Reflection: "Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu"
"Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu",
We as Orthodox Christians are in one of those periods of increased religious focus. A period this time devoted to the Theotokos. Doubtless we have all heard the pleas and injunctions from our hierarchs, our priests, and our spiritual fathers to fast devoutly, to pray more fervently, to attend more Church services and perhaps, perhaps even to almsgiving. Of these pleas and injunctions the later is perhaps the most important for our Lord fasted but he does not directly command us to fast. Our Lord prays but only tells us when asked how to pray. Our Lord regularly goes himself to services and yet does not command us to do so. Our Lord does however demand with the utmost gravitas that we must, if we wish to posses the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world, give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, take in strangers, cover the naked, visit those who are sick, and visit those in prison. To renege on this, to not do this to the least of us is to be tried, to be judged, to be sentenced, and to be condemned to eternal punishment.
Now the Saints, our forefathers, our ancestors … they understood this command and they took it to heart. From their hearts they let this command course through their very beings, they let it animate their actions, guide their hearts and their hands. Living as they were in a society much harsher, less forgiving, more materialistic than our own, they stood out like the sunrise from the darkness of night. It was often remarked by Romans in their writings that Christians are most remarkable for their kindness, they take care of each other and of strangers, they treat all as if they are family. They were living incarnations of a type of a virtue almost unknown to those Romans. For they had been instructed the same as the Corinthians, the same as us that of the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love … the greatest is not faith, nor hope, but love.
But somewhere in the mists of time that love became equated with charity and we seem to have narrowed our definition of family and limited our responsibilities to fewer and fewer people. We have become a charitable people, when we used to be a supportive people. Christians gave to family, they helped family, they never donated to family. There is an important distinction between being supportive and being charitable. That distinction is about connection and intent.
Too often when we are charitable we merely give money or occasionally in-kind to our church or sometimes another organization. These charitable donations typically occur during a period of increased devotion like the one we are struggling through now or most often around Christmas when it is the culturally accepted and expected thing to do.
But this charity is not the same as being supportive and it does not meet the intent of the Lords command; for he said You!, You gave me food, You gave me drink, You took me in, You covered my nakedness, You came to the sick, You visited the prisoners. You! Not a service organization … You! Not a deacon or priest, You!
Somewhere a barrier like an iconostasis was allowed to arise to separate the people from each other to break the bonds of family, togetherness, and communion. With this separation we loose our humanity because we no longer see face to face and recognize the humanity of others. We no longer come face to face with the image of our Creator. Because when one is faced with a decisive choice between wealth and the preservation of the life of another human being, then our faith demands that we should opt for the preservation of life'. But when that human connection is lacking it becomes easier to choose self and wealth over the “other”. It is in the suffering of the humanity around us that our own humanity is lost.
My humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. We are of one body. Just as our humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in the humanity of those in our community. I am human because I belong. A real human is connected, is communing and is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. A communing human is open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole, to the humanity that is the body of Christ. We know that we … you and I are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than the human being created in the likeness of our creator.
The Saints, our forefathers, our ancestors … they understood this and they acted accordingly and they drew strength from each other, both the living and the departed from this world. They knew that You can approach the spirit of the Saints, of your forebears, of those ancestors of ours who have gone ahead of us and they will intercede on your behalf with God. Therefore hold them close and venerate them but more importantly make yourself here and now an ancestor worthy of veneration by those who come after you. Looking at those who will come after us also reminds us that we have an obligation to those communities that raised us and who need to see us living out our faith today. We need to go home and tell those who are right behind us that they too can elevate themselves to better circumstances. We need to participate in political discourse and lend our education, our experience, our minds, our passions, and our love to our communities.
As Orthodox Christians in America we have the power to make a real difference in our own extended families and communities. However, narrow definitions of responsibility, will only continue to isolate us from our communities, deeply entrenching the idea that we exist in ethnic and spiritual ghettos behind gates afraid of the other, manifesting fear instead of love.
Every member of the Orthodox Christian body of Christ must accept special moral duties towards other people solely by virtue of the fact that we are all are created in the image and likeness of God. However, this moral duty goes much deeper; there are consequences to claiming that being an Orthodox Christian is to walk in the truth. We cannot wear our faith with exclusivity and yet remove all obligations that simply don’t suit us anymore. Even as we would try to redefine what it means to be a modern day Orthodox Christian, we must acknowledge that to strip empathy from the definition of being Orthodox Christian, would be to suck the term of its very soul.
It is time for us to reach out our hearts and our hands, to see God in the face of those around us … to reclaim our humanity in the face of our neighbors humanity.
We as Orthodox Christians are in one of those periods of increased religious focus. A period this time devoted to the Theotokos. Doubtless we have all heard the pleas and injunctions from our hierarchs, our priests, and our spiritual fathers to fast devoutly, to pray more fervently, to attend more Church services and perhaps, perhaps even to almsgiving. Of these pleas and injunctions the later is perhaps the most important for our Lord fasted but he does not directly command us to fast. Our Lord prays but only tells us when asked how to pray. Our Lord regularly goes himself to services and yet does not command us to do so. Our Lord does however demand with the utmost gravitas that we must, if we wish to posses the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world, give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, take in strangers, cover the naked, visit those who are sick, and visit those in prison. To renege on this, to not do this to the least of us is to be tried, to be judged, to be sentenced, and to be condemned to eternal punishment.
Now the Saints, our forefathers, our ancestors … they understood this command and they took it to heart. From their hearts they let this command course through their very beings, they let it animate their actions, guide their hearts and their hands. Living as they were in a society much harsher, less forgiving, more materialistic than our own, they stood out like the sunrise from the darkness of night. It was often remarked by Romans in their writings that Christians are most remarkable for their kindness, they take care of each other and of strangers, they treat all as if they are family. They were living incarnations of a type of a virtue almost unknown to those Romans. For they had been instructed the same as the Corinthians, the same as us that of the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love … the greatest is not faith, nor hope, but love.
But somewhere in the mists of time that love became equated with charity and we seem to have narrowed our definition of family and limited our responsibilities to fewer and fewer people. We have become a charitable people, when we used to be a supportive people. Christians gave to family, they helped family, they never donated to family. There is an important distinction between being supportive and being charitable. That distinction is about connection and intent.
Too often when we are charitable we merely give money or occasionally in-kind to our church or sometimes another organization. These charitable donations typically occur during a period of increased devotion like the one we are struggling through now or most often around Christmas when it is the culturally accepted and expected thing to do.
But this charity is not the same as being supportive and it does not meet the intent of the Lords command; for he said You!, You gave me food, You gave me drink, You took me in, You covered my nakedness, You came to the sick, You visited the prisoners. You! Not a service organization … You! Not a deacon or priest, You!
Somewhere a barrier like an iconostasis was allowed to arise to separate the people from each other to break the bonds of family, togetherness, and communion. With this separation we loose our humanity because we no longer see face to face and recognize the humanity of others. We no longer come face to face with the image of our Creator. Because when one is faced with a decisive choice between wealth and the preservation of the life of another human being, then our faith demands that we should opt for the preservation of life'. But when that human connection is lacking it becomes easier to choose self and wealth over the “other”. It is in the suffering of the humanity around us that our own humanity is lost.
My humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. We are of one body. Just as our humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in the humanity of those in our community. I am human because I belong. A real human is connected, is communing and is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. A communing human is open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole, to the humanity that is the body of Christ. We know that we … you and I are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than the human being created in the likeness of our creator.
The Saints, our forefathers, our ancestors … they understood this and they acted accordingly and they drew strength from each other, both the living and the departed from this world. They knew that You can approach the spirit of the Saints, of your forebears, of those ancestors of ours who have gone ahead of us and they will intercede on your behalf with God. Therefore hold them close and venerate them but more importantly make yourself here and now an ancestor worthy of veneration by those who come after you. Looking at those who will come after us also reminds us that we have an obligation to those communities that raised us and who need to see us living out our faith today. We need to go home and tell those who are right behind us that they too can elevate themselves to better circumstances. We need to participate in political discourse and lend our education, our experience, our minds, our passions, and our love to our communities.
As Orthodox Christians in America we have the power to make a real difference in our own extended families and communities. However, narrow definitions of responsibility, will only continue to isolate us from our communities, deeply entrenching the idea that we exist in ethnic and spiritual ghettos behind gates afraid of the other, manifesting fear instead of love.
Every member of the Orthodox Christian body of Christ must accept special moral duties towards other people solely by virtue of the fact that we are all are created in the image and likeness of God. However, this moral duty goes much deeper; there are consequences to claiming that being an Orthodox Christian is to walk in the truth. We cannot wear our faith with exclusivity and yet remove all obligations that simply don’t suit us anymore. Even as we would try to redefine what it means to be a modern day Orthodox Christian, we must acknowledge that to strip empathy from the definition of being Orthodox Christian, would be to suck the term of its very soul.
It is time for us to reach out our hearts and our hands, to see God in the face of those around us … to reclaim our humanity in the face of our neighbors humanity.