GreyDoveTravels

During our last full day in South Africa, we will visit Robben Island.  Robben Island has been used as prison and a place where people were isolated, banished and exiled to for nearly 400 years. It was also used as a post office, a grazing ground, a mental hospital and an outpost.  Initially the island was inhabited by a variety of wildlife, including birds, penguins, seals and tortoises. Its name  "robben"  is derived from the Dutch, meaning a seal. It also had a plentiful supply of fresh water available from a number of springs. Batolomeu Dias, the Portuguese explorer, 'discovered' the island in 1488 when he anchored his ship in Table Bay.    During apartheid many Black people were kept on Robben Island as political prisoners. Former President Nelson Mandela was kept there for 18 of the 27 years he served in prison before the end of apartheid. The prison is internationally notorious for its harsh conditions and when the political prisoners of the apa...

Much of our time will be spent in Hermanus,  a town on the southern coast of the  Western Cape  province of  South Africa . It is known for  Southern Right whale  watching during the southern winter to spring seasons.  Hermanus lies along  Walker Bay  on the south coast of the  Western Cape . It is located about 115 km southeast of  Cape Town  and  is 40 km from  Gansbaai , a spot where people can dive among the  great white sharks .  It is also notable that Hermanus still boasts a historic railway station building without a railway line. The founders of the town decided not to lay any tracks as this would have made Hermanus more commercial and felt that Hermanus needed to stay a small fisherman's village. To this day the locals still refer to it as "the village." While in Hermanus We will be meeting with several South African leaders who worked closely with Archbishop Tutu, or are involved with th...

The Afrikans word "apartheid" means "to be holy" or "to be set apart." Established as a community following the Boer War, Afrikaners with the support of the British developed the system of racial segregation and oppression known as apartheid. A system that was implemented and enforced by numerous acts and laws that institutionalized racial discrimination and ensured the dominance of white people over people of other races. Apartheid was distinguished from segregation practiced in other countries by the systematic ways it was formalized in law. Apartheid became a comprehensive legislative project only after the National Party came into power in 1948. However, it was preceded by many statutes established by previous British and Afrikaner administrations in South Africa's provinces. Archbishop Tutu's spiritual leadership was instrumental in exposing the evils of apartheid through his  resistance to seeing an apartheid state as a city of God, which it ...

Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-tu ) is an African concept of personhood in which the identity of the self is understood to be formed interdependently through community. The word ubuntu comes from the Sub-Saharan languages known as Bantu. Ubuntu is the interdependence of persons for the exercise, development, and fulfillment of their potential to be both individuals and community. Archbishop Tutu's theology of ubuntu is complex, but ultimately he describes ubuntu as hospitality, an open and welcoming attitude that is willing to share, to be generous and caring. Ubuntu is the development of the kind of character in a person who proves a neighbor to a stranger and welcomes them as friends. Ubuntu forms knowledge that human existence is caught up and inextricably bound up with God's creation and that a solitary human being is a contradiction in terms. "I need other persons," Tutu concludes, "to become a person myself."

On August 15 I depart for Cape Town South Africa and the incredibly exciting opportunity to participate in the Walk With Archbishop Tutu Travel Seminar . The seminar is led by the Rev. Dr. Michael Battle, a deeply gifted theologian and scholar who was ordained and married by the Archbishop and was his chaplain for two years. Dr. Battle's children were also baptized by "The Arch".  Desmond Mpilo Tutu, Anglican Archbishop, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and served as chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate apartheid-era crimes. After the commission's work was complete the Archbishop became the chair of The Elders, where he gave vocal defense of human rights and campaigns for the oppressed, worldwide. Please follow my blog as I further describe the Archbishop's work and theology and how it very much relates to the work that we are all doing to spread God's Word and Peace in our community. Your comments and questio...

Well, as you all know by now, I am back in Ft. Walton Beach - I am not in Italy. I had a bit of a tumble on the General Theological Seminary flagstone path and waded through two ER visits and five days of preaching tutorials. It seemed the wisest thing to return home and to be among my friends. Rest assured I am fine. Just a bit embarrassed. The class, Fresh Expressions in Preaching was suburb. I am so grateful to have been with Dr. Lisa Weaver (standing next to me) and Dr. Hillary Raining (in the white shirt). Their coaching tips on the sermons that we had to write, and deliver were invaluable. Stay tuned as I experiment with you all in my next sermon on July 10. By the way, I am now officially through my second year of the three-year doctoral program - wow!