An Ethically Empowered Generation: In search of a Christ-like generation
An address to the Zimbabwe Anglican Youth Association (ZAYA) members attending a National Anglican Youth Conference at Hartzell High School, Mutare 4 – 7 August 2011 under the theme: “Empowering the Chosen Generation Luke 10: 19.”
Dr. Masiiwa Ragies Gunda (Former AYAH Secretary-General 1998-2000, Former Lecturer (University of Zimbabwe) Old Testament Studies and Classical/Biblical Hebrew), Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, University of Bamberg, Germany, Co-Editor, Bible in Africa Studies (BiAS).
Introduction
Three things from your theme made me realize how big a challenge it would be talking to you today. The three words empowerment, chosen and generation are words that we hear so often in our society. In fact, our society has too many chosen groups, which unfortunately do not agree on anything from political rivalry that is pitched between the existence of two “chosen leaders” for the same society to industrial corporations which have taken the Bible as a marketing tool presenting their services as “the chosen and empowering service”. This has not spared the “followers of Jesus Christ”, there are too many chosen groups claiming to be “the chosen Generation”. Despite their numbers, these groups have failed in justifying they are indeed chosen! That is why you also want to be that chosen generation! I must commend your courage for coming up with this theme, yet we must also realize that coming up with a theme is one thing, what we do with that theme is totally something different. We can treat this theme within the common framework of its use by all these groups and therefore aspire to be like them Paulo Freire “to be is to be like the oppressor” or we can treat this theme outside the common framework and question the problems with contemporary claimants to chosenness so that we can appreciate what we are discussing here. I hope through this discussion we can continue to grapple with the second dimension, what are we doing with this theme? I shall briefly touch on the concepts that make up your theme in a way that can expand our transaction with this theme. I will also propose an alternative theme to this conference by adding one words and re-arranging the wording of the theme.
Empowerment
1. Activity: what is your understanding of being empowered since you came to this conference?
The aspiration of your theme is to achieve empowerment, a state of being which allows an individual, a nation and a people to have access and rights to conditions which are just and fair. Empowerment in its broadest sense therefore can be applied to refer to the totality of human life. This I believe lies at the heart of God’s design for human beings and other created colleagues like the environment. However, we live in a world that excels in compartmentalizing human life into political, economic, religious, professional categories, which are largely seen as mutually exclusive. In this context, the temptation is to look at empowerment from the perspective of one of these categories and the majority of us measure empowerment materially. Let me quickly say what I am not saying here, I am not saying material possessions are inherently bad or evil. So I think unless the material dimension of human life is addressed there is no empowerment to talk of. The effect of this compartmentalization is clear by a look at a few prominent Zimbabweans. Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, Simba Makoni, Strive Masiyiwa, Nigel Chanakira, Philip Chiyangwa, Emmanuel Makandiwa, Ezekiel Guti, Johane Masowe. From this list, it is apparent that the first three are “politically empowered” individuals, while their influence pervades the whole society, it is clear their mandate is political. The middle three are Zimbabweans who are “economically empowered”, and similarly while their influence pervades our society, their mandate is economic. Finally, the last three are “religiously empowered” personalities, who even though their influence cuts across all sectors of our society, their mandate is religious. The critical idea behind compartmentalizing life is that these groups of empowered individuals set boundaries for each other to mark their independent territories hence we hear sometimes that “religious leaders must stick to the pulpit and leave politics to the politicians” or that “army generals must leave their military uniforms and enter the political sphere.” It is widely believed by proponents of this compartmentalization that different rules apply in different compartments.
This brings me to the question for us to reflect on: what kind of empowerment are we looking for? The manifestation of empowerment in Zimbabwe today clearly shows that compartmentalized empowerment is destructive to social harmony, the mark of a godly community. It is in this framework that some will limit the text of Luke to “power to perform miracles” thereby removing the clear social connotations of the same text. If we however stand outside the common framework, we could ask for instance, what legitimizes empowerment? This question will allow us to start discussing the rules and regulations that govern empowerment. For politicians it has been elections, for industrialists it’s the economic laws of the land, for Christian leaders it’s been “miracle working and faith in Jesus”. If all these are bases for empowerment in Zimbabwe, why is nothing going right? I think we should consider empowerment that does not fall into the trap of failing in its single most critical function that is, establishing peace and harmony. Let me argue here that the problem with contemporary manifestation of empowerment is that it is exclusively targeted at privileges only. Is this what we are here for? I think not, so how shall we proceed? How can we develop an understanding of empowerment that does not only focus on privileges?
The Chosen Generation
Activity: What is your understanding of being chosen?
The history of Zimbabwe is full of groups that have implicitly and explicitly claimed to be chosen, from Ian Smith and his mission to “civilize blacks” to various nationalist movements, with ZANU finally succeeding in 1980 to assert its chosen status. The rise of the MDC created a new group claiming to be the new chosen ones and our society has seen the extremes of the conception of chosenness. Religiously, we are aware that western missionaries were the earliest claimants to chosenness in our communities, then came the wave of chosen black Zimbabweans, Masowe, Marange, Mutendi, Guti, Wutawunashe, Makandiwa. We are also fully aware of the disdain with which we are looked upon by these claimants to the chosen tag. Open battles have been witnessed between factions among the followers of Marange, Masowe, Mutendi and Mai Chaza because both groups claim to be the chosen ones. Some words and concepts mean much more than we often suspect, and the concept of chosenness, election, being set apart is a concept that requires greater scrutiny from us as we seek to get closer to God. I am fully aware that the Bible, especially the Old Testament is awash with references to Israel as the chosen people of God. This theme is expertly presented in the Old Testament beginning with Abraham being set apart from his people (Gen. 12:1ff), it is expanded to include the children of Israel who were slaves in Egypt (Exo. 3:1ff). Throughout her Israel sees herself as the chosen one. I am not going to repeat what we all know about being chosen, I want instead to question the downstream effects of being chosen.
If we go back into the Old Testament, we do not only learn about the beauty of being chosen (the wealth of Abraham Genesis 13:2 “Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold” or the splendour of Solomon” but we also see the downstream effects of being chosen, the positives we know the negatives we ignore! Why is Saul rejected by God?
1 Samuel 15:10-20 10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands." Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the LORD all night. 12 Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, "Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself, and on returning he passed on down to Gilgal." 13 When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by the LORD; I have carried out the command of the LORD." 14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?" 15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed." 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." He replied, "Speak." 17 Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" 20 Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
If some are chosen, it means others are not! How shall we relate with those we consider not chosen? The text above clearly shows one of the excesses of being chosen, in that those not chosen can be exterminated. The concept of being chosen can easily be exploited and many societies throughout the world have suffered from the manifestations of this concept. Being chosen is widely seen as being entitled, how many times has violence erupted in different communities because one group claimed to be the chosen ones and actively sought to exterminate those considered not chosen. Is this our understanding of being chosen? A fundamentally different understanding of being chosen is expressly articulated by the prophet Amos, who sees a direct connection between being chosen and responsibility.
Amos 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
In this text, there is no doubt that the prophet acknowledges the fact that Israel was a chosen people, he differed from his contemporaries on what being chosen implied. While for the Israelites being chosen meant privileges through and through, Amos understood being chosen to mean privileges and duties and that it was impossible to have privileges without the accompanying duties. Duties that are towards other created beings and God are central to the understanding of being chosen.
The challenge is for us to reflect on the meaning of being chosen in our context. Are we chosen in the sense that we have no obligation towards other created beings unless they join us or are we chosen in the sense that we are the salt and light of our society? In this case, we become agents of transformation in our communities much as salt transforms what we cook to taste good and light transforms the darkness of night into the brightness of day. What are God’s expectations of the chosen generation?
An Ethically Empowered Generation is the Chosen Generation
Having taken time to highlight some of the negatives that we normally do not look at in gatherings like ours, I want to propose here that instead of us wishing for some extraordinary occurrence to inform us which generation is the chosen generation, why can’t we say an ethically empowered generation is the chosen generation. Etymologically, ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which refers to the characteristic values, beliefs and practices of a social group. I want to challenge all of us to start working towards establishing an ethos that will make us the chosen generation. I make this proposition on the basis of the following premises:
- In thinking this way, our clear focus is not on being the chosen generation, rather the focus is for us to be ethically empowered. By this it is meant that our empowerment must be regulated by a set of ethical principles.
- A generation that can bring back the justice and fairness of God in the dealings and transactions between and among human beings, will essentially be the chosen generation.
- Zimbabwe demands above all other social reforms, an ethically empowered generation that can bring social harmony and peace in a way that pleases God.
- Chosenness in this case is not a means to an end, as is largely the case where chosenness is the basis upon which coercion is sustained; rather chosenness should be understood as an end. An end that is arrived at through ethically sound conduct. Amos 9:7 “Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel? says the LORD. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?”
- Through this understanding it is also apparent that many who claim to be chosen in whatever sphere of life are actually impostors. Unless we start addressing the ethical demands of being Christ-like, we also may never be the chosen generation.
In making this proposal, I am tempted to think that an ethically empowered generation is a generation:
· that cannot be conquered by anything as read in your theme text (Lk.10:19)
· that transforms what comes into contact with it as read in Matthew 5:13-16 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” This generation will mingle with the world in order to transform it.
· That understands God’s ultimate expectation as being justice and harmony in the world. In this context, justice is both legal and moral, for this generation, it is not enough to ask if something is legal, we still have to ask if it is fair Amos 2:6-7 “Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals-- 7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; Amos 3:10 They do not know how to do right, says the LORD, those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”
· As Zimbabwe Anglican Youths, we must answer to the call to save our church, nation, and the Lord, because the challenges (both natural and man-made) that we face demand not another chosen generation to be empowered, rather, it demands that one generation become ethically empowered to drive the church and society forward.
· 1 Corinthians 10:24 “Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other.” Thank you!
