COURAGE IN LIFE AND DEATH
In memory of David
Russel
2 Corinthians 6:9-10
We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown,
and yet as well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet
not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich;
as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Bishop David Russel died of cancer last
Sunday at his home in Cape Town at the age of 75. He was the brother of
Hamilton Russel whose famous wine farm is one of our neighbours. But David's life took a different path. His story was one of deep Christian faith
which found expression in the courage he displayed in the struggle for
justice. He put his life on the line in
the service of the poor and became one of the humble heroes in the struggle
against apartheid. I was not one of his
close friends, but I got to know him over the years years. I first met him when, in the late nineteen seventies, he was banned,
and came to discuss with me the possibility of doing a doctoral thesis, which
he eventually completed. The last time was here at Volmoed more recently when
he came with friends on retreat, and we
shared together in the Eucharist.
David was the son of a Progressive Party member of Parliament; he went
to school at Bishops, then studied at UCT before going to Oxford and raining
for the priesthood in Yorkshire. He began his ministry in the Transkei in 1969
as an assistant priest to an African rector.
His responsibility was ministering to those Africans who had been forcefully
removed from urban areas and dumped in remote and dismal place like Dimbaza,
where David himself lived and worked.
There were 10,000
people there. Few had work, and social grants were very meagre. David tried to
live on the R 5 monthly grants given to women, but gave up after six
months. It was impossible. In his first two months, he buried
thirty-eight children. Living simply and
being fluent in Xhosa, David won the respect of the people. He also became a thorn in the flesh of some
church leaders, though others admired him.
For him the church was intended to change the world not just accept
things as they are. But government
officials especially turned a deaf ear to his pleas for help for the people of
Dimbaza. Like St. Paul he was treated as an "opstoker," but he spoke
the truth; he lived far from the limelight but was well known to those who
suffered; he faced death, but was very much alive; he was banned, yet liberated
in himself; sorrowful at what was happening, but always rejoicing; poor, yet
enriching others; having nothing yet
possessing everything.
Eventually out of frustration, in 1972,
David organised a pilgrimage from Grahamstown to Cape Town to highlight the
evils of migratory labour and the situation in the Transkei. I was asked to take part in this long
walk. Several of my friends did, but I
had a reasonable (and convenient) excuse.
We were going to Lourenço Marques on a family holiday.
The pilgrimage started on 16th December when eight white members of the Christian
Institute set off from Grahamstown to walk the 600 miles in order to raise
awarness of the plight of rural black people and the devastating effects on
family life of the migratory labour system.
After weeks on the road, times of
worship and discussions with people, press conferences and meetings along the
way, the group was joined by others as it neared Cape Town and came to an end
at the Rondebosch Common. There 4,000 people
gathered to adopt the ‘Charter for Family Life.’ But the authorities still turned a deaf ear to
the pleas of the pilgrims and those church leaders who supported them. David then moved to Cape Town and continued
his ministry amongst the poor, especially at Crossroads where he was
continually engaged in protests of one kind or another. He was banned in 1977 with other leaders of
the Christian Institute, but defiantly continued working in Crossroads. He was eventually elected suffragan bishop in
the Diocese of St. John's in 1986, and a year later bishop of Grahamstown. He retired in 2004.
I have told his story, because we need to remember it, along with the
stories of others who, as Christians, have struggled so courageously for
justice. We also need to remember that
the conditions in rural South Africa, despite the changes, continue to afflict the lives of thousands of people
who suffer as a result of the after effects of apartheid and continued
mismanagement -- poverty, unemployment, lack of education and little health
care. No wonder people protest and migrate to the Western Cape in search of a
better life. And if life in Zwelitsha is
better than life in rural Transkei you must no how bad it is there.
But there is an additional reason for telling David's story. David died of cancer like so many other people
we know and pray about. Yet we are told
that he faced death with the same courage that he faced the evils of apartheid,
and was at peace with dying. David was an
example of Christian courage both in living and dying. Many of us find it difficult to talk about
death and dying, especially our own. It
is a subject we tend to avoid even when, as we grow older, it comes closer each
day for us as well as friends and family.
Every week, it seems, people we know die. Death is never pretty, so let's not
romanticise it. And maybe we do not have
the same faith and courage in facing death as David. But we can take
encouragement from the way in which he exemplified the Christian way
of dying.
Another priest, theology professor and
friend, Dan Hardy, also struggled with cancer before he died in 2007. He wrote these words shortly before he died:
I’ve been content ever since the onset of
this cancer to be drawn into death, but I don’t take this negatively at all: it
is also being drawn into life and the two are closely tied in together… I don’t
know how? being drawn into death is also being drawn into life… Perhaps I am
being a sort of sign of attraction, going ahead of you into the mystery, an
attraction not into anything clear and unambiguous but into the light that is
the mystery of death and life, and therein God.
We need models of Christian courage both in the face of and struggle
against evil, and in the face of death and dying. How good it is that there are those whom we
have known who are models of such courage.
So today we give thanks for David Russel as we think about on our own
lives and stand by others whom we know who are struggling with poverty or cancer
and, either way, face death. In doing
so, may we draw strength from our faith
and trust in Christ in our weakness.
John W. de Gruchy
Volmoed 21 August 2014
