November 9, 1999

To NCC 50th Anniversary Event
Message for NCC of USA Anniversary Celebrations
Very dear friends,

What auspicious celebrations as you give thanks to God for God’s abundant blessings on your splendid ministry and witness down the years. Heartiest congratulations on reaching such a noteworthy milestone.

I am so heartbroken that I cannot be present with you in the flesh. A German professor told the story of an eminent colleague welcoming a distinguished visitor from overseas and saying: "We are so glad to see you in the meat." Well, I would have liked to be with you in the mea… in the flesh, but I have been unavoidably detained in Atlanta and would be grateful for your prayers at this time as I undergo surgery to freeze the prostate. There is actually life after prostate cancer. I have been overwhelmed by an outpouring of love, prayers, and concern, almost making it worthwhile to have had a recurrence of the cancer.

I first encountered the NCC in 1972, when I was working for the WCC in the Theological Education Fund (TEF) and came to New York for the first time to attend a black theology conference, which was to have a very significant impact on my own life and ministry. I was impressed by how cosmopolitan, how truly catholic, ecumenical and worldwide the involvement of your Council seemed to be. You had no narrow, chauvinistic, inward-looking concerns at all. One of your senior employees later represented this outward-looking concern for your sisters and brothers elsewhere, he incarnated it by being seconded to the AACC in Nairobi.

But I was to experience the fervour of your love and caring most wonderfully in the exhilarating and daunting days of the anti-apartheid struggle when I was General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. You were quite exceptional. You were steadfast – unflinching and incredibly generous in your money and other help. Through your unstinting support we were enabled to carry out a ministry which established the SACC as a premier opponent of apartheid and a purveyor of hope and ultimate vindication amidst the thick darkness and gloom. It even enabled certain people today to be Nobel Peace laureates! We could provide legal defence for those who were accused in political trials and support the families of banned people, of detainees and of political prisoners. Many South Africans have an education today because you enabled us to give them scholarships.

You were with us when we called for the release of Nelson Mandela and for sanctions against the apartheid regime. And you prayed for us. I have told this story before, but it bears repetition. I met an Anglican nun in New York in the bad old days of apartheid’s viciousness and asked her to tell me a bit about herself. She said: "I live in the woods in California. My day starts at 2 a.m. and I pray for you." I said: "Hey, here I am, prayed for by name in the woods in California at 2 in the morning—what chance does the South African apartheid government stand?"

Today we are free. We are democratic. We are non-racial, and non-sexist. Nelson Mandela has become the icon of magnanimity, of forgiveness and reconciliation—a colossus bestriding the world. We won a huge, spectacular victory over evil and injustice. Our victory could not have happened without your love, your prayers, and your support. Our victory is your victory. Thank you, thank you, thank you, on behalf of millions and millions of South Africans.

The world has seen a miracle in South Africa in the relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy and in the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission—forgiveness and reconciliation instead of the feared retribution and vengeance. You prayed for us so intensely for so long. If a miracle had to happen anywhere, South Africa was the most likely candidate.

Yours has not been a one-issue, single-dimensional ministry consumed by one obsession. No, it has been a many-splendoured thing, as broad as the Gospel you seek to proclaim. You have been involved in Bible translation, in the civil rights movement. You have raised funds for churches that were targets of arson, you have protested against injustice and oppression everywhere, caring about the environment and women’s rights and those of gays and lesbians. You have agitated for the cancellation of international debt burden borne by poor countries and demonstrated for peace and brought succour and help to the needy, it is a magnificent work yours has been and continues to be.

As you celebrate, celebrate what you helped God achieve in South Africa. Thank you. God is proud of you—God says: "Aren’t they neat, aren’t they something—real cool, man!"

Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town

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