Tutu continues:
It is religion that enables us in a day-to-day living experience of learning, sharing, and caring. Together we come to an understanding of our dependence upon God, and of our interdependence on each other as God's children. It is the recognition of the God in each of us that gives us the key to our future happiness. For if we are interdependent as the whole network of nature declares us to be, we destroy ourselves when we destroy each other.
Communities of faith press us to be shaped within the grand bounds of the expansive Reign of God. It may not always work well, but it is how we move into the promises of God's Reign. It is always a move that is done in the fellowship of others. For when we come to see ourselves as part of more than we are and that "more" is the character of God's loving Reign, our arms are likely to remain open to receive the stranger and the other - so that the community never stops being created anew. The last piece of this quote will stay with me: "we destroy ourselves when we destroy each other." This calls for a love that is able to face differences and face them in all truthfulness. In that way, we may discover that we do not need to destroy each other...rather we can grow in the presence of our differences - differences that are too often allowed to fester until there is dis-ease in the community...and then warfare and destruction.
Connection: What will become of us if we resist destroying the other? We don't have very many historical models to give us a real solid view of such life. So it can begin among us.
God of All Peace, you call us together within a community of new life that always attempts to introduce us to what is not us. It is there that your Spirit pulls us into the gift of your Reign. Amen.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday 11 January 2010
We will continue with "Tutu's Christian Ubuntu."
A human being is a "glorious original" created for existing in a delicate network of relationships. the fundamental law of our being is interdependence, and if this network is interrupted then the whole network breaks. Instead of this rupture Tutu surmises that we are made for "relationships not alienation: for laughter not anger, for love not fear, for peace not war."
There is the need for a "glorious original" - the need for you and me and every other that is a part of our humanity. If we were all of one cloned person, there is a good chance that we would lose a whole part of our identity as humankind. We need what is "glorious" in each individual. We may even gather in groups that are quite homogeneous but...there still must be the "glorious original" that is brought into the mix of things. This is how we develop the character of the community and begin to see the wideness that make us more and more human. As communion exists among us, the community begins to shine with the wondrous glory of God's Reign that is able to shine because each person shines with the love of God and how it can and does become manifest in each person - in a very original manner.
Connection: How will you be a "glorious original" within this day? In fact, don't let it stay a question.
Be a "glorious original" and help build a new day.
How glorious is your creative power, O God. It is a power that never stops building new life - even when we think there can be nothing new. Continue to bless us with gifts that can be shared with others so that your Reign shines brightly - forevermore. Amen.
A human being is a "glorious original" created for existing in a delicate network of relationships. the fundamental law of our being is interdependence, and if this network is interrupted then the whole network breaks. Instead of this rupture Tutu surmises that we are made for "relationships not alienation: for laughter not anger, for love not fear, for peace not war."
There is the need for a "glorious original" - the need for you and me and every other that is a part of our humanity. If we were all of one cloned person, there is a good chance that we would lose a whole part of our identity as humankind. We need what is "glorious" in each individual. We may even gather in groups that are quite homogeneous but...there still must be the "glorious original" that is brought into the mix of things. This is how we develop the character of the community and begin to see the wideness that make us more and more human. As communion exists among us, the community begins to shine with the wondrous glory of God's Reign that is able to shine because each person shines with the love of God and how it can and does become manifest in each person - in a very original manner.
Connection: How will you be a "glorious original" within this day? In fact, don't let it stay a question.
Be a "glorious original" and help build a new day.
How glorious is your creative power, O God. It is a power that never stops building new life - even when we think there can be nothing new. Continue to bless us with gifts that can be shared with others so that your Reign shines brightly - forevermore. Amen.
Friday, January 8, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Thursday 7 January 2010
I like this extension of yesterday's piece.
...Tutu's epistemology claims that a person knows other deeper realities such as God and community only by acknowledging and participating in these realities through prayer, meditation, and worship. Tutu's appeal to the mystery of the divine life is not an appeal to ignorance but more specifically to the mystery of persons in God and creation.
We are invited to be engaged with the world around us. We do that as Tutu notes "through prayer, meditation and worship." I immediately thought of some of the hymns we sing in worship. Good hymn writers take on the day and use the images of the world - the whole world - and tie them into the mystery of God with us. Some of the lines of the poetry in hymns move us beyond any fixed conclusions. In many ways, science is one way that we begin to play and pray within the mystery of God's creation. We do it in hymns and that seems alright. We do it in poetic biblical imagery and that is alright. Odd that many say no when science plays with the grand and wonder-filled mystery. No matter what science uncovers...mystery is always present. That is in itself a witness to the wideness and depth of God's creativity.
Connection: I find this to be a very important aspect of all the discussions we are having in the church about GLBT saints. My God continues to gift us with the ability to uncover more and more of the truthfulness of God's creation. We are not assigned the job of limiting that truthfulness.
Be our Light, O God. There are too many days when darkness attempts to rule over the bright light that you have sent into the world. Continue to shine on us and be our path. Amen.
...Tutu's epistemology claims that a person knows other deeper realities such as God and community only by acknowledging and participating in these realities through prayer, meditation, and worship. Tutu's appeal to the mystery of the divine life is not an appeal to ignorance but more specifically to the mystery of persons in God and creation.
We are invited to be engaged with the world around us. We do that as Tutu notes "through prayer, meditation and worship." I immediately thought of some of the hymns we sing in worship. Good hymn writers take on the day and use the images of the world - the whole world - and tie them into the mystery of God with us. Some of the lines of the poetry in hymns move us beyond any fixed conclusions. In many ways, science is one way that we begin to play and pray within the mystery of God's creation. We do it in hymns and that seems alright. We do it in poetic biblical imagery and that is alright. Odd that many say no when science plays with the grand and wonder-filled mystery. No matter what science uncovers...mystery is always present. That is in itself a witness to the wideness and depth of God's creativity.
Connection: I find this to be a very important aspect of all the discussions we are having in the church about GLBT saints. My God continues to gift us with the ability to uncover more and more of the truthfulness of God's creation. We are not assigned the job of limiting that truthfulness.
Be our Light, O God. There are too many days when darkness attempts to rule over the bright light that you have sent into the world. Continue to shine on us and be our path. Amen.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Please excuse the late send. Today we move into some of Tutu's thoughts on God and science.
in the presence of the God of creation, erroneous scientific discourse is seen to leave no room for mystery. Tutu reminds his congregation during the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels that life has a depth that is beyond two dimensions. Tutu resolves that "Jesus leads us into all truth through his Spirit and therefore as a Christian I glory in the tremendous discoveries of science. I do not see science as a rival or enemy of religion. All truth is of God and can never be self-contradicting. We don't have a God who rules only over the areas of human ignorance and as the frontiers of knowledge extend his domain keeps diminishing.
There are many people who turn away from science or are afraid of its work because they think that God's "domain keeps diminishing" as science presses onward. Tutu has a beautiful way of seeing this. All our knowledge...all the things that keep being discovered and opened up to God's people help us to see all things with new eyes - still blessed and sacred eyes and faithful eyes. Science is a part of the whole Word made flesh that is humanity. Our Lord came into the whole scene as it was back in his day. This same Lord comes into world as it is now - with new insights and new ways to look at the common and experience the fullness of life. We need never fear what science uncovers - as though we will lose our God. Rather, our God is actively blessing us with new insights and ways to open up our lives to the ways of God's love that are needed no matter what shapes the world view of the day.
Connection: God's domain never diminishes. I find that powerful and assuring.
Come, Lord of All Time. Come and open up our minds and our lives to the way you bless humanity with abilities to press on to the truth in all ages as that truthfulness unfolds in every day. Amen.l
in the presence of the God of creation, erroneous scientific discourse is seen to leave no room for mystery. Tutu reminds his congregation during the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels that life has a depth that is beyond two dimensions. Tutu resolves that "Jesus leads us into all truth through his Spirit and therefore as a Christian I glory in the tremendous discoveries of science. I do not see science as a rival or enemy of religion. All truth is of God and can never be self-contradicting. We don't have a God who rules only over the areas of human ignorance and as the frontiers of knowledge extend his domain keeps diminishing.
There are many people who turn away from science or are afraid of its work because they think that God's "domain keeps diminishing" as science presses onward. Tutu has a beautiful way of seeing this. All our knowledge...all the things that keep being discovered and opened up to God's people help us to see all things with new eyes - still blessed and sacred eyes and faithful eyes. Science is a part of the whole Word made flesh that is humanity. Our Lord came into the whole scene as it was back in his day. This same Lord comes into world as it is now - with new insights and new ways to look at the common and experience the fullness of life. We need never fear what science uncovers - as though we will lose our God. Rather, our God is actively blessing us with new insights and ways to open up our lives to the ways of God's love that are needed no matter what shapes the world view of the day.
Connection: God's domain never diminishes. I find that powerful and assuring.
Come, Lord of All Time. Come and open up our minds and our lives to the way you bless humanity with abilities to press on to the truth in all ages as that truthfulness unfolds in every day. Amen.l
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tuesday 5 January 2009
Michael Battle continues to engage the Christian theology of Ubuntu with Desmond Tutu as his primary teacher.
A person's identity manifests more clearly in encounter with both the deeper mystery of the unknowable God and the God known in Christ. If only one truly participates in the claim of being made known in the image of God, then a transformation occurs in which an individual becomes a person of personality. Such a transformation results in a more profound understanding of self and community than racial classification. Personhood is now understood in the context of both the unknowable mystery of God and what is known in Christ. This is the terrifying process of losing one's identity in order to emerge in redeemed, interdependent patterns of self-understanding with regard to God, each other, and other selves. Tutu concludes, "What extraordinary creatures we are. Almost the ultimate paradox, but not quite. Here we are utterly finite and limited but made for the infinite. St. Augustine put it well when he said, "Thou (God) has made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."
Again, it is our participation that is beyond ourselves that makes us the person who is in the image of God. For once we move out from our own world and encounter others and the vision of our God, we receive the gift of life that comes through our encounters with others. It really does mean that we lose our identity - as separate and individual - and gain a whole new perspective on life. I suppose, in some ways, the journey we take out into the life of a community with the understanding that God's image is among us, does expand our vision and how we will go about our lives. This may well be what it means to be redeemed or liberated for life abundant within God's Reign. The doors are thrown wide open and we begin to experience the unknown as a place of profound rest that allows us to play with what it means to be children of God.
Connection: Losing oneself is always an odd expression. It is also the source of some anxiety. Then again, when we are drawn into the image of God, we find life can be new and full of comfort and rest.
Lord of the Day, lead us out again into all that is your Reign. Even as we face the existing powers of the day that like to play with us, keep us open to the life that is just beyond what already is. Amen.
A person's identity manifests more clearly in encounter with both the deeper mystery of the unknowable God and the God known in Christ. If only one truly participates in the claim of being made known in the image of God, then a transformation occurs in which an individual becomes a person of personality. Such a transformation results in a more profound understanding of self and community than racial classification. Personhood is now understood in the context of both the unknowable mystery of God and what is known in Christ. This is the terrifying process of losing one's identity in order to emerge in redeemed, interdependent patterns of self-understanding with regard to God, each other, and other selves. Tutu concludes, "What extraordinary creatures we are. Almost the ultimate paradox, but not quite. Here we are utterly finite and limited but made for the infinite. St. Augustine put it well when he said, "Thou (God) has made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."
Again, it is our participation that is beyond ourselves that makes us the person who is in the image of God. For once we move out from our own world and encounter others and the vision of our God, we receive the gift of life that comes through our encounters with others. It really does mean that we lose our identity - as separate and individual - and gain a whole new perspective on life. I suppose, in some ways, the journey we take out into the life of a community with the understanding that God's image is among us, does expand our vision and how we will go about our lives. This may well be what it means to be redeemed or liberated for life abundant within God's Reign. The doors are thrown wide open and we begin to experience the unknown as a place of profound rest that allows us to play with what it means to be children of God.
Connection: Losing oneself is always an odd expression. It is also the source of some anxiety. Then again, when we are drawn into the image of God, we find life can be new and full of comfort and rest.
Lord of the Day, lead us out again into all that is your Reign. Even as we face the existing powers of the day that like to play with us, keep us open to the life that is just beyond what already is. Amen.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Monday 4 January 2010
Blessed New Year. Today we will start a section that is labeled "Tutu's Christian Ubuntu" from Michael Battle.
Ubuntu is a way of knowing in which one's intellectual growth, concerning the manner of God, moves synchronically with whom one becomes in God. Essentially, Tutu solves the problem of Western dualism by embracing the Eastern church's concept of deification or theosis, in which human salvation is understood as participation in the life of God. Concomitantly, this means that sin is not so much a punctiliar occurrence which results in the fall of human begins, but that sin is more akin to an Irenaean account of how human beings mature as they participate more deeply in the divine life.
Some time ago, I ran a series of devotions that were centered around the writing of a couple of Finnish Luther scholars. They too wrote about this notion of theosis which they claim is a part of what they hear in some of Luther's writings. Our life is a "participation in the the life of God." We do not become God. Rather, as we continue in the Word and press on in the richness of such a community that also is in the Word, we begin to reflect the God that creates the community and all who are a part of it. Therefore, when we turn to the 'other,' we do not merely see an 'other' - we see a glimpse of our God. So along the way, we each are walking through a transformation of sorts. It always reminds me of the verse so often put into the form of hymns and songs: "God is love, and all who abide in love, abide in God, and God in them." Wouldn't you think that this idea of theosis is a reminder of the position we are place when we say we are children of God?!
Connection: So...we are an ever-expanding community within God's Reign. It is ever-expanding because as God embraces more people, there are more ways to see who God is among us. We are never left with our own images that often limit our vision and thus our hope.
Shaping God, when you form us into the saints that stand before you and wander through the days of our lives, we know that you give us direction and comfort and encouragement to walk in the ways of your Reign. Inspire us again and again so that your face will be seen among ours. Amen.
Ubuntu is a way of knowing in which one's intellectual growth, concerning the manner of God, moves synchronically with whom one becomes in God. Essentially, Tutu solves the problem of Western dualism by embracing the Eastern church's concept of deification or theosis, in which human salvation is understood as participation in the life of God. Concomitantly, this means that sin is not so much a punctiliar occurrence which results in the fall of human begins, but that sin is more akin to an Irenaean account of how human beings mature as they participate more deeply in the divine life.
Some time ago, I ran a series of devotions that were centered around the writing of a couple of Finnish Luther scholars. They too wrote about this notion of theosis which they claim is a part of what they hear in some of Luther's writings. Our life is a "participation in the the life of God." We do not become God. Rather, as we continue in the Word and press on in the richness of such a community that also is in the Word, we begin to reflect the God that creates the community and all who are a part of it. Therefore, when we turn to the 'other,' we do not merely see an 'other' - we see a glimpse of our God. So along the way, we each are walking through a transformation of sorts. It always reminds me of the verse so often put into the form of hymns and songs: "God is love, and all who abide in love, abide in God, and God in them." Wouldn't you think that this idea of theosis is a reminder of the position we are place when we say we are children of God?!
Connection: So...we are an ever-expanding community within God's Reign. It is ever-expanding because as God embraces more people, there are more ways to see who God is among us. We are never left with our own images that often limit our vision and thus our hope.
Shaping God, when you form us into the saints that stand before you and wander through the days of our lives, we know that you give us direction and comfort and encouragement to walk in the ways of your Reign. Inspire us again and again so that your face will be seen among ours. Amen.
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