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Tutu Celebrates Peace Cross Centenary at Washington National Cathedral

Episcopal News Service. November 19, 1998 [98-2259]

Amy Babcock

(ENS) The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu joined worshipers at Washington National Cathedral to observe the 100th anniversary of the Peace Cross, unveiled in 1898 on the leafy crest of Mt. Saint Alban, where the cathedral was later built. The centenary service inaugurated the cathedral's celebration of the new millennium, Jubilee 2000: Proclaiming God's Reconciling Love for a New Era.

Worshipers at the service also commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "The crucified Jesus Christ," proclaimed Archbishop Tutu, "stands for all the victims of the miscarriages of justice in show trials, all those whose rights have been violated, rights that are inalienable." The retired archbishop of Cape Town chairs South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has aired the stories of a society maimed by apartheid as a step toward national healing.

"Desmond Tutu has devoted much of his life to the struggle against apartheid, and toward reconciliation," Cathedral Dean Nathan D. Baxter later commented. "As we begin our Jubilee 2000 observances, we are grateful to add his voice to countless others who have prayed for God's world at the Peace Cross." Raised over Washington in hopes of peace near the end of the Spanish-American War, the cross was also dedicated to the Cathedral founders' resolution to build a great church for national purposes.

Standing before the sunlit Celtic cross, Archbishop Tutu declared the message of the conquering Christ, "that life is stronger than death, that peace is stronger than strife, that freedom is stronger than bondage and oppression, that right is stronger than wrong." Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

The service began with prayers inside the nave, and then acolytes and the Cathedral Choir of Boys led the gathering outside into a golden autumn afternoon. Amid the notes of a carillon processional from the Gloria in Excelsis Tower, worshipers traversed the Close and surrounded the Peace Cross. The inscription on its limestone face reads, "That it may please Thee to give all Nations Liberty Peace and Concord We beseech Thee to hear us Good Lord." As Cathedral clergy read Scripture passages used at the unveiling of the Peace Cross on October 23, 1898, faces in the congregation appeared to reflect a peace that was not only possible but also present.

Convergence of events

Tutu's remarks included thanks for a different ceremony of reconciliation taking place simultaneously a few miles away, at the White House: the signature of the newest Middle East accord. Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia, who stood among the worshipers, was struck by this convergence of events. "I could see the Washington Monument and the sun shining on the Peace Cross. Just as we were praying, the Palestinian-Israeli peace accord was signed at this hour," said Lee. "The prayers of the people across the world have been undergirding that process and every process of peace."

Tutu later addressed a cathedral gathering of 1,800 on the topic of "Reconciliation: Hope for a Troubled World." He recounted testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which offered individual amnesty in exchange for confessions of guilt and truthful declarations about the crimes of the apartheid era. The commission seeks to bring South Africa restorative justice, with objectives not of retribution but of rehabilitation and restored harmony.

Not an easy option

Although some have called the commission's goals an inadequate response to decades of atrocities, the archbishop said, "Reconciliation is not an easy option. It cost God the death of his son." He recalled a young man blinded during police action, who told the commission his story and then said, "Thank you. You have given me back my eyes."

"God depends on us. Is it not staggering that this should be so?" asked the archbishop, underscoring the importance God attaches to his partnership with humans. The Nobel laureate related a hypothetical conversation between the risen Christ and a little angel who was nonplussed that the disciples were left in charge of Jesus' mission. When the angel asked, "What if they fail?" Jesus replied, "Well, if they fail, then I have failed."

Turning to problems in the United States, Archbishop Tutu acknowledged his distress at violence against homosexuals and supporters of abortion rights, and challenged public zeal for capital punishment. As alternatives to brutality, he recommended tolerance and gentleness, and giving downtrodden people "the opportunity to tell you about the pain in the pit of their tummy."

The address was cosponsored with Virginia Theological Seminary as part of its Mollegen Forum, the first held in the Cathedral. "By prayerfully living out God's reconciling power," dean Baxter later reflected, "we can shape the course of human history. God calls us to do no less."