A long way travelled…A long way to go?

After several days of fascinating but draining visits and meetings, I was really glad today to find that this would be a day with a slower pace.  Father Sydney was cooking a “special guest” breakfast – bacon, scrambled egg and tomato… with strong coffee - followed by condensed milk on bread! (this “pudding” was my choice, but it was available and delicious.

There is a pattern to hospitality here, give the guest the very best you can.  This is incredibly generous, especially when “giving the best you can,” can be quite costly .  Revd Sydney and his wife Trudi have welcomed me into their home with open arms and I am really grateful to them – even if my Afrikaans is only good enough to say “Bier Danke” (thank you) in a weird accent.  Fortunatley Sydney speaks good English, so my blushes are spared.

Revd Sydney took me to some of the museums in Potchefstroom which were house of some of the early Dutch settlers which had been preserved for visitors to view.  It was very much like National Trust, except that there was no suggestion that you should not touch things.  It seemed strange walking though rooms which early settlers from Europe had lived in, knowing that between their lives and mine the people in the country had been through great turmoil.

One photo showed the team of people which had undertaken the translation of the Bible into Afrikaans.  They were clearly sincere and serious about the job.  But the Bible they had translated, was used by others to justify some evil and unjust laws and actions.  It was a sobering thought, that having a Bible in our language does not mean that we will “get it right”.  Humility is called for.

Conversations with Sydney are always stimulating… we ended up talking about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up by the new South African government after 1994.  It’s purpose was to do as its name suggests and in the process allow forgiveness to become possible and reduce reprisals.  He told me how on the nightly news at the time, new and horrific revelations would be told- he and others would sit with tears running down their face, wondering at how humans could do such things.  “But,” he continues, “that is what is so great about being a Christian, you can forgive!”

Wayne, Rosemarie, Chenning and Megan with Father Sydney

Later in the day we are invited to visit the home of his churchwarden for tea (which turned out to be a meal, not just a drink…. Again “giving the best you can”)  Wayne is the church warden of St Michael’s Promosa, and is married to Rosemarie.  They have two children Chenning (10) and Megan (9)  Both parents work and they live but live in a nearby suburb, having moved to the area from Port Elizabeth.  Nothing unusual there… true, but Wayne is white and Rosemarie is black- not that they bother about it. And a more normal family you could not wish to meet.  They are showing a new way of possibility in  South Africa.

We talk freely about our two countries… I mention the strong sense of community life and openness in South Africa as compared to many parts of the UK…. Wayne comments, “South Africa has its problems, but we know how to love”  

Seeing this family and relaxing in the generosity of their welcome, you can’t help feeling that South Africa has come a long way already.  A police car makes a routine patrol past the house while we eat … and I am reminded that it has a long way to go too.

For us in the UK, changes in our society are more subtle and often more difficult to notice than big things like a new set of social laws and norms, as in South Africa.  But this can mean that they can “slip under the radar”.  One of the gifts of coming here, is to be able to see my own culture from a different standpoint.  From here, Britain seems a bit commercially cut throat, and high on individualism- we are more likely to think about “me and I” than “us and we”. 

Maybe I’m not thinking straight-maybe I’m remembering only the good here… (reminding myself that I had earlier seen some boys around age 10 sniffing glue by the town centre park)- Maybe I’m finding fault with both cultures…  But perhaps a helpful question to ask is, “What sort of society do we want to see in our nation?”  We will then have an idea of what we may need to do to move towards it.  For the Christian, this has to include the values of the Kingdom of God as taught and lived (& died)  by Jesus.   

We have a long way to go, but we have been shown the way.

Richard