NOVEMBER OVERVIEW: LOSS AND FAMILY ENDINGS.
November is traditionally a month when the Church prays for those who have died. While that is very valuable there is much more to loss, even to loss through death and family endings. Loss is inevitable in life and comes in many forms; death, divorce, or in less...
HEALTHY PEOPLE, HEALTHY PLANET or vice versa?
Doesn’t our focus move from one to the other; people and planet? When it’s election time we do focus more on peoples’ needs but then COP26 is happening at the same time as our 1 November local election. COP 26 is mostly focusing on the planet, but on behalf of the...
WWJD IN SOUTH AFRICA ON 1 NOVEMBER 2021?
(In case you don’t know, WWJD stands for “What Would Jesus Do?) How does one discuss an important topic like voting, but maybe also a sensitive one, in families? For many families, it might not even have been discussed over the years, with us just...
DIVERSITY IN OUR WORLD OF FAMILIES
I'm engaged in some research on family diversity for a project, but became distracted by the opening event of COP 15, THE BIODIVERSITY CONFERENCE, part 2 of the UN international conference on biodiversity, which has just opened in China. It is one of the two...
SQUARING UP IN THE NUMBERS GAME.
I was mulling over what it is about numbers. It could be power, energy, influence, safety or strength and possibly even weakness. Who first discovered numbers and counting? Researchers state that around 20 000 years ago there is some evidence that counting by...
OCTOBER, FAMILY ON MISSION. monthly theme overview
OCTOBER. Family on Mission. Every single family of any description, from a human one-parent family, to the ancient colossuses of trees in our forests, and the tiniest of creatures in the sea, has a role to play to sustain our world, as a family of families. We,...
wHOSE CREATION IS IT ANYWAY?
Today only scraps of the human consciousness recognize God acting to restore and heal the Earth. We have forgotten that we live in the household of God, the oikos, the Beloved Community. Our fundamental interconnectedness has been at best forgotten, at worst...
OUR HERITAGE – IN FAMILIES, WITH GOD
The MARFAM booklet OUR HERITAGE - where on earth did you come from and where in heaven do you think you're going? carries our message as HERITAGE DAY 2021, a historically popular SA holiday, has come around again this 24 September, but it seems this year with barely a...
DOWN AND OUT, OR UP AND ABOUT. THE CROSS – A PARADOX
My Thought for the Day for 24th Sunday began with a story. The local parish priest, Fr Peter, enters the church carrying a huge cross to the surprise of the congregation. He explains that the gospel of the day concluded with Jesus’ challenging invitation “if anyone...
CO-CREATION WITH THE CREATOR – the wonders of reproduction in nature
Reflections on THE TRIALS OF LIFE. A NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR. DAVID ATTENBOROUGH. An article in a series on OUR WORLD, A FAMILY OF FAMILIES by Toni Rowland, MARFAM DAVID ATTENBORROUGH is not only a national treasure as...
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