June, July, August, September, October 2016 Edition The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew & Saint Michael Bloemfontein Thank you, loving Lord, for all the grace and mercy received here over 150 years; for the prayers answered, the blessings received, the healing of both mind, body and spirit. Continue to go before us as we try to seek to do Your will in the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen th The 150 Celebration. Dear friends in Christ, A.M.D.G. = (To the glory of God). These are the words we find written on the foundation stone of the Cathedral, which was laid on 25 November 1850 by Major Warden, in the presence of the Archdeacon Merriman who had walked all the way from Grahamstown and back again; a distance of 800 miles; in order to attend this important day in the early stage of this Cathedral Church. And only on 30th November 1866 was the church consecrated. As we celebrate this milestone in the life of the Cathedral, we give thanks to God for our forebears who laid a firm foundation. Many of them have since been called to a higher service. I strongly believe that as we celebrate 150 years, they form part of the cloud of witnesses who are celebrating with us and forming us in truth. We also say thank you to all devout, loyal and committed members of this parish church. Over 150 years God has always been at the centre of our worship in this house of God. When we had our photographic exhibition and guided tours on 31st July, one realised that there is so much that has taken place here. We have such a great history and we are very grateful to God for it. The Cathedral has and will continue to be a spiritual home to many people, and many visitors have also come to experience the presence of God here. As we celebrate we should not forget that we too have a responsibility to hand over to the next generation a healthy, vibrant church. How do we do that? We can look back in our history that in 1867, when the first organ arrived here, having been transported to Bloemfontein from England by sea and ox wagon. The organ was paid for by Anglicans in England, but upon arrival it was found that £83 was still owing for “carriage and erection charges”. History has it that the voluntary organist, Mr GA White, a bank manager, refused to play the organ until the debt had been settled. I believe this was a challenge and still is today for us as a church. The challenge for me is never to look outside for a financial injection. Outside patronage encourages the dependency syndrome and discourages personal responsibility, which is a recipe for a “nanny church”. We are 150 years old and I believe we are of age. We are grateful for all kinds of help from other parts of the Communion, but we are to be self-reliant. Let us stop going cap- in-hand, we can take this parish to the next level, the level that our Lord Himself would take us to. This needs a collaborative leadership and total commitment from all. Sometime back I wrote in one of the “Visitors” about Archbishop Justin Welby. When he was interviewed, he was asked: “what is the state of the Anglican Communion?” His answer was “The Anglican Communion is flourishing, but fragile”. I believe the same can be said about the Cathedral, that “it is flourishing, but it is fragile.” We don’t have to be complacent and relax. There is so much to be done. We can as a church learn so much from the last municipal election results, and the poor performance of some of the political organizations. As a parish we need to hear from time to time the voice of the people who are in critical solidarity with us, listen and then act, otherwise people will seek a spiritual home elsewhere. We must do away with the notion that people are born into the Anglican family and will die there too. This is a fallacy. 2 The next question is what should be our response to the challenge of the exodus of people from the so-called established churches? My only recommendations to the Anglican Church are: 1) Create a sense of family. A church needs to give its members a strong sense of family and relationship, of belonging to each other as well as to other brothers and sisters in Christ. Every local church should create a sense of relationship. 2) Become a welcoming community. 3) Never forget that the most essential ingredient – the individual believer - matters. He or she needs desperately to be recognised and cherished as a person and not merely as a part of the congregational “lump”. We must avoid a situation of crowded pews and lonely people. We can achieve this by practising the priesthood of all believers and by having a strong pastoral team. As we celebrate may God richly bless and watch over us and never allow this our Cathedral to be relegated from the Premier league! “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (1Samuel 7:12) Yours in Christ, Dean Lazarus Mohapi Before After Editor: (Fr Lazarus shoes) My father brought me up with the knowledge that you can tell a man’s character by the way he wears his shoes, clean and tidy. 3 SN P-ETS? One of our stalwarts here at the Cathedral, Dot Thompson, passed away on 14th May (just after her 94th birthday on 7th) after having had a brain operation to drain fluid off her brain, following a fall. Her funeral was on 19th May, attended by her niece Ann Dabner and her husband from East London and many others. When I attend the service at 09h00 on a Sunday, my eyes automatically go to where Dot used to sit and not to see her is quite devastating. We mourn with all her friends and family. Dot was a member of the Cathedral Parish since the 1930”s. Another stalwart who passed away was Paddy Meyer, She died on the 26th July, 2016 suddenly. The last remaining nun from the Community of St Michael and All Angels, Sr Joan (Marsh), also passed away, on 13th May at the age of 97 years old. Her funeral took place at the Cathedral and her ashes are interred in the special plot reserved for the sisters in the gardens. There was just one remaining spot kept especially for her, as she was the last sister of that order. She had spent 67 years with St Michael’s School and died peacefully at Serenitas where she had been living. The Community of St Michael and All Angels was a religious order of sisters in South Africa, founded by Bishop Alan Becher Webb in 1874. Maneheng Raphuthing’s (who is in charge of our Sunday School) granny, Violet, passed away at the beginning of June. Then her father, Ntlafatso Raphuthing, passed on 10th July and was buried in Lesotho on 23 July. And on 21st August her uncle passed away. What a run of sadness. The father of Thabang Ntsane, William Ntsane, died in July. Fr Lazarus attended his funeral on 16th July at Rocklands. Nomalizo Zulu’s cousin was buried on 30th July. Khotso Sebogodi’s brother, Simon died recently. Matthews Mohutsioua or Shakes, as he is known, lost his father-in-law Judge Khumalo in July. He died in Centurion. Martina Moss’ father passed away in Lesotho in July. Shoeshoe Zulu lost her father-in-law in Natal recently. He was buried in Durban on 27th August. 4 Josephine Madimabe was killed in an accident near Clarens together with 10 others. She leaves a child, Lesego Karabo. Her memorial / funeral service took place at the Cathedral on Saturday 27th August. A mass funeral was held for the others at the CRC Church on the previous Wednesday. Our condolences to the family. Chirp from the Editor:- Josephine was nicknamed “Sunshine” in the Parish office as she was always smiling and had such a lovely personality. Arnold Mogodi’s brother passed away recently. Their son, Aobakwe (Baks) has had a shoulder operation following an old rugby injury just after Esme returned from training in Pretoria for 3 months. Esme’s brother died recently in Virginia. Daughter Neo took part in the Inter-Africa tennis and has been doing well. A previous churchwarden of the Cathedral, Stephen Sondiyazi passed away on 3rd August. He is survived by Charlton, his brother and three children Nolly, Khaya & Ancle. Stephen’s wife, Sarah, passed away in 2009. Noliyolo Khloe Sondiyazi had this to say about her feelings on August 14 at 5:27pm My dad might be gone but my uncle has been there for me seeing that everything is okay, seeing that I have eaten, seeing that I’m well cared for I’d like to say thank you so much God for blessing me with my Dad he might be gone but he is in my heart and I know that I’m not alone. I just pray that God keeps Rangwane till I get old enough so that he sees my success. God please give strength to me to do him proud. The mother of the late Fr Rob Butterworth, Mabel Wallace, passed away suddenly in Cape Town. She had remained a good friend to Daphne van der Merwe and they often used to chat on the phone.