The Cathedral bells will sound across Grahamstown between midday and 2pm today, in line with the South African Council of Churches’ call for prayer as part of its ‘Unburdening, Uncapturing’ campaign.
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has recently been engaged in a national initiative of listening to people who wanted to ‘unburden’ themselves. This resulted in the collection of a great deal of testimony relating to state capture and corruption, some of which was also voluntarily given by the people concerned to Thuli Madonsela and incorporated in her State Capture report.
The Unburdening Panel comprised SACC President‚ Reverend Ziphozihle Siwa‚ Grace Bible Church pastor‚ Mosa Sono‚ social activist Brigalia Bam and Judge Yvonne Magoro.
Introducing the recent launch of the subsequent report, titled ‘Unburdening, Uncapturing’, senior vice president of the SACC Reverend Frank Chikane said, “It provided a safe space for people to unburden themselves and share what they wish freely‚” said Chikane.
The report, is available on the Cathedral website at http://grahamstowncathedral.org/sermons-articles-etc/articles/sacc-report/.
“As part of a country-wide response called for by the SACC, the Cathedral bells will be rung for a while between 12 and 2 pm on Thursday 25 May,” the Cathedral’s media liaison person, Maggy Clarke said. “As our ringers are now, sadly, few, I cannot promise for how long.”
Dean of the Grahamstown Cathedral, The Very Reverend Andrew Hunter, said, “The revelations have been horrific. Quoting from the report, he said, “What has emerged is that tthe problem is far greater than corruption, but organised chaos… What appears to be chaos and instability in government may well be a systemic design… a chaotic design…’.
“Many Christians from different churches are using the 50 Days from Easter until Pentecost to soak our land in prayer,” said Hunter. “A collective cry for the Holy Spirit to descend to convict us and heal our land.
“The SACC report calls us all to prayer, and notes that two more prayer phases are being planned for 2017, possibly closing with a major prayer Rally of Healing and Reconciliation on 16 December.”
The following excerpt from the SACC report refers to the call for prayer and the ringing of church bells:
We are grateful that Christians of all traditions, and indeed all people of faith from all religious backgrounds are praying hard for this nation. There is a powerful prayer network of Christians with a daily programme linking prayerful people across the land in a steady campaign to soak the country in prayer. It began at Easter and will conclude the present phase at Pentecost. The National Church Leaders Forum of the South African Council of Churches requests that Christians should add to the present campaign an intensity around the two upcoming holy days – Ascension on May 25, and Pentecost the last day of the present campaign. We appeal that people should plan to gather to pray in their local churches on Thursday May 25, between noon and 2pm and ring bells where they have them. Ascension Day is also Africa Day, and we should add the Africa dimension to our prayers for our continent.
“May we do all we can to turn the tide,” Hunter said.
READ THE ‘UNBURDENING, UNCAPTURING’ REPORT ON THE CATHEDRAL’S WEBSITE
