Burning Man and ventures of (inter)faith.

I am looking very much forward to hosting “Faith Beyond Borders: An introduction to the interfaith adventure” on Wednesday 6PM UTC+2 (6pm South Africa, 9am Playa/Pacific), in the SpiritSpace Virtual Sparkleverse, “a Recognised Universe of Burning Man’s Multiverse”. (breathe now)

Burning Man’s theme this year is The Great Unknown.

The SpiritSpace theme camp is co-ordinated by Hope Deifell (based in North Carolina, USA), who I met around the last “IRL” (In Real Life) local burn I attend, Afrika Burn, in 2008. Our local spiritual community has been exploring many of the things we learned there over the last 15 years.

I think my interfaith adventure has its roots there. The “Burner” ethos provided at that time much spiritual food for thought, and its 10 core principles (Radical Inclusion, Self-reliance, and Self-expression, Gifting and Decommodification, Communal Effort, Civic Responsibility, Leaving No Trace, Participation and Immediacy) resonated deeply with me.

The Sparkleverse Virtual Burn 2021 is an opportunity for me to re-connect with this important strand of my own history. The core meaning of “religion” is re-connection from the latin “re-legare”; think of how ligaments hold our bodies together.

You can see more on Facebook, join the conversation with a (cost=free or more) ticket.

The Cape Flats Interfaith Declaration, 2 years on

2 years ago, on the 25th August 2019, (before Covid was a word!), a remarkable group of faith leaders were brought together by trade unionist Wilfred Alcock, a man of great spiritual vision and compassion. They had drafted and launched the Cape Flats Interfaith Declaration, posted here, to address crime, poverty and a range of crises affecting the majority of Capetonians.

A Mamelodi memoir: Frank Chikane then and now

Hearing Rev. Frank Chikane talking incisively and authoritatively on the Defend Our Democracy platform (which he co-convenes) on 30th July 2021 brought a host of memories flooding back to me.

Ds Nico Smith, Mamelodi resident, 1988

In March 1988, Dominee Nico Smith, the only white NGK (Dutch Reformed Church) minister living in a township, Mamelodi (near Pretoria/Tshwane) , co-organised a “mass sleep over”, the “Mamelodi Encounter”.