Dear People of God

Alleluia! Christ is risen – and we are risen also! For Jesus Christ, who bore our sins on his body on the tree, has defeated the power of sin and death, and been raised to new life! All of us are now called to radical, on-going, renewal of our lives, as we grow into our Baptism, of being buried and raised with Christ.

I write in my first full week back in Cape Town, after my long retreat – almost 40 days, if I include travelling time. It has been a gentle re-entry to ‘normal life’, via the Synod of Bishops and the Consecration of the new Bishop of the Free State, but I am still absorbing, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, what my time away has meant to me. I feel there are deep wells of resources on which I shall be drawing for a long, long, time to come. Please do pray that I may learn well all that God has taught me, and that it may be reflected faithfully in my talking, speaking, writing, living.

Much of this profound spiritual encounter was, not surprisingly, about my personal journey of faith and the struggles of my own life. But all of this shapes who I am, and who I am becoming, in Christ, in the ministry to which I’m called. And so what it means to be Archbishop of Cape Town, in this Diocese and Province, was also much on my heart and mind and in my praying, during my time away. To keep us rooted in our own contexts, we had time set aside each day to intercede for others, and all of you, especially clergy and office- holders, were remembered.

Though I was far away in North Wales (in the middle of winter!), I nonetheless felt very connected with Cape Town.

As I reflect on my time away, it seems there was no area of life or ministry that did not receive the tender touch of the Holy Spirit – in healing, or redemption, or challenge, or refocus, or renewed calling. It was like ‘meeting Jesus afresh – again, and again’ as I encountered Jesus in new ways that drew me into deeper relationship with him.

Surely this is what Jesus asks of all of us, when he says ‘Follow me!’ This summons will last us for the rest of our lives. And therefore, each of us, whether clergy or laity, have to take some sense of ‘ownership’ of our own spiritual journey of faithful following, and not merely be passive passengers, content to let other church leaders carry us along.

‘Be renewed by the transforming of your minds’ wrote St Paul (Rom 12:2), though the Greek for ‘minds’ is closer to the whole person than the English word – and it is true that our beliefs and understandings affect our whole person. So, though this is the ‘Year of Theological Education’ for ACSA, our entire beings should be involved in ‘growing in knowledge and love of God’, as the Blessing puts it.

Therefore, I encourage you, in the year from Easter 2013 to Easter 2014, to take your spiritual education into your own hands. Build on whatever your church offers, but also commit to going further: perhaps through making a pilgrimage, meeting regularly with a spiritual director (the Centre for Christian Spirituality can help you find an appropriate, trained, person), joining contemplative outreach or quiet days, or going on retreat.

And may God bless you with his loving presence, his grace, his compassion that is without limit; and may he bring you newness of life in the Risen Christ, in every area of your lives.

Yours in the Service of Christ

+Thabo Cape Town