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Reverend Kelvin Harris brings this Easter service, entitled “Is it you or is the world that needs to say, “I need peace in my life”?”. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Psalm 16: 1-11

John 20: 19-23

The podcast is produced as a service to the church community and friends. During this time of lockdown, sermons will be pre-recorded and then uploaded onto the podcast. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

I invited some of my listeners to share their lockdown stories. I write this as the President begins addressing the nation. Mindful of being grateful. Grateful to have a leader with such foresight. And confident in the knowledge that South Africa is truly blessed.

I have this amazing ability to surround myself with interesting human beings. Over this period of lockdown, something strange came over me. I quite enjoy having my husband at home. My moments with Mo. Our lazy days are spent pursuing whatever makes us happy. Because I found healing.

Judgment day has come and gone. I have been labelled bi-polar. When in reality I just struggled to cope with the world that I had created for myself. Child birth. The disciplinary hearing at work. My choice to remain in a toxic relationship.

And that’s okay. She’s okay. I’m okay. More than okay. Now that I figured out that the sky is not falling. That the world as I know it is not ending, everything is in equilibrium. I just had another epiphany while chatting to hubby. Moments with Mo is brought to you by Spudcaster!

I have come to believe that poverty is a social construct. Poverty of the mind. The ultimate human endeavour, the great equaliser, is the fight for survival. And in the fight for survival, your efforts to stem poverty could be putting someone at risk of contracting covid-19. Some choose to live on the very edge of that struggle. What right do we have to judge their existence, deem it substandard and decide to help them to live exactly the way we do?

It’s empowering to realise that everything I do is a choice. I choose to be employed and have a bond. Every day I make the choice to maintain the lifestyle I am accustomed to. If everyday is a battle for survival, then why concern yourself about what your fellow man is doing or not doing to survive coronavirus?

Life on the edge, poverty of the mind I wonder what motivated a millionaire real estate developer to welcome a homeless couple into his California mansion…

There are those, like emergency service workers, who make it their life mission to help other people. Maybe, because their own basic needs are being met daily. And then there are caseworkers, nurses and doctors, who help those in distress. They help people in the daily fight for survival. It is a calling.

Rags to riches By giving the beggar a few randelas, all you are doing is appeasing your guilt. You feel guilt. You choose guilt. And simply because your life looks different (you imagine better) than the lowly beggar. But the beggar is highly successful at this thing called life. For them, everyday is a miracle. Begging is how they choose to engage with the world.

To demonstrate the power of the human spirit, lets take a look at Oprah’s story

This demonstrates that each one of us has the power to live a life of our choosing. We can similarly choose to be limited by constructs of race, birth or time and space. But it’s a choice nonetheless. What did you choose today?

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Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered the first sermon after Easter. Under the theme “Nothing is ever the same, thank God”. And it is premised on Matthew 28: 2-4. After that the Grace United Church Choir performed the closing hymn entitled “We shall go out with hope of resurrection”. Easter is celebrated under an extended lockdown in the face of a global pandemic. The podcast is a service to the church community and friends. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Reverend Kelvin Harris brings this Easter service, entitled “Easter! Easter is still to come”. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Matthew 28:1-15

The podcast is produced as a service to the church community and friends. During this time of lockdown, sermons will be pre-recorded and then uploaded onto the podcast. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Bishop Brian Abrahams of the Moravian Church delivered this sermon as part of a series entitled “Resurrection Wonders”. The Moravian Church in Bellville, Cape Town, set up this podcast in response to the lockdown. So drop us an email if you would like to subscribe. And visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Stephen McFarlane delivered this sermon for Saint Mark’s Methodist Church in Maraisburg. It is entitled “My peace I leave with you”. The Florida Methodist Church set up this podcast in response to the lockdown. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Reverend Nombulelo Mbewu recorded this Reflection at home. The reflection is entitled “Jesus appears to Thomas”. It also features last year’s Easter Cantata. It is based on the New Testament reading at John 20:26-29. The Florida Methodist Church set up this podcast in response to the lockdown. So drop us an email if you would like to subscribe. And visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

So there’s this idea going around in my head. Suspended reality. They have us convinced that because of coronavirus, we have temporarily suspended reality, when in actual fact, because of coronavirus we are presently experiencing reality. Think about it. You’ve been told to stay home in order to save your life. And without the noise you realise that you’ve been living your best life all along.

Any psychologist would love to be inside my head right now. To be able to study any human brain during a lockdown, that’s gold right there. And they don’t have to go that far either. We have all become the experiment. In South Africa, they have cut off the supply of cigarettes and alcohol. For obvious reasons, I gather. Alcohol is a depressant. Forcing people to stay at home and allowing them to stew in depression is a sure fire recipe for disaster. This is the smart lockdown.

Don’t be distracted by the noise. Switch off your tv. They cannot tell you anything you don’t already know. Like the insurance industry, the media is like the public’s stunt devil. So they’re out there in the mean streets, wearing masks. Risking their lives to tell you about the great wonders on the empty streets of Johannesburg. But this is one reality that cannot be manufactured.

This is real life. When last did you catch a sunrise? Yesterday, you say? That is real life. There is no need for any of us to distract ourselves with work and world politics and social media. You are alive, experiencing. You are supposed to be enjoying. This is what sets us apart from the older generation alive today. Their whole lives were lived under lockdown. They kept to themselves in their little neighbourhoods, went to work and had very active social lives. We got distracted with believing that we need to compete with our neighbour for attention. That’s all facebook is.

It took a virus, to jolt us back into reality. This is it.

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