Tutu appeals for Christian unity By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Wednesday, December 15, 1999 Desmond Tutu, South African Archbishop ATLANTA - South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked a World Council of Churches group that was meeting in Atlanta to help Christians behave like family. Pointing to the fact that the three Christian churches claiming Jerusalem's Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre spent three years arguing over replacing a cracked sewer cover, Tutu said Christian disunity is a disgrace. The shrine has only one exit, he said, and if there were a fire or a panic in the crowd, terrible things would happen. But none of the Christian churches will give some of its space to be used as an exit. "In the Curch of the Crucifixion, how is it that Christians are arguing over turf?"asked Tutu. "We should hang our heads in shame that this would happen on the site of the cucifixion. Jesus said that his followers would be marked by love, that the world would know them by their love, that the world would be able to recognize his disciples because of their love." Tutu recalled that insofar as reconciliation is concerned, the Christian church has a miserable record: "It was Christians, not pagans, that were responsible for the slave trade, the holocaust, racism in this part of the country where people where lynched, abused and destroyed. And all of this happened in the name of Jesus Christ. Christians gave the world apartheid. In Northern Ireland Christians have been fighting Christians. How can we say we are the ambassadors of Christ to whom were given the ministry of reconciliation?" 'We are family' Tutu said that all the ingredients needed for Christian unity are already in place. "We are family," he said. "Jesus told us we could call God 'Abba.' Do you know how extraordinary that is?" Tutu said that "Abba" corresponds to the most intimate name that a young child might use in referring to its father. If we can call God that, then we are family, he said. Tutu said that in calling us family, God did far more than merely declaring us equal. Family transcends egalitarian or entitlement claims. Family has to do with deep, intimate relationships that cannot be defined by courts of law. "Family is a gift," continued the archbishop. "You do not choose your family. You are given your family members, and although some might be regarded a painful gift, they are still a gift." Tutu reminded his audience that people do not buy their way into the family, nor can family members decide that an unproductive family member will no longer be a part of the family." One does not say to a little baby that because it does not earn its keep, the family will discard it. Jesus Christ entered a divided, highly stratified world, said Tutu. His world included slave and free, Romans and tax-collecting collaborators, male and female, Jew and Greek, young and old. He faced all the divisions of class and race and economic status that we face today. And he ignored all these divisions, said Tutu. "He called them all family," he said, "and with family, there are no outsiders."

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