Worship at Clermont
(Sunday, 5th August 2007)
Report letter to the Wrentham church:
Sawubona, Pam, and sanibona, Wrentham! ...
It is our last Sunday in KZN for this year’s trip, and it’s scheduled for a visit to Clermont. We were last there for worship in 2005, so we’re very much looking forward to it.
It takes twenty minutes or a bit more to get from Umhlanga Rocks, where we stay, to Clermont. This township is in the Pinetown area, next to what’s called New Germany. Clermont has an interesting history, starting as a smallish ‘location’ or ‘reserve’ in connection with a Lutheran mission, but if we recall correctly, in the earlier part of the 1900’s the mission ceased operations, at which point the land that is now Clermont was made available for freehold purchase by the Zulu residents. Our friend Nyami Mbhele says that this, and a similar area near Pietermaritzburg, were at that time the only places in what is now KwaZulu-Natal where individual ownership of land was available to Zulus. (Two aspects to this: From the middle of the 19th century, in the Natal Colony proper, the ‘native’ population were being pushed into the ‘locations’ – essentially, reservations – which were initially huge areas, but (does this sound familiar?) over time were sliced up for allocation to European farmers or, in later years, to provide land for industrial operations employing the residents. In the administration of the reserves, and as a customary matter in Zululand to the north of the Tugela and Buffalo Rivers, there wasn’t a ban on native land ownership, but there would not be individual ownership, as the land would be held by the mission or by the local nKhosi -- the chief, now described as the local ‘traditional leader’ -- in trust, in effect, for the collective benefit of the residents, or the clan. So, to the south of the Tugela-Buffalo boundary, there wouldn’t be Zulu ownership of land except in the locations, and in those, and generally to the north, there wouldn’t be individual ownership. In Clermont, though, there could be, and was, both.)
We arrive a bit early for the 8 a.m. service, remembering that as a more urbanized church, Clermont starts its service not only much earlier than most of the Zulu churches but, more unusually, tends to start on time rather than anytime within the hour or so after the appointed time. There are a couple of ladies, with youngsters, waiting by the gate. We have the chance to look through the gate to the re-done enclosure, quite a bit different from our earlier visits, to see the long-desired expansion structure. This had still been in the planning stages when we were last here for worship and was just a shell with the roof beginning to be applied when we met Richard and Phindi Ngidi at the church last year for the pick up of items to be taken to the Wrentham ‘matched’ church. More folks arrive, including a deacon with a key to the gate and the church, and we’re able to move our car into one of the few parking spots still available in the courtyard, which has been truncated by the building expansion; another reason to come early.
We have just a bit of time to have a look around, gazing at the new structure which is pretty much complete but for the internal drop ceiling; looking up, it seems more like the traditional rural churches, the rafters and corrugated metal roof visible from below. They’re just about to put in the ceiling, we were told later; while this will help against the heat when the summer sun is beating down, it’s a kind of a shame, too, in that it will dampen the music a bit – the new addition is quite a bit more ‘live’ sounding than the main structure, and the combination is quite rousing when the congregational singing gets going. We’ve been there about 20 minutes, and have taken our seats in the front center next to Nyami Mbhele, a friend first met in the Mission Council workshop days in 2001. Nyami had returned a few weeks before, from spending a year in the US – where she confusingly for us took to using her given (and passport) name of Thembi rather than this nickname.
The folks who’ve gathered already are singing a single hymn as a spontaneous chorus, which proves to be the only pre-service singing this day: Close to the stroke of 8, a group of deacons including Mr. Luthuli, he in a black academic robe as the officiating and preaching deacon for the day, come in from the side room that serves as the vestry. The congregation transitions to a sung invocation, and when that is done, Mr. Luthuli announces the first hymn, Uphi Umhlobo OnjengoJesu (‘There’s no friend like the lowly Jesus’), No. 74 in Amagama okuhlabelela, the Zulu language Congregational hymnal, a rousing hymn which we’ve encountered a few times here.
The service proceeds rather quickly, with Mr. Luthuli running a pretty tight ship. It would be usual, at Clermont as at many of the Zulu churches, for lay folks to conduct the service, as the minister will come here only rarely. This is not a separate congregation, but one of the many – thirteen or fourteen, depending upon whom you ask – branches of the Beatrice Street Circuit, which from its start with the mother church in what is now the inner city of Durban has spread to include locations spread widely around the province. The branches are usually referred to as ‘outstations,’ from the pattern of the old mission churches to have a central or mission church and several outstations, spaced at walking -- long, for us, but acceptable here -- distance from peoples’ homes. Some of the Circuit’s branches are within range of other Zulu churches of the UCCSA, and nowhere near the ‘mission’ church of the Circuit; there’s an ongoing issue about that within the KZN Region of the UCCSA. Clermont is the biggest of the Beatrice Street churches, and the richest, and it has its own branches, though these are within the general area of Pinetown and upland into what are referred to as the “Highway West” suburban areas along the major roads to Pietermaritzburg.
There’s a responsive reading from Psalms, familiarly found in the back of the hymnal. We try to join in, but we’re never able to keep up with such readings in Zulu; we can take a stab at it, but are usually only halfway through the average line by the time the congregation is done and the leader is into his next line. If there are words with clicks – c, x, or q – forget it. The scripture readings are from Genesis and Hebrews, read by Deacon Luthuli as the texts for the sermon to come. The next hymn is No. 323, Ngingumhambi, Ngingumfokazi (‘I’m a pilgrim and I’m a stranger’). Jan didn’t pick up on this for the ‘words of greeting', described below; more’s the pity.
Mr. Luthuli’s sermon is next, for which he moves across from the lectern to the pulpit. He’s a ways into it when there’s a rustle in the assembly, and we catch a glimpse from our front row seats of another few folks arriving including Rev. B.K. Dludla, the Circuit's minister, himself. This was a surprise to us, and we came to learn that it was a surprise to the congregation, and for the deacons specifically. He’s usually scheduled months in advance, and this was not a Sunday when he was supposed to be at Clermont.
Mr. Luthuli kept going with the sermon, but after a while there’s a murmur, and he stops mid-sentence, and the deacons seated behind Mr. Luthuli rise and start a chorus (‘Amandla…’ – ‘power [strength] of the Holy Spirit’), and the congregation with them. Rev. Dludla enters from the vestry room, with a bit of a retinue. Now well into his sixth decade of ordained ministry (we attended the gala 50-year celebration in 2005), this day he’s wearing a white robe, left open to display an all-white outfit down to the white shoes. A splash of color comes from his stole. Rev. Dludla takes a seat behind the pulpit, the chorus ends, and Mr. Luthuli picks up where he’d left off.
Things settle down again, but in time, one of the deacons seated behind Mr. Luthuli gets up, and breaks in to start a chorus – in and of itself, inserting a chorus in the middle of a sermon isn’t that unusual, as the sermons tend to be longish to be taken seriously, and so it’s helpful, to the speaker and the congregation, to be able to get up and take a musical break. But for someone else to interrupt the preacher with a chorus is something we hadn’t seen before. The purpose of this comes clear quickly enough, as the other deacon engages Mr. Luthuli in a brief private discussion, and then raises his arm to call a halt to the chorus, and sits back down. Mr. Luthuli speaks a few more words, closes his Bible and collects his notes, and sits down. Rev. Dludla comes forward to take over the service. (After the service, Jan had a chance to meet Mr. Luthuli, and yes, it was so that he now had an unused half a sermon ready to go for the next time he was called on to preach.)
Rev. Dludla spoke briefly, whether on text or for other purpose was hard for us to tell, but he proceeded quite soon thereafter into a time of prayer. This was followed by a blessing of the sick and others with specific needs; a large group of the congregation came forward for this, and the congregation sang a chorus while Rev. Dludla went in turn to each person to bestow a blessing, back and forth along the line as they stood several deep across the front of the room.
While this is proceeding, Nyami has re-consulted with the deacons, and Rev. Dludla has gotten the word to recognize her for a presentation. Nyami speaks briefly, and then calls up Ruthann to receive Clermont’s intended gift for Wrentham, which we’re to take back with us. This item is a quite beautiful professionally printed banner for the ‘i3L’ relationship between these two Congregational churches, with UCC and UCCSA logos, and American and South African flags. There are two of the banners, one to stay at Clermont, and one to be taken by us for Wrentham. We get some letters to take with us, as well. Rev. Dludla receives the presentation of the duplicate banner on behalf of the Clermont church.
Then, the reason for his unexpected appearance at Clermont this morning comes clear. Nyami does a bit of translation for us as Rev. Dludla addresses the congregation on a request to this branch from the broader Circuit. As they know, the Beatrice Street mother church’s facilities are in a parlous state. In two weeks’ time, there was to be an all-night vigil service for the collected Circuit, intended as a fundraising time for the renovation (or it may amount to the rebuilding, the Clermont deacons suggested to us when we spoke with them later) of the central church’s building and the manse (part of which had literally collapsed not so long ago, we had heard). As Clermont now had by far the largest place of worship in the Circuit, would they consent to the vigil service being held here? We believe the request will be honored.
As a natural enough transition, the offering is next. The music for this is a woman soloist, unaccompanied, a slow paced modern gospel sort of tune.
We’re up next, and Jan jumps in just quickly enough to preempt another transitional chorus arising from the congregation (on the assumption that we would not have been ‘bringing our own’ in this regard), and moving up to the lectern sings out ‘Ibandla lami linge lakho’ which is joined, more or less, by the congregation. The tune for this chorus is called ‘Clermont,’ and it was introduced to this church, but at a small group follow-up meeting; this would be its first appearance at a worship service in this church that inspired it.
The purpose this morning is to bring greetings (read out in isiZulu) from the Massachusetts churches and specifically from Wrentham, with special mention of Nyami’s visits there, and Pam Jennette’s great effort to keep the flame of the relationship going there. Pam had e-mailed over three greetings to be included in this morning’s service – one from the search committee head describing Wrentham’s process of searching for a new minister and requesting prayers for that effort; another from a parishioner with specific personal prayer requests; and from Pam herself – and these were read out to the congregation as well. The remainder of the ‘greetings’ was a homily in the nature of a pep talk about broadening and deepening the connection between the two churches, including to enlist more people as direct participants.
Why? Well, first as a response to scripture, to live out the directive that ‘we should love one another’ made real by seeking to know one another; and also as an honoring of the historic connection that our churches have, through the efforts of the American Board missionaries who declared that the churches in America and those in South Africa should be, not patron and client, but ‘brethren and co-workers,’ making this also real by seeking to know one another. But can we do this otherwise than by infrequent visits such as Nyami’s – the visit that allowed her to see the amazing, to a Zulu woman, circumstance of the men of the Wrentham church cooking and serving, and cleaning up after, a pancake breakfast at that church? (Gasps and laughter from the women, with some sheepishness, some chagrin, from the men.)
Well, consider why it was that Paul wrote to the Roman church that he longed to visit them: so “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” We have the opportunity, that Paul did not, to reach out to each other in ways that make us close, to offer that mutual encouragement by conversations about our lives, our churches, our faith, on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis. Our reciprocal mission to and with each other is made possible by the modern world that we share; we have a responsibility to make use of it. And so Jan makes an open plea for folks willing to share phone calls, and for those who had access to e-mail, to make themselves known to become involved in the relationship effort. The effort can be slow, and may often be unrequited as each church remains absorbed in its own concerns, but as a response to what God asks of us, it is for us to make the effort, and to keep trying.
As we’ve been doing at the thirteen participating KZN churches we’ve been able to join for worship during this visit, we mentioned also the story of last year’s visit to Adams Mission, when the Amabutho members in charge of the service that day based their testimonies on Paul’s words from Ephesians. They’d not been told we were coming that day, but we have carried that so-apt message with us, the message that they highlighted for us through that service, as we have spoken to participating Massachusetts churches since, and so also to KZN churches: that Jesus “came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God …” And so we were welcomed this day at Clermont, and so it can be, even more so, as the people of the churches speak with and write to each other, that it truly is as a family, and not as strangers, that we seek to interact with one another, that we are not strangers to one another, because we are ‘fellow citizens’ of the one church, across time and across oceans. And so, we should work to know one another. (It would have been nice to have incorporated something about the earlier hymn, but so it goes.)
Well, this was all quite well received – we also had, after the service, some very nice comments from members of the congregation, and promised to pass along their enthusiasm for the idea of their connection with Wrentham – and concluded with another rendition of the ‘i3L chorus’ as Jan stepped down to rejoin Ruthann and Nyami on the benches.
Rev. Dludla rose for a round of pastoral prayers. He switched to English briefly, and asked for the congregation to include, in their prayers, the Wrentham church and its people, especially so in regard to the search for a new ‘shepherd’ for that church.
Then there’s a second offering. One of the deacons, who we know has been instrumental in the branch’s financing of the construction of the new addition, speaks briefly before this offering is taken. He recalls that when we had last worshipped with them, there was no such new construction, only the dream and the plan to do so, and of course the effort to raise the funds. Since that time, he notes, they’ve had this weekly second offering – which can mean that there would be three or more offerings during the service, as other special offerings would continue, and the Isililo women’s and Amabutho men’s groups would conduct offerings as well. The congregation has faithfully given each week, to an extent that the progress on the building had been currently funded; they have not incurred debt to build the new structure. However, as we’d see, the space that they had added was now largely full, and they were concerned, though heartened, to have an impending question of the need for yet a further expansion to accommodate increased attendance! This further building fund offering takes a while, as folks come forward for this one, bringing their gifts individually up to the front table; two lively congregational choruses in sequence provide the musical accompaniment. Ruthann is asked by the deacon to offer the offertory prayer for this round.
During the time of this offering, Jan has the chance to go up to say hello to Rev. Dludla, and to sit with him to talk with him briefly. We’d not seen him before on this trip, and had not expected to, but were glad to have had this chance before we headed off to the US.
Rev. Dludla closed the service with a benediction, and departed. But the bulk of the congregation stayed on for a cake raffle, held as a fundraiser for Iziphika, the younger auxiliary of Isililo. Nyami made sure we would stay for tea with the deacons, provided by Isililo; the discussion with the deacons over tea centered on the Beatrice Street fundraising that had brought Rev. Dludla there this morning. They were very familiar with it as two of them served on the Circuit committee that was considering this. They’d not known about this morning’s visit until it happened, however. It was interesting to consider whether the mother church structure might be appropriate for preservation – this was not economic for the Circuit, it would be cheaper to raze it and build anew – given that it had a long history of being ‘in the wrong location’ as a Zulu congregation in what was planned as a white area of the city. It had survived, nevertheless, in that location through the worst of Apartheid; that it might now be undone by economics and the demographic sea changes of the ‘new dispensation’ would be ironic, though there's a lot of that going on as the new South Africa emerges. The national Culture Ministry had become involved in the preservation of other instances of the mission experience, especially as this implicated the historic struggles of this country’s past; maybe there’d be interest in Beatrice Street’s rather unique history, as well? Perhaps.
We thank the deacons, and Isililo for the tea, and Phindi Ngidi and Nyami for the opportunity to be there that day. It has been very meaningful, and great fun. We have to get going, however, as we’ve got several meetings scheduled that mid-day and afternoon with other churches to pick up their items for delivery to their ‘matched’ MaCUCC churches as well. Not to mention that we have yet to start packing for Tuesday’s trip back to the US!