Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Ubuntu


Blue Mountain Mama's 'Wordless Wednesday' has refreshed my irritation. Here's what I mean:

There's a haunting lament by the musician Damien Rice which, today I can't get out of my head. In it he speaks of cold, cold water surrounding him. Of course it's a metaphor, but something of his aching and longing for something lost has stirred my soul. I don't know where this journey began - I think my first visit to Africa - but what I do know is that I now suffer from a condition that Scottish writer and campaigner Alistair McIntosh calls communalism. Such an idiom brings us to questions of identity and belonging - in short, our search for community.

Generations, most of which have now passed away (I am remembering particularly my grandparents), speak of a time of interconnectedness, a time when there was an interdependence on one another for survival. A time of sharing what little they had and not demanding anything in return - I suppose the Biblical simile would be that everyone was their brother and sister's keeper. It is something the social thinker Ivan Illich calls the 'vernacular economy', which explained in mortal speak is a way of doing and being that is learned, naturally, through our culture, which allows equality within society.

As with anything important, we realise just how essential something is only when it is gone. Something I think we (as a global community) need to address with some urgency is an economy for people and not profit, which at its deepest level I would describe as mutuality. This is something which most of Africa and the developing world have had to live with for too long. Need should lubricate our relationships. Surplus should be for sharing before trading and happiness should come from giving rather than accumulating.

Historical and sociological insights urge theologians to look hard at situations where church praxis is worked out. Ideas in isolation are not enough. Theology needs to be seen in relation to the events that shape it. Ubuntu, Xhosa expression, is one such example. It is an ancient African word meaning 'humanity to others'. Like many African words it has numerous translations, another is ''I am what I am because of who you are.'

Where am I going with this? Well, I read the story of the feeding of the 5,000 for the first time in a while the other day and I tried to get beyond the basic narrative and burrow under and inbetween the text. I've always had a nagging suspicion that there was more to this story than Jesus performing some kind of magic trick to feed hungry people. And after a while of pondering the text, it hit me. These were not hungry, starving people in front of Jesus and his disciples at all (maybe a little peckish at most). Many were proud Jewish women and their children and I have never met a Jewish mother who doesn't make sure her family isn't more than well fed.

This miracle is not about feeding starving people. As an aside, most Jews in Jesus' time had 200 calories per day more than the World Health Organisation prescribes as necessary for the minimum sustainable diet for people today. These were not starving hungry people. The point is this; who with thousands around, is going to share? the crowd is experiencing a late lunch because of a silly concoction of politeness, social reserve and selfishness. In the face of all this prissiness, Jesus accepts the naive offering of a young boy who has the courage to share his lunch and with this shames 5,000 people into opening their boxes.

Am I undermining the authenticity of the miracle? No, not for a minute. What I am trying to do is underscore its credibility and importance for our time. For Jesus to transform the fish and loaves would not be impossible. I have no difficulty whatsoever with that. But for Jesus to feed 5,000 people when no one but a young boy is prepared to make any individual suggestion that they have food is an astounding feat, because he is taking on human selfishness.

What makes it more incredible? (If indeed we believe Holy Scripture kind of transcends time) That Christ should feed a non-starving crowd out of kindness? Or that we in the West should be aware of the perilous state of millions of our fellow human beings and have to wait until skeletal children appear on our television screens before we are generous? Or are we finally going to wake up to the fact that we are 'Ubuntu', we are interconnected, that we need one another - that we are our brother's and sister's keeper?

Sobering isn't it?


* as a sub note, anyone who says my thoughts are not accurate with the exact text - take a history lesson on how much the New Testament text has been fiddled with to say what a bunch of men wanted it to say - you'd be surprised

15 comments:

mister tumnus said...

yo CS.

thanks lots for this.

in a couple of weeks' time i am scheduled to be singing julie lee's 'stranger no stranger' (based on those words of buechner) in a mother's day service at a local church. because of this i've been thinking a bit lately about those words which also relate to what you're saying: that we need each other, that we are each other's keepers. i loved that take on the feeding of the 5000. love it!

Anna said...

You have such a way with writing Paul. I like how you tell it like you see it, with no need to be wordy. And somehow point it all back to Christ. Thanks for that. We are indeed each others keepers and need to start realizing that truth...myself included.

Both your post and bluemountainmama's have hit me pretty hard today...very sobering indeed.

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

Mr T,
gonna have to hear that voice someday!

am sure there will be many who think it blasphemy - but as you know I love questioning and wrestling with God - it's the only way to know him/her

how's your wee one?

anna,
it is sobering - these beautiful children will now be teenagers and be working the hard land of Ghana - i think of them often.
i like being drunk on life but know the need for sobriety too

ps, this shot was taken before my digital days!

The Meaning Weakened by the Lies said...

'We must demand more not from each other, but more from ourselves' - Jewel Kilcher

bluemountainmama said...

harbour- i really like what you said about the loaves...it gives it a whole new meaning for me.

i get overwhelmed sometimes watching documentaries about and seeing photos of hurting people, especially children. i weep and call out to God to DO SOMETHING!!!

and then i try to figure out what i can do from my little corner of the world....rural appalachia, US. it all starts in your own community and then trickles from there, i believe.

but i also think we need to be reminded on a daily basis of how the rest of the world is living. it really puts things in a different perspective....makes you rethink how you are living.

i agree about community. and until we return to that sense of community....and not this independent isolationism(is that a word?) that is so valued in our society, it is going to be an uphill battle to make a difference.

bluemountainmama said...

oh...and i was going to add about africa....it has always been such a "village" society. but with the aids epidemic....several generations at a time are being wiped out.

before, if a child was orphaned, an aunt or grandparent would take them in. now, young children are being left as the head of the households b/c not only their parents are dying, but their extended family.

i read somewhere that the orphan crisis will be the number one humanitarian crisis by the year 2010....and a lot of this is due to aids in africa, and the wars and genocide that have been taking place in areas such as darfur.

i've always wanted to go to africa...my older sister did a mercy ships excursion there. and i believe, like you said, once you've been in a thirld world country, you are never really the same.

awareness said...

So eloquently written, Paul. Again, your thoughts and words ....your wonderful interpretation of feeding the 5000....your insights on issues pertaining to poverty in Africa...have generated many thoughts in me......

All week, I have been thinking a great deal on the subject of community.......actually if I stop and think about it, it seems like it has been a theme of sorts in my writing for a long time now.....you and bluemountainmama's comments here have both broadened my thinking tremendously.....

I can't seem to think linearly tonight........stirred emotions on this topic.....? Yes

We have much to learn from the youngest members of our community as they too learn how to share. their need for love and belonging, their dependence on the grown ups in their lives, when provided unconditionally allows them to develop a foundational sense of security that will hopefully feed their understanding of community.

We never lose the need to feel the sense of interconnectedness. It grounds us, and allows us to fly and falter and to fly again. Our search for community where acceptance, not judgement reigns seems to be the impetus for the surge in the numbers of people looking for a spiritual home, perhaps?

Like Bluemountainmama, I too have always wanted to visit and work in Africa....... it has always been a dream of mine, though shelved for many years.....

Are you returning there again?

Mata H said...

Ahhh, m'friend - I am surprised you didn't quote the other Boss's lyrics :

GOT A WIFE AND KIDS IN BALTIMORE, JACK
I WENT OUT FOR A RIDE AND I NEVER WENT BACK
LIKE A RIVER THAT DON´T KNOW WHERE IT´S FLOWING
I TOOK A WRONG TURN AND I JUST KEPT GOING

EVERYBODY´S GOT A HUNGRY HEART
EVERYBODY´S GOT A HUNGRY HEART
LAY DOWN YOUR MONEY AND YOU PLAY YOUR PART
EVERYBODY´S GOT A HUNGRY HEART

I MET HER IN A KINGSTOWN BAR
WE FELL IN LOVE I KNEW IT HAD TO END
WE TOOK WHAT WE HAD AND WE RIPPED IT APART
NOW HERE I AM DOWN IN KINGSTOWN AGAIN

EVERYBODY´S GOT A HUNGRY...

EVERYBODY NEEDS A PLACE TO REST
EVERYBODY WANTS TO HAVE A HOME
DON´T MAKE NO DIFFERENCE WHAT NOBODY SAYS
AIN´T NOBODY LIKE TO BE ALONE.

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

some very thoughtful and provocative comments on something i believe to be vital for our survival

meaning,
wise words from Kilcher indeed - couldn't agree more

BMM,
if isolationism isn't a word - it should be
I saw something of the results of the pandemic whilst in Tanzania 2 years ago - the fear for the mothers affected was not how painfully they would die, but rather the anguish at leaving their small children to survive in a cruel brutal world alone - the lost helpless look in their eyes still haunts me

Dana, love this, 'We have much to learn from the youngest members of our community as they too learn how to share. their need for love and belonging, their dependence on the grown ups in their lives, when provided unconditionally allows them to develop a foundational sense of security that will hopefully feed their understanding of community.'

so true

do i plan to return, yes - i have a friend who works with street children in Durban - i plan to go next year to try and raise some awareness and hopefully funding too for his remarkable charity

this year it's Israel/Palestine.......

mata,
how could i miss 'that' boss?
'EVERYBODY NEEDS A PLACE TO REST
EVERYBODY WANTS TO HAVE A HOME
DON´T MAKE NO DIFFERENCE WHAT NOBODY SAYS
AIN´T NOBODY LIKE TO BE ALONE.'

not many say it better.....

Gigi said...

There is so much to be done I get overwhelmed. Even in and on a local level....our church has just been given land by a chief in South Africa for us to come over and build ...everything with and for them...they want to know Christ, they want a church....our first thing is reaching out to our community asking for help, looking for people with interest and qualifications in sanitation, agriculture, business...it's a huge undertaking....this is a village of 7000 people with 3 spigots of water and probably 120+ orphaned children from the aids epidemic. At first glance it's hopeless....but as we begin to talk about it to any and all who will listen...and pray about it and let our youth dream of HOW they could help....well who knows...you know....they are the ones who are going to change our world and we are responsible to empower them to do it....

MJ said...

I really love that you are bold...it is the mark of our shepherd.

St. Kevin & the Blackbird said...

This is a refreshing take; it puts the edges back in a story that had become well-worn through familiarity.
Thanks.

Nikita said...

I'm doing a module on miracles in religious philosophy; there's so much I learnt about interpreting them in the past few weeks - thank you for your take.
As always your blog is eloquent and coherent; must ask you to teach me some day.

Katie Hagley said...

Great to be reminded of 'ubuntu' just as I have been sitting around with friends drinking wine and discussing how we can build community and support one another in our quest to find a way of worshipping that touches our souls once again.

'Ubuntu' is really hard to define but a friend of mine who has spent time working with street kids in South Africa once told me:'I can't really explain ubuntu but it means that as long as I have food you will never go hungry'.

Take care Paul.

Flower said...

Very sobering thoughts indeed.
x