By Maria Luisa Torres
“Remember, you are a beloved [child] of God – behave like one.”
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Use these links to access Desmond Tutu's full sermon.
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The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize and retired Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, shared these words with members and guests of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes on February 26 at St. Paul’s Chapel during the closing Eucharist of the group’s 2005 annual conference.
Held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the four-day conference – entitled “The Power of Proclamation: From Word to Witness” – featured keynote speakers Archbishop Tutu, the Honorable Madeleine Albright, who served as U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001, and several others.
Trinity Church-St. Paul’s Chapel was one of the host parishes for this year’s conference, which explored topics such as stewardship, congregational development and parish outreach.
The annual gathering brings together members of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, a network of leaders from more than 100 endowed Episcopal churches who work together to foster the development and use of parish endowments to further mission and ministry within its communities as well as around the world.
In his sermon at the closing Eucharist, Archbishop Tutu emphasized the importance of compassion and good works as “our response of thanksgiving for what God has already done.”
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| Archbishop Desmond Tutu addressed more than 500 people at St. Paul's Chapel during the closing Eucharist of the 2005 conference of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes on February 26. |
“At the end of the liturgy, the deacon says, ‘Go forth in peace, to love and to serve the Lord,’” he said. “We have received first the gift of God…communicated to us in and through the bread and the wine. Only then, fortified and blessed in this manner, are we expected to go forth to serve the Lord.
“The sequence is crucial; first the divine initiative, and then our eucharistic response… It has always been so,” he continued. “God calls on Abraham…God encounters Moses at the burning bush, and everything afterwards is response… God [is] acting first, not waiting for the recipient of his grace to prove himself worthy.”
By virtue of being children of God, we are all loved unconditionally, said Archbishop Tutu.
“God loves us – God loves us now and God will always love us, for ever and ever,” he said. “We don’t have to work to impress God… There is nothing we can do to make God love us more because God already loves us perfectly. [And] there is absolutely nothing we can do to make God love us less.
“When we know we are loved, when we know that we matter, then out of that sense of worth we will be more likely to see the worth of the other and we will want to see that they live worthwhile lives – lives of dignity befitting those who are loved by God,” he concluded. “Go out and make this world a more compassionate place, please. Go out and make this place a more gentle and caring place, please. Go out and make it beautiful.”
Born in Klerksdorp, South Africa, in 1931, Archbishop Tutu was ordained to the priesthood in Johannesburg in 1961. His tireless crusade against apartheid in South Africa propelled him into the international spotlight and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
After serving as Bishop of Johannesburg, he was elected Archbishop of Cape Town, an office he held from 1986 until his retirement in 1996. Following his retirement, President Nelson Mandela appointed Archbishop Tutu as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which probed human rights violations committed during apartheid.
Since the presentation of the Commission's report to the president in 1998, Archbishop Tutu has served as a visiting professor at several overseas universities, and has published several books, including his latest entitled God Has a Dream.
Posted on Trinity News on February 26, 2005
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