I was walking into Albertsons the other day when a man in a wheelchair- who was a double amputee- mumbled something in my direction. I felt the urge to keep walking, but in my journey with God I have been feeling God highlight people to me that I wouldn't normally notice. This man was one of them. I turned around and said, "sorry sir, what did you say?" 

He was asking for cash. I told him I didn't have any, but I could get him some food if he wanted. He said, "Will you get me Snickers ice cream?"

Let me tell you something. It was cold, and he was wearing shorts- but he wanted ice cream. As he changed his mind and asked me for a gift card for groceries, it occurred to me that this man likely had special needs. After I came out with the gift card, I saw that he was sleeping outside of Albertsons that night. In shorts. 

When my oldest was just a baby my sister gave me a children's book by Archbishop Desmond Tutu called, God's Dream. The book says that Archbishop Tutu was a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his lifelong struggle to bring equality, justice, and peace to his native country of South Africa. It's a beautiful book. It says, "God dreams that every one of us will see that we are all brothers and sisters- yes, even you and me- even if we have different mommies and daddies or live in different faraway lands." It is teaching kids to that we can love people by caring about who they are and where they come from, and by being in relationship with them. And by doing that, we make God very happy. I didn't know this then, but this book was the beginning of an unfolding that God was doing in my heart to learn about what it really means to see your neighbor, and love them. 

God's Dream is the children's version of Tutu's book called, God Has a Dream. I want to leave an excerpt here from God Has a Dream about a term he teaches called, ubuntu:

"The first law of our being is that we are set in a delicate network of interdependence with our fellow human beings and with the rest of God's creation. In Africa recognition of our interdependence is called ubuntu in Nguni languages, or botho in Sotho, which is difficult to translate into English. It is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness; it speaks about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share."

There are a few things that stuck with me about the man outside of Albertsons. By stopping to hear that he wanted Snickers ice cream, it helped me understand that he may have special needs. I could tell he just, really wanted some ice cream. But he needed groceries. I watched from my car as people created physical distance from him as he was trying to get their attention. How can a man who has a physical, and mental disability end up living on the street? A broken system. A system of oppression. 

Why is it important to understand this term, ubuntu? Why is it important to let this term affect us? Really affect us? Because it teaches us how to love our neighbor. The book continues, "Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them. You know when ubuntu is there, and it is obvious when it is absent. It has to do with what it means to be truly human, to know that you are bound up with others in the bundle of life."

What does ubuntu look like in our daily life? Who are we passing by that needs to be seen? Who are we listening to that needs to be heard? Is it the mom with a sign on the side of the road that says she needs clothes for her kids and baby formula? Is it a friend who is over-sharing because they are in the throes of depression? Maybe it is someone who isn't even asking for help, but needs it. Maybe it just means viewing people like they are our siblings. 

Hear me when I say, I have been that person who creates physical distance from someone asking me for help. I still am. But God is inviting me to live with ubuntu. And God is inviting you too. 

Join us Sunday morning at 10:30 in-person or online as Pastor Mark preaches from Luke, chapter 10, on loving your neighbor.

Peace be with you church,

Chelsea Maitland

Worship Leader