The Lead

The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, the Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba, has offered his Easter Message:

Easter Message from the Archbishop of Cape Town
From the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's website

I wonder how many times you have heard the words ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen – we are risen, Alleluia!’ And while it may be too much to say that familiarity breeds contempt, nonetheless, those of us brought up in the Christian tradition tend to know these words so well that we are anaesthetised to their true force. We have got used to the idea that God did the impossible: a dead man was not merely resuscitated, to grow old and die again, but resurrected to the new life of heaven, of eternity – with the implication that though all of us must pass through death, death does not have the victorious final word. No, life can triumph over death, and if we put our hand in the hand of the living God, we can begin to experience what such triumph means, even this side of the grave.
This year, the enormity of the claims of Easter have struck me in a deeper way. In early March I spent five days in Haiti, almost overwhelmed by the scale of the tragedy brought about by January’s earthquake. I encountered death and destruction that was almost impossible to grasp, even though it was before my very eyes. I cannot describe my emotions, seeing bodies trapped in buildings from which it was too dangerous to move them, feeling my nostrils fill with the stench of rotting flesh.

My purpose was to offer support to the Anglican Bishop and his people. Yet I found myself learning from their faith in the midst of such heartbreak. One afternoon Bishop Duracin showed us his lovely home, totally collapsed with all his possessions destroyed, and his car flattened. ‘It is gone, all gone’ he said. He wept, and I wept too, as he showed where his wife had been trapped (she was later flown to Florida for medical treatment and for weeks he was denied a visa to visit her). Then this brave man pointed to all he had lost and said ‘We still have to sing alleluia, for in the midst of this, Christ is risen.’

Comments (4)

Perhaps I just wasn't paying attention, but I had not heard that Bishop Duracin had been denied a visa to visit his wife in the hospital in Florida. Is this true? If so, somebody in Washington needs to be raked over the coals. (Add this to the list...)

Thanks to Archbishop Makgoba for a strong and moving Easter message.

Posted by Bill Moorhead | April 1, 2010 4:17 PM

I don't think so as Bp Duracin was at Camp Allen with the other TEC bishops after spending time with his wife according to news reports.

Posted by Ann Fontaine | April 1, 2010 4:21 PM

FYI, Bishop Duracin and ALL Haitians were denied consideration for visas for a long period of time because the Embassy was not issuing any visas. Bishop Duracin eventually received his visa, after a long delay, and was able to first visit his wife in Florida and then attend the House of Bishops meeting in Texas, but only because so many people worked so hard to help rectify the situation. So yes, ++Thabo is correct in what he wrote.
Lauren Stanley, Missionary in Haiti and an assistant to Bishop Duracin

Posted by laurenstanley | April 2, 2010 10:16 PM

Thank you, Lauren, for filling us in on the long delay Duracin endured getting a visa. Some how this reminds me of New Orleans -- it boggles the mind how incompetent we can be.

Yesterday NYT reported on the visa problems of Haitians in Florida who were flown there as medical emergency cases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01detain.html?hp

It begins:

"More than two months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, at least 30 survivors who were waved onto planes by Marines in the chaotic aftermath are prisoners of the United States immigration system, locked up since their arrival in detention centers in Florida."

Goes downhill from there.

Posted by John B. Chilton | April 2, 2010 10:28 PM

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