Ds Fezile Mbenenge, nooi alle NGK-leraars in die Oos-Kaap na ‘n VGK-konferensie oor die praktiese bediening te Pine Lodge Hotel, Port Elizabeth, van 8-10 Februarie 2008.

Sprekers soos drr Allan Boesak (Vrydagaand), Coenie Burger (Saterdagoggend), ‘n paneelbespreking met kundiges (Saterdagmiddag / aand) en prof Jaap Durand (Sondagoggend) tree op.

Die konferensioe word deur ‘n borgskap vir leierskap in die Oos-Kaap befonds, sodat - soos ek dit verstaan - jy net vir reiskoste verantwoordelik is. Persone wat by Pine Lodge wil oorslaap, moet natuurlik vooraf reël. Jy moet in alle gevalle die inskrywingsvorm voltooi, want etes, koffie en tee e.s.m. is natuurlik ter sprake.

Die dekbrief met die uitnodiging aan VGK-leraars en die konsep-program (die tye van die sprekers is vasgemaak) is op ons webblad beskikbaar.

Vir verdere besonderhede en om in te skryf, moet julle asb direk met ds Mbenenge kontak maak by die kontakbesonderhede soos op die dekbrief aangebdui.

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Sinodale Werkswinkel : 17-19 Maart 2008

Ons jaarlikse Sinodale Werkswinkel vind vanjaar van 17-19 Maart in Port Elizabeth plaas. Die baie aktuele tema is “Geloofsonderskeiding in gemeentes en tydens vergaderings”. Dr Frederick Marais, wat onlangs ‘n boek hieroor in die luistersiklus gepubliseer het, bied die werkswinkel aan.

Sodra al die detail gefinaliseer is, gee ek volledige logistieke besonderhede.

Teken die datum aan. Kerkraadslede of belangstellende lidmate sal ook baie welkom wees.

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Ouer predikante profeteer ons negatief, sê jonges

Tydens die onlangse dagbestuurvergadering van die Sinodale Kommissie is ‘n klompie van die jongste leraars in ons gebied genooi om deur ‘n proses van reverse mentoring die bestuurslede te help om die wêreld en kerkverband deur hulle oë te sien. Dit was ‘n heerlike ervaring.

Die entoesiasme vir die bediening, en die behoefte om iets vir hul medemens te beteken, was opvallend. Baie beleef hul ringe as dinamies en opbouend en getuig van positiewe insette of mentorskappe van ouer leraars.

‘n Redelike algemene gevoel was egter dat ouer leraars die jonges dikwels (onbedoeld?) negatief beïnvloed. Hul entoesiasme word gedemp met siniese verwysings soos: “Ja, toemaar, een van die dae sal jy ook negatief wees - jy sal nog sien hoe gemeentes en lidmate is”. Of: “Moenie probeer nie - dit sal in elk geval nie werk nie”. “Ek wonder hoe lank sal jy nog so posiitef wees”.

Waarom sou ouer leraars soms so negatief wees? Is rings- of predikantebyeenkomste dalk net geleenthede waar predikante so bietjie kan afpak en dan kom hulle negatief oor? Is hul ontnugter met mense en weerstand teen inisiatiewe?

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Aandag: Skriba’s en Kassiere: julle behoeftes is op die agenda!

Die datums vir die gebruiklike padberade met leraars in ringsverband vind vanjaar op 14, 15 en 16 April plaas.

In die lig hiervan skryf dr Jan Viljoen, Direkteur Administrasie:

Ons wil graag dieselfde geleenthede gebruik om na die behoeftes van Skribas/Kassiere om te sien. Met die oop hierop vra ons vriendelik dat Skribas/Kassiere hulle volledige navrae en behoeftes na die Sinodale Kerkkantoor sal deurstuur voor of op 15 Februarie 2008.

Dis nou julle kans, skribas en kassiere. ‘n Toerustingsgeleentheid so twee jaar gelede was baie,baie goed bygewoon en baie waardeer. Wat is julle behoeftes? Waaroor benodig julle meer inligting? Stuur dit sommer dadelik aan!

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Opname van Vigsprojekte in die sinodale gebied - Gemeenteskribas reageer asb

Ds Willie van der Merwe van die Vigsforum van die NG Kerkfamilie is besig met ‘n opname van projekte in sinodale gebiede wat fokus op MIV en Vigs.

Sal julle asseblief die volgende drie vrae beantwoord - stuur sommer direk aan ons sinode se verteenwoordiger, ds Anton Oliphant, by antolip@absamail.co.za

1. Waar die projek is (bv dorp);

2. Wat die projek behels (bv voorligting, tuisversorging ens);

3. Hoeveel persone die projek bywoon?

Baie dankie vir julle samewerking!

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Begin ’n Vigsprojek

Dr Arnau van Wyngaard, NG leraar, vertel:

Ek is sedert 1985 betrokke as sendeling in Swaziland. Op ‘n byna bo-natuurlike wyse het die Here ons gemeente gebring by die punt waar ons nie langer meer net kon praat oor MIV/VIGS nie, maar waar ons daadwerklik iets moes doen om ‘n verskil te maak in een van die grootste tragedies wat sub-Sahara Afrika tot nog toe beleef het. Na baie gebed en beplanning het ons keuse geval op die totstandkoming van tuisversorgingsprogramme om mense met MIV/VIGS fisies by te staan. Ek kan met eerlikheid sê dat ek waarskynlik nog nooit my Christenskap so prakties beleef het nie as gedurende die afgelope paar jaar sedert ons hiermee begin het. Tans is daar 235 vrywilligers in die suide van Swaziland in die projek betrokke. Ons beplanning is om volgende jaar die huidige ses projekte uit te brei met 'n verdere vier, maar ons wil ook baie graag vir ander mense en veral gemeentes behulpsaam wees om ook sinvol betrokke te raak in die stryd teen hierdie pandemie.

Belangrike skakels op die web is 'n artikel wat gepubliseer is in die Verbum et Ecclesia rondom hierdie werk met die titel: "On Becoming the Hands and Feet of Christ in an AIDS-ridden community in Swaziland" wat afgelaai kan word by http://www.swazimission.co.za/Documents/verbum_v27_n3_a18.pdf. Die “Lig” van Desember 2007 het ook ‘n artikel oor ons werk in Swaziland gepubliseer.

Ons webtuiste bevat ook heelwat inligting rondom hierdie werk: Die algemene skakel is www.swazimission.co.za en dan meer spesifiek http://www.swazimission.co.za/English/aids.htm vir inligting rondom hierdie VIGS-projek.

Ons wil graag ons kennis en ondervinding kom aanbied waar gemeentes dalk meer inligting soek om op 'n sinvolle manier betrokke te raak. My eie wortels lê diep in Kwa-Zulu Natal (‘n oud-Portie) en dit sal vir ons gemeente ‘n voorreg wees om terug te ploeg in die mooiste provinsie in Suid-Afrika! Gemeentes is baie welkom om met my te skakel vir meer inligting.

Arnau van Wyngaard

E-pos: wyngaard@lando.co.za
Tel: 017-826-1174
Faks: 017-826-5461
Sel: 082-924-5632
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MIV : Voorkomende optrede om kinders in skoolsisteem te hou en te kry

RINGE kan gerus, met die oog op ringsprojekte, van hierdie brokkie kennis neem:

Daar is ‘n interessante artikel by www.iol.co.za (http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=nw20080117121121335C361822) oor ‘n studie wat wys dat daar ‘n laer voorkoms van MIV/Vigs onder skoolgaande kinders in die platteland is. Wys net hoe belangrik opvoeding is – dit hou jou selfs gesond as gevolg van beter sosialisering en beter gewoontes.

Ek dink dis dié tipe inligting wat ringe nodig het om in hulle projekte rondom MIV/Vigs nie net te dink aan direkte sorg nie, maar ook aan voorsorg deur kinders te help om in die skool sisteem te kom en te bly.

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Amptenare Pensioenfonds

Somerstrand-gemeente het versoek dat verpligte lidmaatskap vir alle amptenare van gemeentes van die Amptenare Vaste Bydrae Pensioenfonds / Voorsorgfonds van die NGK in SA ondersoek word. So ‘n ondersoek is gedoen, waaruit blyk dat die sinode nie ‘n besluit kan neem wat hierdie lidmaatskap verpligtend maak nie. Kerkrade is welkom om navraag te doen oor die moontlikheid van lidmaatskap van die Amptenare Pensioenfonds van die NG Kerk in SA. Skakel dr Jan Viljoen (041 365-3159) met navrae in hierdie verband.

Ring van Graaff-Reinet trap fiets vir Bybelverspreiding

Die Ring van Graaff-Reinet trap vanjaar weer fiets vir Bybelverspreding. Sowat twee jaar gelede, in ‘n tyd toe die ring onder groot druk was weens predikante-vermindering, het ds Jurie Wessels die blink idee gekry om ‘n fietstoer te reël vir Bybelverspreiding. Dit was ‘n groot sukses en het baie nuwe energie in die ring losgemaak. Wanneer dit swaar gaan, kan mens so invra op jou eie ellende dat jy totaal ontmagtig voel. Dan is dit ‘n tyd om diensgerig uitwaarts te kyk en te te fokus op ‘n verdienstelike saak.

Sedertdien trap die ring elke jaar fiets vir Bybels - en dit gebeur vanjaar weer, in April.

Die effek hiervan is dat die 3,016 lidmate van hierdie plattelandse ring verlede jaar R112,676.12 vir Bybelverspreiding geskenk het. Dit werk uit op R37.36 per belydende lidmaat. Vergelyk dit met die sinodale gemiddelde van R13 per belydende lidmaat.

Die lekker van so ‘n projek is - behalwe dat Bybelverspreiding een van die belangrikste take van die kerk is - dat die hele gemeenskap, ook ander denominasies, betrek kan word. En die seën sal op die strate en pleine van elke dorpie en stad beleef word!

Skakel ds Ben Fourie, streeksekretaris van die Bybelgenootskap, indien jy meer inligting verlang (041 364-1138).

Sendelinge in Malawi benodig

Ds Wicus Wait rig hierdie versoek:

Op Woensdag 16 Jan 2008 het ek pastoor Amos Ngalauka van die Malawi Revival Church in Blantyre ontmoet vir 'n gesprek op sy versoek nadat hy die afgelope Sondag ons erediens bygewoon het. Sy grootste behoefte is hulp in die vorm van sendelinge wat deur die Here gedring word om in Malawi te help met die bediening. Veral blanke sendelinge wat aanvanklik die evangelie daar versprei het is volgens hom steeds baie geloofwaardig.

Miskien is daar in ons sinodale gebied mense wat hierheen gestuur mag word. Ek het hom belowe om so wyd moontlik navraag te doen indien iemand belangstel.

Pastoor Amos kan gekontak word by 083 429 7811 tot so 26 Jan 2008 waarna hy terugkeer na Malawi.

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Bybel-Media Nuus

Die jongste Kerkbode is propvol pitkos-artikels. Vind uit oor:

*Jacob Zuma en godsdiens - waar lê sy sentimente?

*Gay-gebed ontketen storm *

*Taai jaar wag op gesprekke oor kerkeenheid

*Plastiekdominee preek in die Mosambiekse bos
*Bybel-Media rus katkisante toe met GPS
*Chris Chameleon is eerlik in sy (on)geloof!

In LIG se Februarie uitgawe word pret én pyn onderwerpe belig:

· VOORBLAD: Die liefde (en lewenslesse) blom op Dozi se pragtige plaas by Hartbeespoortdam. Dozi vertel ook eksklusief aan LIG wat werklik met hom in Mosselbaai gevangenis gebeur het.

· Ooo vet ... Oorgewig. Vet. Dit maak nie saak hoe jy dit sê nie, dit bly ’n swaar etiket vir kinders. Hoe help jy jou kind?

· Ma se slim kind! Begaafde kinders is ’n spesie op hulle eie. Hulle is slimmer, maar lyk soms dommer. Hulle is sensitief, maar slaap minder. Hoe op aarde moet ’n mens hulle hanteer?

· Dagga is gif. ’n Dagga-“stop” wat vir ’n appel en ei op die straathoek gekoop is, kan lei tot ’n lewe van verslawing. Lees LIG se in-diepte artikel.

· Ouma het (alweer) geval. Vergeet van die kat- en die mat-verskoning. Bejaardes val weens mediese oorsake soos swak oë en spiere, bloeddruk en ’n gesuis in die ore. Hier’s hoe jy dit hanteer.

· Gaynor Young hoor weer voëltjies sing.

· Leer jou kind bid.

GPS en LP3 vlieg uit Bybel-Media stal!

Vir die eerste maal in 'n dekade kry katkisante nuwe produkte. Dis rede om te jubel, want volgens die jongste Kerkbode word "geloofskwessies behandel waaroor jongmense van Graad 7-10 vrae het. Sommige van die kwessies waaroor jongmense geleentheid het om binne bepaalde riglyne te praat en na te dink, is: Wie is God? Hoe is God by my lewe betrokke? Wat is God se plan met my? Wat beteken dit om te glo? Hoe cope ek met die moeilike stuff in my lewe en hoekom is keuses so belangrik?"

Die multimedia LP3 - Lyne, Panele, Portrette, Prente verkoop ook soos soetkoekies. Volgens die jongste Kerkbode stel dit mens in staat om "oor drie jaar aan ’n storiemuur te bou wat ’n geheelbeeld van die Bybelverhaal vir jonger kinders van Graad 1-6 skets. Die storiemuur is bedoel vir inprenting, terwyl die elektroniese aanbieding die kinders help om op ’n kreatiewe manier mee te leef."

Vir meer inligting, skakel gerus vir ds Waldemar Stumpfe by 082 894 7457 of Danny Fourie by 021 864 8294.

Dominee se helpers:

Die Kerkorde 2007 http://www.bmedia.co.za/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,383/category_id,24/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,143/

Uitgewer: Bybelkor

Prys: R69.95 (14 % BTW ingesluit )

Die Kerkorde van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, met reglemente, kerkordelike riglyne en funksionele besluite soos vasgestel deur die Algemene Sinode in Junie 2007 is nou beskikbaar.

Prediking uit die Ou Testament http://www.bmedia.co.za/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,214/category_id,24/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,143/

Skrywer: Johan Janse van Rensburg

Prys: R84.95 (14 % BTW ingesluit)

Daar is aanduidings dat predikers om verskillende redes wegskram om uit die Ou Testament te preek. Die geweldige kulturele afstand tussen die Ou Testament en die Nuwe Testament is waarskynlik die belangrikste rede hiervoor.

In Prediking uit die Ou Testament bespreek Johan Janse van Rensburg verskeie kritiese aspekte van die prediking: Hoe behoort die verband tussen die Ou en Nuwe Testament in die prediking verreken te word? Hoe kan Christus in die prediking uit die Ou Testament aan die orde kom? Of behoort daar glad nie oor Christus gepreek te word nie? Hoe algemeen is die homiletiese dwalings soos moralisme, eksemplarisme en tipologie in die prediking uit die Ou Testament? Die skrywer sluit die boek af met ’n aantal preeksketse om hierdie en ander sake te verduidelik.

Inligting, Navrae en Diensverskaffing:

Skakel 0860 26 33 42

· Of stuur jou bestelling per e-pos na: bestel@bmedia.co.za

§ Of koop direk met jou kredietkaart op die webtuiste: www.bybelmedia.co.za

Voorspoedige 2008!

Hans Steyn

Hoof: Departement Ontwikkeling

E-pos: hans@bmedia.co.za

Tel: (021) 864 8223

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Kerk in die Werkplek

Vind op ons webblad ‘n kort informasiestuk oor ‘n 3-man stuk lewendige professionele produksie wat ten doel het om die besigheidsmanne en vroue in ons gemeentes te help om in hulle werksomgewing getuies vir Jesus te wees. Bekende persone het hieraan meegewerk, ondermeer Johan Scholtz en Ben Kruger. Die produksie is sonder tierlantyntjies en slegs 20 min lank.

Gemeentes word uitgenooi om die produksiespan vir ‘n opvoering uit te nooi.

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Raamwerk vir ‘n gesprek rondom geestelike formasie

Dankie aan Johan Kotze wat hierdie raamwerk met ons deel. Dit kom uit die Spiritual Formation e-nuusbrief van die Presbiteriaanse Kerk in die VSA.

I spent a good part of today in a meeting with a group of colleagues from 100 Witherspoon. It was really a great meeting, in part, because more than half of the participants came from ministry areas that are outside my usual range of daily contacts at the Presbyterian Center. We were conferring with one another about the ways in which each of our areas contributes to a "culture of call." The notion being that every Presbyterian has a "call" and we are commissioned to help nourish and nuture that call. Not just because we work at the national office, but because we promise on the occasion of each one's baptism to support one another in Christian growth and discipleship.

I was invited to lead a small segment of today's meeting and offer a "Liturgy of Discernment" on 1 Corinthians 12: 4 - 7. I thought I would share my "lesson plan" with you as this week's e-news. I have no idea where or when you might find this useful, but it was such a blessing to me to pull it together that I wanted to share it with more than just the small group I met with today. Please feel free to adapt it in any way that might fit your context. Blessings on you this day.

Supplies needed:

Marker board/marker

Bible

BCW, p. 115

Liturgy of Discernment

Prayer of Illumination (from BCW): God our helper, by your Holy Spirit, open our minds, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may be led into your truth and taught your will, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Read: I Corinthians 12:1, 4 – 7, The Message (Eugene Peterson)

What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives.

God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit.

God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit.

God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God is behind it all.

This is the Word of the Lord…

First step: Draw 3 columns on a sheet of newsprint. At the top of each column place headings: Gifts, People, Places. Invite participants to brainstorm together a list of gifts and ministries they observe in the church today. The text we read says, “God gives each one a gift, or a ministry, or some way of expressing God’s power at work in the world.” What evidence do we see of these gifts?

Second step: After allowing time for the group to give suggestions, call attention to the gifts that Paul names in verses 8 – 11. These are some of the gifts Paul saw in the church gathered in Corinth:

(Read: I Corinthians 12: 8 – 11, The Message)

[beginning of Scripture reading] Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

Wise counsel

Clear understanding

Simple trust

Healing the sick

Miraculous acts

Proclamation

Distinguishing between spirits

Tongues

Interpretation of tongues

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. God decides who gets what, and when. [end of Scripture reading]

Step three: Ask participants to name specific people in the church who model the rich variety of gifts that appear on the list created in step one. Reflect on particular people whose lives illustrate the Spirit’s giving of gifts. These can be people in your own congregations, people in the denomination, people you’ve met in other church communities, or in other countries… no restrictions on the pool of candidates you can name… Write the names of the people on the newsprint in column 2.

Step four: The third column will be made up of a list of make a list of the all the different places we’ve seen or experienced God’s Spirit at work. As you think over the past couple of months where did God’s presence surprise you, or comfort you, or encourage you? You can name something as mundane as the grocery story or your child’s car pool or something as exotic as a mission’s trip to Jamaica.

Step five: Read 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7 and 11 again, but this time keep before you the list of gifts, people, and places that you’ve created. With these before us you can hear these verses as though they were written to your group of people and in your context. This is a letter written to you, for you and about you.

[quoted from 1 Cor.] Let’s talk about the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives.

God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere;

[Call out the gifts the group listed]

All of these gifts originate in God’s Spirit.

God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere;

[Call out the names of each person listed]

The ministries that are at work in each one of these brothers and sisters originate in God’s Spirit.

God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere;

[Call out each of the places the group named]

And God is behind it all. All of these gifts have a common origin; They are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. God decides who gets what, and when. [end of quotation from Scripture]

Thanks be to God!

Step 6: Finally, invite each participant to reflect on the gift, or ministry that the Spirit of God has given to him or her.

If time permits, you might first ask the group to discuss the differences between spiritual gifts and natural abilities or talents. Ask: What is the difference between what you are good at, or the things you like to do, and the gifts or ministries the Spirit has bestowed upon you for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ? These things may have some overlap. Hopefully, in fact, it is the case that we find some pleasure or enjoyment in using the gift God has given us! But it’s not always the case. Look through the Bible and notice the number of times God asks someone to do a task for which he or she has no previous experience. It is instructive to reflect on the distinction between our skills or aptitudes and our spiritual gifts.

Allow time and space for silence and prayer. Listen to the Spirit. Notice the places in your life where you experience the Spirit of God at work?

Closing:

Sing: The Lord is my song, the Lord is my praise: All my hope comes from God. The Lord is my song, the Lord is my praise: God, the well-spring of life. (From Taize worship; Sung to the tune: “O Lord, hear my prayer.”)

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Nuutste Teologie@Kovsies

Hiermee 'n vriendelike versoek namens Prof Hermie van Zyl om asseblief die volgende deel te maak van u e-pos nuusbrief:

Die Teologie@Kovsies vier haar tiende uitgawe! Daarom is dit ook gepas dat talle prestasies van die Fakulteit Teologie, sy personeel en oudstudente aan die lig kom. Die eeue-oue lig van sterre bied 'n besondere konteks vir 'n teologiese konferensie en huidige studente beleef die vreugde van Woordverkondiging en die verskil wat dit in mense se lewens maak. Kliek op die skakel hieronder vir volledige nuusbrief:

http://www.uovs.ac.za/newsletter/newsletter.php?sid=70

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Chaos theory, fractals and the emerging church conversation

Roger Saner (Emerging Africa) vertel van ‘n interessante boek wat hy oor chaos-teorie gelees het - hoewel die chaos-teorie ontstellend kan wees vir mense, bou dit op die insigte van die kwantumfisika. Ons wêreldbeeld bou op die meer meganiese Newton wêreldbeeld, wat nie die kompleksiteit van die skepping kan verklaar nie. Saner pas dit toe op die emerging church-gesprek:

If you can, get hold of a book called "Chaos" by James Gleick. It's a history of the development of chaos theory, and reads like what the history of the emerging church will be.

Before there was chaos theory there were sets of problems which people ignored because they'd been trained to ignore (just like Christians are trained to ignore certain sets of questions. Freud apparently said that the church trains its people to ask only the questions it can answer.). Experimenters would notice slight variations in their observed data - "noise" - which wasn't supposed to be there. Theoreticians work in a perfect world in which there isn't any noise, so they could simply ignore it. The noise was, it was thought, simply an indication of the presence of some annoying un-eliminable factors, like friction or air resistance, or slightly imperfect equipment.

However, a few crazies on the edge of the accepted way of doing things decided to investigate - in many cases on their own for many years, only slowly meeting others who were doing the same thing. This took decades and lots of work, from American cotton price fluctuations over 100 years to weather patterns to intermittent line noise...people buried within their disciplines were coming across the same sort of problem expressed in different ways. Very few people were doing cross-disciplinary work and those that were began to see a pattern (this is why we must not just look to theologians for our theological answers).

Slowly the momentum built until suddenly one day a critical mass of scientific opinion was reached and *poof* chaos theory was the new exciting thing. Scientists were pulling out incredibly simple experiments to play with basic questions, like determining the onset of turbulence (like a simple water wheel...slowly turn up the volume of water coming into the system and at some point turbulence sets in and the rotation of the wheel actually reverses - in non-predictable "chaotic" ways). They found out that chaotic systems could be created by using narrowing down the amount of variables in a system to just 3. Simple causes had complex effects, completely undermining the Newtonian physics of "every action has an equal and opposite reaction." Physics had to be divided into "classical physics" and "new physics" (and of course quantum mechanics had a large part to play in this too, with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle showing that there is no such thing as an objective observer, a fundamental assumption of the old physics).

Then Mandlebrot (who solved mathematical problems by constructing a picture of the problem in his head and then playing with it until it felt right...definitely the wrong way of doing maths - but it worked!) discovered fractals and again a whole new world of possibility was opened up to us. In many ways it was just the same old world, but now it looked fresh...and full of exciting potential. Lines of zero length but infinitely many points (the Cantor set). The Lorenz attractor signified a shape of pure disorder but signaled a new kind of order. The (seemingly paradoxical) stable chaos in the red spot of Jupiter. The length of the boundary around a Koch snowflake tends towards infinity, yet its surface area remains less than the area of circle drawn around the snowflake. The length of a coastline is not an absolute value, but depends upon the size of the measuring tool used. The discovery of nonlinearity, meaning the act of playing the game changes the rules of the game. Scientists began to see that the way science is set up determines the answers it gets (echoes of the Freud quote above).

Chaos theory changed the very landscape of physics and science.

This is the future we have ahead of us in the emerging church conversation! Pete Rollins talks about the potential the emerging church conversation has to change the very architecture of western Christianity. Unfortunately it means being called crazy by the majority of the Christian community, who know better. Perhaps we'll even be called heretics. It means possibly long solo journeys with little encouragement, and wondering if somewhere along the line we've lost the plot. And times of working on things when nothing changes or is discovered...lost in the desert. But the task is worth it, especially through the dark and impossible times.

Perhaps you know a few crazies...and maybe you're one yourself! As the Apple Mac ad says: "Here's to the crazy ones."

So a toast to all who think they've lost their mind, who are straining for a new way of being a Christian community in this new rainbow world, who have played in the old, classical world and have discovered - or been pushed to discover - something...something which changes everything in unpredictable ways. Someday we'll look back and it'll make sense - just like life, which can only be understood backwards but which must be lived forwards.

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Forrest Gump goes to Heaven

(Met dank aan Jurgens Hendriks vir die enetjie:)

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven.

He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself.

However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, "Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you.

We have heard a lot about youI must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone.

The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven."

Forrest responds, "It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir.

But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam.

I sure hope that the test ain't too hard.

Life was a big enough test as it was."

St. Peter continued, "Yes, I know Forrest, but the test is only three questions.

First: What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second: How many seconds are there in a year?

Third: What is God's first name?"

Forrest leaves to think the questions over.

He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, "Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, give me your answers"

Forrest replied, "Well, the first one -- which two days in the week begins with the letter "T"?

Shucks, that one is easy.

That would be Today and Tomorrow."

The Saint's eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, "Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer.

How about the next one?" asked St. Peter.

"How many seconds in a year?

Now that one is harder," replied Forrest, but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve."

Astounded, St. Peter said, "Twelve Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?"

Forrest replied, "Shucks, there's got to be twelve:

January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd... "

"Hold it," interrupts St. Peter.

"I see where you are going with this, and I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind....

but I will have to give you credit for that one, too.

Let us go on with the third and final question.

Can you tell me God's first name"?

"Sure," Forrest replied,

"it's Andy."

"Andy?" exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St Peter.

"Ok, I can understand how you came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?"

"Shucks, that was the easiest one of all," Forrest replied.

"I learnt it from the song,

"ANDY WALKS WITH ME,

ANDY TALKS WITH ME,

ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN."

St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: "Run Forrest, run."

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Groete tot ons weer gesels,

Danie Mouton

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