I will betroth you to me forever. (Hosea 2:19 NIV)
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32 NIV)
“Jesus Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!” The Lutheran Order of Service for the first Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti) is available here in isiZulu and seTswana. Today it comes with a sermon written by my father Rev. E.A.W.Weber (Welbedacht, KZN) based on the gospel of Saint Mark chapter 16 verses 9-14 (15-20) in isiZulu (wz1322130407 Kwasimodogeniti) and seTswana (wt1322130407 Kwasimodogeniti)
We thank the Lutheran Heritage Foundation for supporting the distribution of hard-copies of these orders of worship and sermons throughout Southern Africa. If you also want a copy please do not hesitate to subscribe by writing to EAWWeber@bundunet.co.za.
I pray you have a very blessed Eastertide and have time to meditate on the watchword of our Lord Jesus Christ recorded in the first Epistle of St. Peter in the 1st chapter: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1Pe 1:3 NIV)
The liturgical colour is white and the Church rejoices with Hallelujahs, the Magnificat and the Gloria in exelsis.
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” (1Co 5:13 NIV)
Who does the Apostle St. Paul address in this fifth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians. Who is to exercise discipline and expel the wicked? Is that just said to the pastors in Corinth? Are they entrusted with keeping discipline all on their own? No – just as little as our Lord Jesus Christ addresses only pastors in Matthews 18. All Christians – the entire congregation and Church – is entrusted with this disciplinary process – especially with good order with regard to the Lord’s Supper. The congregation is responsible for this. It’s a necessary expression of brotherly love and care. Wherever there is no discipline and good order, there is no real cohesion and communion in the congregation and Church. There the congregation lacks the necessary expression of God’s family and people. It is not possible to exercise discipline in a blessed and edifying manner as long as the congregation does not recognize this as its own responsibility and honourable duty of brotherly love and care, which every member should pursue vigorously.
It is totally misplaced to expect this procedure from pastors alone. The pastor is a prominent member of the congregation – no doubt – and he has the special responsibility entrusted to him by the office of the ministry. This he has to bring to bear to maintain proper discipline in the congregation in both doctrine and practice – yet he can only do his part and fair share. He is and remains only one, a brother, a member of the congregation and Church, who can’t do the work and practice the loving discipline entrusted to the entire congregation and church. The pastor does not replace the congregation. He cooperates with it even as he leads it. Never should the pastor allow the congregation to push their godly cross, responsibility and duty off onto him.
Lord, you are the sole helper in this challenge troubling your church. Grant unto us, that we continue to hope, where according to human reason there is no hope. Grant to your Church a new spring, let her dead and dying live once more so that the children of your Church might flourish, bloom and bear fruit like good fruit trees of your liking. Grant this by your glorious resurrection. Amen.
Grant the holy stringency of Elijah, when the mislead blind masses consecrate temples and altars to contemporary idols and may we never bow before them our heads or knees – not even outwardly – but let us remain your faithful witnesses, steadfast and true – even if all alone. (Karl Johann Philipp Spitta, 1801-1859)
This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Saturday after Easter. It is found on Pg. 165 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu! (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.
Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:13 NIV)
Jesus Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17 NIV)
Your boasting is not good. (1Co 5:6 NIV)
That’s St. Paul’s call to the Corinthians. What would he say to our practice of Church discipline and especially our practice at the Lord’s Table? Do you think these are just questions concerning the Corinthians and irrelevant to us? Don’t we recall that our Lord Jesus Christ himself mandated all his congregations to practice good order and discipline in Matthews 18? Dear brothers, Dr. Martin Luther is quite right that discipline is just as valid a commandment of our Lord as all others too. This mandate to practice good order and discipline is basically the command of pure love, the love of the Christian congregation and Church amongst each others and also to their Lord. Discipline in its proper form is the discipline of Easter, discipline of the Lord’s Supper just as the Church exists in this time of Easter and as a sacramental communion until her Lord comes again in glory.
This discipline has ceased to exist in our Churches today and we can say that it hardly exists anywhere anymore. Here and there a lonely pastor might still be found and a faithful church council of elders is probably even rarer still. The pastor tries to do the right things – perhaps with fear and trembling. What denunciation makes the rounds about such faithful shepherds? Nobody says: “This Pastor means well and he’s driven by the love towards God’s people and God himself!” No – rather he is badmouthed: He’s a fanatic, a proud priest, who’s about to convert the Evangelical Church back into the Catholic Church. Those disciplined seem to have good reason to object and to oppose him. Some even go so far as to accuse him and the questions of discipline become a matter for civil courts even – for example if a drunkard presses charges against the pastor, who disciplines him – or the adulterer. What does the congregation say? Is it alert? Does it notice what is going on if sin starts to rule openly in families and congregational circles? Does it support its pastor in his struggle to regulate these issues with pastoral and spiritual discipline out of Christian love or does it just demand tolerance and allow sin to rule in a loveless and secular ideology? You know the answer – dear reader. In most cases the pastor is left lonesome and to his own devices.
Whoever sins, hates the light and doesn’t want to hear the truth. Whoever speaks about repentance is branded a breaker of the peace. The word of the holy and beloved cross was always a harsh one for the world to bear – and is that even now. (Emmanuel Adolf Waizt, 1811-1864)
This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Friday after Easter. It is found on Pg. 164 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu! (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.
I am the LORD your God. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. (Hosea 13:4 NIV)
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3 NIV)
As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him…When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. (Luke 24:15-16.30-31 NIV)
As the Lord wanders with his disciples and reveals himself to them, he is touchable. He touches, lifts up and blesses the food. He breaks the bread and gives it to them. It was he, who had hung upon the cross. He was there in bodily presence. His disciples recognize him, yet he disappears before their eyes. His bodily presence stops and he is absent – no longer with them as before. He was present in the room, but the room could no longer hold him. His body was no longer bound by space and time. We don’t know from where he came and where he went – not even how exactly he was with them, while his presence lasted. Yet we do know, that his body in which he appeared to his disciples, was not his just for a brief moment, but rather that of all eternity, the real body but no longer subject to the spatial and timely restrictions of our mortal bodies. He was visible and invisible, present and absent, just as the Lord wanted to be. What a wonderful matter this eternal body of our Lord, which we too will share by his grace and mercy + as he already has made us part of this new creation through holy Baptism.
Resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ + We trust your gracious promise that the resurrection from the dead is to be a reality for all our bodies, dead, buried and deceased in many different ways. Yes, you have promised an eternal life for your saints and an eternal death for sinners. You have said so, so it will be like that. We rejoice in this wonderful prospect and praise your holy name o God of our life and our salvation. Amen.
Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me. Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave Christ will recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence.
Jesus lives! To Him the throne High above all things is given. I shall go where He is gone, Live and reign with Him in heaven. God is faithful; doubtings, hence! This shall be my confidence.
Jesus lives! For me He died; Hence will I, to Jesus living, Pure in heart and act abide, Praise to Him and glory giving. All I need God will dispense; This shall be my confidence.
Jesus lives! I know full well Nothing Me from me shall sever, Neither death nor pow’rs of hell Part me now from Christ forever. God will be my sure defense; This shall be my confidence.
Jesus lives! And now is death But the gate of life immortal; This shall calm my trembling breath When I pass its gloomy portal. Faith shall cry, as fails each sense, Jesus is my confidence!
This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Thursday after Easter. It is found on Pg. 163 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu! (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.
Make known among the nations what the Lord has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. (Isaiah 12:4 NIV)
Our Lord Jesus Christ says: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16 NIV)
FINANCIAL RESULTS REFLECT OVERALL STATE OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
Adv Johan Kruger, Director: Centre for Constitutional Rights
The Constitution enshrines a system of democratic governance that must result in accountability, responsiveness and openness. As such, the government, its officials and its institutions must be able to explain and justify its decisions, actions and laws; be accessible and responsive; and conduct its business of governance in an open and transparent manner. There are a number ways to test accountability, responsiveness and openness – including through Parliament and the Courts. The annual financial audit by the Auditor-General is another objective mechanism to measure the very basics of accountability and transparency. These include assessing financial performance in terms of internationally accepted accounting principles, but also overall performance, service delivery and systemic irregularities.
The Auditor-General, in his recent consolidated national and provincial government audit results for 2011/12, found that only 22% of all government institutions achieved clean audit opinions in the past financial year – only 117 out of 536 government institutions. Of these institutions, 14% received qualified audit opinions, 3% received adverse opinions or disclaimers and 6% have outstanding audit reports due to non-submission of financial statements. The amounts in question are equally staggering: unauthorised expenditure amounting to R2.97 billion, irregular expenditure totalling R28.38 billion (R6.25 billion more than the previous year) and fruitless and wasteful expenditureadding up to R1.79 billion – an astounding total of R 33.16 billion worth of misappropriation.
These disconcerting facts were well reported and require no further analysis. The latest results are, however, not only indicative of the state of governance and financial management in public administration and the public service, but are also symptomatic of the government’s increasing overall failure to adhere to the constitutional values of accountability, responsiveness and openness. It stands to reason that if only 22% of government departments, institutions and enterprises received a clean audit, 78% of all government entities are in one way or another failing to be accountable, responsive and transparent in their dealings. The latter certainly warrants some additional contemplation.
Who is to blame? The President, as head of the executive, is responsible – together with the rest of his Cabinet – for the conduct of the government, its officials and its institutions. The President appoints the Deputy President and Ministers, assigns their powers and functions, and ought to dismiss them should they fail to perform or fail to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The President assigns and delegates powers and functions, but cannot abdicate his responsibility as head of the executive. In addition, the President and his Cabinet are, collectively and individually, accountable to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions – including the conduct of public servants working under their direction. The same, of course, holds true for Premiers and their respective provincial executives in relation to their provincial governments. The President and the rest of the Cabinet must therefore take responsibility for any failure of government officials and institutions to perform their functions effectively – whether it is the most junior government official or a giant public enterprise.
President Zuma, however, seems to claim ignorance in most instances when government actions, expenditure and finances are mentioned or discussed. His recent response in Parliament to questions regarding the R250 million being spent on his private residence at Nkandla, is a case in point: “If the Honourable Member thinks that I must know the accounting books of a department and count figures, I think she is demanding a lot from me. I don’t know the figures because it is not my job to do that“. It may not be the President’s job to do the bookkeeping, but he certainly has a responsibility to know the “figures” – especially if such expenditure amounts to millions in tax money being spent on his private residence.
Ministers are not doing any better. In this regard, the Auditor-General asserted that the root cause of material findings on non-compliance with laws and regulations related to insufficient oversight and monitoring of compliance, as well as the lack of “leadership (the accounting officer and/or executive authority)” in setting the “appropriate tone when it comes to compliance“. According to the Auditor-General, “accountability is not accepted and the leadership does not apply the remedies available in legislation to ensure that there are consequences for transgressions“. It appears that Ministers are failing to lead and take responsibility for their institutions’ accountability. In this regard, the Auditor-General found that 74% of state institutions failed to fully comply with laws and regulations, and that key departments responsible for national outcomes, such as those in the health, education and human settlement sectors, continue to have material shortcomings in reporting on service delivery. Accordingly, based on the annual performance reports, 42% of state institutions achieved 80% or less of their planned service delivery targets.
This was certainly not news for the President and the Cabinet. Following the release of the Auditor-General’s report, the Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, stated that the findings of the Auditor-General were consistent with an assessment of 103 departments carried out by his own department the previous year. Why then have the President and his Cabinet still failed to act in rectifying the deficiencies over the past year – or years for that matter? Moreover, the President’s unwillingness to dismiss or even discipline Ministers who fail to lead their departments, waste taxpayers’ money and fall short of service delivery targets, remains a mystery. Perhaps living in a glass house makes it tricky to throw stones at others?
The President and his Cabinet’s failure to own up to the financial and service delivery shortcomings are also reflected in the state of public administration in general. Section 195 of the Constitution requires public administration to be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution. These include, among others, the promotion and maintenance of “a high standard of professional ethics“, the promotion of “efficient, economic and effective use of resources” and an “accountable” public administration, which must provide “the public with timely, accessible and accurate information” in order to foster “transparency“. The public service is failing most, if not all, of these requirements and in doing so, falling short of the founding values of accountability, responsiveness and openness. In October 2011, Willie Hofmeyr, then head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (responsible for investigating corruption in the Public Service) told Parliament that between R25 billion and R30 billion of the Government’s annual procurement budget alone was lost to corruption, incompetence and negligence in the public service. Two years later, the SIU is still without a head and the public service – according to the Auditor-General – may be going from bad to worse.
The President and Ministers are quick to blame their respective departments and institutions, although a good workman should not be blaming his or her tools. Various reasons, ranging from “cadre deployment” and incompetence, to outright dishonesty and corruption have resulted in a public service which fails to deliver. The blame for this state of affairs undoubtedly belongs to the President and his Cabinet, who individually and collectively have been failing to manage public administration according to constitutional requirements. When not hiding behind bureaucracy, political rhetoric, half-baked secrets and the National Key Points Act, pre-1994 politicians seem to be the most obvious scapegoats. The Auditor-General’s findings – at least in broad strokes – seem to be telling it as it is: the Government is for the most part not accountable, responsive and open; the President and his Cabinet are individually and collectively failing to take responsibility for the failures of those who they are supposed to be managing; and the public service lacks objective, competent and trustworthy civil servants.
Public Service and Administration Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has indeed indicated that the Public Service Act will be amended to ban public servants from doing business with the government and benefiting from state contracts. The Minister must be commended for her decision – even though it is about 18 years overdue. Whether this ban will also result in corrupt public servants being prosecuted – as opposed to only being disciplined and dismissed – is yet to be seen. It is certainly also time to revise the controversial “Ministerial Handbook” and all other policies allowing for exorbitant spending on luxuries and high-flying lifestyles of politicians and public servants – all while basic services cannot be delivered to a majority of South Africans due to “budget constraints”.
It is, of course, impossible to even consider government accountability if the public’s right to know – to access information – is restricted, increasingly so “in the interests of national security”. This is especially true when it relates to public spending and administration. Despite footing the bill for every cent being wasted, taxpayers are, in a number of instances, kept in the dark about how their money is being spent. What we do know, are the facts reported by the Auditor-General. Facts that, in themselves, are a reason for concern. Only time (and of course the Auditor-General’s next report) will tell whether the President and his Cabinet are intent on living up to the values of our constitutional democracy, or whether they have merely been paying lip service to the constitutional promise to maintain a government that is accountable, responsive and transparent.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. (Lk 24:28-31 NIV)
There the two disciples are returning to Emmaus in the evening. The wonderful stranger allows himself to be held. He enters their abode and has supper with them. He is the guest, but takes on the role of the housefather. We don’t know, whether they assigned him this role or whether he assumed it by himself. Yet he’s the one, who says grace. He takes the bread in his holy hands and lifts it with the hands and draws all eyes with it. The disciples follow his every move and in his action their eyes are opened. They recognize their Lord while he is breaking the bread for them. Easter now was clear to them. Their burning hearts find their goal, peace in him, powerful life from his invigorating hands. The holy word kindles hearts with the joy of Easter and together with the breaking of the bread he is recognized by those hearing his word.
Abide with us, Lord Jesus Christ, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. Abide with us and with thy whole church. Abide with us in the end of the day, in the end of our life, in the end of the world. Abide with us with thy grace and bounty, with thy holy Word and sacrament, with thy comfort thy blessing. Abide with us when over us cometh the night of affliction and temptation, the night of fear and despair, the night of bitter death. Abide with us and with all thy faithful through time and eternity.
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word; But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord, Familiar, condescending, patient, free. Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.
Come not in terrors, as the King of kings, But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings, Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea— Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.
Thou on my head in early youth didst smile; And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile, Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee, On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Wednesday, the 4th Holiday of Easter. It is found on Pg. 162 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu! (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.
Wilhelm's space 