The Eight O’Clock
News
Happy Birthday Lorna Thompson (99) & Jackie Mellor (87) On 6 February
February 2015
Read this in COLOUR at www.cck.org.za 8 am Service, Christ Church, Richmond Road, Kenilworth
Community I am about to embark on a journey—studying a new book, this one Michael Cassidy’s The Church Jesus Prayed For—a study of Jesus’ High-Priestly prayer in John 17. I haven’t got further than the Foreword, written by Eugene Peterson, where this caught my attention: ‘Praying for the church involves us in many interlocking acts and understandings, theological insights and biblical contexts. Becoming and praying in the church Jesus prayed for involves an immersion in a highly intricate and complex communion of saints and sinners and all the operations of the Trinity. ‘Everything contributes to the being of everything else, enabling everything to be what it distinctively is. Every person has to do with every other person. There is no ‘solution’ offered here, no over-simplification provided. All (whether they know it or not) are involved, whether in submission or resistance to the Holy Spirit. A new generation of baptised sinners enters the ranks of church every 30 years or so and calls forth new acts of obedience and faith and worship. Ten marks* of the church Jesus prayed for are identified, but we cannot pick out two or three and specialise in them—they are all happening at the same time. The reality of church is highly complex and cannot be hurried or coerced. Attentiveness and patience are required.’ This reminded me of another book our group studied some years ago: Larry Crabb’s Becoming a True Spiritual Community—A Profound Vision of What the Church can be. In the Foreword, again written by Eugene Peterson, he says: ‘(Larry Crabb) invites us into an extended, leisurely conversation on the emphatically personal and inter-personal nature of all human life, sharply focused in the Trinitarian revelation of this life in Jesus. He immerses us in the centrality of spiritual community (or church) as Christ is formed in us (Galatians 4:19) and we grow up to the the full stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:13)—we can’t do this by ourselves; individualism is not an option. And he (Crabb) insists… on embracing the formidable difficulties involved in spiritual community: there are no instant intimacies in this business; there are no shortcuts; there is no avoiding confusion and disappointment. We had better be ready for a lifelong process of demanding ventures in following Jesus into the company of the broken men and women who are also hurrying or hobbling after Him… February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
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‘The formation of community is the intricate, patient, painful work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot buy or make community; we can only offer ourselves to become community. By turning away from the managerial and leadership skills that are held in such high regard in our culture, and returning us to the actual conditions in which true spiritual communities develop… to re-enter the places we have been given and the people we find there, ready to be formed by the Word and Spirit of God into spiritual community.’ When contemplating the church, Dorothy Sayers concluded that, In an awesome act of self-denial, God entrusted His reputation to ordinary people (Quoted in Philip Yancey’s Disappointment with God.) That’s us… - Ev Els (* Truth, Holiness, Joy, Protection, Mission, Prayer, Unity, Love, Power, Glory)
New Year Commitment Wesley Covenant Prayer: ‘I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will; Put me to doing, put me to suffering; Let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You, Exalted for You, or brought low for You; Let me be full, let me be empty, Let me have all things, let me have nothing: I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.’ John Wesley’s words of bidding before the prayer: Christ has many services to be done. Some are easy, others are difficult. Some bring honour, others bring reproach. Some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are contrary to both... Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.’ May the power to face 2015 be given to us in Christ Jesus, who strengthens us. - Used by the Methodist Church at the beginning of the year
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To everyone at CCK... Bradley and I would like to say a very big Thank You to our Christ Church Kenilworth Family. You have been holding our arms up in prayer from day one and there are no words to describe the gratitude we have in our hearts. It has been over five months since the accident and you have not ceased praying for us. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The experts told me that Brad would not make it, they told me to prepare for the worst, they told me that he would not be able to breathe on his own, walk, talk, eat or do anything. He proved them wrong when he started breathing on his own and then they said that he would not be the same person that he had been. Today, five months later, he is living proof of the mighty Sovereign God who we call Abba, Father, our Healer, our Provider, our Peace and our Banner who truly has the final say in all things. Brad is still at Booth Memorial Hospital where he is receiving rehabilitative treatment: physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy and he is making amazing progress; one can see the remarkable improvements as he is getting stronger and stronger every week and he is more determined than ever as he can’t stop singing the praises of the God who continues to bring healing to his being. We were blessed to be able to celebrate his 35th birthday in January and it was truly an amazing experience as Brad is a living, breathing testimony of just how great our God is. Bradley and I and the children: Phoebe, Isabella-Rose and Eli, cannot thank you enough for your love and support! - Natasha George February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
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Jim Michael 7 August 1919 - 7 January 2015
Liz, thank you for inviting me to say a few words at this celebration and thanksgiving for your father's life. His longevity throws some interesting light on life and friendship. My wife Jean and I first met Jim and Margaret over a quarter of a century ago when he was already a retired man. Their children had all taken wing into the world and ours were still in water wings. More of that in a moment. You asked me to talk to Jim's involvement with the choir house church and the church’s music. That finished nearly 20 years ago. Happily our minds concertina such passages of time and we can recall with emotion events from the distant past as if yesterday. Not quite true—I had to consult my diaries for a few things from that era! So a bit about our young family and Jim and Margaret, recently retired to a new dwelling in sunny South Africa, close to Liz, and as it happened close to our new dwelling. We had the children—they had the pool, a warm pool. And two warm hearts. Many was the conversation Jean had with Jim and Margaret (so many stories… and not only from Jim). As the children cavorted in the water and didn't get cold so didn't want to get out..! Jeremy took his first unsupported swimming strokes in Jim’s pool. Simnel cake at Easter; cards and presents and drinks at Christmas. Thank you Jim and Margaret. A Scottish bass, tall, throaty at the back of the Christ Church choir—that was so much more than a choir as it met like a house church in the Revd David Cook's lounge, then the Rogers' lounge. Worship, bible study, music practice—all in one evening a week. That time and the people were very important to Jim—close friends brought together by love for Christ and of music. Weekends away at Monkey Valley, Betty's Bay— friendship, community, worship. Living together through the traumas of 1991 to 1994 in South Africa, and some in our church at that time. And when his voice was altered by age, Jim took on a music librarian role in the church, using his years of organisational skill to sort choruses, hymns, songs in the filing cabinets in the vestry—numbers, alphabets, order. And weekly to attend music choosing meetings at the Moore’s house with a Revd Duncan McLea, lady doctors Christine Dare and Ann Moore, a few other people coming and going over time, and me (coming across Rondebosch Common from the Red Cross Children's Hospital). So much given by Jim, and so much enjoyed by him, too. Thank you, Jim. That's not the end of the musical connection. I was asked to choose the music for Jim and Margaret's golden wedding anniversary party in the Christ Church garden. Music from their past. I enjoyed doing that; I still have the tapes. And then one of the most memorable days or evenings in the annals of Christ Church Kenilworth. Two Scotsmen in kilts, both nearly 90 years old, singing duets at the CCK Centenary concert in 2007. No one who was there will forget it, especially not me who had the privilege of practising with the two sprightly octogenarians and then accompanying them on the piano. "Keep right on to the end of the road..." Not a dry eye... Keep right on—well, Jim did that. As weak as a kitten, with a little white dog (Daisy) on his bed, he could still tell a tale well, February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
well after the choir had sung its last rites or notes at the end of October 2014. Singapore, Jordan, Australia, Norfolk— they and the attendant details of his beloved family resurfaced in our last conversations in November and December. A privilege, a pleasure. Thank you again, Jim, you were a real Christian gentleman. Our love and condolences to the family. We at Christ Church wish you well on the journey without Jim in person. Thank you for sharing him with us. - Tony Westwood (Tribute given at Jim’s funeral)
Stan Fish adds in a letter… Dear Liz I can still remember your dear father’s expression one day when I turned up with this book. Geoffrey Brooke’s Singapore’s Dunkirk was published only in 1989 by which time I’m sure that your father was one of the few brave men still alive… [Jim was one of the last to leave Singapore when it fell to the Japanese.] Extract in Introduction to Singapore’s Dunkirk: ‘Dunkirk was a picnic compared to the eleventh hour evacuation of Singapore. The numbers were greater at Dunkirk but there we had command of the sea, sporadic command of the air, the enemy did not press as hard as he might have, the evacuees were all fighting men and the distance to safety only forty miles. At Singapore the enemy, almost within the gates, had complete command of the air and sea; though for the first few days succour of a sort was the same distance away, proper armed support was more like 500 miles, soon to double; but worst of all, about a third of the evacuees were civilians, including many women and children...’
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Tribology… ? We are all motivated by our passions and have an array of passions. The great outdoors and particularly birding and wildlife is one major area of mine, but it is unfortunately generally relegated to the back burner as life gets in the way. God created all that is, and in Genesis commanded that we care for His creation, our environment. Stemming from a love for the environment—and moving into the technology world— for me there is tribology. Few people have heard of tribology, and most guess it is the study of tribes. The root is the Greek word tribos meaning rubbing, or to rub. So tribology is the ‘science of bodies in relative rubbing motion’. Wherever there is rubbing contact between bodies there is friction, and wear will take place, so tribology is commonly considered to be the ‘science of friction and wear’. After gravity, friction is the most important property of matter: imagine trying to walk or drive a car if there was no friction. We would slide around endlessly. On the other hand if there was too much friction we would have to expend huge energy to move around at all. And, of course, there would be massive abrasion between the parts, with resultant wear of the parts. Where does tribology occur? Everywhere—from the joints in our bodies to pistons, bearings and gears in mechanical equipment, and even horse hair passing over a violin string or air passing over an oboe reed! Considering the body’s joints as an example, we take it for granted that our joints will move effortlessly. A joint consists of two pieces of bone rubbing against each other, separated by synovial fluid, and if we looked closer we would see that the nature of the bone in the rubbing area is different to the bone between the joints (covered with cartilage). So tribology has two major branches: material science, which considers the nature of the bodies that are rubbing together, and lubrication engineering.
In industry we are still trying to emulate what God created in each one of us: joints that are almost frictionless, and making the joints self healing. Of course, some joints fail when the body can no longer maintain the status quo in the joint. My work takes me mostly into the failures that occur in mechanical systems, forensic tribology, where I am consulted to establish why a machine failed, or how to prevent further failures, and sometimes how to reduce energy consumption. Of course, many findings are challenged, which then becomes a legal battle, and may end up in court. In one such court case, during cross examination, I was asked to comment on the condition of a rusted part, and happily launched into the chemistry of rust, but was quickly reminded that tribology is the science of friction and wear, and not of rust, so I was not qualified to lead the court on rust! Naturally, I agreed with the court that tribology is the science of friction and wear, and added that what we were considering was corrosive wear. After that, my part in the case became much simpler. What helps to fuel my passion for tribology and hence my work is to know that every reduction in friction means that less energy is consumed, and that every saving in energy consumption reduces our human footprint on the environment. This quote by Bishop T.D. Jakes sums it up rather elegantly: ‘If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.’ - Patrick Swan
Carol Singing Part of the augmented Christmas Carols’ choir sang at Marsh Memorial Home’s chapel at the annual Woodside Carol service on 23 December. - Sent in by Jan D’Arcy Evans
Oops ? This notice was given to the ushers at the Saturday night Christmas Carols’ service with a pile of printed copies of the words and order of service: Please hand out @ 7pm Carol Service to people who cannot read or see the screens. Thank you”. - Sent in by Rod Palmer February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
Dage & Daniella Musangilay
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Dage, CCK’s Verger, met Daniella (also from DRC) in Cape Town. They have been together just over two years and were married in CCK on 29 November 2014. Daniella has a degree in Public Health, a Diploma in Biomedical technology and is at present volunteering in a laboratory in Gugulethu to familiarize herself with the work environment. She hopes to be registered as a Laboratory technician with the Health Department by the end of this year. Photograph (L) taken in CCK and photographs below, in Wynberg Park supplied by Dage.
February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
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Around the World Tour During my childhood I heard how my parents had gone to England before they met one another. Dad, a King’s Scout, attended the First World Scout Jamboree in 1920. Years later mother studied art in London. This started my longing to go overseas. We moved from Cape Town to Paarl, then to Wellington. In Grade 11, I attended a Youth Camp on Bain’s Kloof where I became a Christian. In January 1960, a friend remarked to my mother: I wouldn’t allow a daughter of mine to travel alone and to hitch-hike. My mother replied, Well, you haven’t got Joyous Joy for a daughter! I was about to sail for England to start on a threeyear around the world journey. For this great adventure I had taught and saved for 42 months. In London I attended All Souls’ Church, Langham Place where the Revd John Stott was the minister. I thoroughly enjoyed the young people’s Wednesday Club Meetings which he ran. I taught at a Secondary School in Dagenham, a suburb of London. From June to December I hitch-hiked through the British Isles, Europe including France, Germany and East Berlin, staying in hostels on the way. I had a frightening experience when hitch-hiking in France. My Youth Hostel handbook had indicated that the village of Savern was in a forested area. The man who had given me a lift, suddenly drove up a track. I grabbed my rucksack and jumped out of the car. Mademoiselle, he shouted. I ran along the road and hid in the bushes. I continued walking, and singing, Precious Lord, take my hand. Lead me and help me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, through the dark and through the night lead me home. Just take my hand and lead me home. I visualized the Lord walking with me. When I heard dogs barking and thought about wolves, I was afraid. Then I found a village and got accommodation in a pension. It was almost midnight and I had been walking for an hour. In December 1960 I embarked on a Blue Star Line cargo and passenger ship in Glasgow, sailing via the Panama Canal to Vancouver. For the next few months I taught a Grade 1 class on Ahousat, a small forested island off the west coast of Vancouver Island. There were two other teachers. The Indians on the reservation made a living by going out in their boats to catch salmon. In the off season they lived on government relief money. I also taught at the Sunday school in the United Church (Methodist and Presbyterian). In June 1961 I intended to travel across Canada, going south into the USA by Greyhound bus which cost $100, but the church needed funds for renovations so I gave them the money and hitch-hiked instead. With rucksack, sleeping bag and tent I was prepared to camp out. In British Columbia, at the Banff National Park, the official said that I was the first South African to camp there! South of Niagara Falls I had a lift with the Dubov family who insisted that I stay with them in Flushing Meadows (a suburb on Long Island) for about ten days. (Eleven years later, I contacted them again on my second world trip.) February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
At Long Beach, California, I met my mother’s friend. They had met in London and corresponded for 35 years. Later, I stayed in Palo Alto, outside San Francisco, with South African friends who had emigrated to the USA. The next voyage over the Pacific and Indian Oceans was via Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, to Sri Lanka, then overland by bus and ferry to south India. From Madras I flew to Bombay. A Landrover took a party of us 8 000 miles overland to the UK, a trip of eleven weeks.There were four people on board: two English women, aged 77 and 83, Brian the driver—a 25-year old Australian and me, aged 27. From Pakistan to Iran’s border post was a 50-mile stretch of no-man’s land. What a wonderful experience to camp out. The immensity of the universe seemed infinite due to myriads of constellations of stars—first bright then fading to mere specks barely visible to the human eye. Crossing the border into Turkey we saw Mount Ararat in the distance. We turned south through Syria, Lebanon and Jordan and with the Dead Sea on our left we drove slowly up the gravel road. Rounding the last corner—awe crowded my emotions—at last seeing the city of cities: Jerusalem, with its flat rooftops and the gold of the Dome of the Rock. We passed between the walls and the Mount of Olives, bound for the YMCA where we stayed for a few days. In the Old City I had coffee in a café with tables open to the street. I told some Arab men that I was from South Africa. With gestures, a simple conversation followed—they said, Ah,
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General Smuts! A tall barbed wire fence separated the Old City from the Jewish side. For one day in December the Mandelbaum gate was opened to allow members of a Jewish/Arab sect to visit their friends in the Old City. Groups of people chatted then said their goodbyes for another year. We travelled back to Turkey on the same route. On arriving in Istanbul it was a ten-minute ferry ride to the west shore of the city. By 1982 bridges replaced the ferries. As my passport was full, the Bulgarian embassy stamped a transit visa on a spare piece of paper to enable me to pass through Bulgaria to Greece. From there we stayed in hotels until we arrived at our destination—London. As we drove
over Westminster Bridge the familiar face of Big Ben appeared out of the darkness of the night. My last sight of Big Ben had been fourteen months earlier when I had set off on this journey. In a letter my mother wrote, People consider that we must be continually anxious about our adventurous daughter. This certainly would be the case if it were not for Prayer. The bible gives no assurance of protection from physical harm. However, in Romans 8:28 we found a lead—so that we continually pray that Joy will reveal His grace, power and love. - Article compiled by Doreen vd Merwe in consultation with Joy Smith
One Wedding and an Ordination...
Jessica McCarter (above) at her Ordination to the Priesthood at St Augustine’s Church, Thaba ’Nchu on Sunday, 7 December. Two weeks later, Kate (daughter of Jicky and Ed) married Rob Obree. Bridesmaids below...
February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
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Da End is Near ! Stepping into a New Year
Sean is the vicar of a Church of England parish on the border of Northern and Southern Ireland and Patrick is the priest at the Roman Catholic Church across the road. One day they are seen together, erecting a sign which says, THE END IS NEAR. TURN YOURSELF AROUND NOW. BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out his window and yells, Leave people alone, you religious nutters. We don't need your lectures. From around the next curve they hear screeching tyres and a big splash. Shaking his head, Father Patrick says, Dat's da terd one dis mornin'. Yaa, Sean agrees, then adds, Do ya tink maybe da sign should just say BRIDGE CLOSED? - Origin unknown, sent in by Belle Divaris
I was reflecting on how stepping into a new year reminded me of some of the houses I have lived in before and after marriage, which had walk-in pantries, remember them? Well, stepping into a new year is like walking into one of those pantries: a narrow, oblong room with a window at the end for light; there are all kinds of food goodies packed on the shelves—tins of this and that, home-cooked bottles of preserves, packets of tea and coffee and you name it. Also, cleaning materials, vegetable racks with potatoes and onions and perhaps the odd pumpkin; flour and sugar in large old Baker’s Biscuit tins with hinged lids, a white enamelled metal bread bin with the word Bread painted in black. One year there was a carton of Golden Delicious apples straight from the farm. Lovely. Yes, all kinds of good things, and on the top shelves, out of reach of the children were the not so nice things like Jeyes fluid and Scrubbs ammonia. Opening the door into a new year is similar. There will be the good and the not so good things we will ‘taste’, see and experience, but always there will be light just ahead of us. The light of Jesus as we step into each day. How blessed we are! And how comforting because He says, I will never leave you. And He never will. Hallelujah! I offer in closing, this prayer by M Louise Haskins from ‘The Desert’: ‘I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year: Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied: Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ I pray that you will feel the warmth and comfort of God’s hand in yours all through 2015, and may He fill your life with His special Blessings throughout the year. - Wendy Gunn
Orphaned Grandparents ? Kids and grandchildren living overseas? Let’s meet at my home. Phone: Brenda Phillips (h) 021-762-5514 or leave message
Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25 Editorial Team Tel.
February 2015 Eight O’Clock News
Ev Els
021 696 0336 emichael@iafrica.com
Cheryl Anderson
083 272 1530 canderson@beckman.com