Desmond Tutu is retiring!!! Tomorrow, October 7, 2010, will be his 79th birthday and, at his wife's insistence, he will retire. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I assume it means he will not be traveling or making public appearances. Perhaps he will no longer write. According to an article in Time magazine ("The Laughing Bishop," October 11, 2010) he will no longer take an active role in the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre. Whatever it means for his life, for millions of people, to quote the article written by Alex Perry, "a world without Tutu will be a bit darker, a little more dull."
Beyond the impact of on South Africa, his retirement is certainly a loss for the Anglican Communion. At a time when so many in Africa are beating the drum of exclusion, Tutu's voice was always raised in the spirit of radical hospitality and inclusion. For Tutu, the only thing that really matters is that we are all human beings, all children of God who are loved by our Creator. Having this in common, we are called to love and accept each other.
In his book God has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time Tutu wrote:
"In God's family, there are no outsiders. All are insiders. Black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, Jew and Arab, Palestinian and Israeli, Roman Catholic and Protestant, Serb and Albanian, Hutu and Tutsi, Muslim and Christian, Buddhist and Hindu, Pakistani and Indian – all belong. . . . God's dream wants us to be brothers and sisters, wants us to be family. . . . In our world we can survive only together. We can be truly free, ultimately, only together. We can be human only together, black and white, rich and poor, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jew."
Looking at the world in which we live, seeing the barriers we erect and the chasms that often separate us, it would be easy to read Tutu's vision and think of it as pollyannaish. Yet, this vision arises out of a lifetime of experience with apartheid in South Africa and the long, slow journey toward healing that country still struggles to follow.
This reminds me of another statement by Archbishop Tutu written in a column a few years ago. I don't remember the exact words. He was writing about the peace process between Israel and Palestine. He wrote that he was not optimistic about peace ever becoming a reality in that troubled part of the world. However, as a Christian, he was filled with hope, hope that by the mercy and grace of God peace would someday be a reality.
Desmond Tutu is the personification of that wonderful verse from the letter to the Hebrews (11:1): "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." What sort of world might we live in if we followed his example? Perhaps the thing to do is start following his example right where we live, in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and communities. If we can't change the whole world, perhaps we can change where we live.
Happy retirement, Archbishop Tutu! Enjoy a well-deserved rest from your labors. And thank you for shining the light of Christ in our world.
