Was it not a relief after all the hurt of watching my brothers sleep in the the open after their shelters were reduced to mere scrap metals, for me to go to church, and what do they preach about... you are right... Xenophobia. I personally think its almost over now and i think this may be my laso post on the matter but i was moved to just share the blessed message that blessed my life.
I found it shocking for the issue to be preached in Church (shame on me, where else did i want the issue to be addressed) but i then realised that God is my all. The 4 R's were the main catch.
REAL
RELATIONSHIPS
RELEVANT
RADICAL
Be Be real, Xenophobia is sin, has its roots in sin and is driven by greed... which is sin. It also needs a real solution, SALVATION. Our preacher (A Congolese, who holds a south african I.D.) says that the questions are being asked to the wrong people. the Natives say the Foreigners are stealing Jobs, and comically, their wives. The foreigners on the other hand (more like on the other side of the river) say the natives are lazy, greedy, don’t want to work et-cetera. Mr. Preacher says, we keep asking the wrong people for a solution that only God can give, the solution that is Christ the Lord, the Hope of Glory. Forgive me for the constant use of the term foreigner but its unavoidable. Try posting a blog like this and you will see what I mean.
Did I tell you that at the beginning of his message he mentioned that not all foreigners (there goes the word again) are thieves and that not all South Africans are Xenophobic.
Relationships. Well he said something like we need to take care of the relationships around us and so on and so on. That don’t mean what he said was boring, it just means I didn’t find it appealing
Relevant. That’s key, because the world we are living in definitely calls for constant update for those who are a bit old fashioned. Relevance is the only outreach to the Youth of the day who find the Nano and the iPhone almost equal to oxygen, yet a bible and its verses are no different from Charles Darwin’s Hypothesis, let alone Theory.
Radical. Biblical definition of Radical is, “Doing what God is doing”. Now that’s the best definition I have heard of any English term, nonetheless, true and Godly.
At the end of it all, a countries passport does not guarantee salvation and will not be of much help on judgment day. Nether will an Asylum or your refugee status.
Think about it.
Glenridge church is situated in Durban city, right next to the Durban main train station. Thanks to my friend Rodney Gava who took me there.
Amen.
