Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share In or Out
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
In or Out
Mark 9:38-41 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
-----
Have you ever been working a jigsaw puzzle- the card table is up, puzzle pieces are in a pile on the table, the outside border is complete, a few sections within are coming together, the box cover which shows what the completed puzzle will look like sits on the table - and you pick up one puzzle piece, and it confuses you. The colors are wrong, the shape of it is off, it appears as if it just doesn’t belong to this puzzle? Maybe they stuck a piece from another puzzle in the box, some mixup of some kind? But low and behold, as the puzzle comes together, you find the piece’s spot, a place in the puzzle in which the piece fits perfectly.
The Apostle Paul uses an analogy to describe the beloved of God as a body in which all the parts of the body fit together to create harmony and community.
If I use the word, Ubuntu, would you know what I mean? Ubuntu, U.B.U.N.T.U., the Ues, all three of them, make the sound oo. Ubuntu. Say it with me.
It is a South African word. Actually, it is a concept. Perhaps more than a concept, ubuntu is a philosophy of life.
The word became known to me during the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of Apartheid.
The word means “community,” but not in the trite way that we often use it. Ubuntu is community at its best. It is community that fosters wholeness.
By definition, Ubuntu means a quality that embraces essential human virtues like compassion and kindness.
By description, Ubuntu is one-another-ness, interconnectedness, joined-in-the-common-good-ness, and a profound commitment to the well being of all.
I love the children’s book, Horton Hears a Who. It is a story about an elephant named Horton. Horton is a kind and benevolent elephant and he discovers a world of teeny tiny people, the whos, on a dandelion like wildflower.
Horton becomes the self proclaimed protector of the whos.
The whos find themselves in a pickle as some awnry jungle animals are about to drop the flower, with them on it, in some boiling beetle-nut oil because Horton seems so concerned about it and because they don’t believe Horton’s claim about the teeny tiny people.
Horton knows the only way to save the flower and the whos is to get them to be loud enough so that the jungle animals can hear them.
Horton encourages the entirety of Whoville to work together to make the necessary noise, they shout, they sing, they drum on drums, they blow horns, but they are not heard. The mayor of Whoville is frenetic in the search for more noise.
Picking up the book,
“Through the town rushed the Mayor,
from the east to the west.
But everyone seem to be doing their best.
Everyone seemed to be yapping or yipping! Everyone seemed to be beeping and bipping!
But it wasn’t enough, all this ruckus and roar!
He had to find someone to help them make more.
He raced through each building!
He searched floor to floor.
And just as he felt he was getting nowhere
and almost about to give up in despair,
He suddenly burst through the door and the mayor
Discovered one shirker! Quite hidden away
In the Fairfax apartments (apartment 12 J)
A very small, very small shirker named Jo Jo
was standing, just standing bouncing a yo-yo
Not making a sound not a Yip not a chirp
And the mayor rushed inside and grabbed the young twerp.
As he climbed with the lad to the Eiffelberg tower.
This, cried the mayor, is your towns Darkest Hour
and the time for all who’s who have blood that is red
to come to the aid of their country he said.
We’ve got to make noises
in greater amounts!
So open your mouth lad!
For every voice counts!
He spoke as he climbed.
When they got to the top,
the boy cleared his throat
and shouted out yopp
And that yopp. . .
That one small extra yopp put it over
finally, at last
from the speck in the clover,
their voices were heard!
They rang out clear and clean
and the elephant smiled,
“do you see what I mean,
they prove they are persons
no matter how small
and their whole world was saved
by the smallest of all!.
The whos, all in, working together, striving together, being whole and being in it for each other, save the day. They were practicing ubuntu.
Ubuntu, as a concept correlates nicely with a phrase that Dr. King used so prophetically- the beloved community.
The Beloved Community is society based on justice, equal opportunity, and love of one's fellow human being. ... The Beloved Community describes a society in which all are embraced and none discriminated against.
In Ubuntu, in the beloved community there is no “us vs. them,” only us with us together. There is no room for misogyny, or racism, or homophobia, or religious hatred, or the exceptionalism based on my brand, my tribe, or my people.
The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC, welcomes people of every race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical and mental ability, national origin, economic station, and political ideology to full participation in the life of our community;
Ubuntu embraces community, togetherness, and the village that it takes.
Ubuntu is a quality that understands that we owe each other acceptance, mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Desmond Tutu’s description of Ubuntu is profound, “A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs to a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished.”
Unfortunately, built into us is a weakness that tempts us to become captive to selfishness, to fear, and to the desire to put ourselves above others by putting others down.
And unfortunately, being a follower of Jesus does not preclude us from that weakness.
We see it across the spectrum of Christian history, as the church and its leaders, at their worst, have engaged in anti-semitism, warmongering, violence against other religious groups, the enslavement of people, and a million of crimes against God and humanity.
Even the earliest followers of Jesus, even his best friends and closest associates, struggled with the grand and glorious concepts of Ubuntu.
Today’s scripture lesson from the Message translation:
John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.” Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.
Mark 9:38-39
As Jesus’ ministry continues to spread, people who weren’t his people start doing ministry, healings and exorcisms in his name.
Some of his followers are upset by this. Who do they think they are! Using Jesus’ name to do good. that should be reserved for us.
There is immediately a backlash against these do gooders because they aren’t our do gooders. The disciples tell the to stop. Their answer to the question, “are they in or out?” is that they are out because they aren’t a part of our group.
The disciples fall into the us-against-them trap and Jesus isn’t having it.
Jesus says in essence, “No, no, no. Don’t write them off because they aren’t like us. Don’t dismiss them because they pray differently than us. Don’t reject them because they wear different religious garb than we do. Celebrate that what they do makes a difference in people’s lives. Embrace their goodness. Accept, don’t reject. A cup of water is simple and easy but rejoice in the one who gives a simple cup of water because they give that water to me.”
What an amazing lesson in Ubuntu!
Go and do likewise.
Amen.
View all episodes
By Pastor Steve MechemMark 9:38-41 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
-----
Have you ever been working a jigsaw puzzle- the card table is up, puzzle pieces are in a pile on the table, the outside border is complete, a few sections within are coming together, the box cover which shows what the completed puzzle will look like sits on the table - and you pick up one puzzle piece, and it confuses you. The colors are wrong, the shape of it is off, it appears as if it just doesn’t belong to this puzzle? Maybe they stuck a piece from another puzzle in the box, some mixup of some kind? But low and behold, as the puzzle comes together, you find the piece’s spot, a place in the puzzle in which the piece fits perfectly.
The Apostle Paul uses an analogy to describe the beloved of God as a body in which all the parts of the body fit together to create harmony and community.
If I use the word, Ubuntu, would you know what I mean? Ubuntu, U.B.U.N.T.U., the Ues, all three of them, make the sound oo. Ubuntu. Say it with me.
It is a South African word. Actually, it is a concept. Perhaps more than a concept, ubuntu is a philosophy of life.
The word became known to me during the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of Apartheid.
The word means “community,” but not in the trite way that we often use it. Ubuntu is community at its best. It is community that fosters wholeness.
By definition, Ubuntu means a quality that embraces essential human virtues like compassion and kindness.
By description, Ubuntu is one-another-ness, interconnectedness, joined-in-the-common-good-ness, and a profound commitment to the well being of all.
I love the children’s book, Horton Hears a Who. It is a story about an elephant named Horton. Horton is a kind and benevolent elephant and he discovers a world of teeny tiny people, the whos, on a dandelion like wildflower.
Horton becomes the self proclaimed protector of the whos.
The whos find themselves in a pickle as some awnry jungle animals are about to drop the flower, with them on it, in some boiling beetle-nut oil because Horton seems so concerned about it and because they don’t believe Horton’s claim about the teeny tiny people.
Horton knows the only way to save the flower and the whos is to get them to be loud enough so that the jungle animals can hear them.
Horton encourages the entirety of Whoville to work together to make the necessary noise, they shout, they sing, they drum on drums, they blow horns, but they are not heard. The mayor of Whoville is frenetic in the search for more noise.
Picking up the book,
“Through the town rushed the Mayor,
from the east to the west.
But everyone seem to be doing their best.
Everyone seemed to be yapping or yipping! Everyone seemed to be beeping and bipping!
But it wasn’t enough, all this ruckus and roar!
He had to find someone to help them make more.
He raced through each building!
He searched floor to floor.
And just as he felt he was getting nowhere
and almost about to give up in despair,
He suddenly burst through the door and the mayor
Discovered one shirker! Quite hidden away
In the Fairfax apartments (apartment 12 J)
A very small, very small shirker named Jo Jo
was standing, just standing bouncing a yo-yo
Not making a sound not a Yip not a chirp
And the mayor rushed inside and grabbed the young twerp.
As he climbed with the lad to the Eiffelberg tower.
This, cried the mayor, is your towns Darkest Hour
and the time for all who’s who have blood that is red
to come to the aid of their country he said.
We’ve got to make noises
in greater amounts!
So open your mouth lad!
For every voice counts!
He spoke as he climbed.
When they got to the top,
the boy cleared his throat
and shouted out yopp
And that yopp. . .
That one small extra yopp put it over
finally, at last
from the speck in the clover,
their voices were heard!
They rang out clear and clean
and the elephant smiled,
“do you see what I mean,
they prove they are persons
no matter how small
and their whole world was saved
by the smallest of all!.
The whos, all in, working together, striving together, being whole and being in it for each other, save the day. They were practicing ubuntu.
Ubuntu, as a concept correlates nicely with a phrase that Dr. King used so prophetically- the beloved community.
The Beloved Community is society based on justice, equal opportunity, and love of one's fellow human being. ... The Beloved Community describes a society in which all are embraced and none discriminated against.
In Ubuntu, in the beloved community there is no “us vs. them,” only us with us together. There is no room for misogyny, or racism, or homophobia, or religious hatred, or the exceptionalism based on my brand, my tribe, or my people.
The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC, welcomes people of every race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical and mental ability, national origin, economic station, and political ideology to full participation in the life of our community;
Ubuntu embraces community, togetherness, and the village that it takes.
Ubuntu is a quality that understands that we owe each other acceptance, mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Desmond Tutu’s description of Ubuntu is profound, “A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs to a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished.”
Unfortunately, built into us is a weakness that tempts us to become captive to selfishness, to fear, and to the desire to put ourselves above others by putting others down.
And unfortunately, being a follower of Jesus does not preclude us from that weakness.
We see it across the spectrum of Christian history, as the church and its leaders, at their worst, have engaged in anti-semitism, warmongering, violence against other religious groups, the enslavement of people, and a million of crimes against God and humanity.
Even the earliest followers of Jesus, even his best friends and closest associates, struggled with the grand and glorious concepts of Ubuntu.
Today’s scripture lesson from the Message translation:
John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.” Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.
Mark 9:38-39
As Jesus’ ministry continues to spread, people who weren’t his people start doing ministry, healings and exorcisms in his name.
Some of his followers are upset by this. Who do they think they are! Using Jesus’ name to do good. that should be reserved for us.
There is immediately a backlash against these do gooders because they aren’t our do gooders. The disciples tell the to stop. Their answer to the question, “are they in or out?” is that they are out because they aren’t a part of our group.
The disciples fall into the us-against-them trap and Jesus isn’t having it.
Jesus says in essence, “No, no, no. Don’t write them off because they aren’t like us. Don’t dismiss them because they pray differently than us. Don’t reject them because they wear different religious garb than we do. Celebrate that what they do makes a difference in people’s lives. Embrace their goodness. Accept, don’t reject. A cup of water is simple and easy but rejoice in the one who gives a simple cup of water because they give that water to me.”
What an amazing lesson in Ubuntu!
Go and do likewise.
Amen.