Pentecost Liturgy at the EXPO-Plaza Hanover

In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen

What a wonderful, wonderful occasion, what beautiful people are sitting in front of me. Wonderful, wonderful people (acclamation). Wonderful musicians, the brass band, the choir and this beautiful, beautiful person here (the gospel singer). I think we should clap everybody who is here and all of you who made this wonderful (acclamation).

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "Guten Tag". Hello (response by the congregation). I can't hear you. Hello.(increasing response by the congregation) I think we should make people in South Africa hear your response: Hello! Hello! (congregation responds). And you know I bring you greetings from your sisters and brothers in the new South Africa, the free South Africa, the democratic South Africa.

We won a great victory over Apartheid. But how did we win it? We won, because you here prayed for us, you here supported us and on behalf of millions of my compatriots in South Africa "Dankeschön" to all of you. (response by the congregation, reserved) No, no, no that is not good enough. I have a magic wand and when I wave it over you it is great to turn you into instant South Africans, then because you Germans are shy, you are reserved. I wave, and now you are South Africans and I say, hey, fellow South Africans, let us give these Germans a wonderful ovation and a very African ovation. Come on (powerful response by the congregation).Thank you, thank you. Thank you, because it is from the heart. Oh, I have to wave my wand again, I wave my wand and I change you back to your former selves, shy, reserved Germans, who are afraid of clapping and shouting. It's a great, great joy to be here.

I read an article in the New York Times. It was speaking about people who had just become rich, they had joined the middle class, they owned a lot of material possessions, but they were not happy. And they wondered why they did not have contentment. They thought, maybe we should have more material things, and even when they had more material things, no, they did not have contentment. And why? Because we are that wonderful thing, creatures created by God, we are creatures created to be like God, we are creatures created for God, that you and I and all of us are a remarkable paradox, we are finite human beings, but we are created for the infinite. You and I are wonderful people, for we are created, we are created for transcendence, we are created for the beautiful, we are created for the true, incredible that we creatures as we are can never find satisfaction in anything, anything less than God. They say that in each one of us there is a God shaped space and only God can fill that space. You and I have a God hunger and only God can satisfy that hunger. We are, we are remarkable creatures.

Yes, we are creatures who have an extraordinary capacity for evil. In South Africa we were listening to people in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission come to confess and they would tell you: we abducted this young man, we shot him in the head and we burnt his body. And because it takes 7/8 hours for a human body to burn we had a barbecue on the side. We human beings can be so evil. Yes, we can be evil. But that is not the whole story about us.

Wonderfully and acceleratingly you and I have a wonderful capacity for good. We have an extraordinary capacity for good. We are (laughing by the preacher) even in this world, we admire not the big, big macho, we don't admire the successful, we don't admire the belligerent. Who do we admire? Good people, we admire a Mother Theresa, and Mother Theresa is such a small, little person, she is not macho. Hey, why do we admire her? Why do we revere her? Because she is good, she is good. And the world admires a Nelson Mandela. Why do we admire him? It is not because he was the President of a super power, South Africa is not a super power, it is not even a very rich country. But why? Because here is a man who emerges from prison and instead of being bitter and angry he is filled with dignity, he is willing to forgive. And we - you and I and all of us recognise goodness, and when we see goodness, our hearts leap, because we are made for goodness, we are made for goodness, and don't let anybody tell you differently. Yes, there are many bad things in the world (acclamation), but there are also many good things in the world.

We have overcome Nazism, we have overcome Fascism, we have overcome Communism, we have even overcome Apartheid. Evil will never have the last word. Evil will always be defeated (acclamation). And you here are those who God says: be carriers of hope, go away from here filled with an acceleration, go away from here and tell the world: this is God's world and God is in charge. This is a world made for beauty, this is a world made for peace, this is a world made for friendship, this is a world made for compassion, and God says: you know what my children, I want you to discover that you are members of one family, that you are sisters and brothers, really and truly, those who are able to say to God: Abba, Abba, Abba, Daddy, Daddy-God. We can address God, we tiny fragile vulnerable human beings can address God, the transcended one, and say Abba, Daddy-God, Papa God, we can approach God with a wonderful , wonderful intimacy. We can approach God with a wonderful, wonderful boldness, and God says: You are all my children. And each one of you is precious, each one of you is a VSP. Do you know what a VSP is? There are VIPs, not too many VIPs, but everybody is a VSP - very special person. Now just say: I am a VSP. Everybody. One, two (congregation responses: I am a VSP). I am a very special person. Come on. One, two (mighty response again). And everybody in God's world is a very special person.

Everybody is a God carrier. And the Holy Spirit of God joins all of us and brings us together and makes us the children of God, makes us the members of the body of Christ and makes us sisters and brothers. For it is the spirit who Saint Paul calls, the spirit of adoption, and when we realise that we are family, we will say in our family, we will not allow government to spend all the money they spend on defence, obscene amounts on defence. Because we know that a very small fraction would enable God's children everywhere to have clean water, to have enough to eat, to have a good education. And if we are family, we will not allow those in the so-called Third World to continue to grow under the burden of unpayable debt. You and I will all be members of Jubilee 2000-campaign and call for the cancellation of the debts, because we are God's children, we are members of one family, we are sisters and brothers. And in this family, in this family there are no outsiders, in this family there are no aliens, everybody, everybody belongs. Jesus Christ said: I, if I be lifted up will draw all, he did not just say I will draw some. Jesus said, I will draw all, all, rich, poor, white, black, yellow, red, tall, short, beautiful, not so beautiful, educated, not so educated, gay, lesbian, homosexuals. God says, hey, they are all my children. We belong in one family. We belong in one family.

You know, there is a story that is told about a farmer who had a strange bird in his backyard. They said it was a chicken, but it was a strange looking chicken. And then one day a clever man came along and said: No, no, no, no, this is not a chicken, this is an eagle. And the farmer said: no, no, man, this is a chicken, it behaves like chicken, it goes about picking, it does not even know there is a sky, it does not know there is a sun. And the man said: please give me this chicken and the farmer gave him the chicken. And this man went up to the top of the mountain and waited for the sun to rise, and when the sun rose, he lifted the bird and said: Fly, eagle, fly. And the little bird shook itself and spread out its wings and then lifted off and saw and flew away, away into the distance towards the sun. God is saying to you and to me and to all of us: hey, you are not chickens, you are eagles, fly, eagle, fly (acclamation). And God says, shake yourselves, put out your wings and swarm. And swarm and swarm, we swarm because we are made for goodness, we are made for laughter, we are made for compassion, we are made for beauty, and we are made for the truth.

We are made to be family, and we will hold hands and say: We are God's family, we are sisters and brothers, we are the rainbow people of God. And we go out and tell the world: This is God's world, and God is in charge, evil will never triumphe. Beauty and goodness and compassion and laughter and joy and peace, those are going to be, those are going to have the last word. And God looks down and says: My dear children, I have no one except you, help me, help me to realise my dream.

God bless you.