Mother Lily is enjoying a much needed vacation.  In place of a message from her, we offer this lenten devotional from our Diocese.

A Lenten Devotional from our Diocese

Deuteronomy 10:17-19

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.  He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

A group of friends and I just finished reading God Is Not a Christian and Other Provocations by Desmond Tutu. We selected it last summer, before the ICE “surges.” In it, Archbishop Tutu considers the need for Ubuntu, hope, and reconciliation in our darkest times. Without them, he believed the oppression and authoritarianism of Apartheid could never end in South Africa. His words from the 1980s and 90s are still valid today. In Xhosa, Ubuntu means "a person is a person through other people". Verna Dozier called it the “Beloved Community.”

Several friends live in Minneapolis. They’ve sent me videos of peaceful demonstrations along with lists of organizations that need financial help, organized by category. They’ve told me stories of Minneapolis citizens and businesses standing up for the entire community. Food, clothing, medication, school lessons, supplies, and friendship to strangers who’ve been forced to lock their doors in fear of an ICE raid. My friends are in the streets daily, knowing that by just being there, they could be subjected to violence, tear gas, or death while creating an audiovisual record for the time that justice and reconciliation will prevail. God and the Archbishop would recognize this community solidarity as Ubuntu taking place in -23 below wind chill. “I am because we are”.

Reflection

Ubuntu recognizes that to love God is to love those He loves, especially those on the margins of society. How can  we create a beloved community?

Prayer 

Dear Lord, help us to remember that we were once strangers in a foreign land. Strengthen us to stand in solidarity with immigrants, defending their rights and sharing our abundance. In Your name we pray. Amen.