The Tutu Travel Seminar

 

The Tutu Travel Seminar exposed me to the complexity, courage, and compassion of the late Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu and touched my heart in countless and important ways. The trip, which took me over 17,000 miles in eight short days, was without doubt one of the most important spiritual encounters that I have ever experienced. In speaking to those who served him as chaplains and staff, and in being witness to the incredibly dedicated work of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and their powerful Truth to Power exhibition I do not believe that I would ever have fully understood the depth of the "Arch's" commitment to a most courageous leadership in the struggle against apartheid and leadership of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC).  


Tutu’s commitment to the theology of ubuntu, and his insistence that God loves all and that it is only God to whom we are accountable flowed from his disciplined prayer life. A prayer life that led him to a relationship with God that permeated his mind, his body, and his soul, and that generated a discipleship through which he led the people of South Africa in their opposition to apartheid with incredible courage and compassion. He saw apartheid, oppression, and injustice as blasphemous and evil because they made God's children doubt that they are God's children. He viewed racism as spiritually sinful.


The success of Tutu's leadership of the TRC was made possible only through his consistent insistence on providing a pastoral approach to the work of truth telling and healing. His entire being spoke of a non-judgmental love and a desire to bring the other into relationship with God through the unburdening process of repentance, storytelling, amnesty, and forgiveness. He suffered along with those who had known the pain of torture and death and the guilt of those who had inflicted it.



 

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