SOULGARDENER
My nephew Tom is someone I admire a lot - he’s deeply Christian, an ordained minister who left the formal churches some time ago and he wrote the following about this decision on his blog which I edited slightly otherwise it reads out of context;
“ Since coming back to South Africa in 2003 I have experienced God’s gentle nudge to what I describe(d) as my “continued conversion to South Africa”; a journey of conversion from ‘just’ being a rich, white Afrikaner to becoming a follower of Jesus in South Africa with other South Africans.
More than ever I feel that this calling leads us to being part of a multi-ethnic community that is a reflection of South African culture. Contributing to places and ways where the “deep embodied reconciliation” can be explored.
- We feel it would be best that when Claypot [The Church where he was Pastor] merges into a multicultural community, the community is not lead by the stereotypical white male but by a multicultural community of leaders of both genders.
- We dream of a community where the tithes/offerings of the community can be used for the poor and not to indirectly bless us by paying someone who can perform Christian services for us (notably by receiving a teaching on a Sunday).
- We are convinced that my teaching gift has been exercised in a way that doesn’t allow for the other gifts of the community to be exercised; therefore I am rethinking how to faithfully use the gifts God gave me. This is also stirring others to ask the same questions about their gifts.
Since 2003 I have struggled with the concept of being a paid full-time minister; I feel I now have the grace and courage to follow through on my personal sense of calling and direction and to struggle further into an answer.”
http://www.soulgardeners.com/2010/04/our-resignation-and-the-future.html
I admire his courage to push the boundaries of his faith by leaving his comfort zone devoting his life to reconciliation within a broken and scarred society. Tom had a heart-attack two day ago. At the age of 35 he needed a triple heart-bypass with a long road of recovery ahead.
It's one of life’s great mysteries that a relatively young and relatively fit young man who tweeted on 25 February “ran my first 10km in a looong while #gettingfitslowlybutsurely” (my reply was that I'm sorry to hear he can't afford petrol) lands up in hospital a couple of days later with a nearly fatal heart-attack.
We are a small family, Tom is the eldest son of my older brother (who is my only sibling )- our parents are long dead. We are now the elders - what a scary thought. Tom’s illness has shook me to the core, more than I thought possible. My prayers, to the God of My Understanding is with him, his wife and two kids as well as to my brother and sister-in-law who is struggling with her own health.
We’re both U2 fans and both attended their concert in February - here‘s his thoughts about U2 and taken from his blog which was the last post he wrote before he was hospitalized.
He’s a great writer and I like reading his posts - It’s the thoughts of a highly intelligent and devout Christian who lives his faith by example
http://www.soulgardeners.com/
U2 AND THE ART OF SUBVERSION
I didn’t know the word subversive when I moved to the United States. One of my friends/mentors introduced me to the word. Subversives intend to destabilize in a manner that is not a head-on collision. It is like the scattering of seed or the telling of parables, instead of planting a full grown plant one buries a seed under the ground. This seed has within itself the slow momentum of change or subversion. Sub = “from below” + vertere = “to turn”.
The person who taught me this has a link with the subverters I saw in action last night. Last night’s U2 concert was a classic example of the planting of seeds and subverting. As one hundred thousand people rocked to the singing, dancing and amazing visuals from one of the most successful bands of all time the potential of turning from below was released. Friends who have been to U2 concerts have told me that it is a spiritual experience. They weren’t wrong.
U2 masterfully weaved themes of humanity, love and freedom into the concert. A part of Mandela’s freedom speech was shown, Hugh Masekela performed as a guest artist and there was a message from Desmond Tutu. During Sunday bloody Sunday images of the Egyptian revolt was shown. There were also mentions of the AIDS pandemic and political prisoners and the band’s work with amnesty international.
The moment that blew me away was when the band introduced the famous song, “where the streets have no names” with a rendition of “Amazing grace”. Thousands of people were singing, jumping and crying together.
It is this capability of weaving that makes U2 one of the most subversive bands around. It felt like a worship experience … but better. Better in the sense that the weaving went beyond singing songs to God in the “Jesus-is-my-boyfriend” fashion. It was a singing that moved beyond individualism towards something bigger, or someone better. It moved between individual and community into the dark allies of issues needing justice.
Three of the four band members are Christians. At an early part of their career, which started in 1978, someone in their church had a prophecy that they should stop the band. When the band returned from a successful tour to their fellowship,
“ … which at that time they craved and thrived upon, they were looking forward to the support of their spiritual family. Instead, they entered a tense situation where the fellowship was split over whether God wanted U2 to carry on or pack up their instruments”. [Walk on: The spiritual journey of U2 p.28]
They decided to keep on playing and applied themselves towards something bigger than the Christian ghetto. In Bono’s own words,
It was hard to leave, but we didn’t understand we were kind of shunned. There was a moment where myself and Edge sat around and we thought: ‘Well, maybe we should knock this group on the head. Maybe it is frivolous, maybe these people are right, maybe this is just bullocks, this being in a band, and maybe just ego, and maybe we should put it behind us and just get to the real work of tring to change our own lives, and just get out into the world. There’s much to do there.’ For a couple of weeks, we were at that place. Then we came to a realization: ‘Hold on a second. Where are these gifts coming from? This is how we worship God, even though we don’t write religious songs, because we didn’t feel God needs the advertising.’ In fact, we ended up at a place where we thought: ‘The music isn’t bullocks. This kind of fundamentalism is what’s bullocks’. [Bono on Bono p.148-149]
It was this break with fundamentalism that moved them into the finer art and subtleties of subversion. This same fundamentalism was the reason why I only discovered the band in the late nineties. Before then I wasn’t allowed to listen to them because it was not Christian music.
As I mentioned three of the four are Christians. Adam is not and having him in the band is one of the reasons why I think they are subversive. In the words of Stockman, “Having a sceptic so close to their sense of vocation forced the band members to apply their faith to wider issues than if they had been a naive, homogeneous bunch of believers.” p.32
Now back to my friend who taught me about being subversive. One day he got a phone call from Bono’s camp, you can read more about it here.
http://www.soulgardeners.com/2011/02/u2-and-the-art-of-subversion.html
Get well Tom, get well soon, there’s a lot to do and you have an important role to play in the healing of this country.
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