Sermon: He Tangata!He Tangata!

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

He Tangata! He Tangata!: 16th May 2010: am: The Very Revd Frank Nelson

• Bi-annual Organ Donor Service

He aha te mea nui? He tangata. He tangata. He tangata. What is the most important thing? It is people, it is people, it is people.

In my own country of birth the Zulu people say: umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu a person is a person through (other) persons

Or, as an American once said: Sonny, when there is more than one of you in your organisation, you are in the people business. You are not in the food business, a service industry, the widget business, the medical profession, or whatever other business you may think you are in - you are in the people business. You just remember that boy!

When I think of organ donors I know that we are in the people business – in a big way. Not quite, perhaps, in the way that the American quoted had in mind, but definitely in the way of the Maori and Zulu proverbs. We are only truly fully human when we are in touch with other people. And those who are involved in organ donation – whether as donor families, as recipients, or as one of the team who do the talking, the negotiation, the caring, the explaining – not to mention the actual surgery – know that only too well. Without this sense of mutual respect and responsibility for other people some of you would not be hear today – you would not be alive.

Equally, it is because of that sense of mutual respect and responsibility for other people that others of you are here – it was you who had to make the hard decision to say yes – yes, you may use the organs of my husband, mother, daughter, cousin. It was you who, through that yes, offered life to others.

In this Cathedral today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus Christ. That rather strange concept takes us back to the events of Easter weekend, beginning on Good Friday. Christian belief and faith is based on the willingness of one man to give his life for others. Six weeks ago we gathered here to remember and relive the events of Good Friday – the death of Jesus on the cross. Two days later, on Easter Day, we recalled the empty tomb and some wonderfully moving accounts of encounters by people with Jesus. One of the rather odd features of these accounts is that almost all of them involve individual people and Jesus. It is as if God were saying, this is such a special thing that is happening it has to be personal, up close, one on one. Today Christians continue to celebrate the life that comes through faith in the risen Jesus Christ.

In his teaching Jesus reminded people of the two key ‘rules’ for living which were buried deep in the ancient history of his people. They were and are: Love God, with all you heart, soul, mind and strength; and, Love your neighbour as yourself. Perhaps it was Jesus who first coined those ancient proverbs about being human only in relation to other people.

Perhaps that is the beginning of becoming really fully human – when just one person recognises another as a human being. Such certainly is the nature of love – one heart reaching out to another and finding the feelings reciprocated.

A service such as this invites us to recognise each person involved as uniquely human, a whole person in their own right, finding themselves in the context of, and in relation to, other people. To be part of a family that has had to make the decision that the death of one person can offer life to others is huge. We honour those among you here today who have made that decision, and must live with it in your own grieving. To be a recipient of life through organ donation is equally huge, and offers the opportunity of saying yes to life in new and unexpected ways. You too, we honour today.

Jocelyn Marshall lives in Hamilton. For many years she has written poetry and words for hymns, one of which we are singing today. Let me end my few words by quoting three verses of today’s final hymn.

Say yes to life with all its hopes, its pleasures and its pain; for those who live a life of faith, their loss is turned to gain.

Say yes to life; affirm the gift with confidence reborn, remembering the darkest hours are prelude to the dawn.

Say yes to life; rest in God’s strength to make the darkness light; go forth empowered, refreshed, renewed, life’s morning follows night.