Friday 8 January 2010

Here is another way to describe Ubuntu.

In Tutu's address to the Morehouse Medical School, he described Ubuntu as hospitality, as an open and welcoming attitude that is willing to share, to be generous and caring. Ubuntu is the development of the kind of character in a person who proves a neighbor to a stranger and welcomes them as friends. Ubuntu forms knowledge that human existence is caught up and inextricably bound up with God's creation and that a solitary human being is a contradiction in terms. "I need other persons," Tutu concludes, "to become a person myself."

Sometimes, congregations use the word hospitality to describe a portion of the ministry within a congregation. It can be something as basic as providing a way for people to 'stick around' and talk with others. That is a wonderful first step. When a cup of coffee or some snack causes a person to stop and spend a few more minutes within a gathering of other Christians, it can become a time when people are drawn into a caring and sharing circle that has the ability to pull us out of ourselves and enter into the lives of others. There are so many ways to help each of us expand our circle of friends. Beyond a cup of coffee in the gathering space, we are a people whose lives are to be filled with opportunities to let others know who we are and have us discover who the other is. Within that simple moment of hospitality both parties are introduced to a new world - we see beyond ourselves and may even be surprised at how important it is to have these moments.

Connection: I know we are often on the run to "other things" in our lives. But then, we are also running past something that may be a real gift to us.

Lord of the Beloved Community, your Spirit whips around us so that we will continue to have the opportunity to see how you create new life in the midst of all the ordinary relations of the day. We give you thanks for the these gifts within your Reign. Amen.