Human Rights

YOU CANNOT INSIST ON THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE, WITHOUT ALSO INSISTING ON THE DUTY TO CHOOSE WELL, THE DUTY TO CHOSE IS TRUTH (POPE JOHN PAUL II)

Today in South Africa is Human Rights Day. It is a day where we basically celebrate the Sharpville Massacre. It is a sad day in the history of our country but on the flip side it is a day that was probably the starting point of the struggle.

Anyway at gym today when I saw a women who was swimming. What struck me about this women was that she had no arms and one leg and yet she was in the pool swimming faster and further than I, an able bodied man could ever swim. She was swimming in auch a way that this women had an attitude about herself that said even if i had no limbs I would still be here in this pool. She was a fighter.

So on human rights day it got me to thinking what am I fighting for? What rights am allowing other humans to experience. My answer is ZERO!!! What am I doing???

When I worked in the church so many people used to come to me and say I don't know what God has called me to. Well I got to thinking about it and I think God is screaming at us and we are still.

Here are some stats in South Africa

• 20% of South Africans are HIV Positive
• We have the biggest difference between Rich and Poor earning in the WORLD
• 15% of baby's are underweight
• 8/100 have the Internet

In Africa

• Every 3 seconds a person dies from malnutrition
• Zimbabwe 80% unemployment

I was told once that the problem with world is that they have nothing to fight for any more. They had Vietnam, Apartheid. It seems the only thing now days we are fighting for is wealth. So I am challenging myself and maybe you might be challenged to start the fight. Get up off our butts and lets do something. Lets offer human rights to all. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope hope and a future. We have made this scripture a very singular scripture. Its About "me" when in fact it was written as a community and if one part suffers the whole body suffers. So God is calling us into community, To be a hope and a future.

Here is the words from a song from Matt Redman. LETS START THE FIGHT

Now To Live The Life

Many are the words we speak
Many are the songs we sing
Many kinds of offerings
But now to live the life


Many are the words we speak
Many are the songs we sing
Many kinds of offerings
But now to live the life

Help us live the life
Help us live the life
All we want to do is bring you something real
Bring You something true

(We hope that) Precious are the words we speak
(We pray that) Precious are the songs we sing
Precious all these offerings
But now to live the life

Help us live the life
Help us live the life
All we want to do is bring you something real
Bring You something true

Help us live the life
Help us live the life
All we want to do is bring you something real
Bring You something true

Now to go the extra mile
Now to turn the other cheek
And to serve You with a life
Let us share your fellowship
Even of your sufferings
Never let the passion die...

Now to live the life...
Now to live the life
Now to live the life
Now to live the life

©1998 Kingsway's Thankyou Music
Words and Music by Matt Redman

Are You A Racism Breeder??

"The West Has Raped The World" Me

This is Julie and Gareth. Gareth is a mate of mine who is studying in America. He inspires me allot. At G's Farewell I met a really good friend of his from Cape Town. I have only met Jules once and we have embarked on a friendship which i regard as a really special and challenging one .

Anyway Jules has been recently questioning the norms of society, and i have had the privileged to listen to her story. It has been one of deep thinking and self discovery.

Last night back from spending some time with some mates at St. Patrick's celebration i spoke to Jules. It really made me think and here are my Thoughts

I was listening to 702 on the way home the other day and they were talking about racism within South African business and society. It came after to incidents within the South African Media. The first was a young black intern “blowing the whistle” on racism within Investic and the second was Thabo Mbeki's speech in Parliament saying that whites use crime to hide behind their Racism.

Both had very big repocutions. The allowed comments from callers to come in and it was sad to hear a western thought come in on all matters. I think of all callers maybe three were black and the rest were white people complaining. Not taking both incidents in the context in which they happened. I wanted to call in and say rather than being the complainant lets be the voice in the desert calling for truth and being the hands that provide those truths.

My feelings are that as a white society we are breeding a level are racism in our children. Not only does our language at home and in our cars defeat us but also our actions. You see as being part of a western world, we are used to taking over countries, cultures, people, lifestyles and life .So now it has become far easier for us to sit back and let others conform to us. We say yes we want an integrated community but where I stay I only know of one black family in my community and I very seldom see black people at our houses unless they are cleaning the gardens or the houses. We don't engage with the other communities. The only reason that we do is not out of any other reason than just to comply with government law. Black people leave their township homes to come to our “white”schools, our “white”malls our”white”sports grounds and our “white”workplaces. How many white children go to township schools. How many white people live or go to a party in a township area or shopping in a black mall or how many rugby games have there been at FNB stadium. It is rather let the others change than us.

I told my sister that we should go into townships but her first response was “Its dangerous”. Its not its just our lack of understanding. Black people have become our circus animals that we can work with in the ring but they go sleep in their cages and we stay in our caravans.

Now where is the church in this. I am afraid that the church has sold into Western thought. That saddens me. We have a very self centered church. When last have you heard a message where the church says that you shouldn't drive a Merc or a BMW but rather live simply. I have never heard this message and I am a seasoned church goer and worker. When last has the church engaged in worship that incorporates all cultures. The only time I have seen this was at the Methodist Synod and the white church moaned. I have experienced it myself where ministers tell there Youth Pastors that Youth Synod is a waste of time because they are 4 whites amongst 150 Blacks. The church needs to engage in an unselfish approach. They would do well to learn form the African Church. When last has a white lay person sat in black church service.

WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR CHILDREN IF ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN OUR WORDS???

But this is not an South African problem. The first statement of Purpose Driven Life ( A book written for the American Market) “Its not about you” The world has fallen into this trap and the example of the West's greed is Africa. The colonized, Raped the earth of her wealth, Put in place power hungry people, taught Africans the value of a “BUCK”and bugged off leaving Africa to defend for itself. The West has Raped Our World.

NEW DATE OF DEPATURE

Hi Guys & Gals

Just to let you know I will probably be leaving on the 20th May now. So plans have changed, My farewell is going to be on the 12 May at 6:30.Bring and Braai and also bring your own drinks. Email me if you need directions!!!

The Hurts & The Steeple

"The church is whore but she is my Mother" St. Augustine
I was sitting today at a Braai with some mates, andI got speaking to a really good friend of mine. She was just talking how much the church had hurt her and hurt her family. What is it about the church that causes this immense hurt. Why if we are called to love and be Gods light, why is it that there are people still in deep disappear and deep depression caused by the church? Some things that I noticed from our chat is that the church is seen to be God. Why is it that this is the case. Are we living in a society that is so short of authentic experiences of God that they equate the church to God or is it that the church has taken a monopoly on the experiences of God. That we can only experience God in his so called house. So the broken come to this place trying to find this experience and they then receive a shock to the system and find themselves even more broken. I don't know the answers but I would like to maybe see it differently. The church is not Gods only house. When the cloth tore in the temple it didn't only allow people to come in, it also allowed God to come out.
So therefore there are no God forsaken people, places or events there are only church forsaken people, places, events.I was thinking the other day how when we pray to God through song how often we sing I & MY in our songs and very little about community. Yet the Our Father has no I's, Me's. or My's. How often do we sing God in He and how often do we sing God as female. I personal have found comfort in seeing my picture of God as a black women.
But on the other side is that the church gives us life if we allow it to. It is God's bride and it is Gods hope for humanity. It feeds some of the poor, cares for the hurt, and nourishes the rich.
So I am caught in this dilemma, of whether the church is living out its grace. How do we become a church of grace? Whats are we doing to make sure that the hurts that we experience in the church are not inflicted on others.

So Change.

The definition of time: Change (Carel Venter)

Don’t you love new beginnings? The death of old but the birth of new. We carry around a pregnant whom of life waiting to bear its offspring of new life. What a gift. The past is part of our lives but it is also a part of our death. The gift of new life is such a hope that tomorrow, we will be better off than today. I went to Northfield Methodist Church the other night to a Young Adults Group that meets once a month. It was really awesome and I felt God really move within me. She moved in ways that brought up so much of my present past and things that made me feel dirty and in need of a spring-clean. I felt the feminine of God really hold me and offer me grace. More like a mother who cares for the wounded child even though she knows that the child has done wrong. I prefer a feminine God. So then Carel (The Youth Pastor) spoke about God within time and really was struck at Gods ability to be in the three phases of time Past, present Future and the also not be in time. Made me really awe full to think God is just in so big he is time with time. Carel really made me think. Also Carel (Sounds like a really deep guy) also made me see that the church is doing good and has shifted my paradigm of the church once more.

Other than that my brother and his fiancé got married on Saturday day. So a little bit of a party was in order. I cant wait for him to move out I want his room.  I am really excited for them and I hope and pray that they have a marriage that will bring both themselves and the community that they engage with closer and alive.

Then last but not least if you could pray for me as a community as I start a new beginning. It looks like I am going to be resigning from my job and going to work in America for CCUSA on a Summer Camp for 4 months. It is my first of many steps back into the church and it is a little on the scary side but I really am feeling the calling to the church consuming me. I am not sure what I’ll be doing when I get back but I would like to find a church and start ministering again. Then in 2008 I want to go to the University Of Pretoria to study theology. So big plans but its exciting plans.

So talking about change and how life is moving. On Thursday (after being rear ended) I went to a meeting for CCUSA, cause I have really felt God moving me to a new places and I am official going to summer camp!!!! BIG CHANGE!!!! Four months of new time experiences and Four months of self Discovery.
So here are the plans Batmans.
Leave 29 April 2007

• Arrive in New York on the 30th.
• Go for orientation at Columbia University (I Think)
• 1st Arrive at Camp Carolina
• Fix Up Camp
• Get some campers.
• See how it goes
• Maybe slip in a visit to see Gareth

Anyway guysIi am having a farewell braai (The Taylor Family Braais are legendary) if all goes according plan on the 20 April 2007. Starts at 6 all invited. Bring own food, drinks and DOLLARS :)Love to hear from you all. taylorjus@gmail.com
Gareth Remember when we went on Youth Pastors Bash and I jumped off that waterfall and it wasn't even high?Like maybe four meters?? Remember it took me an hour? How long you think this is gonna take me??

Sorry Seems To Be The Easiest Word

Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title.
Virginia Woolf
Well maybe its OK to just be mad. To own the feeling, to play with it to struggle with it, to hold it. But what makes us respond the way we do? What makes us mad, What pulls us down. What lifts us up. What puts us on the "High". I wonder how much truth there is in regaining our past. For some of us the past can be a scary place, that we wish to not revisited because it cuts us to our weakest and most vulnerable state. I know for me it seems to just rattle my insides and brings back hurt and pain. That doesn't mean that forgiveness and healing has not happened to the contrary it means in my life that, the past is more real to me and effects my actions and my understandings of life.
You see whether we like it or not the past will always be part of our present.

I have been struggling with my Dad lately (My Mom & Dads relationship was a big hurt in my Past) and was trying to explain to him that the reason that I react in a certain way or the reason i seem not to respond to him in the way he wants. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. You see my Dad seems to think that because he said sorry it erases the past. Of course it erases a movement of hurt and underlying grudge but it doesn't seem to take away the effect the past has had on me. I am scared to engage with my Dad in fear of being hurt or neglected or not being worthy enough. Unfortunately my past experiences dictated my future dealings with him.
But I do feel this is not a thing that is just between me and my dad. I feel it is allot bigger than I in my experiences of the past. Look at Apartheid we are sorry and there has been a reconciliation but that doesn't mean that there is still not a repocution (Sorry Spelling) of those actions. Then look at the conflict in the Middle East. I red a great blog from my friend Julie Martin and her story also links with the past and how today we are feeling and dealing with it in a apologising South Africa.Maybe the time has come for us to stop running from our past and own it. Some people are scared of that and that's OK but we have to understand the future. Be careful how we respond. Look at peoples responses. Sorry is the easiest world but it needs to be proceeded by understanding to make it a true word. This doest mean we hold onto the past and do not let it go cause to live only in the past is to live out of balance. That's why life comes in 3 forms. Past, Present and Future. Our past is a way to understand or present and make a positive step to our future. I don't know if i am speaking twak but it feels real to me.Gareth I just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to the great forms of expression and depth found in the art of William Kentridge.I don't know if you remember most of these images come from the exhibition we went at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. You taught me art, I showed you the World of Beer. How bizarre

"Not All Who Wander Are Lost"

Do we every know what is truth or are we told this is truth and we follow. Are we allowed to question the norms of society or are we told to fit in to the mold. Do we perceive Jesus to be what the church has told us or do we engage and find our own answers to life.

Scary to think life is here. It is not something that will happen. It is something for the now. Why is it we are told to live life in a certain way. Why is that like sheep we follow this call to life. It scares me. I AM SCARED TO LIVE. Not scared in the sense of walking in the street. I am scared to walk on new ground. To walk the road less traveled. To take the step that says I will live life as if I own it. It scares me not to know what is behind door number 3. Scared of failure Scared of pain.

Maybe though being scared can lead me trust and hope. Maybe being scared means that i am already on the journey. Maybe being scared helps me to be human and identify with humanity.

Maybe the truth is that the reason we follow is becuase we are so scared to be alone

I found this poem and I really love it.

If I Had My Life To Live Over

If I had my life to live over I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
I'd relax.I would limber up.I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.

I would take more chances.I would take more trips.
I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I am one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments and if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them.
In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments.

One after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.
I've been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute.

If I had it to do over again, I would travel lighter next time.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies.

Attributed to: Nadine Stair, age 85