Page 4 - Presbyterian Connection

4 WINTER 2022
PRESBYTERIAN
Continued from page 1
President Steinmeier spoke very forcefully against Russian aggres- sion in Ukraine and took the oppor- tunity to criticize Russian Or thodox church leaders for suppor ting the Russian government. The WCC had discussed and decided not to exclude Russian Or thodox repre- sentatives from the Assembly, so they were present to hear Stein- meier’s criticism. Also present, of course, were delegates from Ukrainian churches. The WCC’s decision to suppor t the Russian Or thodox presence underscores the WCC’s beliefs concerning the importance of maintaining unity, connection and opportunity for conversation and bridge build- ing even in situations of deepest conflict, when lives are literally at stake. The Assembly, to its credit, passed a detailed statement call- ing for an end to hostilities and rejecting “any misuse of religious language and authority to justify armed aggression and hatred.”
Steinmeier and his colleagues from Germany also spoke to the theme of reconciliation. The President reminded his audience of “the murderous antisemitism incited among and by Christians over centuries—in Germany but not only here.” He suggested that “the security of the Jewish community—in Germany, in Is- rael, in the nations of the world— must be one of the tenets of all religions.” With this in mind, it was not surprising that later in the Assembly, representatives of German churches expressed concern over suggestions that the WCC describe Israel’s occu- pation of Palestinian lands and settlement policy as a form of “apartheid,” language which has been adopted by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. Unfortunately, del- egates interrupted the statement because it ran long. Even more unfortunately, Assembly modera- tors waited a day before explain- ing to us that they had given pre- approval to the German churches to take extra time. Here I think the Assembly’s scheduling got in the way of a healthy discussion. The Assembly ultimately adopted a statement, Seeking Just Peace for All in the Middle East, which maintains the unity of its body by acknowledging that member churches have different points of view on the use of the apartheid term in this instance, while also strongly calling for an end to set- tlements and demanding justice for Palestinian peoples.
The message from the Indig- enous Peoples Pre-Assembly
offered a cautionary note on the theme of unity, observing that:
The dominant discourse on reconciliation and unity has largely been responsible for the domination and suppression of Indigenous communities, and other marginalized communi- ties. Christian unity, in an Indig- enous context, has often meant little more than conformity to the colonial way of life, and the dissolution of Indigenous, land- centred identity.
Indigenous views on protecting creation, given their land-centred identity, informed much of the conversation at the Pre-Assem- bly. This led also to discussion about preserving and recovering Indigenous world views and the relationship of Indigenous spir- itual beliefs to Christian beliefs. The Pre-Assembly message re- asserted Indigenous agency and capacity “to formulate Christian theologies that have relevance, authenticity and integrity.” The theme of Christ’s love reverberat- ed in the message as Indigenous peoples recalled that:
God was present in our lands and among our peoples before the colonizers arrived. When Christians brought the Bible to us we recognized the voice of our Creator in Jesus’ teach- ings. But we did not hear a call to reject our identities. We heard God loves us. God loves our cultures and our languag- es and our spiritualities. God knows us and God loves us as spiritual beings in relation- ship with each other and with all of Creation. Our cultures are libraries of ancestral memory. Our languages which uphold our sacred relationship with our lands are storehouses of ecological well-being.
Action by Canadian delegates ensured that the Assembly made a full statement on Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, based largely on the message from the Pre-Assembly.
The Assembly afforded oppor- tunities for all Reformed church participants, as well as for all North American participants, to gather. It is noteworthy that while climate justice was the top issue identified by Canadians at the As- sembly, when all North American responses were considered, the subject of “racism, white privilege and white supremacy” ranked as the top issue. The related sub- jects of Christian nationalism and growing social polarization and division also ranked highly. The full Assembly also made a formal
The opening prayer service of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches. PHOTO CAPTION: PAUL JEFFREY/WCC
Women dance and sing at the women and men’s pre-assembly. PHOTO CREDIT: ALBIN HILLERT/WCC
Prayer service held in the Saint Stephen Church in Karlsruhe, with songs from Taizé, observed by a group of young people gathered for the Ecumenical Youth Gathering. PHOTO CREDIT: ALBIN HILLERT/WCC
Delegates vote on consensus items during the opening plenary session. PHOTO CREDIT: MIKE DUBOSE/WCC
Connection
FEATURE
statement of concern on these threats to civil society.
One of the best summaries of how Christians might respond to the challenges of our times to demonstrate Christ’s love in the pursuit of unity and reconciliation was given by Justin Welby, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, at the fifth and closing “thematic plenary.” Reflecting on his experience at this summer’s Lambeth confer- ence, Welby said: “We found our way forward by being honest, by admitting we do not agree, without excluding one another.” His was a call to love each other, when loving each other seems harder than ever, and a call to keep talking, keep working to- gether, through our differences, as we address the crises of our time, especially the crisis facing our very existence in creation. I had missed Welby’s address at the time, but I’m happy to say that it may be viewed online, along with many other segments of the Assembly at: oikoumene.org/as- sembly/assembly-live.
In closing, I’ll offer a postscript concerning what I found most meaningful about the Assembly: the oppor tunity to connect with others, with fellow Presbyteri- ans from Canada and around the world, with Canadians from other churches, and with fellow Christians.
I had missed hearing Justin Welby speak, because I was hav- ing a conversation with Hamish Galloway, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. He explained that his church is wrestling with mat- ters of human sexuality and he was eager to learn from our ex- perience in Canada. On the pre- vious day, I had missed another plenary, while I spent time with a young man named Benjamin Jacuk from Alaska, who is re- searching Alaska’s experience with boarding schools, America’s Residential Schools. Ben spoke to Presbyterian participation in the mission history of his part of the world. And, on a special Sunday trip to Heidelberg, I chatted up a storm with Irini Thabet, a woman of similar age who was a delegate from the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. We discovered that we had an enormous amount in com- mon and became fast friends. I will carry their memories, and those of many others I met, along with the inspiration I drew from my time in Karlsruhe to keep faith with Christ’s love in working for reconciliation within Canada and with all God’s creation.
presbyterian.ca