This will be the final devotion of the year. It is a good ending to a new beginning.
Tutu...makes theological claims of how the community forms the individual.
"We must not try to be too clever. We do not need to be too clever. We must just be receptive, open, appreciative, to smell the fragrance of the flowers, to feel the cold splash of the rain, to catch the familiar odor of damp soil, to see the ragged mother dandling her malnourished baby in rags. And maybe to be moved to cry, to pray, to be silent, and to let the Spirit inside us pray with groanings that cannot be put into words. To marvel at the fact that poor, hungry people can laugh, can love, can be caring, can share, can nurture, can embrace, can cry, can whimper, can crawl over and die - that these tattered rags of humanity are Jesus Christ: 'Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these my sisters and brothers.' They are God's stand-ins, created in his image. They are precious, they have their names engraved on God's palms, the hairs of their heads are numbered, and God knows them, these nonentities, these anonymous ones who are killed and nobody seems to care."
Connection: Maybe the only thing we need is to remember this piece as we walk into a New year as a beloved people and consider the many opportunities we have to share life with the rest of God's beloved - our sisters and brothers...all of them.
Come, Lord God and stir up our lives with this love that will not end. It is by your power that we begin to reach over the divisions that we let divide us. When we are ready to make war of any kind, remind us of your loving image that is made known to us through the community of your saints.
Amen.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday 29 December 2009
More of the Christian Theology of Ubuntu - by Michael Battle.
...a spirituality of Ubuntu is more about participation in the process of becoming lovable persons. Because God's love is what defines humanity, persons are liberated from the desire to achieve, to impress, and - most of all - to turn human persons into things or objects. Tutu states, "We are the children of the divine love and nothing can change that fundamental fact about us." The deduction that God has made us lovable persons in Christ encourages a Christian spirituality in which all of life becomes interdependent.
So we are invited into a process that is the realization of what is already the situation - we are beloved of God - "children of the divine love." That is the power that shapes our day. Just as Jesus was the Word made Flesh, so too are we. As the beloved of God - a word already in the mix about us - there is nothing we are to do to be the lovable children of God. It is already our character. We now step into is all. This changes how we see and interact with everyone. No longer is there a need to be some "other" that we fear or hate. Rather, they, like us, are "children of the divine love." Some folks would say, "Yeah, but they don't know it." Well, it is my thought that we don't always live as though we know it either. The great freedom in being beloved is that we are much more easily tied to others - because we have a common foundation for life.
Connection: No need to impress others...we need only share what we are - beloved. It may just change the whole day.
Lord of Love, as you continue to knit us together as your one people, remind us of the love that draws us all to you and to one another. This is not always a path we choose to follow and yet it is the truth of your Reign. Lead us. Amen.
...a spirituality of Ubuntu is more about participation in the process of becoming lovable persons. Because God's love is what defines humanity, persons are liberated from the desire to achieve, to impress, and - most of all - to turn human persons into things or objects. Tutu states, "We are the children of the divine love and nothing can change that fundamental fact about us." The deduction that God has made us lovable persons in Christ encourages a Christian spirituality in which all of life becomes interdependent.
So we are invited into a process that is the realization of what is already the situation - we are beloved of God - "children of the divine love." That is the power that shapes our day. Just as Jesus was the Word made Flesh, so too are we. As the beloved of God - a word already in the mix about us - there is nothing we are to do to be the lovable children of God. It is already our character. We now step into is all. This changes how we see and interact with everyone. No longer is there a need to be some "other" that we fear or hate. Rather, they, like us, are "children of the divine love." Some folks would say, "Yeah, but they don't know it." Well, it is my thought that we don't always live as though we know it either. The great freedom in being beloved is that we are much more easily tied to others - because we have a common foundation for life.
Connection: No need to impress others...we need only share what we are - beloved. It may just change the whole day.
Lord of Love, as you continue to knit us together as your one people, remind us of the love that draws us all to you and to one another. This is not always a path we choose to follow and yet it is the truth of your Reign. Lead us. Amen.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday 28 December 2009
Once again I think this is a good piece around the Nativity of our Lord - by Michael Battle.
Through a theological Ubuntu, the christian concedes the need to be transformed to a new identity, a new perspective that fully encompasses the truth which Tutu states: "God does not love us because we are lovable, but we are lovable precisely because God loves us. God's love is what gives us our worth." And yet, as Tutu's Ubuntu theology unfolds access to a new identity for South Africans, it also appeals to ancient African concepts of the harmony between individual and community which Kenyan theologian John Mbiti summarizes as: "I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am."
I was thinking that this is even the case for our God. God is because we are. What I mean by that is the very important move of our God to become one in full communion with us. God is made known among us - in Jesus. Without the community being a place of recognition and revelation, what would we know about the character of our God and the depth of love that is the God we praise. So, as we saw from this Sunday's gospel, the 'tribe' from Nazareth went down to Jerusalem for Passover. It was a 'we' event not meant for loners. In the middle of that group was the God Incarnate making sense of what it is to be so human and so intertwined in community and yet so vitally involved in the transformation of community. Even for Jesus, "God's love is what gives us our worth." it is a love that sets the foundation for each of God's beloved and for the whole bunch of us when we live alongside one another.
Connection: Built into the community of Christ is the face of our God that continues to remind us of a love that transforms us. That face comes to us through all people - even enemies who attempt to assert themselves or belittle others. The face is present even when we do not remember to look up and see its hopeful character.
Blessed are you, O God. Blessed is the fruit of your Reign that is life abounding in hopefulness and love. Grant us a full measure of this blessed presence. Amen.
Through a theological Ubuntu, the christian concedes the need to be transformed to a new identity, a new perspective that fully encompasses the truth which Tutu states: "God does not love us because we are lovable, but we are lovable precisely because God loves us. God's love is what gives us our worth." And yet, as Tutu's Ubuntu theology unfolds access to a new identity for South Africans, it also appeals to ancient African concepts of the harmony between individual and community which Kenyan theologian John Mbiti summarizes as: "I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am."
I was thinking that this is even the case for our God. God is because we are. What I mean by that is the very important move of our God to become one in full communion with us. God is made known among us - in Jesus. Without the community being a place of recognition and revelation, what would we know about the character of our God and the depth of love that is the God we praise. So, as we saw from this Sunday's gospel, the 'tribe' from Nazareth went down to Jerusalem for Passover. It was a 'we' event not meant for loners. In the middle of that group was the God Incarnate making sense of what it is to be so human and so intertwined in community and yet so vitally involved in the transformation of community. Even for Jesus, "God's love is what gives us our worth." it is a love that sets the foundation for each of God's beloved and for the whole bunch of us when we live alongside one another.
Connection: Built into the community of Christ is the face of our God that continues to remind us of a love that transforms us. That face comes to us through all people - even enemies who attempt to assert themselves or belittle others. The face is present even when we do not remember to look up and see its hopeful character.
Blessed are you, O God. Blessed is the fruit of your Reign that is life abounding in hopefulness and love. Grant us a full measure of this blessed presence. Amen.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Thursday 24 December 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Just as we are about to break for a few days of Christmas, Battles continues with A Christian Theology of Ubuntu.
Most explicit for Tutu's context, the beatitude fo Ubuntu is that it provides an alternative to vengeance. Tutu states, "I saw it in Zimbabwe yet again last week. It is what has allowed Mr. Smith to survive in a post-independence Zimbabwe." South Africa - black and white - can be human together and will defy tyranny only by first living together. Again, perspective determines actions and Ubuntu provides an invaluable perspective in which white and black people may see themselves as more than racial rivals. "When you look at someone with eyes of love," Tutu believes, "you see a reality differently from that of someone who looks at the same person without love, without hatred or even just indifference."
"Only by living together." Most pressing within the ELCA community these days is the reality of how there are some in the church who will not allow this to take place. The fear of living together with people not like me is amazing. For us in the ELCA, we are watching a number of people panic because the doors have been opened to saints whose sexual identity does not fit into a heterosexual model. Often folks will say that it is not biblical to welcome such people into the full life of the church. I would have to say that we read what we want to read. Enough people have stepped forward to say end the divisions - cease the warfare - stop the badgering...and let's start being the church of Jesus, the Messiah of God. That church is one in which we look at the other "with eyes of love." To do that demands that we let go of the lenses we like to use to see differences and then to make those differences into reasons for their to be divisions and reasons for judgments to be made. Living together is tough - yet is it necessary or the world will never see glimpses of the Reign of God that will erupt, as always, out of the ordinary mix of life into which the Christ-child was born. "Only by living together" do we begin to step within the land of forgiveness and reconciliation and peace. When we walk away from what potentially might divide us, we most certainly walk away from the God who is always seeking to bridge the divide through a life together. Tutu's Ubuntu is a word we need to use in the ELCA. If we are going to turn to the African church as reason for dividing, we need to turn to the African church of Bishop Tutu and see the miraculous power of the Christ who makes all things new - even within a world that knows only how to live divided. The new world of the Christ is one in which even the most powerful forces for division are overcome - all of them...without exception.
Connection: Let's get on with being the Church of Christ, Jesus - Lord of All.
Come Lord, Jesus. Come and pull together all the parts that attempt to go alone with each other and without you. Grant us the wisdom to walk in your peace and love even as we would rather choose to arm ourselves for warfare. Amen.
Most explicit for Tutu's context, the beatitude fo Ubuntu is that it provides an alternative to vengeance. Tutu states, "I saw it in Zimbabwe yet again last week. It is what has allowed Mr. Smith to survive in a post-independence Zimbabwe." South Africa - black and white - can be human together and will defy tyranny only by first living together. Again, perspective determines actions and Ubuntu provides an invaluable perspective in which white and black people may see themselves as more than racial rivals. "When you look at someone with eyes of love," Tutu believes, "you see a reality differently from that of someone who looks at the same person without love, without hatred or even just indifference."
"Only by living together." Most pressing within the ELCA community these days is the reality of how there are some in the church who will not allow this to take place. The fear of living together with people not like me is amazing. For us in the ELCA, we are watching a number of people panic because the doors have been opened to saints whose sexual identity does not fit into a heterosexual model. Often folks will say that it is not biblical to welcome such people into the full life of the church. I would have to say that we read what we want to read. Enough people have stepped forward to say end the divisions - cease the warfare - stop the badgering...and let's start being the church of Jesus, the Messiah of God. That church is one in which we look at the other "with eyes of love." To do that demands that we let go of the lenses we like to use to see differences and then to make those differences into reasons for their to be divisions and reasons for judgments to be made. Living together is tough - yet is it necessary or the world will never see glimpses of the Reign of God that will erupt, as always, out of the ordinary mix of life into which the Christ-child was born. "Only by living together" do we begin to step within the land of forgiveness and reconciliation and peace. When we walk away from what potentially might divide us, we most certainly walk away from the God who is always seeking to bridge the divide through a life together. Tutu's Ubuntu is a word we need to use in the ELCA. If we are going to turn to the African church as reason for dividing, we need to turn to the African church of Bishop Tutu and see the miraculous power of the Christ who makes all things new - even within a world that knows only how to live divided. The new world of the Christ is one in which even the most powerful forces for division are overcome - all of them...without exception.
Connection: Let's get on with being the Church of Christ, Jesus - Lord of All.
Come Lord, Jesus. Come and pull together all the parts that attempt to go alone with each other and without you. Grant us the wisdom to walk in your peace and love even as we would rather choose to arm ourselves for warfare. Amen.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday 22 December 2009
Sometimes Tutu's words really disarm me. Again from Ubuntu by Michael Battle.
Unlike many Western forces that seek to "establish" who a person or a community is, Tutu's Ubuntu excludes Western tendencies of grasping competitiveness. The beauty of Ubuntu is that instead of warring factions, when one lives in Ubuntu, instead of being manipulative and self-seeking that person is "more willing to make excuses for others" and even discover new meaning in the other persons. Therefore Ubuntu is an attribute that distinguishes humans from being mere animals; as Tutu concludes, "If you throw a bone to a group of dogs you won't hear them say: "After you!"
There is, what appears to be, a waiting and a watching that takes place before we jump into making evaluative judgments of others. Most often, it is that quickness of judgment and placement that gets all of us wound up in the many faces of warfare. Then again, it is not easy to hear this willingness to "make excuses for others." It sounds soft. And yet, it is just a matter of breathing and waiting and not jumping. The only excuse is simply the excuse to give us time to get to know the other and their wants and intentions and needs before making judgments. Dogs won't do that...get the bone....quick!!! What an image. This kind of Ubuntu thinking and acting is not at all what we usually hear from the world powers. I don't think it is merely a Western thing. I think it is more a human thing - a thought out thing that attempts to lord it over others....put others in the places we think they should be.
Connection: Again and again, I use the image of breathing. Tutu seems to want us all to breath and not make judgments in that time - but observe, listen, learn, understand. Again...not easy to do - but always worth it.
Lord of Liberation, you bring us into your world of new life through pulling us out of ourselves to be present with those who are other than us. In that time, your Spirit liberates us from ourselves and all the ways we would rule the world. Thanks be to you, O God. Amen.
Unlike many Western forces that seek to "establish" who a person or a community is, Tutu's Ubuntu excludes Western tendencies of grasping competitiveness. The beauty of Ubuntu is that instead of warring factions, when one lives in Ubuntu, instead of being manipulative and self-seeking that person is "more willing to make excuses for others" and even discover new meaning in the other persons. Therefore Ubuntu is an attribute that distinguishes humans from being mere animals; as Tutu concludes, "If you throw a bone to a group of dogs you won't hear them say: "After you!"
There is, what appears to be, a waiting and a watching that takes place before we jump into making evaluative judgments of others. Most often, it is that quickness of judgment and placement that gets all of us wound up in the many faces of warfare. Then again, it is not easy to hear this willingness to "make excuses for others." It sounds soft. And yet, it is just a matter of breathing and waiting and not jumping. The only excuse is simply the excuse to give us time to get to know the other and their wants and intentions and needs before making judgments. Dogs won't do that...get the bone....quick!!! What an image. This kind of Ubuntu thinking and acting is not at all what we usually hear from the world powers. I don't think it is merely a Western thing. I think it is more a human thing - a thought out thing that attempts to lord it over others....put others in the places we think they should be.
Connection: Again and again, I use the image of breathing. Tutu seems to want us all to breath and not make judgments in that time - but observe, listen, learn, understand. Again...not easy to do - but always worth it.
Lord of Liberation, you bring us into your world of new life through pulling us out of ourselves to be present with those who are other than us. In that time, your Spirit liberates us from ourselves and all the ways we would rule the world. Thanks be to you, O God. Amen.
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