God screamed to me all the way from the USA!!

Yes, indeed God does still speak to us! Today proved to be a particularly challenging one for me - what with almost impossibly tight deadlines ahead of this year's Good Friday service, (of no small feat organising these, with 3000 participants and the silent street procession), and just as I was settling down to my first cup of coffee at about 2pm, alarm bells rang.

Working through a media interview, Pastor Dube launched a scathing attack on Bishop Tutu and on Diakonia Council of Churches - and by implication the SACC too. His various claims ranged from accusing both of inciting hate speech and violence, to being divisive and counter revolutionary in both their spoken and unspoken words. Does this seem possible? Wait...

...it gets better! He then suggested that, "before its too late", the Bishop should beg Jacob Zuma's forgiveness, and he should restrict himself to preaching about love and the likes. Finally he called on Diakonia to "come clean" and to distance itself from the sentiments of Archbishop Tutu. (The importance of Diakonia's ongoing commitment to providing platforms for every spectrum of society to contribute to the transformation of society can never be underestimated. If we lose this we, the nation, lose our democracy once and for all.)

The group calls themselves the KZN ANC Relgious Leaders Commission - and they remind me so graphically of those same old apartheid voices who decried every other church for speaking truth to power on issues of justice. The state church supported to the hilt the policies of that regime, even providing it with a theology of its own to sustain and condone its practices. And it was this same blind belief which led a nation of people for decades, whilst subjecting millions of others to the ravages of poverty, poor education, almost zero service provision and a myriad of other social ills. For this blindness proved comfortable, proved familiar and proved a safe haven for those who themselves had bitten of the corruption apple.

The advice offered by this group goes to Bishop Tutu - to never use the public domain, including media conferences, to say anything inflammatory about Mr Zuma - rather seek a private audience with the President (sic). Clearly this same advice doesn't apply to Pastor Dube I notice, who had made no attempt to engage with either of the parties who were now in his firing line.

Could it be that Pastor Dube is aspiring to a space or two above his 58th position on the ANC party list? Or could it be that Pastor Dube is adapting his theology to support the new regime? Of course, it could also just be, and I quote the Arch himself: "What a tremendous relief it is to realise... we don't need to prove ourselves to God!"

By now Im sure you're wondering where the title of my blog is going? Well, here it is. I subscribe to Sojourner's daily 'verse and voice' - a great social justice organisation based in Washington, USA. And today's verse arrives just now: "One night the Lord said to Paul in a dream: "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no-one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many people in this city who are my people." And the quote for the day? Well, its the very quote I have used in the last paragraph - that one from the Arch himself. Indeed God had used the voice of the internet to speak comfort and reassurance and His presence into this moment.

Please pray that the church should never again be obliged to give its unquestioned support to the government, that the church would always remain non-partisan if it is to remain relevant to the mission of Christ! The church's engagement with the ANC found its goal in 1994, when it became the governing party. (Others like to use the word "ruling" - suggesting that servant leadership is a long forgotten prerequisite to respected and truly successful leadership.)

Of course, these glasses are really misted over today - my temperature rose more than once and crying always tends to mist things over too. So these glasses are very tinted today. For it has been a silly and sad day, all in one.