We decided to have our breakfast together. The young women of suite 25 set forth a great spread of breads, cereals, fruit juices and cheese for all of us. They have a great room with a porch overlooking the ocean. What a beautiful morning it was – the beginning of a beautiful day.
Byron and Monte picked us up at a little after 9:00 AM and took us to the Volks Kirk United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA), in the Parkside section of East London. We were greeted by the Rev. Sippo Makuseni, retired pastor of the nearby Brownsback UCCSA. The 9:30 service began promptly at around 9:45. The sanctuary was filled to overflowing. The Volks Kirk congregation had invited the neighboring congregations of Dunn Asher and the Parkside UCCSA to join them (an us) in worship.
Each visiting pastor gave a word of greetings on behalf of their congregations. Walter and I each gave greetings from our group also. There was much singing. As the congregation awaited the start of worship, they sang chorus after chorus as a congregation. Someone would start singing and everyone joined in, and heartily. No need for hymn books or worship leaders…just the faithful praising God in song.
The pastor began worship with the declaration, “It’s nice to worship God.” To which the congregation responded, “It’s good to worship God.” This went on for two or three more rounds, when the pastor asked, “Are you happy to be here today?” And we all shouted, “Yes.” (I couldn’t help but wonder what the response would be in our churches if the pastor dared to asked such a question!)
Worship went along in a similar fashion to our services. There was more music (2 or 3 church choirs needed to be included as well as 5 visiting pastors). Most inspiring to me was the leadership of the liturgy of the Eucharist by the Rev. Dr. Colin Joosty.
Dr. Joosty was a freedom fighter during the apartheid years. He also was forced into exile during those years. He came to the US and studied in our seminaries. He came to know of the United Church of Christ and worked with the Board for World Ministries (now Common Global Ministries). And, for our liturgy he used the UCC Book of Worship. Why? Because as he said, “Freedom also requires and equality of gender as well as that of race.” And the use of inclusive language in the UCC Book of Worship witnesses to this truth.
It was an honor for Walter and me to be included in administering communion at the service.
When the service was finished we moved a couple of blocks away to have a fine luncheon at the Dunn Asher parish hall. I was a fine time for fellowship with the gathered congregations. We felt very welcomed indeed.
We returned to the hotel in time to take in the flee market and side walk tables of treasures set up on the beach road. A few of us went swimming in the Indian Ocean. Most of us just shopped. By 4:30 we were on our way back to Dunn Asher for an evening program of praise music, scriptures and prayer. The choirs were wonderful, especially the dance ensembles of children and youth.
At the close of the service our group was invited to the dais to receive glasses with the engraved logo and name of the church. One of our group members from Port Elizabeth , Jonathon, presented each of us with “ubuntu” bracelets to witness to our one-ness. And, Kristina Frenette thanked the congregation on behalf of the group.
Back at the hotel, we gathered in the one of our rooms to get to know each other in a more intentional way. We went around the room with introductions, saying our name, where we were from, our ages, and what we like about our home churches. I distributed a packet of personal devotional pages, including a listing of song lyrics for us to rehearse. The song on which we spent most of our time was “Siyahamb’ ekukanyen kwenkos” (We are marching in the light of God). We sang it several times, then decided to translate the English lyrics into Xhosa, Africans and German. It was fun.
What a wonderful group we have. I feel very blest to travel with them.
Blessings,
Rick Cowles
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