Lent 2018 Worship Resources

Ubuntu: Reflecting on Christian Community

Ash Wednesday, 14 February 2018

Suggested Scriptures: Isaiah 58:1-12Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Contemporary Reading: “Ubuntu is the Xhosa word used to describe the “tend and befriend” survival behavior. Ubuntu recognizes that human beings need each other for survival and well-being. A person is a person only through other persons, we say. We must care for one another in order to thrive.” from Made For Goodness by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and

Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth

“Ubuntu is the essence of being human. It speaks of how my humanity is caught up and bound inextricably with yours. ... We are created for a delicate network of relationships, of interdependence with our fellow human beings, with the rest of creation. ...Ubuntu speaks of spiritual attributes such as generosity, hospitality, compassion, caring, sharing. ... This concept speaks of how people are more important than things, than profits, than material possessions. It speaks about the intrinsic worth of persons not dependent on extraneous things such as status, race, creed, gender, or achievement. ...Ubuntu teaches us that our worth is intrinsic to who we are. We matter because we are made in the image of God. Ubuntu reminds us that we belong in one family - God’s family, the human family.”

from God Is Not a Christian by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Litany (adapted from Archbishop Desmond Tutu in An African Prayer Book)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Our God, our God, why have you forsaken us?My God, our God, When will we ever learn, when will they ever learn?

Oh when will we ever learn that you intended us forShalom, for wholeness, for peace,For fellowship, for togetherhood, for neighborhood,For siblinghood, for family?When will we ever learn that you created usAs your childrenAs members of one familyYour familyThe human family – Created us for linking armsTo express our common humanity

God, I am filled With anguish and puzzlement.Why, oh God, is there so muchSuffering, such needless suffering?Everywhere we look there is pain And suffering.Why must your people in (add particular places in the world where there is suffering)

Why must there be so much killing, So much death and destruction,So much bloodshed, so much suffering,So much oppression, and injustice, and poverty and hunger?

O God, my God, our God, Please is there some explanationFor what is happening in Palestine – Can you tell me please why Should your people suffer so?

I don’t understand, oh God, my God, our God, Why, oh why, must there be so muchPain and suffering in your creation so very good and beautiful?

I am dumbfoundedI am bewilderedAnd in agony –

This is the worldYou loved so much that for itYou gave your only SonTo hang from the cross, done to deathLove nearly overwhelmed by hateLight nearly extinguished by darknessLife nearly destroyed by death – But not quite –

For love vanquished hateFor life overcame death, there –Light overwhelmed darkness, there – And we can live with hope.

Responsive prayer:

One: Jesus, you have taught us to pray for our enemies,While we pray for the people of ______ we pray also for the ______ ,

All: God, through your Spirit lead us to ubuntu.

While we pray for the ______ , we also pray for the ______ .

All: God, through your Spirit lead us to ubuntu. Amen

(These blanks may be filled with contextually appropriate people that are often seen as being in opposition. This way, we pray for all as Ubuntu calls us to do)

Prayer of Reflection:

From thought to feelingIdeas to sensesFrom mind to gutBlood to breathDesperation to inspirationStrategy to impulseFrom conditioning to dreamingBody to being

From warring to lovingDifference to onenessDistrust to faithFrom doubt to believingInsecurity to equilibriumQuestions to silence

From Struggle to SurrenderTo SurrenderWe Surrender

From imprisonment to liberationJudgement to acceptanceAttachment to freedomFrom exhaustion to enthusiasmDragging to danceHolding on to letting goAnchoring to flightFrom known to unknownRoots to wings

(adapted from a poem by South African poet Malika Lueen Ndlovu)