Sermon preached by
The Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
at an Interfaith Service for Justice and Peace
Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Thursday, 25 October 2007

 

 

"And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself." John 12:32

 

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

 

What a very great joy and great privilege to be here with you my dear sisters and brothers.

 

I don't know whether you remember the story of the little boy who went to church with his mommy. There was a red lamp hanging over the altar in the sanctuary. And the preacher really got going. And he went on and on, and the little boy turned to his mommy and said, "Mommy, when it turns green can we go home?"

 

I bring you greetings from your sisters and brothers in South Africa. It is particularly poignant because I bring greetings from your sisters and brothers in a South Africa that is now a free and democratic South Africa. And many, many of you were part of our struggle against the viciousness of apartheid. You prayed for us, you demonstrated on our behalf, you boycotted South African goods, some of you went to jail on our behalf. And, hey, here we are. Free. Free. And one of the great privileges that one ever gets is to be able to come to places such as this one and say to you, "We asked for your help, you gave it. We are free. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Do you want to join me in clapping for you and all of the many others who helped to bring about this fantastic result?

 

Thank you. You know, when we marched against the awfulness of that vicious system, how wonderful that in those marches one would be walking and on one side would be a Muslim imam, and on the other a Jewish rabbi, and there would be so many people of different faiths, part of that walk to freedom. And they were all inspired by their faiths. I have yet to hear of a faith that says "Hey, it's OK to be unjust. It's OK to be enslaved. It's OK to be inferior. It's OK to be oppressed." I give thanks to God that all of the faiths of which I know anything speak about the wonder of each one of us. The Jew, the Christian, the Muslim, speak of the human being created in the image of God whose worth is infinite, whose worth is intrinsic. It's a worth that comes with a package: when a Hindu speaks of about how you, I are really the divine, all of these are faiths that speak about how we are made for goodness. We are made, each one of us, to enjoy the divine forever and ever and ever, that each one of us is really a God-carrier. You know, each one of us is a God-carrier. So injustice and oppression, for all of these faiths, is not just easy, which it is. It is not just painful, which it frequently will be for the victim. It's blasphemous. It's like spitting in the face of God. For you will be trampling underfoot the sanctuary of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. That's what we, you and I, are. And that's what all of these faiths seek to teach.

 

Is there anyone here who says they don't think that the Dalai Lama is a good man? You must be crazy! He is about the only non-pop star who when they announced that he is coming to New York can fill Central Park. People flock to hear him. I'm very fond of him, I like him. But you know, he can't even speak English properly! And people flock and go to hear him. Incredible. I don't actually think they listen to what he is saying. It's that he is a presence. You have to be totally insensitive not to know that you are in the presence of someone holy and good, who makes you feel good. Your heart leaps to be in his presence. And people don't really listen to his words, they listen, if they are listening at all, to the vibes that go out of him. And he is quite mischievous. He is like a little schoolboy. But it is incredible that he has this bubbling joyousness for someone who has been exiled for fifty years, who ought by rights to be consumed by anger and bitterness. He isn't. Sometimes when we are together, I have to say, "Dalai Lama, the cameras are on us, you know. Try to behave like a holy man."

 

Can anyone say that God is going to say "Dalai Lama, you are a good guy. What a shame you're not a Christian. Tough luck for you. I'm sorry you won't be able to come into heaven." Can you imagine that? That there are those of us who actually think that God is a Christian. Please, can you tell us what God was before God was a Christian? Because you know, Christianity is quite new. It's the new boy on the block. Only two thousand years old. What was God before there was Christianity? Pagan? And what do we say about Abraham, about Moses, what do we say about all of these holy people? Amos, Jeremiah? No Christian is going to pass one of them and say, "Sorry, Jeremiah, we are going up into the other place. You? Sorry!" It's crazy to think that. God is not a Christian. What a relief!

 

Dear friends, the God whom we worship by different names, oh how wonderful is this God. We who are Christians claim that this God has been specially revealed in the one called Jesus Christ. And this Jesus says some extraordinary things. You remember in the garden, after His resurrection, he says to Mary Magdalene, a woman, "Go and tell." He doesn't say "Go and tell those so and so's who abandoned me. One of them denied me three times. Another betrayed me." He says "Go and tell my brothers that I am ascending to my God and their God. My father, their father." And that means, for this Jesus, something quite profound: that we are family. We think sometimes when we speak of ourselves as family that it is something sentimental. Family, no. Family, we wish we could, but we don't choose who are going to be members of our family. There are some who we wish were never so close to us. But, yes, family. We are a gift to our sisters and brothers as they are a gift to us. Family. Show me the family who is unanimous on every single point and I'll show you some very accomplished liars. Family. You know, the ethic of family? In a good family, you don't say "You are going to receive from the family budget in proportion to what you contribute to it." The baby contributes nothing. And yet we shower so much love. In the good family
you don't say, "Granny, how much have you put into the pot?" No. Family. The ethic of family. To each according to their need, from each according to their ability. It is probably some of the most radical words that Christ could have spoken. Family.

 

Here we are spending what can only be called obscene amounts on budgets of death and destruction. And we know that just a small fraction of those budgets will ensure that all of our dear sisters and brothers everywhere would have clean water to drink, would have enough food to eat, would have a decent home, would have a good education, would have affordable health care. Family. God says, "I have a dream." Yes I know Martin Luther King Jr. said something like that too. But I too have a dream. I have a dream that one day my children are going to know that they are family. Sisters and brothers in this one family. You know, Jesus, speaking about his coming death on the cross, says "I, if I be lifted up will draw all. All." He didn't say some, "All." Black, white, red, yellow, tall, short, beautiful, not so beautiful, clever, not so clever, all. All. I told you this is radical. George Bush. Bin Laden. Arab. Palestinian. Israeli. All. All. All are held in this embrace that will not let anyone go. All. All. Gay. Lesbian. So-called straight. All. All. All. And God says, "I have no one except you to help me realize my dream of the world." That is more compassionate, more gentle, more caring. A world in which there are no outsiders. All. All. All are insiders. "Please, please help me," says God. "Please help me. Help me to realize my dream. Help me. Help me, please."

 

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