Reflections on the Death of Nelson Mandela

From the Rev. Jessica Crist, Bishop of the Montana Synod of the ELCA:

 

Reflections on the Death of Nelson Mandela

 Nelson Mandela died yesterday at age 95. He had spent 27 years of his life as a political prisoner on Robben Island. After his release he was elected President of South Africa, the first black president of the post-Apartheid South Africa. It was an historic day in 1994 when black people were allowed to vote for the first time. I remember seeing photos of lines over a mile long of people waiting to vote for the first time in their lives.

White South Africa was not sure what would happen when there was majority rule. Many feared that there would be a terrible backlash, a kind of eye-for-an-eye system of revenge. But instead, Mandela invited black and white and mixed race into his government. And, with the assistance of Bishop Desmond Tutu, he channeled the emotions of a nation recovering from decades of violence into the Truth and Reconciliation Process. It was a bit like Confession and Forgiveness, with which we are so familiar. Truth and Reconciliation was designed to give people an opportunity to speak of the atrocities, speak of the losses, learn what happened in all its shocking detail, and then to move on.

And South Africa has moved on. Not that there are not problems. Official Apartheid is over, but economic apartheid is alive and well. But South Africa did not explode into the kind of violence and genocide that everybody expected, and that happens so frequently when there is a change of government, such as in Rwanda. South Africa did not become a bloodbath, and for that we can thank God for Nelson Mandela.

The Montana Synod has a companion synod relationship with the Cape Orange Diocese in South Africa. Over the years many people from our Synod have visited South Africa and met our partners there who went through the Apartheid years. We have heard the stories of oppression, of racism, of violence. And we have seen the role of the Church in South Africa. The last time a group from our Synod visited, it was the 20^th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from Robben Island prison. We were able to tour the prison, with a former prisoner as our guide. Everyone we met on that visit to South Africa had a story of how they had been affected personally by Apartheid and its aftermath. We were struck again and again with the resilience of the people, and with the prevalence of hope.

Many of you may recall that Bishop Bill Bowles and Mr. Joe Jongolo visited our Synod last summer from the Cape Orange Diocese. This morning I sent a letter of condolence to the Diocese on behalf of the Montana Synod. I expressed our sympathy at the death of Nelson Mandela.

In this season of Advent I am reminded of the vision from Isaiah, of what is often referred to as "The Peaceable Kingdom," from Isaiah 11: 16-18 (this Sunday's text.)

"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

In this piece of prophecy, the improbable becomes reality, the impossible becomes the norm. This passage from Isaiah was the basis for Quaker artist Edward Hicks' series of painting of "The Peaceable Kingdom." You may have seen them on Christmas cards-lovely depictions of predator and prey in perfect harmony. Some of the pictures that Hicks painted have some human beings in them in the background. If you look closely you can see William Penn with the Lenne Lenape Indians, negotiating a peace between the two cultures.

Nelson Mandela spent his life resisting injustice. And when the tables turned and he became President, he did not choose revenge. He did not seek retaliation. Instead he led a country full of wolves and lambs, of bears and cows, and showed them a better way. And the world is a better place because of it.

May he rest in peace. And may South Africa come together in his honor.

Bishop Jessica CristDecember 6, 2013