"Thursdays in Black"

  by  Cheri Roland



South African men can now claim the prize for the most violent males on the planet.
Statistics are shattering:

- South Africa has the highest rate of rape in the entire world

- national news reported that 1 in 2 South African women will be raped

- South African women have a better chance of being raped than learning to read

- 1 in 3 women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime

    February 14 is V-DAY here, not just for Hallmark chocolate and flowers anymore.  V-DAY is about God’s love that shouts “ANTI-VIOLENCE!”   An international campaign highlighting violence against women has erupted under the banner of ONE BILLION RISING, which heralds:

“A global strike                                            An invitation to dance
A call to men and women to refuse to participate in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends
            An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in numbers
            A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given                                                  

 A new time and a new way of being”

                                                        See http://www.onebillionrising.org/pages/about-one-billion-rising .

     According to the SABC news reports, the Apartheid manifested its evil in black men left with emotions of hatred, despair, emasculation and hopelessness. The seminary is called to be a beacon of light standing against governmental refusal to redress this injustice.  This morning signals the first day of Lent.  We joined Christians around the world having a cross of ashes drawn on our foreheads, in memory our own mortality and the death of our sin through Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection.  Our chaplain announced that on the seven Thursdays in Lent, as a seminary in solidarity with the One Billion Rising campaign, we will all wear black.  At the Communion rail each of us received a lapel button to don with our Thursday black, proclaiming our stand against violence against women.

It just so happens that each Thursday is a big day for Field Education and Ministry course, Doug’s and my legacy to SMMS.  Two-thirds of our seminarians will be scattered throughout Pietermaritzburg, including the prison, volunteering in black clothing and sporting provocative lapel buttons, opening opportunities for dialogue and healing.  With God’s help, this seminary can chisel a crack of brilliant light