the day and Social
Events which play an
important part in inte-
grating the youth into
the life of the church as
well as providing them
with a safe and fun
space in which to meet
and explore friendships. At the end of January
Inspire tackled Lions
Head. The event was
part of the Green Angli-
can‟s youth project and
brought youth from
churches around the
Diocese together to
climb to the top. It was
great to be on top of
the mountain togeth-
er, praying for our city
and for water!!! Inspire‟s second social
event of 2018 was Ice
Skating and food at
Grand West. It has to be
said that some were
“Inspired” to show off
their talent on the ICE
and they managed to
survive the event with
no injuries. However this
cannot be said for one
of the leaders!!!!
Inspire is growing from
strength to strength, not
only in numbers but in its
journey of Faith. The
members are beginning
to flourish in this critical
stage in their own per-
sonal development and
want to make a contri-
bution to the St Thomas
Family and out in the
wider community. In-
spire are very aware of
the challenges facing
South Africa and are
developing ways to
make a difference. They
see themselves not as
the FUTURE of St Thomas
and South Africa but as
the NOW! Let‟s address
the NOW so there will
be a FUTURE. Inspire has hit 2018 run-
ning. We have new
members who have fit-
ted in well with the
group.
There are two main ele-
ments of the Inspire
model: Sunday Morning
Meetings where we
worship and discuss the
Scripture readings for
In April, Inspire will be
hosting an „Inspire Inter-
act‟ event at St Thomas
where we will be inviting
100 – 150 youth and In-
teract members from
local schools to partici-
pate in Environmental
activities and listen to
guest speakers. This will
include a Liesbeek river
clean up and will end
with a Braai. Inspire are
proud to be associated
with this fantastic event
but many hands are
needed for it to be a
success. Please let one
of the Inspire leaders or
the parish office know if
you can help behind
the scenes on the day. We have been asked
by a lot of other church
youth groups to join
them on social events
and to work with them
and have had requests
to help other churches
start their own groups.
We are looking forward
to a fun and eventful
year ahead!! Inspire Leaders
Mel and Drew
Inspire - Be Inspired – Inspire others.
The Ven K De Vos
Revd Lorna Lavarello Smith
Revd Nicky Ing
61 Camp Ground Road
Rondebosch
Phone: 0216856752
E-mail:
E A S T E R 2 0 1 8 N E W S L E T T E R
Creative
thinking
Inspires
ideas:
Ideas
Inspire
change.
of office would have end-
ed in 2019, I am referring
to our “former President”!
We must never underesti-
mate the cumulative pow-
er of non-violent peaceful
protest against injustice.
In essence one could say
that is the message of
Easter in a nutshell, the
power of the Resurrection
of Jesus.
Sr Joan Chitister in our
Lent Course reminded us,
when dealing with the
Sixth Commandment, that
up until the fourth century
you would not have found
a single Christian taking
up arms because they
were followers of the non-
violent Jesus. Many New
Testament scholars hold
the view that much of the
urgency we find in Mark’s
Gospel is because it was
written to the followers of
Dear Sisters and Brothers
Theodore, the fifth centu-
ry bishop explained to
candidates who had com-
pleted their Lenten Bap-
tism preparation: “At your
Easter Vigil baptism when
you say “I believe” you
mean “I give my heart, my
loyalty and commitment to
God”: To remain steadfast
to God, to never separate
myself from God and to
make my highest goal to
be and to live with God
and to conduct myself in a
way that is in harmony
with his commandments.”
Similarly for us believing
in Jesus does not mean
giving our mental assent
to doctrines about him. It
means to give our
“hearts”, our “selves” at
the deepest level, to Je-
sus who is the living Lord
and Saviour of the world.
Active following of the
way of the risen Christ is
required.
At our most recent bap-
tism ceremony, William
Davidge and twins An-
drew and Christopher Van
Putten became the new-
est members of the Angli-
can Christian family of St
Thomas Church Ron-
debosch. You might be
interested to know that
William was also our
youngest participator in
the “Zuma Must Fall”
march that took place on
the 8th August last year.
At a few weeks old he
was blissfully unaware of
our determined call for the
former President’s remov-
al from office. He was
being carried by his moth-
er Alex in the kangaroo
sling strapped around her
chest. I said to her:
“Goodness gracious Alex,
you sure start them young
don’t you? Aren’t you
scared to be among this
protesting crowd?” “Not
at all Fr Keith,” she re-
plied. “I get my inspira-
tion and courage from
her!” pointing to the larger
than life beautiful mural
on the J and B building in
District Six, of a woman in
a defiant protest posture
with her baby strapped to
her back. It is Easter
2018 and before his term
RECTOR’S LETTER
“I get my inspiration and courage from her!”
Alex and William Davidge
RECTOR’S LETTER CONT. 2
THE LEAD PROJECT 2
EASTER SERVICES 3
CHRISTMAS WITH A DIFFERENCE
3
JUNIOR CHURCH 3
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARL-
MERS
4
INSPIRE NEWS 4
Inside this issue:
Newsletter Date
EASTER NEWSLETTER
St Thomas Church, Rondebosch
Jesus during and immedi-
ately after the Jewish war
with Rome. He used all the
persuasive rhetorical skills
he could muster to counter
the violent rebel recruiters
trying to enlist Jesus’ fol-
lowers to fight in the war. If
we do not know how the
Romans operated it is easy
to miss this point. Simply
put: violent rebel leaders,
together with as many of
their followers as they could
arrest, were rounded up
and executed. Non-violent
leaders were arrested alone
and executed as a warning
to their followers. That ex-
plains why only Jesus was
arrested in Gethsemane
and none of his followers.
Jesus was regarded as a
non-violent revolutionary.
April 2018
Mark drives this point
home in the powerful par-
able of the choice be-
tween Barabbas and Je-
sus (Mk 15:6-8). He is
writing this after the Tem-
ple’s destruction, Jeru-
salem’s devastation and
Israel’s desolation in that
war of 66-74 AD (CE). He
holds before the recipients
of his gospel an earlier
choice between two possi-
ble saviours. One is the
violent freedom fighter,
“Barabbas [who] was in
prison with rebels who
had committed murder
during the insurrection.”
The other is the non-
violent Jesus; true reveal-
er of God’s saving will.
The ultimate difference
between Jesus and Bar-
abbas is the choice be-
tween non-violent re-
sistance and violent rebel-
lion. Mark mourns and
laments in this story:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you chose the wrong op-
tion.” History has corrobo-
rated this lament of choos-
ing the wrong option.
Every celebration of East-
er holds up a mirror for us
to gaze into to examine
our own personal behavior
and more so for leaders
all over the world to gaze
into as a warning. Our
future survival as the hu-
man race still comes down
it seems to that simple
choice: Barabbas or Je-
sus.
Have a blessed Easter.
Your Rector and Friend
Fr Keith
A REMINDER TO OUR FAMILY AND
FRIENDS THAT THOSE WITH CHIL-
DREN ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND
THE 6.30 AM SERVICE ON EASTER
SUNDAY MORNING AT WHICH THE
EXCITING LIGHTING OF THE EASTER
FIRE TAKES PLACE .
CHILDREN SHOULD MEET FR KEITH
NEAR THE MAIN DOOR TO HELP LIGHT
THE FIRE. A programme for children
and an Easter Egg hunt will follow
while the service icontinues.
RECTOR’S LETTER CONTINUED
EASTER SERVICES
The LEAD Project How the Training Works:
GtC is partnering with
J-Life to do this training.
There are four modules
Strategy, Foundations,
Vision and Multiplication.
These modules are
based on the ministry life
of Jesus, and each mod-
ule takes place over two
days.
What to Expect?
Become disciple-makers,
based on the Great Com-
mandment – to love God
and to love humankind –
and the Great Commis-
sion – to make disciples
of all people.
What is LEAD?
The LEAD project is Lead-
ership for Evangelism
and Discipleship.
Growing the Church (GtC)
has created the LEAD
project and is encourag-
ing all Anglicans to take
the LEAD training, espe-
cially those who took the
Discipleship Pledge at
Anglicans Ablaze 2016.
Page 2
St Thomas Church, Rondebosch
Easter crosses made at Messy Church on the first Friday in March—the next Messy Church is on Friday 6th April at 6 pm in the Koinonia room
St Thomas’s
SPEAK LIFE
weekend away
When:
12-14 October 2018
Where:
Wortelgat, Stanford
What’s gong to happen:
Worship
Talks
Activi t ies
Fun
Quiet Time
Eating
Sleeping
Cost: R350 pp
THE LEAD
PROJECT –
SUPPORTING
ACSA IN ITS
DECADE OF
INTENTIONAL
DISCIPLESHIP
First of all a big thank you
from The Carpenter’s Shop
for the very generous sup-
port of many St Thomas
parishioners for the Feed
5000 lunch service for the
homeless of the Central Busi-
ness District.
This operated each day
from 18 December to 12
January, for each of the 26
days including Christmas
Day, with the exception of
Boxing Day and New Year’s
Day.
A total of 4980 meals were
served, and many of the 83
volunteers over the days
expressed interest in partici-
pating in future years.
As if this were not enough of
a difference, a very special
difference came from a
young family in our congre-
gation. The parents decid-
ed to introduce the real
meaning of Christmas to
their two little children, by
helping them to make cards
which they sold during De-
cember to raise funds for
Feed 5000. This they did so
attractively that R 1000 was
realised and given towards
Feed 5000.
On the last day, Friday, 12
January, the family went in
as volunteers in the prepa-
ration and distribution of the
food, and all four had a
wonderful time – ―it was
great fun‖. This was most
educational for the children,
of course, and demonstrated
the real essence of Christ-
mas.
Geoff Burton
Christmas Gifts with a difference
Page 3
Easter Newsletter 2018
is always a blessing to be a part of. Anne Kathan, Carol Webb and Olivia Fair work together on al-ternate Sundays to pro-duce a creative and stimu-lating scriptural program consisting of stories, an energetic activity, chatting time and prayers. We thank Jesus for these im-portant members of our St Thomas community, who bring such insight and
The Junior Church meets on the second, fourth (and fifth) Sunday of each month in the sunny room at the back of the Church Office. Our team of little peeps has grown nicely this year, and their enthu-siasm, excitement and joy
knowledge into our teaching. May we con-tinue to nurture and grow their faith as they journey with us.
The Junior Church THE EASTER
OFFERING
IS A GIFT TO
THE RECTOR.
PLEASE USE AN
ENVELOPE OR
DO AN EFT
MARKED
―EASTER
OFFERING ―
Happy Birthday Charlmer!
top of us having this cake my daughter had brought a pack of boy's school clothes, with a lunch box, soap, toothpaste and brush for an 8yr old! God certainly works in mysteri-ous ways. I don't know what made Joanne buy the school clothes and then give them to me to find someone who would ap-preciate them!
Dawn Johnson
Earlier in the year I had fun making a gingerbread house and Rev Nicky sug-gested we take it to be enjoyed at Red Cross Chil-dren’s Hospital. On the scheduled day she rang me ever so excited to say that one of the children, Charlmer Harker had a birthday (a crown one at that) and we could take the cake to celebrate. On