"The Arch Is Dead, Long Live The Arch!" - a tribute to Archbishop Tutu by someone who knew him well

The Arch Is Dead, Long Live The Arch! 

By Stewart Ting Chong, Canton, MA, USA 

12/31/2021

I write this after having returned from St John’s Episcopal Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, where the church bell tolled at noon, as it did at other Episcopal Churches across the State. The mournful single note of the bell, rung in short intervals, heralded the reminder that Archbishop Desmond Tutu had died on the 26th December 2021 and that his funeral was to be conducted at 10am in South Africa the following day.

I sat alone quietly weeping in the church where I was married by Desmond Tutu, the priest who became a bishop, a Nobel Peace Laureate and then Archbishop of Southern Africa. The awards and accolades bestowed on him meant little to me for he was just “The Arch”, someone who I had known for 34 years as a mentor, friend, confidant and boss, having worked on his staff for seven years during the era of apartheid in South Africa.

While the media is filled with tributes honoring a great peace maker, and rightly so, my own thoughts have been focused on how my life had changed as a result of his influence. There was, for me, no one braver, more outspoken in the defense of the oppressed, the persecuted and the discriminated and no one more prayerfully contemplative than the Arch. It is in this light that I pen my own thoughts in my personal tribute to honor him. 

I could so easily repeat words already spoken more eloquently by others, but what I know of him is that words were meaningless unless there was an action that supported their intent.  

“I’m not a holy person and have no skills to offer”, you might say. And I can hear the Arch’s response: “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world”. We can absolutely do good in the world but why not start in your own part of the world first? Pick up that piece of trash that someone else has tossed aside and do good by saving the environment and the conservation of wildlife. Reach out to someone in need for “We are each made for goodness, love and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.” Get involved in your communities and correct the injustices that you’ve ignored by thinking, “someone else is better equipped than I am to deal with that.” Volunteer your time to help organizations in their mission and become the person that we know we want to be.

The greatest challenge for me, as it may be for you, is to see the goodness in others with whom we disagree.

The Arch emphatically believed that we are all children of God, that goodness is in everyone even though that goodness might be hidden by “evil”. His challenge to us is to try to see beyond that and to acknowledge the intrinsic value and goodness in everyone. 

So, I write this more as my own pledge, to read and be reminded daily, that if the Arch meant so much to me, then I should honor him through my interactions with others, as hard as that might be.

“Goodness is stronger than evil.

Love is stronger than hate.

Light is stronger than darkness.

Life is stronger than death.

Victory is ours through Him who loved us.”

The Archbishop’s death is not the end of the battle he waged for goodness. It is the beginning for each one of us who holds his name in high esteem. Discrimination, injustice, persecution and oppression will not end unless we pick up his mantle of righteousness and call to account those who continue to tarnish the ideals that he had so faithfully strived to achieve. Let us find our voice and speak out against oppression. Let us speak out against the injustices inflicted on communities around the world. Let us hold accountable those who plunder the coffers intended to help the weak, hungry and destitute. And let us put the words we speak into action with righteous indignation and leave this world a better and kinder place for the generations that follow. Let us pledge to continue his work.

The Arch is Dead, Long Live the Arch.

hark, what a sound - an advent hymn speaking to all I need

Hark what a sound, and too divine for hearing,
stirs on the earth and trembles in the air!
Is it the thunder of the Lord's appearing?
Is it the music of his people's prayer?

Surely he cometh, and a thousand voices
shout to the saints, and to the deaf are dumb;
surely he cometh, and the earth rejoices,
glad in his coming who hath sworn: I come!

This hath he done, and shall we not adore him?
This shall he do, and can we still despair?
Come, let us quickly fling ourselves before him,
cast at his feet the burden of our care.

Through life and death, through sorrow and through sinning,
he shall suffice me, for he hath sufficed:
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.

- F. W. H. Myers (public domain)
Thanks to Hymnary.org for the text.  https://hymnary.org/text/hark_what_a_sound_and_too_divine_for_hea

Haitian home remedy for the win

 It's pouring rain in Massachusetts, and I've been down with quite a cold for days. We've been so careful for so long that cold germs have been successfully kept away till now. I suppose it was just a matter of time. 

Let me hasten to say that I did get tested, and it is not COVID-19, nor flu, nor strep. Just a cold. Nevertheless, I have been working from my room. We sisters hold all things in common - no one has private income, and all of our belongings belong to the community. However, the Superior has declared an unequivocal exception for germs, and thus I am doing my best to be stingy with them. 

So here I am in my room on this grey day, looking at the rain and working on this weekend's sermon, and I have received the perfect thing: a cup of strong, hot ginger tea made by one of our sisters from Haiti, up in Massachusetts for our annual Gathering and Chapter meeting. 

I thought I'd share. 

The recipe is very simple: 

• Boil ginger root and cloves in water.
• Let them steep for much longer than you think you need to. Stronger is better, especially if you have a sore throat. You can always add hot water to your cup!
• Best served in your favorite, beat-up well loved mug.
• Li bon! Enjoy.

Reheats well. 

"Conference of Anglican Religious in the Americas" Video

O Sapientia

Alice's Restaurant

turkeys outside St. Marina's Guesthouse in Duxbury

It has come to my attention that there are people out there who do not know of Alice's Restaurant. This is wrong, especially within a week of Thanksgiving in the year in which Arlo Guthrie announced his retirement. Therefore, in order to remedy the situation, I bring you a taste of 1967 Turkey Tales.

 

Lo, these many moons later, Alice is just trying to stay in her home. That would not be the old church as described in the song, in which she has not lived for decades, but the cottage she rents in Provincetown. For more on that and on her reminiscences of the song's story, read Arlo Guthrie's 'Alice's Restaurant' Is A Thanksgiving Tradition. But This Year The Real Alice Needs Help. 

a compendium of quotes on the election

praying?
getting ready to cast a ballot?
eating chocolate?
all of the above?

 first, a few from the news:

"It would certainly be less chaotic if all Americans voted pursuant to a uniform set of federally imposed procedures — if forms, machines, drop-box specifications, mail-in ballot receipt deadlines and early voting schedules were exactly the same, from county to county and state to state — but inefficiency is not, of itself, unconstitutional." - Steve Vladeck

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/02/harris-county-drive-through-federal-court/

99-year-old Mississippi man born on a plantation votes in election

"I remember when I couldn't vote," Dr. Robert H. Smith Sr. said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/99-year-mississippi-man-born-plantation-votes-election/story?id=73958509

"We have one of America’s most unusual presidents ever. The coronavirus has made it one of the most unusual campaigns ever. And it’s the most tense polling day I’ve ever covered here. I have never had to walk past rows of boarded up shops to get to work on Election Day because store holders are afraid there may be violence on the streets after the vote... And the world is watching, as it always does. But because this is the Trump presidency, and everything is oversized, the amount of global attention is through the roof too." - Katty Kay

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/election-us-2020-54786937

from high school students:

“Our generation in particular is not going to be quiet,” she said. “We are immune to dysfunction and disaster. From the beginning, when we were little children, we were practicing active-shooter drills. Now we’re not even in class because of covid. We’re going to make change.” - Lauren

“I can’t believe we are dealing with this uncertainty of safety due to an election. Nevertheless, we cannot stay in shock, but have to get to work no matter who wins.” - Jocelyn

“After growing up, experiencing what the world really has to say about women, being able to understand what that means for me, seeing Kamala Harris, a woman of color, standing up there, would be the glass ceiling exploding.” - Mirette

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/these-girls-were-crushed-when-hillary-lost-in-2016-four-years-later-theyve-created-their-own-strong-female-future/2020/11/02/ee53d8d0-1d1e-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html

from the Washington National Cathedral's interfaith service: “Holding onto Hope: A National Service for Healing and Wholeness,” 

“Dear Heavenly Father, we especially pray for our country as we go into this season of election. We ask you to help us to remember that we are, despite all of our troubles, a privileged people to be able to make our voices known, to choose those who would govern us. … Please be with each and every one of us, even as we are a divided people, to treat each other with respect, to treat each other with kindness, especially when we disagree, so that we might again make common purpose and common cause to be a people worthy of your grace.” - former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

“Our ideals, values, principles and dreams of beloved community matter. They matter because they drive us beyond service of self alone to commitment to the greater good of us all. They matter because they give us an actual picture of God’s reign of love, and a reason to struggle and make it real. They matter to our lives as people of faith. They matter to our life in civil society. They matter to our life as a nation and as a world. Our values matter!” 

“Whatever your politics, however you have or will cast your vote, however this election unfolds, wherever the course of racial reckoning and pandemic take us, whether we are in the valley or the mountaintop, hold onto the hope of America. Hold onto hope grounded in our shared values and ideals. Hold onto God’s dream. Hold on and struggle and walk and pray for our nation,”  - Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/11/01/national-cathedrals-interfaith-prayer-service-takes-america-on-journey-from-grief-to-hope/

and today, election day, they are still praying there all day long, as people go in and out...

"When the clock struck each new hour, the priests paused with an Election Day prayer.

“As the people of this nation decide the future of our life together, we pray for all seeking elected office and their families, for the safety of all voters and poll workers, and for the protection of all ballots cast,” one said. “Help us now and always to find new ways to work together, to mend our divisions, that we may create your kingdom on earth.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/03/us/election-day?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#at-washington-national-cathedral-a-time-to-pray-for-the-country

A handful of my own thoughts:

On second thought, I'll just leave you to caption that yourselves.

 As we wait:

obviously I also need an edit button for Twitter

and maybe some nutella
or a  Stop'n'Shop chocolate bomb cake

and world peace

https://twitter.com/sarahrandallssm/status/1323072181644001286

and finally, from the Book of Common Prayer (1979), pp.821-822

22. For Sound Government

The responses in italics may be omitted.

O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we
may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to
other nations of the earth.
Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To the President and members of the Cabinet, to Governors
of States, Mayors of Cities, and to all in administrative
authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their
duties.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our
laws in States, Cities, and Towns, give courage, wisdom, and
foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to
fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding
and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and
justice served.
Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to
accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they
may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for
the well-being of our society; that we may serve you
faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.
For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as
head above all. Amen.

23. For Local Government

Almighty God our heavenly Father, send down upon those
who hold office in this State (Commonwealth, City, County,
Town, ____________) the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice;
that with steadfast purpose they may faithfully serve in their
offices to promote the well-being of all people; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

24. For an Election

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers
and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of
this community) in the election of officials and representatives;
that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of
all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your
purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

https://www.bcponline.org/