Reuben Mgodeli, director of the Mennonite Bible School in South Africa, wrote a tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican theologian and church leader. Tutu, who achieved global recognition for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist, died Dec. 26, 2021.

A big tree has fallen! South Africa mourns as a nation. Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu was a great man who lived and preached love, acceptance, equality, forgiveness, peace and reconciliation. The loss of "The Arch," as he was fondly known, is immeasurable. 

Tutu died on Dec. 26, 2021, in Cape Town, South Africa, at the age of 90, after battling prostate cancer. He was buried Jan. 1, at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town.

For nearly 30 years, Tutu was the face of the struggle against apartheid, filling the vacuum left by political leaders who had been banished, imprisoned or exiled. He was a formidable man with a rich history. As an anti-apartheid activist, he won the Nobel Peace Prize and used his powerful voice to promote reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa.

"If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends," Tutu said. "You talk to your enemies."

It is with great reverence that I lift up the people in South Africa and the world in prayer, as we mourn the loss of our beloved brother, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose voice was the voice of love, acceptance and peace in a turbulent world. Let us remember and embody the lessons of spiritual oneness taught by our brother. May the knowledge of his life and heart encourage us all to be strong, good, kind and loving.