Romans 12:5 “So in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others.”
An anthropologist proposed a game to a group of children in rural Botswana. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree, and then got them to line up. When he gave the signal, they could all run and see who got to the basket first. The fastest would win all the sweet fruits. When he told them to run, he was shocked by what happened: they all took each other’s hands and ran together. They then sat down together sharing and enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself, they said in unison: “Ubuntu! How can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?”
‘Ubuntu’ is a word used throughout Southern Africa in slightly different ways, but the most accepted understanding of the term is ‘I am because we are’. It’s not a biblical term but it is a biblical value. In Western culture we tend to think as individuals first before we consider our group identity, but in this regard we’re in danger of deviating from God’s blueprint for humanity. The culture of Heaven is a collective one – all of us equal in the eyes of our Father. Heaven’s culture says ‘we’ not ‘me’. Interestingly, a large internet service provider, Microsoft, named their free information service ‘Ubuntu’!
As a younger sportsman I won trophies in both individual and team sports. You might think that there’d be more joy in the individual triumphs because all the glory and attention is focused on you; in fact shared team triumphs were always more enjoyable. ‘We’ triumphs over ‘me’. Meaning, purpose, fulfillment and joy are ultimately found in community rather than individualism.
Take a reality check on your own life. Is it too much about me? How can it become more we?
Lord, help ‘me’ join up with others so that ‘we’ can do life together beautifully. Amen!
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