This is a good piece for Christmas Eve.
Instead of perpetuating the system of apartheid, Tutu believes that Ubuntu means personhood forms ultimately through the church as the church witnesses to the world that God is the one who love human identities into being before individuals ever conceived of rights or developed perceptions of tyranny. In other words. God's love is prevenient - it is there before everything else and calls all justifications for control of life. To gain the vision to negotiate how to be in the world is to access the life of grace in God. any claim of control or power is delusory and foolish. "Jesus gave a new, a very important responsibility to Peter. He said, 'Feed my sheep.' It's almost like asking a thief to become your treasurer."
The Christmas story lets us in on this God whose love is there "before everything else." It has always been there and always will be. It is the power and reality that brings the shepherds down from the hillside into the town of Bethlehem to see the babe. No power can take away that love and the power for life that come with it. Many may try to take it away and many may be willing to enter into it just as it is. That does not limit the power nor does it leave anyone out.
Connection: Sometimes it is good to live as though we know this love that is for us and for others and it is the rule of the day - Go tell it on the Mountain...
When division rules, O God, remind us of your love - a love that brings life so that we may be a part of the power that continues to bridge the separation that attempts to define us. Let your love define us. Amen.
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