October 30, 2011 Sermon by Peter Terpenning
Community United Church of Christ
Boulder, Colorado
“We Are All Saints: Ubuntu”
I Corinthians 1:1-2, Romans 8:28, Desmond Tutu, “Recipe for Peace”
Today we are observing “All Saints Day”, which technically doesn’t arrive until Tuesday, Nov. 1st. It is a Roman Catholic holy day, the day after All Soul’s Day, when historically Christians remember those who have died and gone to heaven: the saints. Karen has arranged for an interactive Children’s Time today when we will remember those who have died, and at the beginning of church today we sang one of my favorite hymns, “For All the Saints”, in honor of those who have gone before us. I can’t sing that hymn without a lump in my throat for my loved ones who have died. But this Sunday always leaves me asking the same question: “Who are these saints we are remembering?” How does one get to be a saint? Is it reserved only for Christians? Is it reserved only for really good, moral Christians? I have to say that I think everyone is a saint, or at least, potentially a saint.
We know of some people who definitely deserve the title. People like Mother Theresa, and Mohandas Gandhi, who definitely tried to live lives of selfless action But I am getting ahead of myself, assuming that one qualifies for sainthood by lives of selfless action. Paul of Tarsus began his first letter to the Corinthians addressing it: “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus (who are) called to be saints”. Interesting that Paul seems to imply that anyone can do it. Romans 8:28, also Paul, reads: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love God, who have been called according to God’s purpose”. Some translations of this translate the part “called according to God’s purpose” – “called to be saints”. Are all Christians called to be saints? The Gospel of Thomas, a noncanonical gospel says that all Christians (and perhaps all people) are called to be “twins” of Jesus Christ. That all have it within them to live lives of love and compassion comparable to that of Jesus. I do not know if that is true, but I do think people are capable of great goodness and virtue.
I ascribe to a segment of Christianity that some trace back to the Celtic Church of Ireland and Scotland (Pelagius was one teacher), that taught the basic goodness of human beings. This idea is that we are made in the image of God and that God’s goodness is a basic part of our nature and we can open ourselves to God’s presence and goodness, and open ourselves to a basic unity with God and with other people. If I carry this belief to a logical conclusion as to the question of sainthood, I would conclude that all humans have an equal shot at sainthood, and that perhaps sainthood is part of our basic nature, if we can just get our false selves, self seeking selves out of the way. We have to die to these false selves and get in touch with our true nature, which is God within: the Kingdom of God which is within.
Ren is a Chinese concept from Confucian thought that guides human behavior.
Yan Hui, Confucius’ student, once asked his master to describe the rules of rén, receiving the answer that he should, “see nothing improper, hear nothing improper, say nothing improper, do nothing improper.” Confucius believed humanity to be good at its very core and therefore considered rén to be a part of everyone. Ren, to behave properly is possible for everyone. I agree. I have read that some Native Americans taught that to be a human being was to be virtuous, compassionate, contributing to the community. Those who were selfish, grasping, greedy and so forth forfeited their humanness. I am drawn to this idea and I find it in almost every culture. To be fully human is to somehow connected to the human community and to loving, upright, compassionate, contributing and what I can only call “good”, toward other humans.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu made famous a South African concept of Ubuntu. In his own words: It is about the essence of being human, it is part of the gift that Africa will give the world. It embraces hospitality, caring about others, being able to go the extra mile for the sake of others. We believe that a person is a person through another person, that my humanity is caught up, bound up, inextricably, with yours. When I dehumanize you, I inexorably dehumanize myself. The solitary human being is a contradiction in terms and therefore you seek to work for the common good because your humanity comes into its own in belonging. He and Nelson Mandela both used Ubuntu to explain why the Apartheid system through which people dehumanized other people, served to dehumanize everyone. Ubuntu is translated, “I am because you are”. My humanity is inextricably bound up with yours. We will survive only together. We will be prosperous only together. We will be truly human only in relationship with other humans. Mandela once said that if we discard anyone dying of AIDS we can no longer call ourselves people.
I think Ubuntu captures what I am trying to says, that we are all called to be saints; that if we are to be truly human, we will be living lives that are good, that are connected to others, that are compassionate, loving, unselfish, serving and seeking the welfare of the all. Our culture used to call this “the common good” or “common wealth”. I am intrigued with Mandela’s idea that we can sink below the status of being people, of being human, if we stop seeking the common good. What is it to be human? It is to be one with God and one with other people. It is to be compassionate (suffering with others), to be self-giving, loving. It is to be saints.
I conclude with a wonderful quote from former Archbishop Tutu in an interview about his book, God Has a Dream:
“God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion. In God’s family, there are no outsiders, no enemies. Black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, Jew and Arab, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Buddhist, Hutu and Tutsi, Pakistani and Indian—all belong. When we start to live as brothers and sisters and to recognize our interdependence, we become fully human. This dream can be found throughout the Bible and has been repeated by all of God’s prophets right down to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi.”