas’ Church in Chawton, where Roger’s children had been baptised. Jane Austen’s sister and mother are buried in the graveyard and we passed a petite statue of Jane, near the lych-gate, on our way to visit the Jane Austen House Museum. I revisited the splendid Salisbury Cathedral, coinciding with the filming of BBC TV’s Antique Road Show in the Cathedral Close and attended Sung Vespers, returning for Said Communion the following morning. One of the dioceses prayed for that morning was that of Zululand, where our son, Patrick and his wife, Mampho, work as rural doctors in Ubombo. Professor Steve Reid (UCT Chair in Rural Medicine) served out his community service there, as a non-combatant in the apartheid era and he July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
identify problems that have occurred in actual cases, arrive at potential solutions and compare international standards to the country-specific issues. The simulated case involves the analysis of large volumes of data, gathering and assembling evidence in a manner ready for presentation at trial, and establishing a basis for the confiscation of assets. This practical exercise incorporates relevant countryspecific criminal statutes and provisions, commercial and banking records and enforcement procedures. Perks of the Job! One of the perks of the job allows John and I to meet up in Switzerland as we criss-cross the globe working! Using air miles and discounted travel tickets, we are able to spend precious time together, largely exploring the country in which I have worked for the past 10 years. There is nothing John enjoys more than a ferry ride on one of the beautiful Swiss lakes! Our “unusual” lifestyle requires me to spend more than six months a year overseas, which has taught us to appreciate the time we can spend together and with family and friends even more. We experience God’s grace and love in so many ways, and give thanks for the way in which we have been blessed over the years. We are also so conscious of the prayers, support and encouragement we receive from members of the CCK community for which we are indeed grateful.
- Phyllis Atkinson
The granite hills of the Cuillins
and his wife, Dr Janet Giddy, attended Patrick and Mampho’s wedding in Durban. Janet is the niece of Wilma Tindall and Janet encountered Phil at Santiago de Compostela at the beginning of June. Serendipity?
Salisbury Cathedral
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Two years ago, we hosted my cousin, Lyn Carew-Jones, who visited our Small Group to speak of her years of working in Israel. We took her to CCK’s 08h00 service, but she stayed for the start of the 10h00 service, which was patently more her scene. She is in leadership in the modern C of E church in Margate, where the funeral of her sister, Rosalind, was held in 2013. I was able to meet, this trip, Rosalind’s husband, a retired vicar, who grew up in nearby Ramsgate, where he ministered in Christ Church, Ramsgate. During my visit, Lyn took me to the hugely impressive Dover Castle, where my mother had lived as a toddler and where the Dunkirk evacuation was coordinated in ancient tunnels within the flint-riddled Chalk. In 1970, the year we married, we visited Ely Cathedral and I was able to revisit it in 2019, coinciding with a week-long Science Festival, with a huge blow-up Moon above the aisle, near the famed octagonal tower. After GeoPilgrimages to Scarborough, Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby on the Yorkshire Coast, as well as to the Lake District in Cumbria, I finally reached the grave of the Venerable Bede in Durham Cathedral, so highly praised by Bill Bryson. My top GeoPilgrimage was to Hutton’s Unconformity at Siccar Point (worth Googling), SE of Edinburgh, after which I experienced a huge act of generosity, when Patrick’s UCT Medical School classmate, Congolese refugee, Dr Kambale Lutoto, whom we had hosted in Cape Town, met me at Siccar Pont and then drove me across Scotland, in his BMW, to put me up in what he had called a B&B. In fact it was a Georgian mansion converted into a very smart hotel. I met his Congolese physiotherapist wife, my late father having founded the College of Physiotherapy in Bloemfontein. Their three daughters speak Scottish with great fluency! A coach-trip from Glasgow, past Loch Lomond and through Glencoe, took me to GeoHosts on the Isle of Skye, who took me on a GeoTour of the world-famous granite and gabbro there, as well as newly discovered fossils of dinosaurs and ammonites, like those I saw at Lyme Regis and Whitby, of Jurassic age. I had a warm Irish welcome in Ulster, both from classmates from my school in County Down and from relatives. They took me to Rathlin Island, near The Giant’s Causeway, where I bumped into my Canada-based cousin, and to Downpatrick to see the grave of St Patrick and a photograph of Bishop Harold Miller, who preached at CCK a few years ago. My highlight was to drive from Dublin to Portmagee, in County Kerry, to board a small ferry and to dare Atlantic swells, while encircling, 12 km offshore, Little Skellig, home to 20 000 gannets and Skellig Michael, which was home to Irish monks as early as the 6th Century. Mike Winfield of CCK had told me of his own visit there and I went there on the recommendation of Mike and two other Capetonian friends. Back in England, I was hosted in County Somerset by a widowed lady-geologist, earlier the backbone of the Western Cape Branch of the Geological Society of South Africa, and my cousin, Judy Epps now Harris, who hiked with me above the geologically iconic coast of Dorset. To round off the trip, I was fetched by a former Newlands neighbour, who spends four months annually in England. He took me to the tombstone of my hero, Lawrence of Arabia, in St Martin’s on the Walls in Wareham, a Saxon church, built 1020. Returning to my sister in Kent by train, I repacked, then took a train to Heathrow, where I was reunited with my chic wife, with 500 km of hiking under her belt. I am SO proud of her!
- John Rogers
July 2019 Eight O’Clock News
When you don’t understand God John Newton (composer of Amazing Grace) mentored
a man called William Cowper (1731–1800). Cowper had experienced tragedy. His mother died when he was six. His father died while he was still young. He qualified as a barrister. Outwardly he was successful. However, he suffered from serious depression. When applying for an administrative post in the House of Lords that entailed a formal examination, he was so disturbed by the prospect of the exam that he attempted suicide. For the rest of his life he suffered from mental illness. When he was in his thirties, John Newton encouraged Cowper to begin composing hymns. He wrote powerfully of the joys and sorrows of everyday life. In 1774, he suffered such a severe episode of mental illness that he was prevented from entering into his intended marriage to Mary Unwin. He was crestfallen. Shortly afterwards, in perhaps his most famous hymn, he wrote: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform God is good. God is love. God loves you. God has revealed himself supremely in Jesus. All this we know. Then you read passages in the Bible that don’t seem to fit with your understanding of God. You may also have experiences in life that don’t seem to fit either. You cannot put God in a box. He is far greater than you could ever conceive. Some passages in the Bible are mysterious. Jesus said on one occasion, ‘You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand’ (John 13:7). Sometimes that understanding may come in our lifetime. Some things we will only understand when we meet the Lord. Trust in His goodness for ‘we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them—Romans 8:28 (New Living Translation)
- Adapted from Nicky Gumbel, Bible in a year.
Editorial Team Tel/e-mail Ev Els
021 696 0336 emichael@iafrica.com
Cheryl Anderson
083 272 1530 canderson@beckman.com