With two weeks to go to the start of the Fifa World Cup, all eyes are on South Africa, and of course on Bafana Bafana, as together we prepare for this massive event.
Preparations for the World Cup have meant (at least in some of our cities) new stadiums, new transport networks, new facilities, and a general face-lift as we prepare to welcome the world to our land.
With two weeks to go to the start of the Fifa World Cup, all eyes are on South Africa, and of course on Bafana Bafana, as together we prepare for this massive event.
Preparations for the World Cup have meant (at least in some of our cities) new stadiums, new transport networks, new facilities, and a general face-lift as we prepare to welcome the world to our land.
We wish all participants well, and we pray for safety and for an enjoyable and successful time for everyone. But there is a dark side to the World Cup: huge debt, human trafficking, prostitution, drugs and crime: a sobering reminder that people need God’s saving love.
“More power!” we shout as we watch our favourite sports teams, week by week, and urge them on to greater efforts.
“More power!” people shout as preparations begin for next year’s local government elections. “More power!” is the cry as strikers and employers face one another across the table or on the streets.
So many of the difficult matters that we face in our community are those of power, its use and abuse. This
past Sunday was the Day of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the followers of Jesus Christ.
The church was born at Pentecost. The disciples received the power of God, which transformed their lives. They received power for worship, witness and service.
The power of the Holy Spirit leads to changed lives, to broken families reunited, to a renewed and vibrant church, to people filled with the love of God, to communities changed and shaped and transformed by loving service, to courageous acts of reconciliation, to a deep commitment to justice.
That is real power. That is the power of God. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, the door will be opened for you.
If you who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9,13).
