His Grace, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu spoke at Calvary this morning (my church) at an interfaith service for justice and peace. In addition, he was awarded the historic first joint doctorate by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Read past the break for impressions, as well as the exclusive recording of his sermon (exclusive at least until someone else posts or distributes it, probably at the five o’clock news).
Update: I apologize dear readers (to quote a parody I recently saw). For whatever reason, I can’t get it to embed correctly, using a multitude of components, mambots and even third party sites. The first part of the transcript is up (past the break), as well as links and the youtube video for easy viewing.
I’ll have thoughts and reactions to the service up later tonight, below is the beginning of the transcript I am producing (more to come shortly!). Links are below the transcript, and I’ll have a youtube video soon (it loads a lot faster than other mediums), but please check out the Post Gazette’s video!
In the name of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
[Amen]
A very great joy and great privilege to be here with you my dear sisters and brothers. I don’t know whether you remember to story of the little boy who went to church with his mommy. There was a red lamp hanging over the altar in the sanctuary, and the preacher, really got going. And he went on and on! And the little boy turned to his mommy, “Mommy, when it turns green, can we go home?”
[laughter]
I bring you greetings from your sisters and brothers in
[applause]
And many, many of you were part of our struggle against the viciousness of Apartheid. You prayed for us. You demonstrated on our behalf. You boycotted South African foods. Some of you went to jail on our behalf. And hey, here we are!
[laughter]
Free! Free! And one of the great privileges that one ever gets is to be able to come to places such as this one, and say to you, we ask for your help, and you gave it. We are free, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
You would join me, in clapping you and all of the many others who helped to bring about this fantastic result. Please
[applause]
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, when we marched against the awfulness of that viscous system, how wonderful, how wonderful, that in those marching, one would be walking, and on one side, would be a Muslim imam, on the other, a Jewish rabbi, and there would be so many people of different faiths, part of that walk to freedom. And they were all inspired by their faiths!
I have yet to hear of a faith that says, “Hey, it’s ok to be unjust, it’s ok to be enslaved, it’s ok to be inferior, it’s ok to be oppressed.” I give thanks to God that all of the faiths of which I know anything speak about the wonder of each one of us the Jew, the Christian, the Muslim, speak of the human being, created in the image of God, whose worth is infinite. Whose worth is intrinsic. It’s a worth that comes in a package.
Oh, and the Hindu speaks of how you, I, are really the divine. Are we afraid to speak about of how we are made, are made for, are made for goodness? That we’re made, we’re made each one of us to enjoy the divine forever and ever and ever? Each one of us is really a god-carrier. You know, each one of us is a god-carrier. So injustice and oppression for all of you is not just, is not just, is not just evil, which it is. It’s not just painful, which it frequently will be for the victim, it’s blasphemous. It’s like spitting in the face of God! For you will be trampling underfoot, the sanctuary of God. The temple of the Holy spirit that’s what we, you and I, are, that is what, that is what, all of these faiths seek to teach.
Is there anyone here who says, they don’t think that the Dalai Lama is a good man?
[laughter]
You must be crazy!
[laughter]
He’s about the only non pop star, who when he, they announce that he is coming to
[laughter]
I mean, people flock from, to hear him, and I am thankful of him, I thank him, I mean, he can’t even speak English properly
[laughter]
He can’t people! And they will flock to hear him! But I don’t think they actually listen to what he is saying, he is a presence, you have to be totally, totally insensitive not to know what you are in the presence of someone holy and good.
Post-Gazette article
Post-Gazette video
