Remember me with a ‘toyi-toyi’

JOHANNESBURG – Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Naude’s speeches and sermons:

* “We should claim the kingship of Jesus Christ over all people… also as it concerns our ecumenical and race relations. And when we as Dutch Reformed Church fear or refuse to do this boldly, then we fail our people, then we commit treason against our people.” — An extract from Naude’s historical September 1963 sermon in which he announced that he would leave his congregation to join a multi-racial church. * “If our Church continues with this deliberate and fear-inspired process of isolation… we will spiritually wither and die. Oh, my Church, I call this morning in all sincerity from my soul — awake before it is too late … Stand up and give the hand of Christian brotherhood to all who sincerely stretch out the hand to you. There is still time, but the time is short, very short.” — also from the September 1963 sermon.* “The choice before me is not firstly a choice between pastoral work and other Christian work, not between the Church and the (multi-racial) Church Institute. No, the choice goes much deeper.* “It is a choice between religious conviction and submission to ecclesiastical authority. By obeying the latter unconditionally I would save face but lose my soul.”* “We must prepare for ten years in the wilderness.” — Naude to his wife after resigning as moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church.* “I remember when, for instance, we walked in the street, how people looked at me and I could read in their eyes that they were saying, ‘Here is the traitor to the Afrikaner people’, and that was a very painful experience.” — Naude in a television interview, recalling how he was ostracised by his own people.* “We had to explain and defend ourselves because I was still a very staunch Nationalist (apartheid supporter), but the seeds of doubt were sown.” — Naude in an interview with the Sapa news agency on how debates during a trip to Germany in his youth had made him question apartheid.* “But it was Sharpeville that brought it home to a definite point where I had to make a decision and say ‘what do I do now?’.” — In reference to the so-called Sharpeville massacre in 1960 when scores of blacks were killed for peacefully demonstrating against pass laws.* “They came to our front door one at a time, day after day, black but also white, young but also old, from early in the morning until long after dark and sometimes until deep into the night.* “I increasingly discovered how little I really knew about what was felt deep in the hearts of the majority of our population, I realised I had to use my banning to listen and to learn.” — Naude in his autobiography, “My Land van Hope” (My Country of Hope)* “I am astounded every day by the measure of goodness and openness and tolerance and forgiveness which you find in the hearts and minds of the blacks. It’s incredible. We don’t deserve it.” — Four years before anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990.* “We must go on our knees… and we must say:’Thank you, God, for what you gave to us in Nelson Mandela.’ We have done what no other country in the world has done … and how many countries in the world are looking up to us after the leadership of Nelson Mandela.” — in a television interview after the end of apartheid in 1994.* “Remember me with a ‘toyi-toyi’ (South African liberation dance) and a tear in your eye.” — shortly before his death on September 7 at the age of 89.- Nampa-AFP* “If our Church continues with this deliberate and fear-inspired process of isolation… we will spiritually wither and die. Oh, my Church, I call this morning in all sincerity from my soul — awake before it is too late … Stand up and give the hand of Christian brotherhood to all who sincerely stretch out the hand to you. There is still time, but the time is short, very short.” — also from the September 1963 sermon.* “The choice before me is not firstly a choice between pastoral work and other Christian work, not between the Church and the (multi-racial) Church Institute. No, the choice goes much deeper.* “It is a choice between religious conviction and submission to ecclesiastical authority. By obeying the latter unconditionally I would save face but lose my soul.”* “We must prepare for ten years in the wilderness.” — Naude to his wife after resigning as moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church.* “I remember when, for instance, we walked in the street, how people looked at me and I could read in their eyes that they were saying, ‘Here is the traitor to the Afrikaner people’, and that was a very painful experience.” — Naude in a television interview, recalling how he was ostracised by his own people.* “We had to explain and defend ourselves because I was still a very staunch Nationalist (apartheid supporter), but the seeds of doubt were sown.” — Naude in an interview with the Sapa news agency on how debates during a trip to Germany in his youth had made him question apartheid.* “But it was Sharpeville that brought it home to a definite point where I had to make a decision and say ‘what do I do now?’.” — In reference to the so-called Sharpeville massacre in 1960 when scores of blacks were killed for peacefully demonstrating against pass laws.* “They came to our front door one at a time, day after day, black but also white, young but also old, from early in the morning until long after dark and sometimes until deep into the night.* “I increasingly discovered how little I really knew about what was felt deep in the hearts of the majority of our population, I realised I had to use my banning to listen and to learn.” — Naude in his autobiography, “My Land van Hope” (My Country of Hope)* “I am astounded every day by the measure of goodness and openness and tolerance and forgiveness which you find in the hearts and minds of the blacks. It’s incredible. We don’t deserve it.” — Four years before anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990.* “We must go on our knees… and we must say:’Thank you, God, for what you gave to us in Nelson Mandela.’ We have done what no other country in the world has done … and how many countries in the world are looking up to us after the leadership of Nelson Mandela.” — in a television interview after the end of apartheid in 1994.* “Remember me with a ‘toyi-toyi’ (South African liberation dance) and a tear in your eye.” — shortly before his death on September 7 at the age of 89.- Nampa-AFP