The Parish of Formosa consists of six populated Chapelries, namely St. Peter’s and St. Monica’s in Plettenberg Bay, St. Paul’s in Covie, St Simon’s in Kranshoek, St. Chad’s in Harkerville, St. Michael and All Angels in the Crags, Kurland and a former that has fallen in disuse simply as a result of the migration of people, namely St. Andrew’s at Redbourne. It is my wish and hope that we will continue to celebrate the invaluable contribution made to ministry not only by those Patron Saints whom we honour, but also the toil and labours of lay and ordained leaders and congregants over many years.
We today 25 January, congratulate and thank all the members, supporters, benefactors, and friends of St. Paul’s, Covie on the celebration of their Patronal Feast.
As your Rector and friend, I offer you my paternal congratulations on your Patronal Feast Day as we reflect on an extract from “Saints and Seasons.”
St. Paul, or Saul as he was known until he became a Christian, was born at Tarsus in what is known as Asia Minor. He was brought up in the strictest Jewish orthodoxy, studying for a time under Gamaliel, the most famous Rabbi of the day. It was but a few years after the death of Jesus that he first met with the new Christian movement, and he became one of the most fanatical of those within the Jewish church who were determined to stamp out the dangerous heresy which had sprung up in its midst. His conversion on the road to Damascus was the turning point of his life. Believing that he had been specially privileged to see the risen and ascended Christ (I Corinthians 15:8), the motive of his life from that day on was to spend and be spent (2 Corinthians 12:15) in Christ’s service. The Acts of the Apostles describes the dauntless courage and determination which led to his planting Christian congregations over a large area of the land bordering on the Eastern Mediterranean. His letters reveal him to be the first and greatest of the interpreters of the mind of Christ and laid the foundations of Christian Theology.
Tradition remembers him as small and insignificant in appearance, bald and bandy-legged(2 Corinthians 10:10); a more illuminating description is perhaps to be found in his famous chapter on love (I Corinthians13), which many have seen as an unwitting self-portrait.
I want specially to assure you of my prayers for the rural community of St. Paul’s, Covie, and to express my gratitude to each of you for your perseverance in your calling amid the many trials you faced over the years. Each of us has our own challenges, and our own vocation, but we rely on the Lord, and on each other, for the strength to endure and to triumph in our ministry, the ministry of all believers as ministers in the order of Melchizedek.
So, we look not to do great things, but to contribute some small part and may we all persevere in our humble calling and take our place in service to God and people. Once more, I extend my paternal congratulations on your altar feast, and I wish you a joyous celebration in the Lord. Finally, we give thanks and glory to Almighty God for all things!
