ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 13, 2025
On this day in 1989, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Allan Boesak led the single largest anti-Apartheid march in South African history. It would be known as the Cape Town Peace March, and it would be considered a turning point in the movement to end the racist and unjust policies of Apartheid. There are moments when everything shifts. When the Berlin Wall came down, everything didn’t change the next morning, but it became clear there was no turning back. The Iron Curtain was falling. In the Spring of 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led what would be known as the Salt March, a 240-mile walk to the sea to make salt. For you see, the British Colonial Government had a monopoly on salt, and no Indian was allowed to make or sell salt. The March was an act of defiance, and Gandhi chose salt as it was so basic and essential for every person. Thousands were arrested, and though change did not come quickly, the Salt March is considered the beginning of the Indian Independence Movement. In a world where violence and the Myth of Redemptive Violence are believed to be the only real means of bringing change, I would like to suggest otherwise. The violence of Jesus’ death is not what made it redemptive. The act of nonviolent and self-giving love is what changed everything; an entry point into a whole new way of existing.
We look to you, Spirit of Redemption, for a different way forward. May the voices and actions of those who seek peace remain faithful to the way of peace in all things. Peace will never be found through anything other than peace, mercy, kindness, and love. Amen.
