This new day!
In this week's column two South Africans share their thoughts on ways of approaching each day of the new year.
"SAKUBONA"
The South African Broadcasting Corporation's nationwide network in English traditionally opens its transmissions with a few minutes of quiet devotion under the title "This New Day." Clergy representing several denominations take turns to share inspirational thoughts about the new day and lead listeners in prayer.
Recently, the Reverend Mvume Dandala of the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg opened his broadcast with the Zulu greeting "Sanibonani" ("Sakubona" in the singular). He explained that in literal translation it means "we see you." When Africans—in this case, Zulus—meet someone, they begin by affirming that person's existence. The full sentence would be, "SiyaKubona ukuthi ungumuntu"—"We see that you are a human being, as opposed to an unwelcome spirit." The response would normally be an affirmation: "Yebo, sakubona nawe"—"Yes, we see you too."
Mr. Dandala said that this idea of affirming one another's identity is one of the big challenges of living. "I affirm others, and they in turn affirm me. I sense something divine, something Christlike in an affirmation of this kind," he told his listeners.
"In essence, the entire mission of Christ Jesus was to affirm others, even those regarded as sinners. He affirmed their identity as children of God and dealt thus with them. It's not possible to deal honorably with a person before one has learned to honor that person. Jesus checked his disciples' attitude toward him when he asked, 'But whom say ye that I am?' And Simon Peter uttered those all-affirming words 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Matt. 16:15, 16 ).
"Is it too much to ask," said Mr. Dandala, "that we start out with a commitment to honor those we will meet in this new day? Perhaps we will learn to pause and attach meaning to this simple greeting, 'Sakubona'"
THE EXAMINED LIFE
That Zulu greeting is well known to Michael Cassidy, founder of the evangelical organization African Enterprise in the province of KwaZulu/Natal. He is the author of four books, including, most recently, A Witness For Ever: The Dawning of Democracy in South Africa—Stories behind the Story. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
In a column written for The Natal Witness in Pietermaritzburg, he lent his support to Plato's dictum "The life which is unexamined is not worth living." Mr. Cassidy suggested that the newspaper's readers take some quality time over the Christmas holidays for self-examination—tackling the exercise preferably with God, prayerfully and in the light of His Word. "That way," he said, "the perspectives will be truer and more challenging."
Mr. Cassidy wrote: "Perhaps a major question to ask is whether we are on a path going somewhere, or just in a rut. The deceptive and insidious thing about a rut is that it is the hangover of a path which in its time led somewhere. It was creative. It's just that it has now been walked over so often that its original creativity has been lost .... It's not yesterday's failures we find hard to shed," he continued. "They shed themselves. It's yesterday's successes that linger on beyond their productive life.
"So the relevant question about our habits of life, our business procedures, or our accepted policies on this and that, should be 'Is this still worth doing this way?'"
Michael Cassidy went on to list a few other questions people might put to themselves at this time of the year, among them:
"Have we grown spiritually?"
"Did my loved ones receive enough time and attention from me?"
"Did I point someone else to God?"
"Am I achieving anything useful in my work? Am I giving my best to it? Are there new and adventurous goals to set?"
"Have I used my spare time creatively?"
"What good things and blessings have I received? Have I thanked God? Do I appreciate the many blessings that are in fact mine?"
"How important it is," concluded Michael Cassidy, "to step into the new year with God and His Word—and a freshly examined life!"
