Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming, oh yes I know
Oh freedom (freedom is coming)
Oh freedom (freedom is coming)
Oh freedom (freedom is coming), oh yes I know
Oh yes I know (oh yes I know)
Oh yes I know (oh yes I know)
Oh yes I know (oh yes I know)
Jesus is coming...
Oh yes I know...
Oh freedom...
Oh yes I know...
From the Gospel Choir's site:
From Religion Online:
A South African theologian said shortly before the first universal and free elections in South Africa's history in 1994 about the importance of singing during the struggle for liberation: "South Africans area singing people. During apartheid we did not simply sing because we were happy' we also sang when we cried. We sang in order not to be broken. We sang to survive."
Yesterday, I heard a story about Desmond Tutu. He had been arrested the week before. He was celebrating Mass at his cathedral. White South African soldiers filed into the building. They were armed, and they outnumbered the congregants.
Do you also wish to go away? Jim Wallis writes that when the South African government canceled a political rally against apartheid, Desmond Tutu led a worship service in St. George’s Cathedral. The walls were lined with soldiers and riot police carrying guns and bayonets, ready to close it down. Bishop Tutu began to speak of the evils of the apartheid system -- how the rulers and authorities that propped it up were doomed to fall. He pointed a finger at the police who were there to record his words: "You maybe powerful -- very powerful -- but you are not God. God cannot be mocked. You have already lost."
Then, in a moment of unbearable tension, the bishop seemed to soften. Coming out from behind the pulpit, he flashed that radiant Tutu smile and began to bounce up and down with glee. "Therefore, since you have already lost, we are inviting you to join the winning side."
The crowd roared, the police melted away and the people began to dance. Don’t go away, Paul says. Put on your armor and dance. I am inviting you to join the winning side.
Our seminarian-in-training reminded us that it's almost certain that arrests were made later. If not against Desmond, then against others. And that's part of the point.
The point is that Jesus gives us the grace to resist without violence. Remember how the South African story ends: the oppressors are invited to govern alongside the oppressed. FW De Klerk, the last White President, and one of those who engineered the transition to majority rule, then served as Deputy President under Nelson Mandela.
It's not always going to end happily. Jesus' journey into Jerusalem started with a triumphant ride on a donkey, the roads lined with palms, his supporters cheering him.
The story seems to end with Jesus being crucified. Partly he was seen as a threat to the existing order, probably both by the Roman Empire and the Pharisees.
However, we also believe that's not the true end of the story.
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