They Just Said, "Thank you."
The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Matthews
Rector, Trinity Church, Wall Street
New York, New York

Take our minds and think through them.
Take my lips and speak through them.
Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for thee.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

A few weeks ago, I got a call from our friend Desmond Tutu. The former archbishop called and said, "I have been honored as one of the 20 great human beings alive in the 20th century, and I'm being honored at, of all places, the New York Stock Exchange."

To understand the power of this invitation, you have to understand that 15 years ago, Archbishop Tutu stood in the pulpit at Trinity Church and spoke to the leaders of Wall Street. Some of you know that our church sits right at the end of Wall Street. If you stand on Wall Street and you look toward the church, to your left is the New York Stock Exchange. When he spoke at Trinity 15 years ago, Archbishop Tutu was so controversial and so disliked that we got a number of bomb threats and had to take the bomb-sniffing dogs through the church three times. For two days, 50 to 100 police officers surrounded the church in order for Bishop Tutu to speak. He got up and spoke, and you know what he said? He said, "Please take your investments out of South Africa so that you can help contribute to bringing an end to the demonic reality of apartheid." It was so heated that day that there were even pickets out in front of the church with big signs proclaiming that a communist was speaking from the pulpit of Trinity Church Wall Street.

Fifteen years later, he's being honored as one of the great leaders of this century.
You know that place up on the wall where they ring the bell at the end of the session? Bishop Tutu was standing there, gavel in hand, waiting to hit the bell. He was having more fun. He's kind of a pixie of a man, about 5 feet tall. We were standing down on the floor of the Exchange, hundreds of us, waiting for 4:00. That day the Dow Jones average had gone up more than it ever had in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. It was the highest it had ever been. Of course, the people around were saying, "We'll bring him back any day if he does this." It went up and down, but it kept coming back to 221.

After the closing, we went back into a huge boardroom. It looked like a movie set. At the center of capitalism for the whole world, here was this elf-like Nobel Laureate standing before all these giants of American industry. And what he said was, "Thank you. Thank you for reading about the evils of apartheid. Thank you for your prayers that it might come to an end. Thank you for those who flew to South Africa to see what it was like. Thank you, thank you, thank you." He said thank you for about 15 minutes. Thanked people in that room and people around the world. Thank you. That was it.

I got home that night and thought, he could have said, "Thank you, but what about international debt? You all in this room could do a lot about that. But what about reinvesting in South Africa? We need capital. What about the whole continent of Africa? Every single nation-state is in terrible shape, in terrible need of capital investment right now. You in this room could make the difference." He didn't say any of that. He just said, "Thank you, thank you."

You've heard that little expression, "Yes, but…" Yes, I like your hairdo, but… . Oh, that is a nice new car, but couldn't you have gotten a bigger one? Remember when you were a kid and you brought home a B+ in one of the hardest classes in school? You could hardly wait to get home, but you knew your daddy would say, "Yes, but it could've been an A". You always know when you hear the "Yes, but…." It discounts every "yes" that's been said before. Bishop Tutu did not say, "Yes, but. . . ." He just said, "Thank you." Wouldn't it be nice if you and I could do that? Wouldn't that be a real accomplishment if you and I could receive something or give somebody a compliment or affirm some moment and not say, "Yes, but . . ."?

In the 21st chapter of Matthew's Gospel, there's a short parable that Jesus told. It's not a terribly important parable. As a matter of fact, it's not even recorded in the other Gospels. It goes like this:

Jesus said one time there was a man who had a vineyard. He had two sons. He said to the sons, go out in the vineyard and work. One said, yes, but he didn't go. The second said, no, not going, but he later changed his mind and went and worked in the vineyard.

Jesus was talking about people who have rejected God and those people who have said yes to God. You and I have done the same thing many times. We'll say, "Oh sure, God," and then we don't do it. We don't go. We don't carry through. We aren't faithful. Then there are times you and I have said, "No way, Jose," as the kids say, and we realize, "I made a mistake there. I need to change, confess, rethink."

One of the most important moments in the Church happened for us on Ash Wednesday. Several months ago, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II wrote to all the bishops of the world and asked that every single Roman Catholic in the world dedicate the 40-day period of Lent to confessing the sins of prejudice against their brothers and sisters who are Jews. Unbelievable. Unbelievable theologically because that's coming close to saying the Church is in error. And that can't be said. It's a very, very important moment. We will read about it for a long time. Some scholars are saying that this might be the most important thing this Pope has ever done, because if you talk about Jews, then maybe next you'll talk about women, and then from women there's a whole list of folks.

After he got the word from the Pope, Cardinal John O'Connor of New York, probably the most powerful cardinal in the American Church, sat down and wrote a dozen or so personal letters. He wrote them to his best friends in New York who are Jews. He said in effect, the Holy Father is declaring Ash Wednesday in this Lenten season a time of repentance for us, and I want to write you personally and apologize for anything I have ever done or said that might have offended you or your faith tradition. He added, I apologize not only for myself but for anyone who is high or low in the Catholic tradition.

When the recipients got the letter, they picked up the phone and called one another, discovering that other Jewish friends had received one as well. So they all got together and bought a whole page in the New York Times and published the letter. They wanted the whole world to see that the Catholic Church, led by the Pope himself, was apologizing, that he was changing his mind, accepting them in a fresh new way. The ad was published in the paper and filled a whole page. The only other thing on the page was a tiny line across the bottom that named the particular Jews responsible for putting the letter in the Times.

You know what they could have done? They had every reason to say, "Yes, but… what about Pius XII and Hitler? What about the bishops in Europe who were silent during the Holocaust?" The Jews could've filled the bottom half of the newspaper page with "Yes, but's…." But they didn't do it. They just said, "Thank you."

Quite astounding. Quite astounding that people could be so grateful and not use this opportunity as a time to correct or retaliate or hurt. Isn't it interesting that the Pope has called his people to make this first Lent in the millennium a big one, a whole lot bigger than giving up chocolate.

Maybe we need to hear the Holy Father and make this Lent a new one for ourselves as well by taking on something that is bigger than we are. That's the way big things get changed, like apartheid. It was changed by a few people beginning with prayers, a few people with their devotion and reading. That's the way we got rid of slavery. A few people began to say this is evil. This is inherently evil and we need to pray about this in our churches. It took a long time. It's happened with colonialism, the evil system of one country controlling and dominating another one. And we're a product. We're blessed by those prayers and concerns of Christians so long ago who said we need freedom. We deserve to be free.

There are lots of things you could take on, but probably it would be best to take on something for which you have a blind spot, a prejudice -- something you've ignored or maybe pretended didn't exist in your world. That's certainly what the Roman Catholics are doing for these 40 days.

I'm taking on something that I've denied for a long time, and that's the presence of nuclear missiles aimed at New York City. I read the other day that there are 20,000 nuclear warheads around the world that are aimed at New York City right now, probably Memphis, too. We go merrily on our way as if they're not even there. The thought of that evil even existing ….

I'm going to join a little group of 67 generals and admirals from around the world that's called Abolition 2000. They include the retired head of the U.S. Strategic Air Command. They say that we must not just reduce, we must abolish all nuclear weapons on the face of the earth. My 40-day journey is to join that group. It might not make much difference what I say or do or pray. On the other hand, maybe it will.

I had the privilege of talking to Dr. Jack Gibbons, who was the science advisor to the President of the United States for four or five years. I asked Dr. Gibbons what he, as one of the world's leading scientists, believed to be the number one issue facing the human species today. Without taking a breath he said, "Global warming." Then he smiled and said, "Dan, your use of energy."

Of course, I like to walk into my apartment in New York City and flick that switch and have all the light I want. I like to walk into the bathroom and have all the hot water I want. I like to have a cold refrigerator with all the food I want. There are some big issues for you and me that might not be too big for the first Lent of the new millennium.

Maybe we ought to ask ourselves to do a little more, tackle something a little bit bigger than chocolate. We've done a remarkable job of building this wonderful world for some of us. Let's begin to build this wonderful world for all of us. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the light of the world. Fill our minds with your peace and our hearts with your love. In your name of Christ, our body and our blood, our life and our nourishment. Amen.

Copyright 2000 The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Matthews

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