Summary
"God has a dream" is a personal and liberating message of hope and light in dark times. In it, Desmond Tutu shows how important it is that even as we face the harsh realities of our individual lives and global conditions, we remember the importance of hope and dreams.

A selection of interconnected sermons, pretty easy to read, which would be a good choice for someone who wanted to read about radical Christianity. Tutu has a very clever, and deceptively simple way of interpreting the bible.
For example, (and this is the part of the book that sticks with me), he describes how man was created in God's image, with the ability to choose between good and evil. He goes on to explain that "It is this fact that we were created to be free that is the reason that all oppression must ultimately fail. Our freedom does not come from any human being--our freedom comes from God. " ( )

God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time by Desmond Tutu. Age: adult. Library section: 7 C: The Church in the World: Society/Human Rights/Justice. As librarian of Faith Lutheran in Ormond Beach, I loved this book – so much that I just had to swap for it so you at Epiphany could enjoy it too. Anglican Archbisop Tutu, the first black South African archbishop, has a vision of love and hope, developed during his leadership in the fight to end apartheid in South Africa.
Each chapter in this book begins, “Dear Child of God.” Not only does this express Tutu’s love for us, his readers, but it serves as a compass arrow, if you will, about where we come from and to whom we are responsible. Tutu first tells us that God believes in us. He also says that God’s universe is a moral one, and nothing and nobody is beyond redemption or God’s transformation – God’s transfiguration. Second, he defines God’s dream for the world: where violence, ugliness, hunger, hatred, poverty and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts: laughter, joy, peace, justice, goodness, compassion, love, caring and sharing.
Next, Tutu says that God loves us as we are. We are all equally loved children of God, no matter our race, nationality, creed, gender, sexual orientation. To God, our prejudices are utterly ridiculous. We are each created by God, like God, and for God. Lest we become too full of ourselves, Tutu says that God also loves our enemies because they are God’s children too. How do we become reconciled with our enemies? Here Tutu draws on his experiences as chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission instituted by Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first post-apartheid president. These black South African leaders, downtrodden, marginalized and imprisoned for so long, realized that true reconciliation is based on forgiveness; true forgiveness is based on confession; and true confession is based on penitence, contrition and sorrow for the sins that have been committed. Only when white Afrikaners came forward to tell the truth about the sins they’d committed under apartheid, in a tone of contrition and sorrow, was true forgiveness and reconciliation possible. Had this truth and reconciliation process not taken place, forgiveness wouldn’t have been possible.
God has only us, Tutu says. He cannot bring about the transfiguration of the world without our help. We are God’s hands. However, in order to right the wrongs of the world, we must first learn to see and acknowledge suffering with our hearts. Then, miraculously, suffering ennobles the sufferer, who finds meaning in his suffering. (There is nothing worse than believing your own suffering is meaningless.) Meaningful suffering transforms the sufferer into a noble individual of great moral power. Tutu says that when Nelson Mandela was first imprisoned he was belligerent and angry about the injustices of apartheid. Spending 27 years in prison, breaking rocks into smaller rocks, a totally meaningless task that, incidently, also left Mandela’s eyesight permanently damaged, mellowed Mandela and taught him patience. It burnt away the impurities and allowed Mandela to fulfill God’s plan to end apartheid and lead South Africa toward justice, equal rights, truth and reconciliation. Wow. Gandhi and Elie Wiesel also come to mind as those whose suffering transformed them into moral leaders of great power. These are the people we emulate, the people we’d want to be most like if we could.
So how do we figure out what God has in mind for us to do to heal the world? Tutu suggests first becoming still – a discipline that gives us the opportunity to adore and contemplate the Lord. We should read our scriptures and pray for divine guidance. One thing we do know, Tutu says: when God calls us to be his hands of change in the world it is going to propel us closer to those who suffer. So if you see more suffering than usual, you are probably in the right place to act as God’s hands and heart.
We know that the world will not become perfect during our lifetimes. However, we can
help God’s cause along. Our efforts for justice, equal rights and compassion are never in vain. If we help even one person, we are part of God’s dream to transform the world. That’s good news!
This book is by no means dry or heavy reading. You can read it in an evening – two at the most. Yet it is so rich, so passionate, so filled with hope. In the rear of the book is a series of quotations from each chapter, followed by lots of study questions. This book would be perfect for bible study. Perhaps YOU would like to lead it. We have so much to learn from this man. Let’s take advantage of it soon!
Tutu has won many awards including the Nobel Peace Prize (1984), the Gandhi Peace Prize (2005), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009). ( )