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The Justice Conference will be taking place in Capetown from the 11th to 13th of October. The venue will be Spine Road High School and the Green Anglicans joined others from the TJC team to green the venue by planting indigenous plants with the learners. The vision of The Justice Conference South Africa is to see individuals and communities, compelled by a Kingdom-vision based on robust theological frameworks and deep critical social consciousness, released to prophetic imagination and equipped for a lifelong commitment for living justice together. Those questions and that invitation remain. The three thousand-year-old lament and call of the prophet Amos echoes into 2018 declaring “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” Amos exhorts us to imagine and then act on how the Kingdom of God will break through into spaces and places of death, despair, and persistent systemic injustice that are prevailing. What are justice and righteousness and how will they roll? What does gospel-centred spiritual, social, economic and political redemption look like at this time and place? The Conference programme has been structured around a deep reading of Amos and 6 corporate plenary calls: A Call to Remember, A Call to Places of Pain, A Call to Righteousness, A Call from the Wilderness, A Call to Lament and A Call to True Worship. Day 1 is focused on theological frameworks for justice and rooting participants in a critical social consciousness, with particular reference to Power (Race, Gender, and Wealth), Place (Spatial Inequality, the Environment, and Displaced People) and Systems (Courts/Government, Education, and Religion). Day 2 will take us deeper into each of these areas as we listen to stories from communities of critical hope. Focus areas include gender-based violence, economic inequality, the commodification of common resources, anti-poor policies, and the role of religion in maintaining (and dismantling) injustice. We end with a series of workshops offering practical tools to engage through church, restitution, participatory democracy, and creativity. For more information go to https://www.thejusticeconference.co.za/tjc-2018/

The youth group of St Philips Church in Kenwyn had a lot of fun as they designed their own veggie garden for the church. They worked in different teams and learned the difference between a broccoli seedling and a cabbage! A lot of fun was had by all and they have committed to making sure the garden is watered from their well point. The Church is taking water saving seriously and has the water from the sinks running into buckets for the toilet.

As the College of the Transfiguration celebrated their 25 year anniversary, one of the topics of discussion was “Anglicans and the Environment” The first session led by Rev Dr Rachel Mash, Provincial Environmental Coordinator,  was dedicated to the issue of Water Justice.  There are 722 verses I the Bible that talk of water and yet only a handful had ever heard a sermon on water. We are baptised into the family of God through the waters of baptism and we do not know “our Jordan river”.  Over the years to come we will see an increased shortage of water in some parts of Southern Africa and worse flooding in others – climate change is super-charging the weather. Sea level rise threatens some of our key cities such as Maputo, Durban, Cape Town. The students decided to do what they could do be earthkeepers and reduce their water usage at college – areas highlighted were the use of washing machines which were not full – they committed  to share with colleagues, reducing shower times and several other actions “When believers in Jesus accept that the word says about our role as earth keepers (and water savers), and we cherish, respect and honour water as gift of God that has been freely given to us, we will find our reservoirs full, spiritually and literally.” The second session looked the theology of caring for Creation. Our theology has often given us the impression that we are separate and superior to the rest of creation and that nature if ours to use and abuse. The current generation is being called to be healers of the Earth, for the older generation has failed in its call to be stewards of creation. “I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.” (Jr. 2:7)…   Jesus died on the cross to bring reconciliation between humans and God, humans and each other, and between humans and the Earth. “Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe – people and things, animals and atoms – get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.” Colossians 1: 20 (The message)   Edilson Tomas Edy See more Photo credit: Edilson Tomas Edy

Young people of eThekwini central archdeaconry youth cleaned Blue Lagoon beach in honour of Mandela For the 100 years of Madiba young people gathered to celebrate the legend by contributing towards eliminating plastic pollution and any other form of waste evident in the area surrounding the oceans. The Blue Lagoon beach extends from Suncoast Casino all the way up to Durban North separated by a bridge. On weekends  it is the place to be as it buzzes with cars playing loud music, people dancing, braaing so the level of dirt gets to be overwhelming, this became one of the reasons why young people chose it. What was pleasing to see was that just opposite us across the bridge were another group cleaning up, that motivated young people to join forces and other environmental initiative in the area in order to keep a clean and safe environment for us and all of God’s creation. On arrival we opened in prayer, divided into three teams one  that focuses on plastic (straws, bottle tops etc) the other on paper (serviettes, boxes etc) and the last one on any other form of waste found. Accolades goes up to Revd. Canon Vernon the eThekwini Central youth Chaplain and KZN ASF chaplain,  parents that attended in support together with  Nokwazi from Durban solid waste who assisted with plastic bags, gloves, peak caps and masks, we remain forever grateful for their love and support lastly to Fah from Green-ELCSA . (Lutherans)   Mandisa Gumada, Diocesan Youth Coordinator Diocese of Natal