URCSA SYNOD DAY SIX THE MODERAMEN ELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF. Message from the outgoing & incoming moderator. Outgoing.

Transcription

1 URCSA SYNOD Daily Newsletter of the #URCSAGS October DAY SIX THE MODERAMEN Message from the outgoing & incoming moderator Outgoing Incoming Message from the incoming Moderator ELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF

2 Opening Bible Study GS Experiences The morning devotion was done by the Namibian Regional Synod from Acts 5:27-32 and the message was If we understand what the heart of God is, than we must follow him in obedience. Being obedient to God and stand where God stands. Homosexuality Decision Rev. J.D.F. Scharneck (Deon) Cape Synod It is grace and privilege to be able to attend your church s general synod. Being my first time, I expected it to be filled with vigorous debate and a profound contribution to the country s state. Very quickly I realized this was not entirely the case. It was a laborious struggle to work through an agenda of a thousand pages. Yet within this struggle the 30th celebration of our unparalleled Confession of Belhar was to set the tone for the duration of the week. The call to truly embody Belhar 30 years after its acceptance made inroads with many of the delegates and the mood was said to have been better than previous General Synods. Though this is the case an opportunity was lost to give expression to the essence of our confession to give full status to our brothers and sisters of an alternative sexuality. My prayer is that we be courageous enough to be self-critical of our shortcomings and celebrate our progress wherever applicable. I confess, Jesus is Lord! The church discussed the issue in detail and different options were looked into, however the final decision is that: The dialogues will continue within URCSA with all the relevant stakeholders (congregations, presbyteries, regional synods, theological training centres, homosexual members etc.) and a final decision will be taken in the next General Synod sitting in Elder Ivy Nonhlanhla Myeni, from the KZN Synod, under the Vryheid Presbytery. I have seen the love of God and His church amongst the delegates. God s presence was there in all the discussions and deliberations. The eagerness of URCSA leaders to move the church forward although there are obstacles on the way, but they are determined to move forward. I have seen the unity, justice and reconciliation in obedience to Christ. I have seen the determination of URCSA to stand where the Lord is even if the world can be against that. Delegates are committed to the work of God and His people. There is also commitment to the Belhar Confession. URCSA is against racial discrimination and all forms of abuse. It was a great experience for me to be part of the 7th URCSA General Synod, I m more determined to work for God through my church, URCSA. I was also impressed by the presentation made by Dr Boesak on the Belhar Confession, and extremely touched by the presentation made by Proponent Bettie Wanza about deaf people. My recommendation to the GS is that women must be part of the 4 crucial positions in the General Synod

3 Fairwell Message from outgoing Moderator I, Mary-Anne Plaatjies-van Huffel, as outgoing moderator of URCSA will now introduce the newly elected executive to the podium. According to GS Regulation on procedure of meetings: The newly elected executive assume their responsibilities at the end of the meeting. The time to introduce the newly elected executive is therefore now. It had been a pleasure to work with the outgoing executive of the GS of the URCSA. Some of them with whom I worked approximately 16 years on General synodical level for example the reverend Betha, and I started served as actuari representing our respective regional synods on the SMJM of the GS in 2002 and later we served as assessor and I as moderator on the GS. Br. Betha is indeed is a Israelite in whom there is no deceit ( 1 John 4:47) Thanks br Betha for your friendship. Prof Leepo Modise, somebody who stand firm in his believes thanks for your unwavering support to me during recess... Thanks be to Reverend Collin Goeiman for his loyalty and Rev Dr Dawid Kuyler, you worked as scribe during the recess with all your heart, as if working for the Lord, and thanks be to God for your work ethic. (Colossians 2:23-24) I hereby want to express my heartfelt gratitude for friendship, your high level of commitment to execute the decisions of the GS, deep theological reflections on social justice issues in church and society andchurch reunification,, team work in drafting reports and developing the Strategic plan and in our unified front in our deliberations with the DRC on church reunification. I exit these synodical chambers and the GS structures a much richer person than I entered 16 years ago. You were more than willing to be pour out as a drinking offer in the service of our Lord in serving his church, knowing that your reward is in heaven (Phil 2:17). May the good Lord bless you. As outgoing moderator I want to thanks GS for the trust you conveyed in 2012 GS in Okandaja for electing me as first female the moderator of URCSA Three thing will I always cherise which I would not been able to achieve without you entrusting leadership of URCSA to me a. I as moderator of URC- SA had been bestowed the honour to conduct the evening prayers at the house of the late president Nelson Mandela in order to minister to the bereaved Mandela family in 2013 in his house in Houghton and me and My husband could also on behalf of URCSA attended his funeral in Quna. Without being the moderator of URCSA this honour would never been bestowed on me b. I had the opportunity as spoke person of URC- SA to draft numerous press statements during the recess. The one on Xenophobia and aphrophobia had been published in German booklet on the Belhar Confession during c. Lastly I had been elected as president of the WCC ( ) on my first ever meeting to represent URCSA at the General Assembly of the WCC in Busan May you as newly elected moderamen always keep in mind that the Synod/GSC/ church reunification talks is neither a convention, nor a parlor, nor a parliament or senate, where people make deals and reach compromises. The Synod/GSC is rather an Ecclesial expression. The Synod/GSC is a protected space in which the Church experiences the action of the Holy Spirit ( Pope Francis), It should be never about us. I hereby call to the fore the following as the newly elected executive of URCSA. May Jesus the one and only Head of the church grant you wisdom, humility, to walk with God, to embody our confessional basis (especially the Belhar Confession) and to speak truth to power. My Scripture reading to you for your tenure as executive of URCSA is May God increase and you decrease (Joh 3:30). Moderator General Synod: Prof Leepo Modise, Assesor: Motlawentla Godfrey Betha, Scribe: William Julius. Actuarius: Davis Peter Carelse, Additional members: Reverend Fokasa, Reverend Thamsanqa Eddy Ngema and Prof Christina Landman Blessing to you all.

4 URCSA General Synod Moderamen (from left - right): Rev. WJ Julius (Scribe), Rev. DP Carelse (Actuarias), Prof. Rev. LJ Modise (Moderator), Rev. MG Betha (Assessor), Prof. Rev C Landman (Add member), Rev. LP Fokase (Add member), and Rev. TE Ngema (Add member)

5 Message from incoming Moderator I, Prof. Rev. Leepo Modise would like to thank God for the strength and wisdom he has given me to guide and provide advices to his Church for the past four years as the General Synod Actuarius. I would like to thank everybody, would God has used to recognise his calling to me, to serve his calling at this level, I avail myself as a humble servant of the Lord to facilitated the implementation of the 12 articles of the Church Order and the strategic plan that this synod has approved. The road to unity, reconciliation and justice in obedience to God is levelled. My strengthen and secret is in Scriptures, confessions, tradition and the Church Order, with these in my hands I will facilitated the edification of this church. Since I was announced as the newly elected moderator, I have sit in this synod silent listening to God, delegates and the physical-organic environment. I hear God said through Belhar confession saying I am the Triune God, who is standing on your side, the delegates saying Jesus is the Lord He will lead his church as the head of the Church through his Spirit utilising people like us, and the physical organic environment cry out to this church to preserve and conserve the nature. Gutierrez (1988:172) argues that, it is rather because of the love for and solidarity with others who suffer in poverty. It is to redeem them from their sins and to enrich them with his poverty. It is to struggle against human selfishness and everything that divides persons and allows that there 1sed. The church of Belhar confession needs to stand where God stands with the poor and wronged, this act of confessing that Jesus is the Lord should be seen in Uniting Reformed Church as a caring community for the poor, oppressed, destitute and the downtrodden. THE MOVEMENT FROM CHURCH TO KINGDOM OF GOD APPROACH Hans Kung in his book The Church he emphasised that, Christ preached the kingdom and his followers created the church. The kingdom of God is not confined within the limits of the Church and its activities (Rauschenbusch, 2012). If the Church abides by the spirit of Jesus, there is room in her for every form of Christian piety, even for that which claims unrestricted feed. The church must come out of its stagnation. Christians must move out again into the open air of intellectual discussion with the world and risk saying controversial things, if they are to get down to the serious problems of life, it is important to take note that the church exists in and for the world. Rauschenbusch (2012:166) indicates that: But the kingdom was a merely a hope, the church a present reality. The chief interest and affection flowed toward the church. Soon, through a combination of causes, the name and the idea of the kingdom began to be displaced by the name and the idea of the church (Churchism) in the preaching, literature, and theological thought of the church. Augustine completed this process in his De Civitate Dei. The kingdom of God, which has, throughout human history, opposed the kingdom of sin, is today embodied in the Church. Rauschenbusch (2012:166) postulates the following consequences that affect the theology of the Kingdom of God and create Churchism. Theology lost its contact with the synoptic thought of Jesus. Its problems were not at all the same which had occupied his mind. It lost point of view and became to some extent incapable of understanding him. Traditional theology and the mind of Jesus Christ became incommensurable quantities. It claimed to regard his revelation and the substance of his thought as divine, and yet did not learn to think like him. The distinctive ethical principles of Jesus were the direct outgrowth of his conception of the Kingdom of God. When the latter disappeared from theology, the former disappear from ethics. Only persons having the substance of the Kingdom ideal in their minds, seem to be able to get relish out of the ethics of Jesus. Only these church bodies which have been in opposition in the heaven, have taken the sermon on the Mount seriously. The church is primarily a fellowship for worship; the Kingdom is a fellowship of righteousness. When the latter was neglected in theology, the ethical force of Christianity was weakened; when the former was emphasized in theology, the importance of worship was exaggerated. The prophets and Jesus had cried down sacrifices and ceremonial performances, and cried up righteousness, mercy, solidarity. Theology now reversed this, and by its theoretical discussions did its best to stimulate sacramental actions and priestly importance. Thus the righteous energy and enthusiasm which might have saved humankind from its great sins, were used up in hearing and endowing masses, or in maintaining competitive church organizations, while humankind is still stuck in the mud. There are nations in which the ethical condition of the masses is the reverse of the frequency of the masses in the churches. When the Kingdom ceased to be the dominating religious reality, the Church moved up into the position of the supreme good. To promote the power of the Church and its control over all rival political forces was equivalent to promoting the supreme ends of Christianity. This increased the arrogance of churchmen (women) and took the moral check off their policies. For the Kingdom of God can never be promoted by lies, craft, crime, or war, but the wealth and power of the Church have often been promoted by these means. The Kingdom ideal is the test and corrective of the influence of the Church. When the Kingdom ideal disappeared, the conscience of the Church was muffled The practical undertakings of the church remained within narrow lines, and the theological thought of the Church was necessarily confined in a similar way. The claims of the Church were allowed to stand in the theology with no conditions and obligations to test and balance them. If the Kingdom had stood as the purpose for which the church exists, the church could not have fallen into such corruption and sloth. The theology bears part of the guilt for the pride,

6 the greed, and the ambition of the Church. The kingdom ideal contains the revolutionary force of Christianity. When this ideal faded out of the systematic thought of the Church, it became a conservative social influence and increased the weight of the other stationary forces in society. If the Kingdom of God had remained part of the theological and Christian consciousness, the church could not, down to our times, have been salaried by autocratic class governments to keep the democratic and economic impulses the people under check. Secular life is belittled as compared with church life. Services rendered to the Church get a higher religious rating than services rendered to the community. Thus, religious value is taken out of the activities of the common man and the prophetic services to society. Whenever the Kingdom of God is a living reality in Christian thought, any advance of social righteousness is seen as a part of the redemption and arouses inward joy and the triumphant sense of salvation. When the church absorbs interest, a subtle asceticism creeps back into our theology and the world looks different. When the doctrine of the Kingdom of God is lacking in theology, the salvation of the individual is seen in its relation to the Church and the future life, but not in its relation to the task of saving the social order. Theology has left this important point in a condition so hazy and muddled that it has taken us almost a generation to see that salvation of the individual and the redemption of the social order are closely related, and how Rauschenbusch (2012: ). The above consequences are the historical effects which the loss of the doctrine of the kingdom of God has inflicted on theology. These effects can be seen as the reality in URC- SA and the entire church. One might say the loss of the doctrine of the Kingdom of God in the Church in URCSA. CRITICAL ISSUE FOR URCSA IN OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST The issue of homosexuality is a very serious and critical for this church, due to its identity which is enshrined in this church s confession of Belhar. This issue is the issue that has last many years in other denominations and tradition. It has been very difficult for many denominations to take a decision on this issue. URCSA as a young denomination of only 22 years old has achieved to take a stance from the following synods, the 4th synod in Pietermaritzburg, 5th Synod Hammanskraal (Re-affirming the decision of the 4th synod), 6th Synod in Okahanja (Re-affirming the decision of the 4th synod). What is interesting it is the shift of attitude towards the topic of Homosexuality. Rev Peter Grove the moderator of the Cape Synod in his presentation he mention the four approaches which I think will be very helpful to the entire church to understand the movement and shift of mindset and attitude in handling this issue. These approaches are as follows: Change Approach One sees homosexual orientation as a disorder that could be changed by God s grace. This was the view of most of the delegates in Pietermaritzburg during the discussion in session and outside session. When the URCSA left the 4th synod there was a shift of mind-set and attitude towards homosexuality. We adopted the tolerate approach through the policy adopt at that synod (Decision 90). Tolerate approach A second approach is prepared to tolerate same-sex relationships that exclude genital expression. Limit approach A third approach is that committed homosexual relationships fall of the biblical norm but are to be preferred to short-lived and promiscuous relationships. Acceptance approach A fourth approach proposed that the church accepts and supports monogamous samesex relationships and allow practicing people of homosexual orientation to be ordained. Throughout the deliberation on homosexual people in URC- SA, it was evident that the attitude has change based on the discussion and the spirit that prevail during discussion on Friday the 07 October. The position the church has taken is the process position. There were members who have asked to be recorded in minority, this can be seen as a weakness to the church and the public, but I see it as strengthen that URCSA must maximised it to achieve a positive results in the 8th General synod that will be in the Cape Synod. All members who has requested their names be recorded in minority need to be agents of changes, in driving this process that lead us to the total acceptance of homosexual people. They must do this in obedience to Christ, because Belhar confession is a call to justice as at the heart of costly discipleship. That God (the God of Jesus of Nazareth, not the false god that blesses slavery, apartheid, genocide, exclusion, and oppression), is a God of Justice, and that God calls the church to follow God in this. That the church must therefore stand by all people (Boesak, 2016). In order to correct all injustices, restorative justice is a need within the church and society. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE S PILLARS If we are really serious about the theme of this synod as the vision for the future one need to take the five Rs that are the pillars of Restorative justice into consideration, the following are very important: Facing reality: this is the first step on the road to freedom, and is where the cost of restoration begins. Accepting responsibility: while facing reality acknowledges the truth of a situation, accepting responsibility goes a step further in recognising that a personal response is required. Expressing repentance: accepting personal responsibility for the consequences of one s actions leads to an expression of repentance. This constitutes sorrow and sincere regret for the actions a realisation that the actions were wrongful and should not have occurred. The usual way in which this is done is by making an apology to the person who has been wronged, and by asking forgiveness from the supernatural being that the offender relates to. Knowing reconciliation: being willing to face the full force of wrongfulness, and refusing to take refuge in excuses or rationalizations make it possible to know reconciliation with the person who has been wronged. While there is no guarantee that the person who has been wronged will be willing or able to offer reconciliation, full reconciliation is not possible if the wrongfulness has not been faced. Making restitution: this is a practical way of facing the consequences of behaviour. It is a way of demonstrating the credibility of the words that were expressed when making an apology and of expressing thankfulness for reconciliation. I will do everything in God who give me strengthen.

7 GALA DINNER GALA DINNER

8 GALA DINNER