wfn.org | Tutu stresses justice, mercy, humility in remarks to students

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 5, 1999	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{002}

By United Methodist News Service

RIDGECREST, N.C. - An authentic religious life hinges on walking humbly with
God, doing justice and loving mercy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu told more than
1,300 young people at an ecumenical gathering.

The Nobel laureate addressed students, campus ministers and chaplains from
six denominations attending Celebrate III, held Dec. 30-Jan. 3 at a Southern
Baptist retreat center near Asheville, N.C. At least 300 United Methodist
students from colleges and universities across the country joined their
peers in celebrating their common belief in Jesus Christ.

Tutu, an Anglican cleric and 1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is the
Robert W. Woodruff Visiting Professor of Theology at  Candler School of
Theology in Atlanta. He centered his message around the biblical foundation
for the four-day gathering, Micah 6:8, which asks, "What does the Lord
require of you?" He also discussed the significance each student has in
God's plan.

Micah stated that a relationship with God depends on performing acts of
justice, mercy and humility. But Tutu suggested a reversal in order, to make
walking humbly with God the first prerequisite for an authentic religious
existence. 

"The true Christian life is impossible unless at its heart beats an engaged
spirituality," he said. 

Such an "engaged spirituality" will not provide insulation against the harsh
realities of life faced by most of the world, he said. However, it will give
people sensitivity to God, who will prepare them to work for Him among "the
least of these." Tutu told the students that they, like God, must be among
those who are hurting, have been diminished and dehumanized. "For what we do
to rehabilitate them, to serve them, we are doing as to our Lord himself,"
he said.

He cited two commandments that give more meaning to Micah 6:8: "Love God,
and love thy neighbor." Those guidelines are two sides of one coin, Tutu
said. "One on its own is not legal tender, (it) can't be a coin. You need
both together simultaneously."

The biblical story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 not only teaches that
Christians should share their resources, but it also stresses how God needs
human partners for his work, the archbishop said. 

"We, without God, cannot; God without us, will not," Tutu said, quoting St.
Augustine of Hippo. "The omnipotent becomes impotent and weak; the infinite
becomes the restrained, the limited, waiting for our fish, our bread, before
God can accomplish whatever miracle God would want to perform."

God often relies on young people to be his friends and workers, Tutu said.
He repeated God's words to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb, I
knew You." None of the students was created by accident, Tutu said. "You are
an indispensable part of God's plan. No one else, not even your identical
twin, can love God and serve God as only you can. You are unique." 

The Lord puts limits on his omnipotence to ensure that there is always
collaboration between human beings and the divine, Tutu said. "God ever
waits on God's human partners to provide their particular bread and fish to
enable God to do God's work, to perform God's miracles."

Young people from six continents participated in the Celebrate event, which
is held every four years. During small group discussions, workshops and
other meetings, they discussed issues on their campuses and in the world,
and how their faith prepares them to respond. Participants from Liberia and
Indonesia described problems in their countries related to civil unrest and
poverty. The students also explored where God is leading them as the new
millenium approaches. 

United Methodist Bishop Kenneth Carder of Nashville, Tenn., told the
students that in a time of national crisis precipitated by idolatry and
injustice, the prophet Micah opens a window into the very nature of God and
the purpose of human life.

Carder agreed with Tutu, noting that justice and mercy depend upon humility
before God. The God with whom people are to walk humbly is one who sees the
misery of the oppressed, hears the cries of the abused and violated, and
knows the suffering of the poor, the bishop said. "Only a persistent walk
with this God will lead us toward justice, mercy and humility."

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in
Chicago, told the students they will find peace with God if they give up the
junk that distracts them. Without the sin, corruption and the filth that
people have in their lives, they can see the beauty of the world in them and
around them, he said. 

"Without the trash of the outer world, we can start to love kindness," he
said. "When we can see the right from wrong, we can begin to do justice.
When we are transformed by God's love and we accept his domain, we can walk
humbly with our Lord."

Tutu expressed his high regard for young people and said he felt privileged
to speak to them. He also thanked them for their help in eradicating
apartheid in South Africa. 

During the 1980s, the people of South Africa called upon the world community
to impose sanctions on the apartheid government, but then-President Ronald
Reagan opposed sanctions and "had a policy of so-called constructive
engagement," Tutu said. Reagan, he said, was supported in his view by Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher of England. 

On campuses across America, students engaged in demonstrations to force
their institutions to divest from South Africa, Tutu said. They helped
change the moral climate in the United States to such an extent that
Congress eventually passed anti-apartheid legislation, imposing sanctions
and mustering a presidential veto override, he said. 

"So we owe a lot to young people. Our victory in South Africa was made
possible by such dedication and support. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Events such as Celebrate III are "essential for student Christian leaders
today," said event co-chairperson Rebecca Helms, a United Methodist and
recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The
gatherings provide an opportunity to observe what is happening in the
student movements of other denominations, she said. 

In order for the United Methodist Student Movement to grow and prepare for
leadership in the next century, Helms said, "we must learn from ourselves
and other denominations. Celebrate III has made this possible." 

The event "was a faith-building experience," said Shane Lee, a sophomore at
Missouri State University and member of Lebanon (Mo.) United Methodist
Church. He was impressed by how people from different denominations joined
to worship and enjoy fellowship.

"I've been in numerous Methodist events and taken trips, but this experience
has brought me closer to God than ever before," he said.

The conference was sponsored by the Council for Ecumenical Student Christian
Ministry, which is a partnership of students and national denominational
staff from the United Methodist Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ.  Students
from the Catholic Church also participated. 

The council, created in 1987, is an affiliate movement of the World Student
Christian Federation, which unites student Christian movements from more
than 80 countries.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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