UMC blog


  • All together Nov 18, 2018

    This last Sunday we were all together in one service (incorporating our annual society meeting) and had a chance to look back on 2018 and share some of our plans for 2019. Here are some of the highlights if you missed out:

    • Three of our society stewards come to the end of their terms this year - Kelan, Kenny and Paddy complete their time as stewards and we confirmed the appointment of Karien Nell and Sue Wills. Our stewards in 2019 will be Ant Tibbit (Worship), Marcia Moodie (Children and Youth), Pieter Stoltz (Finance and Admin), Karien Nell (Care and Community-building) and Sue Wills (Mission)...

  • A pool of tears Nov 11, 2018

    The founding pastor of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, Rev Gordon Cosby, said once that we must “always remember that each person you see … sits next to his or her own pool of tears”.

    He’s right. The brave face we present to the world hides all sorts of brokenness and pain in our lives. Not to say that that is our whole story (we certainly also have our joys and our triumphs), but it’s definitely a significant part of the story and our behaviour, our fears, our words and our sense of self are all powerfully shaped by our particular pool of tears.

    Cosby says that ‘each’ person – every p...

  • What are you reading? Nov 05, 2018

    Part of our daily bedtime routine is to read with our children. Michael and I are very pleased that they have moved on from picture books about 'Spot the Dog' to books that we also enjoy reading. At the moment, Anna and I are reading a book called 'Mahlangeni'. It tells the (true) story of the family of a game ranger, who live in a very remote part of the northern part of the Kruger National Park. So far, they have been accosted by hippos in their boat (they have to park their vehicle on the opposite side of a hippo-infested river, and boat across to get to their home), charged by elephant...

  • A long obedience in the same direction Oct 29, 2018

    85 year old author and pastor Eugene Peterson died this week. You’ll know his translation of the Bible (The Message) and you may have read some of his books. He’s often been been described as a "pastor to pastors" because much of his written work addresses the pastoral vocation, but he’s worth reading no matter the shape of your vocation. Here’s a sprinkling of some of his words:

    • “Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.”
    • On Sabbath: “that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities ...

  • We belong Oct 21, 2018

    Hellen Keller said 'walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.' The real sadness is that, too often, we walk alone in the dark too. But when God created us, God created us in community, for community, knowing that it is not good for us to be alone. As an introvert, married to an introvert, I will always advocate for what we call in our family 'alone time'. But I have been reminded this week of what a gift community relationships are. What a gift friends are.

    This week saw the final session of the Griefshare course. The Griefshare Course takes participants thr...

  • Confession Oct 14, 2018

    This last week saw the appointment of yet another Minister of Finance in South Africa. It turns out that former minister Nhlanhla Nene, despite heroically resisting intense pressure to approve a nuclear deal that we couldn’t afford, has feet of clay. He admitted to having deceived the public about his inappropriate contact with the Gupta family and as a result, offered to resign. Journalist Stephen Grootes comments that “it may be remembered as the first time in our democratic history that a person resigned from the Cabinet for ethical reasons.”

    Disappointed though we may be by the actions of ...

  • Gifts and Talents Oct 08, 2018

    Welcome back to those of you who have been travelling to different parts of our country and the world. We recently spent some time in the Kruger National Park and on one occasion parked off and watched an elephant for a considerable length of time as he browsed contentedly not far from the car. The thing that struck us was how nimble and dexterous the end of his trunk was. At one stage he assisted his trunk with a little kick of the front foot which got the clump of grass into a more manageable position and then with the end of his trunk twisting and winding around and around he proceeded to p...

  • R-I-S-K Sep 30, 2018

    Two Fridays ago we were all invited by the UMC worship team to join them for an evening of worship and community time together under the stars. What a fantastic night it was – for a whole lot of reasons:

    the team had worked really hard in their creative planning and practising. They designed a worship event that engaged our minds, our imaginations, our voices and our bodies. We were helped to meet with God. And somehow they also succeeded in making the space safe and appropriate for all ages – no mean feat in itself!

    Someone commented afterwards that you could tell the evening went well, because...

  • Mission Week 2018 Sep 26, 2018

    Last week was UMC Mission week. The idea for mission week started in 2015, when a team from Faithbridge - a United Methodist Church in Texas – came to participate in some of our community projects here in Umhlali. We planned a wonderful week of community work with them, and someone from the congregation suggested that since people were willing to fly from the other side of the world to be part of what is happening here, that perhaps there were UMC people who might also like to join :) and so Mission Week was born!

    The next year, we planned UMC Mission Week, giving people from UMC a chance to s...

  • Snakes, Vipers, Serpents Sep 16, 2018

    There was some excitement during a recent Sunday 10am service. Yes, we were all pleased to see Kym back in the pulpit, but the excitement was from another source! A night adder was seen emerging from under the piano. How long had it been there? Joan, who plays the piano for the 8:30am service was quite traumatised hearing about this. She could so easily have stepped on or near it, as could others. Like many people, Joan has an aversion to snakes, but she also knows all too well what a nasty bite a night adder has after I was bitten some years ago.

    Snakes, vipers and serpents are often mentione...

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