goodbye...

Cheers; goodbye; totsiens; salani kahle; tschuss; auf wiedersehen; toodles...I'm off!
(well, for 2 weeks at least)
Goodbye then, hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a special New Years.

I've got my camera (bought it today!), still trying to pack, had an early Christmas celebration with my housemates, finished 2 of my papers for school, got loads of reading and a wanderlust spirit! New Mexico here I come!

I fly tomorrow for Albuquerque, New Mexico for a little adventure by myself. I'll be chilling with the monks of Christ in the Desert monastery for 10 days, then a bit of exploring in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, a conference with Richard Rohr to see 2007 in in style, and then i make my way back to Georgia for the January term.
So... until then, make friends with each other, socialise, chat etc - I'll get the blogging back up around Jan 4th. See you when I'm back!

Breathe and Smile

(ancient Christian meditation)

the gospel according to ... LEGO!

(again - some random reading because i won't be posting for a while)

Here is a great site that shows just how foreign some of the Bible can seem. The Bible in Lego! It is really funny! The section on the Law makes me shudder, and shows how foreign some of it seems. Do we still read all of it, and believe all of it? Is the bible really all true? If so, why don't we still listen to it (and do the crazy things it says). Really crazy things!

John 19:16-17, Luke 23:32
So they took Jesus and, carrying his own cross, he went out to the place called the Place of the Skull. Two other criminals were also led away to be executed with him.

Other cool websites: there are some very clever T-shirt sites around too. The beauty of being in the States is that i can actually order and get shirts delivered! Have a look at these sites, and hey, if you want a T, get them to mail it to me, and I'll ship it over:
Threadless Tees
Glarkware
Random shirts

The Lunch Diaries... 1,2 & 3

When I worked at Randpark Ridge United, the highlight of my first 3 months there was having coffee with one of my youth leaders. Inspired by that memory, and to get the most out of my time here, I have been having some lunches/coffees/chats with interesting people here too.
Here then are the up-to-date Lunch Diaries Of Gareth Beyers:

Lunch 3: Chris Henry (student) - Tues 12 Dec
(Pic: Chris, Elizabeth & Kendall camping outside Chic-Fil-A in 2005)
We'd been trying to get in touch for ages, and finally scheduled an appointment during exam week (yesterday). Chris showed me a neat sushi place, and we spoke for an hour and a bit, before having to get back to write papers. He has interesting connections to Maake Masango, and would like to come to SA sometime. At Duke he got to know Peter Storey very well. Chris enjoys Hauerwas' virtue ethic, works at a homeless shelter twice a week, likes Paul's apocalyptic, and is rather clever. His explanation for why the Presby church here is dwindling: Presby's have fewer kids (and those that aren't born aren't retained well in the church). We will chat again next semester.

Lunch 2: David Bartlett (Professor) - 28 Nov
This was one of the best days that I'd had here so far. David has a great beard, a quick sense of humour and a great laugh! He was very gracious in wanting to hear my story, and in sharing his. He is a NT prof, though lectured Homiletics at Yale where he was for many years. We spoke about pivotal moments in his life, the CTS community and its atmosphere, honest struggles with faith, and balancing ministry and teaching as callings. He asked if I was a firstborn, and he thinks that there is a strong link between firstborn kids and calling to ministry. He is also very good friends with big name theologians like Wayne Meeks and Miroslav Volf, though he tries not to name drop;)

Lunch 1: Greg Simms (student) - 11 Nov
Greg had been making some very interesting remarks in my Jesus & the NT class, so I told him I'd be interested to chat to him. He thought the same of me too! We met for a breakfast on a Saturday in Decatur. Greg is married to Gina and they have just fallen pregnant with their first child! He worked in NGO organisations (helping resettle refugees) for a few years before meeting Gina and coming to CTS. He is a member of the Nazarene church, and working out where and how to take this degree. We spoke of church struggles, moving denominations, NGO opportunities, theology and married life. Greg thinks that the church needs to be involved in practical things on the ground, and not just 'spiritual matters'.

(Disclaimer - i have had many more meals than this, but often with groups, or with close friends, and they are rarely as theologically focussed as these are. Just in case my friends think they are not interesting enough;)

open-source software

I've been meaning to escape the expensive, monopolising clutches of Bill and his Microsoft world for some time now. Ever since Mark Shuttleworth brought out Ubuntu Linux, and Justin showed me how to use it, I've wanted to switch. My main reason is that it is free, something very viable in South Africa. Similar to John Kerry, I also like it simply because it isn't Windows (or Bush), and that you are encouraged to fiddle with the programming.I haven't achieved my dream in it's entirety, but i did switch internet browsers a few weeks ago. Goodbye Internet Explorer 7.0, hello Mozilla Firefox. So far it has been great. My blog even looks better through Mozilla than IE. So, if you want to try something new, download it here. Even if it is just to read this blog ;) The next baby step is to change email software, and then maybe make the jump to Open Office before I Linux.

friends

Maggie Leonard is a good friend of mine, who just so happens to have been giving me serious uphill about who and what I blog about. So, to appease her anger, and rescue our friendship, this post will have absolutely NO mention of Ultimate Frisbee, Frisbees, Flying discs, Atlanta Flying Disc Club, Jo'burg Ultimate or anything associated with that sport. The frisbee one. A sport she rather enjoys actually!
To show where my allegiance lies, and that i actually have a life and friends and stuff, this post will also have NO mention of 'silly Christmas lights in bottles', artistic flair, ambient lighting, photographs, the decor of my room etc. No mention whatsoever. Not even a little description of how the lights make cool shadows on the wall next to my bed, or give the room a pretty glow, or bring a smile to my heart when i turn them on. Not even a tiny footnote mention.
Instead - I will fill this post with recollections of the wonderful Christmas banquet we had at CTS on Friday, the game of Battleships at Thinking Man's afterwards, and the plans to go booty dancing this Friday. So, now that the ground rules have been set, here is the post:

Maggie Leonard is a wonderful person, who has a mom and a dad, and a brother and a sister. They all lived in Wilmington. Now she lives here. She is very good at putting petrol in her car, and drives around Atlanta in the 3am traffic very well. She was at this banquet on Friday. So was I, and all the CTS students, because it was the CTS Christmas banquet. There was dancing - mainly with Kendall (my date for the evening), and Maggie danced too. There were no frisbee games or cool christmas lights at the dance though. I'm sure of that. Afterward many students went to Thinking Man's tavern and drank Miller lite, and i played Battleships with Cathy (who i learnt actually prefers the name Catherine) and we beat Kendall and Kathy (another one). Then i spoke some to Csaba from Hungary, to Kyle (from California and Florida) and then I went home. To my room with a frisbee on the wall, and these cool light installations in a bottle that i can't mention. Oh, and we made plans to go dancing on Friday - not clubbing though, only booty dancing - it's different. The only similarity is that there are no frisbees involved. Though there may be christmas lights this time of year, and there certainly are bottles.

All in all, it was great fun, and neat to see everyone dressed up. And dancing and eating and being merry. So, this proves that i have a life and friends and do blog about things other than frisbee and lights. Tadaah!

(oh yes, for pics of the banquet, go here. Taken by resident photo champ Adam again.)

lights

I will be getting a camera this week - there's not a chance i'm going to New Mexico without one. Tonight however I borrowed Elizabeth's to get a pic of the 12 Days disc and tee-shirt (below). While i was clicking away, i remembered my 'light creations' by my bed. Some guy left a great big Vodka bottle here after a party, so i kept it, bought some christmas lights, and stuffed them inside (sans the liquid, obviously). I found another bottle later, got some more lights, and now my bedside table looks rather arty. They make great ambient lighting. I'm not really sure why i need that in my room, but it is pretty! Try this one at home yourself! I'm still thinking of ways to hang them from a light fitting.

12 Days of Ultimate

This weekend was the long awaited 12 Days of Christmas hat tournament, run by the Atlanta Flying Disc Club. The weather was perfect - two wonderful sunny days - I even got a bit of sunburn (in winter!) Everyone had told me that it was a great tournament, and guess what - they were right! 12 teams of 12 (that means 144 players if you weren't sure), four games on Saturday and the playoffs today. I was in team 2 - the green team. Our cry was "dos turtelos dovos" - someone thought that was 'two turtle doves' in Spanish. Our team was great and we had a good time. We lost our first 2 games, but then won the next 5 which put us in (dumdumdum) the FINAL! Yay! Most people were surprised that we got there, and to tell you the truth - so were we! Anyway, it was great to play with the sideline full of people hackling the players and cheering. We didn't stand much of a chance against the Aqua team, and lost 12:6 in the end, though not after some good playing. But I can say I played in the 12 Days final 06!

All in all, it was a great weekend. Laughs, food, new people and great Ultimate. I learnt quite a bit - really enjoying the depth and experience of players that Atlanta has. Now my legs get to rest for a month over the break, and then I will sign up for the Winter Goaltimate league (I'd never heard of Goaltimate before I arrived here, but everyone says it is great fun).

Oh yes- the best part of the weekend - apart from my hot green tee that i will wear everywhere, all the players got a disc too! Yes please!

Music!!!

YES! finally - some proper dance music!"Electronic dance music from South Africa and around the world."
DTB - (Derek The Bandit) is podcasting! I grew up listening to his "World of Dance" on 5fm, and i guess I owe my love of all things house/dance/electronic etc to him. Here hip-hop and booty dancing is all the rage, but there is still nothing better that real dance music (even though I get laughed at when i mention it). I've just downloaded his latest podcast (an hour long mix), and am dancing around the room gleefully! Hooray for our very own DTB!

More on music - just seen the Harris Tweed Tour details on the 5fm website. Have a look here, and make sure you see Cheri and the gang when they come to your part of the country. Looks like they are starting in CT and moving up the coast. Good-on-yer Tweedies!

I heart the Postmaster

That is something you don't hear too often - in the US or SA - but it is true, so I'll say it again! I heart the Postmaster. She/he has been especially good to me this past week: letters, drivers license, Christmas gift from South Africa and ... just yesterday:
A delivery of books to keep me busy over Christmas! Here they are:

Jurgen Moltmann: The Church in the Power of the Spirit
- a contribution to messianic ecclesiology

One of the primary texts for my thesis, some say the most important ecclesiological work of the 20th century.

Peter Berger: The Sacred Canopy

I already have A Rumour of Angels, and The Social Construction of Reality - all for my thesis. The Heretical Imperative is still on its way (wink, wink Postmaster).

Gordon Lathrop: Holy Things
- a liturgical theology

Required reading for my Winter course - Liturgical Theology - with Martha Moore-Keish. Looking forward to that class.

Richard Rohr: Everything Belongs
- the gift of contemplative prayer

One of the books to read for my New Year's conference with Rohr.

and finally:

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever you go, there you are
- mindfulness meditation in everyday life

A highly recommended book from our Men in Ministry class. Should complement Rohr's book well.


10 days of silence in a monastery is exactly what i need if i hope to finish these all on time.

christmas with the monks

Yay! I received this email today:

From: guestmaster@christdesert.us
Sent: 06 December 2006 12:54 PM
To: Gareth Beyers
Subject: Dec 18 - 28

Dear Gareth,

Thank you for the reservation and deposit information. We look forward to meeting you on the 18 of December. Be assured of our prayers.

Peace,
Br Andre
Guestmaster

Things seem to have been falling into place this week. My International Drivers Permit came in the mail, as did the registration confirmation from the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
With today's email, my Christmas plans are now finalised:
10 days of solitude and silence (and reading for my thesis) with the monks at Christ in the Desert monastery. And then a New Years conference with Richard Rohr in Albuquerque.

New Mexico here I come!

the thesis

Friday was the deadline for the thesis proposals to be in. I was almost swayed by Barry at the last minute to change the theologians - with good arguments - but chose to stick with my original focus. Here then is my Thesis title and statement:

Toward a new South African ecclesiology:
conversations with Moltmann and Berger.

In the changing and increasingly secular South African society, historically white mainline churches need to ask the question “how can we ‘be’ church in the new South Africa?” Within the wider mainline theological tradition, Jurgen Moltmann’s challenging rethinking of ecclesiology and Peter Berger’s secularisation thesis provide interesting conversation partners for sketching this new contextual ecclesiology.

You can read the two paragraph description and motivation over here. Any comments? Now to actually get it written. Next deadline is 4th Friday in January - finish all the reading.

men are back

This weekend's Men in Ministry manly mountain retreat was great! There was food, football, poker, hiking, sunsets, mountains, cigars, afternoon siestas, laughs, beer, friends and rest. I'm sure there were some other things that I've forgotten too. I learnt Texas hold'em poker, walked in a forest and built friendships. For some reason my nickname is now 'Happy'. I guess it's better than Nancy, Slappy or Squeaks. All in all, a wonderful break. Now back to the grind...

The last men standing:
Adam/nancy, G/happy, Keith/squeaks, James/tina, Jeff/slappy & Tom/moose.

Adam took some great pictures of the weekend, to see the album, click here. Look out for my poker skill picture, huge burgers, and a great sunset.
While you are there, you may want to actually explore his blog pomomusings - it is rather well known, especially in the emerging church/alt worship circles, and makes for good reading. He said there have been some South African hits on his site already. For even more reading, other bloggers on campus are his wife Sarah, and my friend Whitney. All worthwhile! Meet my friends!

biltong anyone?

Atlanta has just got a new South African restaurant!SAGA opened in Midtown last month. I'm not sure if i will go visit just yet, but it is nice to know the SA community is doing things. I actually heard about SAGA's chef from a Frisbee friend who lives in Midtown. The menu seems rather pricey, and not too South African actually. There is biltong and kingklip and a potjie of the day, but that is about it. Not even a melktert for dessert! Maybe I'll take some peeps over to try Amarula or a Springbok shot before we explore the nightlife of Midtown. Exploring Midtown really is something still to do - it is a great part of town, and the architect in me loves all the tall modern buildings.

Atlanta's original SA restaurant is 10degrees South. I went to look there on a Sunday. It was closed, but there was a Lamborghini and a Beemer parked outside. Pricey!
On more SA things, there is a store in town that sells Ouma Rusks, rooibos, koo, biltong, wines etc. If i feel home sick I'll pop in. So far I'm doing okay - coke, chocolate and microwave meals! yeah! ;)
There is also a jeweller/art gallery in Decatur whose owner is South African. She has been here 40 years, and still sounds foreign.
Proudly Seffrican!

boundary leadership

Here are some great quotes from the book Boundary Leadership by Gunderson that I had to read for Men in Ministry class on Thursday:

• becoming who you are is less like performing others tricks, and more like waking up
  
• all brokenness is connected
• discrimination is real, race is not (!!)
• 90% of everything is showing up
• boundary zones create leaders who are able to risk asking open-ended questions of the whole system, and then are able to imagine responses that are consistent with those answers
• who are these people drawn to where the future can be envisioned?

It was a neat little book, challenging me to unorthodox, non-conformist boundary leadership. His descriptions of 'boundary leaders' reminded me of people I've met in South Africa - special people doing faithful and innovative things. Hopefully I can hang around similar folks here and learn from them.

break the silence

Tomorrow is World Aids Day, but this post isn't about AIDS just yet
This silence is due to the fact that tomorrow is also Thesis Proposal Deadline Day - so that has been keeping me rather busy this last week. It is almost finished, so watch this space, I'll post it up soon. For now, to fill in the week's silence, here are some updates:
Thanksgiving was great - it was neat to get away from the seminary for a bit and just relax in Huntsville. I ate turkey, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie with baby marshmallows on top, cranberry sauce and a whole bunch more things that i can't remember. Thanksgiving is about eating! ... and shopping evidently! I went at FIVE in the morning on Friday to the Mall for the black Friday shopping experience. Crazy! I made sure to visit the Space and Rocket Centre, watch a Huntsville Havoc ice hockey game, and even eat barbecue, fried squash and turnip greens at a very Southern restaurant - with a live gospel/barber shop quartet! Fun times! Thank you to the Rasses.
Tuesday was one of my best days here yet, mainly because i went for lunch with one of my professors - David Bartlett. We went to the Brickstore Pub and had a sarmie and a beer. It was great to sit down and hear his story, and to share mine. I need to do more lunches like that! It was very inspiring and energising. I had a meeting with my advisor and managed to fine-tune my proposal, did some work in the library, and finished the day off by jumping on Anna Carter Florence's trampoline at night. What a wonderful day!
This weekend I'm off on my Men in Ministry Man Mountain retreat at at a retreat centre in the North Georgia mountains. Apparently there are bears there, but i'm sure confronting elephants and lions daily in Africa has prepared me well for these cute furry animals. Famous last words? We will have to see.
I have also signed up for a conference over New Years with Richard Rohr in Albuquerque. I'm still waiting to hear from the monks about my new Mexico monastery visit hopes.

Jesus is b(l)ack

(I actually had this experience a month ago, and even wrote a paper on "images of jesus" about it, but am only posting it now. It got lost for a bit. Now it is found)

I was reading an essay for class tomorrow, and had a bit of an epiphany! I realised why i haven't been 'liking' Jesus so much lately.
The essay was on African Christological terms (what titles Africans give to Christ). In Ghana, one of the names they call him is Nama which is chief/king/head of tribe. I thought that it was sad that people who have been freed from colonialism now choose themselves to make their 'super king' or 'head chief' the leader of the empire that suppressed them.
And then it hit me!
I was looking at Jesus through all the baggage of the church and Christendom (because he is the 'leader' of the church). I was picturing Jesus as a white, western, wealthy male, and it was sad to think of Africans with their wonderful heritages, gods and ancestors seemingly throwing it all away and making a 'coloniser' their king. They had just been emancipated from colonisation, and now were willingly re-colonising themselves - making a 'paleface' their head ancestor and chief.
I knew that Jesus wasn't white, yet i was looking at him as though he was a white Empire leader. i don't like Empires, much less their leaders. But Jesus was actually a wandering Arab mystic, and i really like Arab mystics (Rumi, Gibhran etc). So... Jesus was somewhat redeemed in my mind. He seems even stranger to me now, but more intriguing. Now that he has been cleared of the baggage of the church, i think we can be friends again!
Yay!

truth's last chance

Pilate asked Jesus 'what is truth?' and he got no answer. Who is able to say what is true or not? I was reminded on a comment on this blog that 'i am not God', so i am not able to. So who can? I have found some people who claim to have that power - the Wikipedia editors!

I'm a big fan of Wikipedia, but what happens to the entries that don't make the cut? That aren't 'true' enough? They get dumped! They are moved to the great big wikicememetry of the blogsphere. Luckily a few manage to survive and tell the tale. Here then are the Wikicemetry survivors: chilling out at the Wikipedia Knowledge Dump.

My favourite 'not true' entry is Kiwi!: (watch the YouTube here)
It's amazing what one will go to, to break the rules and pretend we can fly! According to the creator, the film has many similarites to the human condition. Do you believe him? The Wiki editors didn't. Off to the Wikidump with you!

bullet points

• The turkey tournament was great! I am really fortunate that I went - we had a great time. Won 3 of our 6 games, enjoyed it, and made great friends. There was a turkey shoot out on Sat night, a full thanksgiving dinner with loads of food, ultimate people, and a wonderful atmosphere. The 8 of us (and Marble the dog) shared a hotel room on Sat night!
• I wasn't the only active person this weekend - mat and graeme did the 94.7 Cycle challenge in Joburg on Sunday. They did 15okms training, shaved their legs, bought hot pants, and finished in under 4 hours! welldone!
• I guess Mat got the cycling skills - I managed to survive the frisbee weekend with only a few scrapes on my elbows, but then while cycling to class on monday I had an accident. My bike skidded out from under me, and i now have many more bruises! My bones are fine luckily, but my bike needs a bit of repair.
• I'm back in Huntsville again - this time for Thanksgiving. Staying at the Rass family until Sunday. Apparently Thanksgiving is about eating a LOT of food, and shopping at the sales on Friday. I can do that!
• A picture of the Wild Turkeys - what a team!:

l to r: Nat (Thailand), CB (computers, music - Atl), Jeannie (Captain), me, Diego (Columbia), Kevin (Decatur). Front: Sarah (aka Mom, via Britian), Laura (aka Wonderwoman), Marble (the dog).

shuffling G

I finally gave in and am now the proud new owner of a teeny-tiny music machine:

There aren't any Mugg&Beans, N1 traffic, Cinema Nouveaus or familiar skylines here to run to when i'm feeling displaced, so... i listen to music instead. The music i have here i brought from home, so it comes with comforting memories from South Africa. The support structures i associate with the songs help me feel more at home in this strange place.

Last night i lay listening to Damien Rice and it transported me back to winter mornings at Jono's house - 62 Sauvignon, Bromhof: the site of early morning squash games with Vaughn; Young Adult braais; fresh paninis with basil, mozarella and tomato; and my rocking chair in the afternoon sun.

The ipod shuffle is great! It is really small and holds 250 songs. The palylist i've filled it up with for now has:

Arno Carstens, The Avett Bros, Ben Folds Five, Collective Soul, Counting Crows, The Cranberries, Damien Rice, David Gray, Freshlyground, Jack Johnson, Jamie Cullum, Jose Gonzalez, Matt Allison, The Narrow, REM, Simphiwe Dana, Sufjan Stevens, U2, White Lie and Yann Tiersen.

Yay for music!

Turkey Tournament

I'm leaving in an hour for Huntsville, AL to play for Sequence (a local team) in the annual Turkey Tournament! It is a savage 8 co-ed format (only 8 people in the team, and the same 8 play all the games), so it should be a good test for me - i can't hide on the sidelines! Be prepared for moanings on Monday.

Huntsville buddies - pop in and say hi - we're at the John Hunt soccer complex.

the silence that disturbs us

I haven't been too disciplined with my devotional life here yet, but on the rare occasion that i do stop and read something, it is meaningful to me. Such were Thomas Merton's words this morning:

We talk of God when God has gone far from us. (We are far from God and God's nearness remains to accuse us!) We live as if God exists for our sakes, figuring that we exist for God. We use grace as it if were matter handed over to form according to our purpose. We use the truth of God as material for the fabrication of idols...
The truth is formed in silence and work and suffering - with which we become true. But we interfere with God's work by talking too much about ourselves - even telling God what we ought to do - avising God how to make us perfect and listening for God's voice to answer us with approval. We soon grow impatient and turn aside from the silence that disturbs us (the silence in which God's work can best be done), and we invent the answer and the approval which will never come.
The Journals of Thomas Merton - Nov 12 1952, III. 24

I changed some of his divine pronouns, and am not sure about the 'approval which never comes', but the rest really resonated with me. The talk about 'silence in which God works' made me excited about my possible Christmas plans - spending a week or two in a monastery (Christ in the Desert) or hermitage (Norbertine Community) in New Mexico. Those plans are still being organised. Watch this space!

true love?

News just in:

CAPE TOWN Tue, 14 Nov 2006
Same-sex marriage bill approved

Parliament on Tuesday approved the controversial Civil Unions Bill, which provides for same-sex marriage, the first African country to do so and one of only a few in the world.

I'm sure there are many raised voices, in both joy and anger in SA. Whatever your personal view on the issue, I think we should be proud that we have one of the most liberal constitutions in the world, to make sure we never go back to what we had when no-one was free. It is nice to know now that even the courts follow our constitution. There are other constitutional rights (like food, water, employment) that we should make a noise about too!

As to this noise, a fellow student said they want to live in South Africa now. African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe, however, said that with this bill Parliament would "cross the line" of God's patience with South Africa.

Does God's patience have an end? Why do we suppose to know which side God is or isn't on? I really enjoy this quote from a pastor's door:

God is not disillusioned with us,
God never had any illusions in the first place.

Good news indeed!

my hands are bananas

It's Friday night in Decatur, and a bunch of students are hanging out at our house. I think they are off to watch Stranger than Fiction later, but for now we are all decorating cookies. As light entertainment, we watched a few YouTube clips on Elizabeth's computer:

No 1. My hands are bananas
Really funny arb German music video - Criss you will love this. Beware the milky pirate! (just watched it again - it is rather disturbing actually - you have to love ze germans)

No 2. Charlie and the candy mountain.
"Candy mountain Charlie! Shun the non-believer."
I couldn't really see this, but it sounded funny (and disturbing again). I'll put it up here for the fun of it. Marc says he hated it the first time, but it is growing on him now. Sort of like Naploean Dynamite i guess.

Maybe my sense of humour has changed somewhat, and you are thinking - Gareth, are you crazy? I find them funny, though a bit wierd. Maybe i've been reading too much Terry Pratchett. The people here seem to enjoy them.
Now you can too!

take a risk

This came in an email today.

Sometimes I lie in bed and have to pinch myself (well, i don't really, but it is just something you say) as I think: Wow this is real! I am in America studying a Masters! It is something i wanted to do for ages and it amazingly happened. What a brave mouse I am. Studying further in a funny country.

I'm not too sure what I expected, but I seem to have acclimatised well. So, at other times i feel - Hey this is easy! Let me find something more challenging - what's next? Let's go to a two-thirds world country with challenges.

Then, i look at the bookmark i have with de Chardin's words on, and relax. Time to be present here, with the risks and easiness, and to wait and learn and to share. I'm trying.

~

~

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

Yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability and that may take a very long time.

.

And so I think it is with you.

Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow.

Let them shape themselves without undue haste.

Do not try to force them on as though you could be today

what time - that is to say, grace - and circumstances

acting on your own good will, will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new Spirit

gradually forming in you will be.

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

he Gareth for you

I saw this church sign on Oak Island last week when we were at the beach. I had to take a picture. It is 100% real - give or take a few pixels!

procrastinators are the leaders of tomorrow

As you may have seen (i hope), i spent a LOT of time fiddling around with the intricacies of Blogger Beta and editing pictures and changing fonts etc. It is great when it works, but a real fristration when it doesn't. I'm still having issues trying to comment on friends posts, but I seem to have a plan worked out.
Technology is great at keeping us entertained and in touch.

But - i found another very useful role it can play: procrastination accomplice! I skipped church to write a sermon due for today. I sat down to write and 4 hours later had nothing. What happened? The (dumdumdum...) internet (eeeeek) sucked me in and didn't let me go.
I read all the latest news on Ted Haggard's fall, Africa-China relations, updated my facebook, cleared out my email inbox, and made this site more user-friendly and appealing.
Constructive? I don't think my prof will buy that - so let me get to that sermon again!

The last king of Scotland

I've just returned from watching The Last King of Scotland - a movie about Idi Amin and his reign in Uganda.

Wow. It's movies and experiences like this that make me wonder if there is hope. I'm still trying to work out who to be angry at; why the richest continent is the poorest; and why Africa seems to be shackled and unable to stand?

It is a harrowing film - but, as learnt in Men in Ministry yesterday: harrowing comes from harrow - plough, and is a positive word associated with harvest. Hopefully telling these dark stories can be cathartic for Africa and humanity in some way. Hopefully.

Have a look at the website, and watch it when it gets to SA.


~ it was good to see the sights and sounds of dancing, veld, dark skins, kids running and waving again. The movie also made me realise the racism I carry inside (and might never get rid of) and that i just don't like Empires and their leaders, no matter which colour.

monoculturalism

Statue of Liberty?

Whats wrong with the picture? I've been doing some thinking lately on how 'colonised' my mind (and picture of Jesus) is. Funny how we see us imposing (or even just sharing) our religion, worldview and dress code on the rest of the world as 'liberating' for them, yet if anyone were to tell us how to dress, think and vote, we would see it as highly oppressive and biased. (thanks for the pic Bron)

I have used this George Orwell quote often, and it is still true:

'All animals are equal, yet some are more equal than others'.

Here's one i read this week:

'Every viewpoint is just a view from a point'

~ Richard Rohr

One of the gifts i see the international students bringing to CTS is the ability to give the 'other side' of the picture. Most of my picture is very Western and colonised, but living in Africa with the life-giving tensions of the differing worlds has rubbed off on me.

Newsflash:

I'm still on the fence about Mugabe, but I saw a great example in the iafrica.com news today: China are hosting over 40 African heads of state to a HUGE Africa-China convention. Included among the list are controversial figures Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and Zimbabwean Presidebt Robert Mugabe. Responding to criticism, China's foreign ministry made no apologies for inviting them:

"Our principle when handling our relations with other countries is to never try to impose our social system, development mode, values and ideology upon other countries" ~ foreign ministry Liu Jianchao.

Is this the equality and 'non-judgmentalism Paul and Jesus mentioned, or helping precipitate human rights abuses? Whatever it was, it is a great quote, very different to others we hear!

http://business.iafrica.com/news/373040.htm

Talking of multiculturalism, be sure to see the Elephant seals at the Georgia Aquarium. (thanks for the pic farmer Gwen)

I heart Midterms!

I'm back from Wilmington. Reading week was great!

I got the work done that was needed (a paper and a sermon for yesterday), walked on the beach, rested, and then played: sand castles, shrimps and beer, throwing frisbee in the water.

Had great funny conversations with Sarah's gran, mom and uncle richard - thanks!

We also went out 'Booty-dancing' on Friday night in Wilmington. Funness! It is different to the rave dance style, but my fellow female students are helping me out. Think of the hip moves you see on MTV. Rather scandalous at times, but i'm learning. Still enjoy dance music more though!

Aqua Ultimate!

scheduling

Prompted by a question from Julie two weeks ago about my schedule, here is a break down of my weekly life at CTS:

Monday: 1-2:30 Jesus&NT; 3-4:30 Preaching Paul; 4:30-5:30 Disc Golf!! Tuesday: No class. sleep late, read, fiddle around on the pc; 9:30-late Brickstore Pub with friends... Wednesday: 1-2:30 Jesus&NT; 3-4:30 Preaching Paul; 4:30-6 Ultimate!! Thursday: 1-4 Men in Ministry (movies, food, chats etc! great); 4-6 American Football (the touch version mom) Friday: 11-1 Research Seminar; 4-6 Theology discussion/Wiffle Ball Saturday: Fall League Ultimate - 40 minute cycle, takes up most of the day; College Football on TV. Sunday: Church hopping and lunch

There is also Chapel each week day at 10, but i haven't seemed to get there in time for that ;) I will try better this week. Evenings often get filled up with stuff, and in between the classes there is alot of reading to do. All in all, a great time!

So, With the time change last week, i am now 7 hours behind SA. If you can't seem to ever find me on Skype or MSN, check the schedule - maybe I'm in class.

voicemail

Hi this is Gareth here.
Sorry I cannot take your call right now, I'm at the beach (Wilmington, North Carolina) until Sunday for reading week.
But please leave your name and number and a detailed message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible when there is better cellphone reception.
Thanks, have a great day.

The Governor General

I am feeling better. I've recovered from my week of weakness and sleep and many tissues. As always happens, being sick makes me realise that I am not immortal and my body has limits. The helplessness is frustrating as my body forces me just to stop and wait. So I did. I'll fill you in on what happened and what is to come, but for now, seeing there has been nothing to read here for more than a week, here is an exerpt from Ben Okri. It is a great passage. It is longish - to make up for the silence. It is rather African and anti-Empires. Enjoy!

(oh, and happy 21st to Matthew - was great to chat. Happy bday also to Criss, Charles and Elizabeth)


INFINITE RICHES by Ben Okri (excerpt)

The English Governor-General rewrites Nigeria's history...

He rewrote the space in which I slept. He rewrote the long silences of the country which were really passionate dreams. He rewrote the seas and the wind, the atmospheric conditions and the humidity. He rewrote the seasons, and made them limited and unlyrical. He reinvented the geography of the nation and the whole continent. He redrew the continent's size on the world maps, made it smaller, made it odder. He changed the names of the places which were older than the places themselves. He redesigned the phonality of African names, softened the consonants, flattened the vowels. In altering the sound of the names he altered their meaning and affected the destiny of the names. He rewrote the names of fishes and bees, of trees and flowers, of mountains and herbs, of rocks and plants.
He rewrote the names of our food, our clothes, our abodes, our rivers.

The renamed things lost their ancient weight in our memory. The renamed things lost their old reality. They became lighter, and stranger, They became divorced from their old selves. They lost their significance and sometimes their shape. And they suddenly seemed new to us - new to us who had given them the names by which they responded to our touch.

Caught in his passionate objectivity, the Governor General made our history begin with the arrival of his people on our shores.

Sweating into his loose cotton shirt, he turned himself into a fairy-tale figure awakening stone-age man from an immemorial slumber, a slumber that began shortly after the creation of the human race. The Governor General, in his rewriting of our history, deprived us of language, of poetry, of stories, of architecture, of civic laws, of social organisation, of art, science, mathematics, sculpture, abstract conception, and philosophy. He deprived us of history, of civilization, and unintentionally, deprived us of humanity too. Unwittingly, he effaced us from creation.

And then, somewhat startled at where his rigorous logic had led him, he performed the dextrous feat of investing us with life the moment his ancestors set eyes on us as we slept through the great roll of historical time. With a stroke of his splendid calligraphic style, he invested us with life. History came to us with his Promethean touch, as his pen touched our Adamic souls. And we awoke into history, stunned and ungrateful, as he renamed our meadows and valleys, and forgot the slave trade.

He rewrote our nightspaces, made them weirder, peopled them with monsters and stupid fetishes; he rewrote our daylight, made it cruder, made things manifest in the light of dawn seem unfinished and even unbegun. In the process he laid before our eyes the written evidence of our recent awakening into civilization - we who bear within us ancient dreams and future revelations.

We who began the naming of the world and all its gods. We who fertilized the banks of the Nile with the sacred word which sprouted the earliest and most mysterious civilization, the forgotten foundation of civilizations. We whose secret ways have entered into the bloodstream of world-wonders silently.

And as the Governor General rewrote time (made his longer, made ours shorter), as he rendered invisible our accomplishments, wiped out traces of our ancient civilizations, rewrote the meaning and beauty of our customs, as he abolished the world of spirits, diminished our feats of memory, turned our philosophies into crude superstitions, our rituals into childish dances, our religions into animal worship and animistic trances, our art into crude relics and primitive forms, our drums into instruments of jest, our music into simplistic babbling - as he rewrote our past, he altered our present.

And the alteration created new spirits which fed the bottomless appetite of the great god of chaos...

raining

Hey. Sorry i haven't posted for a while. I've been playing frisbee and sick. I spent today in bed reading. It's raining outside. I've just had a cup of jasmine green tea. I waited too long and it was cold. Now to get back to reading. I have a meeting with my advisor tomorrow about my thesis. It is still raining.

There have been some positives in between all the short sentences though:
I researched some cool monk-ish places that i would like to visit for Christmas. Do a retreat kind of thing.
I also had a cool revelation thing about why i haven't been too keen on Jesus lately. I'll put it up soon.
And my frisbee team won both its games on Saturday. We are now 2nd last in the league!


Happy Bday to Bron (yesterday) and Mom (today) - have a great day, hope it isn't raining!

Sokkie 2006

Now, for a real cross-cultural experience: i found out that there is a Sokkie dance here, run by the SA crowd. I'm not sure if i'll go - i can't sokkie!

Here's the invite that was emailed to the SA in Atlanta network:

The upcoming Sokkie is finally here. Please read the message from Etnel (The Organizer) below. You better hurry if you plan on dancing with us since there are only tickets available for 55 partners, make that 54 partners since I alreay have my ticket.

Message from Etnel:

Hallo Julle, Die sokkie is gereel.

Ons dans datum is Saterdag aand, 11 November 2006 vanaf 19:30 tot 22:30. Ons hou dit weer by Take Hold . Op hulle webaddres www.takeholdballroom.com kan julle aanwysings na die saal toe kry...Ek wil probeer om Suid Afrikaanse musiek te speel. Ek sal dit baie waardeer as julle vir my van julle gunsteling musiek kan brand en aanstuur.

...Dit gaan uitloop op 'n heerlike kuier! Deel die nuus met almal in Atlanta.

Please contact Etnel for information or ticket sales.

Should I contact Etnel? ;) Real Suid Afrikaans music!

In other news - I had a great birthday yesterday! Lectures, disc golf, supper at Brickstore pub, with friends at a Wine and Dessert bar.

glimpses of home

I didn't come to Atlanta to hang out with South Africans, but it is nice to get brief glimpses of people understanding you. This seemed to happen gradually this weekend, and each little view was exciting.
What follows is the story told in one breath:

On Friday a schoolmate, Thirza, invited a bunch of us to her place for a 'Coming to America' party. Her new roommate Kylie is from Australia. I prefered 'fellow foreigner' to 'arch rival', so i went along. Apart from the chocolate fondue and music, i met some people that made me feel understood. Kylie - the aussie who knows about rugby etc. Then there was Sam - an Indian doctor whose boss is from SA and plays cricket on Saturdays. He brought Preysha and someone else - Indians from Zimbabwe with relatives staying in Hartebeespoort. Yay! They told me of a South African Restaurant in Atlanta and a place to buy boerewors. Thirza also conned me into having a Fingerpop - a sweet that makes your tongue blue!

(okay, maybe three breaths)
Kylie, Preysha and other Zim-Indian guy;

Me&Sam

Today I went to church and drove past the restaurant - there was a Lambo and 2 Beemers parked outside. It is rather fancy and expensive. $20 for bobotjie! So i won't go there for my bday tonight. Anyway, story continues: After church i went to a Greek Festival at the Orthodox Cathedral. I was standing in line to buy Baclava, and the lady behind me asked me a question. I thought she sounded normal, and that i wasn't hearing the accents here anymore. But i listened more, and then asked her, "are you South African?". She looked at me and said "how do you know?"

So, i've met my first Seffricans here! The lady and her husband moved here 10 years ago, and said that at that time there were 25,000 of us living here. Now they think there are 30,000.

Maybe i will meet some more?

sports

5 parts competitive for a Gareth? (see previous post)


Well, I am dominating on the American Football field ;) We played today - the touch version - and I scored two touchowns with my gazelle like jumping skill and big hands. My nickname (at least for Jeff) is the African Stallion. haha!


I went to a Ice Hockey game tonight. Elizabeth got me a ticket for my bday. It was fun. We sat way up high in the arena, and everyone got a free Altanta Thrashers scarf. They lost in a penalty shootout but it was still good. Very fast.

This weekend i'm going down to Auburn Uni for a football game against Arkansas - where Eliz&Sarah are from. Now THAT should be an experience. I supprt Auburn, and have a ticket for the student section. Their varsity stadium seats 83,000 peeps. It is a BIG thing down here.

NEWSFLASH: Well, i went, but Auburn LOST! they were rated number 2 in the country, but lost. it was a big dissapointment. Jeremy, Sarah and Elizabeth were happy that there team won. I will still support the Aubur tigers though!

The experience was great, 87,451 people, mostly in orange. Me too!

some fun quizzes...

Sarah found this cool little site full of quizzes. This is how to make a Gareth - is it true?

How to make a Gareth

Ingredients: 5 parts competetiveness 1 part silliness 3 parts beauty

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Top it off with a sprinkle of caring and enjoy!

Personality
cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

camera anyone??

I really need to get a digital cam soon. I mean, it's fun typing and all, but it is more fun looking at pics. There are some great pics i could have added in this week, such as:

• the TRAFFIC in midtown Atlanta at 2:30 AM on saturday when we were trying to get back from our night out dancing. TRAFFIC at 2 in the morning! Crazy.
• the house up the road with a South African flag flying outside.
• The ADT signs outside the houses here! Yay! in a wierd way it makes me feel at home!
• Sarah and I after our chocolate/water/peanutbutter fight last night.
• a pic of this HOT Tshirt i got from Karen in Huntsville. It says 'God bless america'! I took the sleeves off and play Ultimate in it.
• pictures of the Football game i'm going to this weekend in Auburn. It is a university, and the stadium seats 80,000 people - and will be full.

Hopefully you have a good imagination, and can 'see' the pictures already.

Hey, Monday is my birthday, maybe someone can post me a camera? Dad? Mom? ;)

The World

I really am enjoying it here, there are great people doing wonderful things, but every now and then i see some funny things that make the caricatures of the US real. Last week we played a game called 'Catch Phrase'. The idea is similar to '30 Seconds' - you have to make your team guess the word without saying it. There is a hand-held machine that you pass around like a hot-potato which shows the word. You try and make your team guess the correct word, then pass it on to the next person before the time runs out. It is fun. I did rather well, mainly because i didn't get some obscure phrase that i hadn't heard of.

Oh (this is where i poke fun, humbly) - in the game you can choose different categories for the phrases, such as Sci-Tech; Places; Sports & Games; Food; Entertainment; Everything or ... The World.
I decided to have a look-see at what the phrases were that made up 'The World'. The machine is next to me, and i will write them out for you now:

energy crisis; freedom of speech; third world; homeless; Tony Blair; pollution; import export; pigmy; the marines; african safari; budget surplus; air defense system; Sodom & Gomorrah; we shall overcome; Queen Mother; tear down walls; embargo; multi-cultural; ballistic missile; peace corps; epidemic; Geneva Convention; foreign language; Greek mythology; arms control; banana republic; cease fire; Pvt. Jessica Lynch; middle class; balance of power; arms race; Enron; Greek god; we three kings; bipartisan; population; friendly fire; guerilla warfare...

enough already? the list goes on but i'm tired. The beeping noise is too much.
At least Tony, the Queen Mother and Sodom&Gomorrah made it into the list (among all the warfare words). Welcome to "The World'. And America.

Bi's tourism info

My very good friend Bi (pretty much part of the Beyers family already), had a great piece on South Africa that she wrote to educate the friends she made in London. Seeing that there may be some 'non-Seffricans' reading this piece, here then is a great 8-point intro to the wonderful country of South Africa... click here.

8 points... great number choice Bi!

What do you think? Wanna visit SA?

how are you?

A friend of mine from Pretoria emailed me to ask how I was doing. So i replied, in depth. We studied together at Tuks, and now he is Grahamstown studying and waiting to become an Anglican Priest. For those who are asking 'How G, how are you" i thought the email would help.

Hey Vernon,
Everything is fine here. As often happens, when people really ask "Are you okay" I sort of think that there should be something wrong. But I can't think of anything. Class is going well. As usual I'd enjoy it if I were more structured and disciplined with homework etc, but some things don’t change. I get frustrated when people don't understand what I'm saying (accent), and the food is very rich.
- Woah - there's quite a storm going on outside! Hail too. I'm glad I didn't stay for American Football -
I've connected with one guy, and my 2 housemates (female), but still feel somewhat groundless in not having long term friends. Because I left them all at home I guess ;) I am enjoying the classes, and beginning to feel more confident to give my opinion now and then. There are also always people who want to introduce me to people who have visited South Africa or know South Africans (sorry, long sentence). It gets a bit tiring at times.
I'm really enjoying cycling around - independent, affordable and environmentally friendly - though Atlanta is not a cyclist friendly city at all. The 'smallness' of the seminary is a blessing and a curse. There is the sense that everyone knows everything, and nothing is private. Being one of the 'international students' I'm sure there are conversations going on about me. Us foreigners do tend to stand out somewhat! With my past history here (dating Emily and visiting last year) it is also as if everyone has heard of me, and I don't even know their names!
So, overall, I'm doing very well. Thanks for asking! I watched a great movie today in the Men in Ministry class called "Around the Bend", so I'm still in the 'just got out of a movie' zone and tend to be more open and sensitive - and thankful too. I need to find a meditation place here, but there are lots of mosquitos and trees.
Take care,
G
PS - Seeing that this was such an in-depth report, I think I'll put it on my blog - is that cool with you?

Theological Impotence

Here is a pertinent piece of theology from one of the top African theologians. It is something i need to remember while i'm over here - to ask questions whose answers will help when i'm back home. The title is "theological impotence" - i like that.

We could go on and on asking basic questions about the whole meaning of the Christian revelation, the Church, salvation, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and a host of other fundamental theological issues as they apply to the church in Africa today, and in the 21st century. For those of us who belong there, who work there, who live with these and other concerns of survival, theology as we have learned it according to western tradition is very much called into question. If seminaries in Europe and America allow African students, whom we send to them for theological circumcision, to return to us with no idea of the theological meaning of our big words, of our life and death concerns, we will feel rightly betrayed. And the cause of Christ will be gravely imperiled. We send you the sons and daughters of our churches to be truly and realistically equipped for the calling of the gospel in Africa today. Please do not send them back to us as bastards or bearing a watered-down theology. If you educate them in the theology of hope, for example, let them theologise hope in terms of feeding the hungry, eliminating famine, providing employment, being remembered in church after death by one’s children – in terms of what is nearby, reachable, desperately necessary. Otherwise the individual and the community will not survive long enough to have their hopes realised.

… The Church cannot exorcise demonic forces in today’s world through guesswork. It must be squarely involved in human concerns, and it must not look back. Theology should assist the church in this task, and to do so, it must itself be freed from inhibitions handed down from past generations. Christianity has exploded in Africa, and theology too must explode. It can no longer be done only according to St ABC Seminary in Athens or Rome; it must find its own method, its own direction, its own voice, where the people of God are, so that it may mediate the meaning of God in Christ for them. The African theologian who has experienced the agonies of having a burning appetite but nothing to eat will surely theologise differently on the same theme of food from the American theologian who knows the discomfort of having a plate full of steak but no appetite.

John S Mbiti, Theological Impotence and the Universality of the Church,
in Lutheran World XXI/3 1974. Lutheran World Federation: Geneva.

interim measures

I was thinking i need a more upbeat post than the last one, something 'happy'. But maybe i don't need a new post. Perhaps one should sit a bit with sad news, think, mourn, shout - instead of just moving on to the next new news. Our culture doesn't have any time for failure, sadness or death. Maybe it is because it shakes the illusion of us 'modern' people being in control of our reality.
My parents got down to Cape Town safely, and are still there with Brian (Rita's husband). The memorial service will be in Bedfordview on Friday. Brian sent me a picture taken of Rita this last week - she was looking great.

I also ended a great friendship with someone back home, so it feels like part of me has gone too. I have done some journalling, and spent Friday night at home. Last night i went with Sarah and Maggie to Everybody's Pizza and laughed alot! We have bonded well, and joke around nicely. It was great to laugh for a whole evening. It takes more than that to get over the tragedies of life, but it was a good release.

On a sadder note ;) (notice the need to insert humour to lighten the mood) - i skipped Frisbee on Saturday to help Sarah remake her room. Put up shelves, hang lights, paintings, sweep etc. It looks great. There are (un)fortunately no 'before and after' pics, but it looks good now. Yesterday it rained, so there was also no Frisbee, so i'm having some withdrawal symptoms.

Class today was good, i'm feeling more confident and sharing my views. Tomorrow i'm having supper with a family from the area (sort of host family thing).
Enjoy Heritage day, South Africans.