From a South African Friend: Dean Myaka

To Kate’s Family and Friends

I greet you all with words from Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the GIFT of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” My name is Nkosinathi Myaka. I am a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA) and Dean of Umngeni Circuit (Pietermaritzburg and Midlands) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I thank God that the ELCA MUD program allocated Kate to serve at Oebisfelde Parish in Dalton and also serve in our circuit at large. Her service among us is highly appreciated.

Since the decade 2007 through 2017 has been declared a Lutheran Decade (the decade prior to Lutheranism celebrating 500 years), our circuit youth have embarked on a program to revisit basic tenets of Lutheranism. This is done with the view of trying to find the relevance of those tenets in our context. One of those tenets is Luther’s teaching on Grace, the sola gracia, with its emphasis on salvation by grace alone… together we have learned, with the help of other pastors and bishops, through Bible studies and talks, that grace means FAVOR DEI i.e. God’s act of stooping in favour of the fallen human race, and, particularly, the inferior, the disadvantaged, and the oppressed. We have also learned that grace is undeserved, bestowed simply out of God’s love. We have also been cautioned by the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that grace is “not cheap, but costly”. A call of grace can be a call to “come and die”. Therefore, we conclude that although grace is God’s bestowed, undeserved, free gift of salvation, the logical conclusion cannot be that of “there’s not much we can do”. It is rather a call to a Christian life of courage and enduring commitment to the course of salvation.

The main challenge that we are trying to grapple with is whether Lutheranism does fully bear witness to a GRACE-DRIVEN LIFE.

This year, 2010, South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup. For some developed countries, Africa as a whole does not deserve this opportunity. All predictions of who might win the 2010 Cup point to Spain, Brazil, and other great soccer nations, but not to any of the African teams (they don’t deserve it yet). We hope that Lutherans, given our doctrine of favor Dei, will not absolutely subscribe to this kind of thinking, but will leave room for God’s grace to take its place.

There are many other practical examples that pose a challenge to our understanding of grace as Lutherans. Conflict, poverty, illnesses, economic recession, unpredictable weather changes are just a few areas where Lutherans are called to project their faith in a gracious God, by living a life that bears witness to a God who stoops in favour of the disadvantaged.

I invite all of you to critically engage this subject and share your thoughts with us in Umngeni Circuit. If you are interested in communicating with us on this topic, please contact our youth leader, Nokuphila, at nokuphilan@webmail.co.za or myself at elcaumngeni@telkom.sa.net. We will be very happy to get feedback on this subject. I appeal also to your patience because most of your thoughts will need to be translated to the vernacular for the benefit of the majority of our members. We aim at continued dialogue with fellow Lutherans.

God bless you all.

Yours truly

Rev. Nkosinathi (Nathi) Myaka – Dean of Umngeni Circuit of ELCSA