A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to hear Claude Nikondeha share about his theology of transformation, based partly in the African notion of ubuntu, that a person is a person through other persons (umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu). Claude shares:
The spirituality of transformation has ubuntu as the foundational understanding of persons. ‘We are set in a delicate network of interdependence with our fellow human beings and all of creation” Tutu states. This is a foundational understanding for our humanity, as one connected to others. In Africa we call this ubuntu, We are persons through other persons. Our humanity is all bundled up together – yours, mine, those outside this camp, even those across the world. We are interconnected, and we are affected by the well-being of one another. When someone is humiliated, I am humiliated. When another is going to bed on an empty stomach, I am not satiated. When you are broken-hearted, my joy cannot be complete. I am diminished when you are not well. We are connected.
Listening to Claude Nikondeha that evening in Krugersdorp, South Africa I was mesmerized. Not by Claude, not even by his words but by the idea that my existence is wrapped up in other persons. I do not, indeed I cannot, subsist unto myself as an autonomous, independent or disconnected human being.
I am because we are.
I exist in communion with others.
Ever since hearing about the ubuntu spirit, wrestling with it in Africa, learning about it from others in experience and dialogue, I have continued to search it out in other places – in Luther’s writings, in conversation with others, in experience etc.
Lately I had the opportunity to explore John D. Zizioulas’ concept of “being as communion” in light of the personhood of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and our creation in the imago Dei, the image of God.
Through it all God has led me to Scripture to see how relationship is a fundamental element of what it means to be human, what it means to be Christian and what it implies for our life in Christ and with one another.
On Trinity Sunday, Father’s Day, June 19, 2011 I shared the message “I am Because We Are” at Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy, TX. Below is a shortened version of that message:
What makes dad “dad”? Is it physical characteristics? Shared traits? Similar quirks?
Of course not.
We all know people who may have a biological connection with a man but he is no father to them. Take for example a woman who writes for the Step Family Letter Project. In a letter entitled “To My Biological Father” she opens with the line, “Does it ever bother you that I no longer consider you my dad?” This biological dad is no dad at all. He has ignored her, abused her and treated her like she is nothing. She is so hurt by the actions of this biological father that she signs off with “not your daughter.” This man is not her dad because there is no relationship between the two of them.
A dad is a “dad” because of relationship. And not just any relationship. A relationship of love, self-sacrifice and on-going care.
The same is true about God. What makes God “God” is not his power, his omniscience or his glory. No, what makes God “God” is relationship. In 1 John 4:16 it is written that “God is love.” Not “God loves” or “God has the power to love” or “God is glorious because he loves.” Instead, “God is love.” If God is love, love always has an object of affection. In God’s case his love is first expressed in the relationship of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit is described as an eternal dance by the Greek Church (perichoresis). It is a beautiful and eternal connection between the persons of the Trinity; their love so strong that it unites them together as one. God is God because of the relationship that unites Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is God because of love. Relationship defines the very being of God.
We, being created in the image of God (imago Dei) are also created for love and for relationship. We cannot say we are made in God’s image because we look like him or think like him, although we may like to claim this as true. We are like God because we are built for relationship (Genesis 1:27-31; 2:4-25). We are meant for a perfect relationship with the Triune God of love, we are meant for a righteous relationship with one another and we are meant for a relationship of stewardship with the world around us. We are meant for relationship; the capacity for love makes us who we are. Relationship defines our very being.
Yet, we forsake our very essence. We deny the relationships gifted to us. Just like Adam and Eve we choose other things, we chase after other relationships. Adam and Eve, serving themselves in their choice for that forbidden fruit not only forsook their relationship with the Triune God, each other and the creation when they sinned but they also enjoined themselves to other things. They abandoned one relationship for another. Instead of uniting their destiny with the Lord they united themselves with their fallen flesh, the tainted world and Satan himself.
We continue to do so today. Each time we forsake relationship for our own anxious self-seeking we repeat the sin of Adam and Eve. We seek after power, money and other false sources of identity. We believe that having this or dominating that might define us and make us truly worth something. The saddest reality is that these things are passing away and in defining ourselves by them we unite ourselves to their destiny. Like them we will pass away into death and our existence will cease.
There is hope. Forsaking our relationship with God, with one another and the world around us is not the end of the story. Death and its minions do not have the last word.
Instead, our Triune God seeks relationship with us even today. He is in passionate pursuit of us. He seeks to restore the relationship lost.
So radically does he desire to restore this relationship that he sent his Son (John 3:16) so that he might unite his divinity with our human flesh. And so he did. Jesus was born as God and human. The fullness of the deity dwelt in him bodily (Colossians 2:9). He was born united with the Father in love. He continued to live with the Father united in love. Throughout the Gospels you hear how Jesus continually references his connection to the Father and denies temptation after temptation to sin against his beloved dad. Taking this love all the way to the cross he is forsaken for our sake and abandoned by the Father. Even then he clings to the love of his Father and yields his spirit to Him. United in close communion with the Father Jesus would rise again in the power of the resurrection, in the power of a restored relationship.
And so, because of his resurrection a restored relationship is available to all of us.
By his Word we are invited to die and rise again with him in Holy Baptism, being united with him by his love and joining with all the Christian church as one family. Adopted as children of God we can now call on God as Father. In Holy Baptism we can now turn to people who we have no biological connection with and call them brother and sister.
As family we gather around the altar to receive Christ’s body and blood as a sign of the relationship and to receive forgiveness. In Holy Communion we continue to connect with the Triune God; He taking on our sin and brokenness and we his forgiveness, mercy and love. Likewise, we share with one another at Holy Communion, united by our common confession and sharing one another’s burdens. As Martin Luther said, “we all become one cake.”
Connected to our Triune God, in perfect relationship with him and with one another as forgiven and saintly sinners we are bid to live in relationships of love with the world. We are sent in the name of our Triune God and the relationship that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit to baptize others and welcome them into the relationship of the family of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).
We are invited to live in fervent love towards one another understanding that relationship defines our being and that “I am because we are.” If our brother is hungry we cannot be satisfied; and so we fill his plate. If our sister is thirsty we cannot be satiated; and so we fill her cup. If our sister is suffering we cannot be filled with joy; and so we ease her pain. If our brother is without Christ we cannot remain silent; and so we share the Word.
We are connected in Christ.
And so, knowing that our Triune God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit together in perfect relationship and we are united with Him in Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection through Baptism and Holy Communion we are called to live in faith towards him and fervent love towards one another. All the while, we know that when we seek after our own desires at the cost of our relationship with others our relationship with God is secure in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. May the peace of Christ and the relationship of love that we enjoy with God our Father and the Holy Spirit guard our hearts and minds always, unto the end of the age. Let it be.
I like your comment “What makes God “God” is not his power, his omniscience or his glory. No, what makes God “God” is relationship.” Thanks for sharing this post.