God Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times

by Desmond Tutu

There is a church in Rome with a statue of a Christ without arms. When you ask why, you are told that it shows how God relies on us, His human partners, to do His work for Him.

The Bible is dynamite in such a situation. In South Africa when they banned books, we told the government the book they should have banned long ago was the Bible, for nothing could be more radical, more revolutionary, as we faced up to the awfulness of injustice, oppression, and racism.

We humans can tolerate suffering but we cannot tolerate meaninglessness.

If you were in heaven now you would notice the tears in God’s eyes. The tears streaming down God’s face as God looked on us and saw the awful things that we, God’s children, are doing to each other. God cries and cries. And then you might see the smile that was breaking over God’s face like sunshine through the rain, almost like a rainbow. You would see God smiling because God was looking on you and noting how deeply concerned you are. And the smile might break out into a laugh as God said, “You have vindicated Me. I had been asking Myself, ‘Whatever got into Me to create that lot?’ And when I see you, yes, you,” God says, “you are beginning to wipe the tears from My eyes because you care. Because you care and you have come to learn that you are not your brother’s or sister’s keeper. You are your brother’s brother and your sister’s sister.” And God says, “I have no one except you. Thank you for vindicating Me.”