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It is cold in the Karoo. Monday morning was the first morning with a minimum temperature below freezing. The Karoo plains were quietly ripe as they should be on a good winter morning.
On the way to church it is dark. Load shedding kicked in at 6 p.m. Only in homes with solar power or a generator is it not dark. I'm driving a borrowed bakkie. My car hit a very ugly pothole last week, the most in just a few days, and the right front tie rod head (tie rod) broke off. Now the man who has to repair it is waiting for parts that will hopefully be delivered by courier within a day or two.
I think back to my school days almost three decades ago in the Southern Cape. Pentecostal services with all 120 of our hostel children walking down to church every night for the service. Farmers who farm twenty, even thirty miles outside the town who faithfully drive into town for the service. No association's meeting or business is urgent enough not to attend this service. No television soap was too important, fireplace too enticing or casual broadcast of the service, which could just as easily be watched on the cell phone while we were cooking, was available.
I drove to church with a friend's bakkie tonight. Otherwise I would have had to walk. One can only be grateful for such friends. ʼn Deacon, the type who is there when tables and chairs need to be loaded or a fundraising event organized, has taken the initiative to make the generator work. Women made soup and sandwiches for a wonderful visit to the service. Our pastor breaks Galatians 5 open for us. As a believer, you know why the fruit of the Spirit conflicts with the needs of the flesh.
A Time when eighty percent of the congregation attended Pentecostal services and twenty percent stayed home. This week eighty percent stay home and there may be twenty percent in the church. Does that mean I'm scared, old-fashioned or maybe even cramped?
Pentecost is a time of gratitude. Fifty days after Jesus' resurrection, he sent the Holy Spirit to clothe Christians on earth with new strength. In a world full of choices, a world full of rights, tolerance demands and cultural relativism, there is only true faith in God-three-one who sustains the church. In my childhood, attending Pentecostal services was the norm in our community. Today, only those who have a real need to celebrate in gratitude the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Even though the country's roads are full of potholes and load shedding strikes us on an icy cold night, there is hope. We may not give up on our country, our people, our calling here. Even though there is so much uncertainty in a world where war, terror, economic problems, the destruction of nature, moral decay and hopelessness presuppose a future of uncertainty, there is always light. Because Pentecost is not a dark time. It is a feast of light in a dark world. Therefore, I hope that more people will stand up in front of the television or fireplace or turn off the cell phone broadcast of a church service and, armed with a coat and scarf, come together in prayer tomorrow night in gratitude - not because we want to be old-fashioned or cramped, but because we know that the key to the world's problems over the centuries has always been in God's word and will always be in it.
Thank you Jaco Kleynhans from Maroela Media
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