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Feature Celebrating the Differences that Seem to Divide Us Echoes of Graz Some fear that ecumenism means that we all have to (and will) become the same. We all have different strengths, histories, and experiences, and I think to insinuate that we are all to become clones would deny the grandeur of the One who created us. Rather, we need to learn how to interact a little more with those who are often only slightly different from us. We need to ask ourselves which distinctions are critical to our faith, and which are "specialities". Questions like these are extremely hard to answer honestly, because they hit at the utter roots of our beliefs. Though difficult, it is still worthwhile to work on the problems. During the Assembly in Graz an international youth choir performed in front of the plenary building on the fair grounds Thursday afternoon. They are an encouraging memory, symbolising the true music we can make before God when working together. Dressed in black offset by colourful pieces of cloth, they sang with incredible unity. Sure, they were singing in English, so my impressions are biased, but my point is that they had not been together very long. In the same way ecumenical discussions are just starting and co-operation and unity follow closely behind. Some delegates came to Graz with really high expectations concerning paper work, namely the final document that they were to compose. I know many people are cynical for the lack of "progress". I cannot say how the process itself proceeded as I did not participate and am not writing from this perspective. Prof. Ricca (Italy) referred to this directly when he said, "dialogue bears fruit - not documents - but changes in the people in the dialogue". I agree and find that progress in the form of new friendships and new awareness towards the "unknown" should not be underestimated. One person stated that "unless the final document reflects what we (as a group) believe to be important, we can write off our Assembly as a large Ecumenical Party". This statement assumes that in an Ecumenical Party no serious dialogue takes place and that real issues are glossed over. At the grassroots level, I feel most went away feeling more encouraged in their Christianity, including Christianity's diversity. When this is multiplied out by the number of participants, and then by the number of circles in all the respective home countries, this conference will really have made a difference. Maybe we need to have more Ecumenical Parties? Bruce Thiessen
'The Bridge' play project consisted of working for reconciliation in many dimensions; it embodied the spirit of the Graz Assembly - the emphasis on the journeying towards rather than the arrival at 'reconciliation' - in a tangible way. Firstly, and most importantly for me as a performer, the cast was a wonderfully diverse group, whose paths would never have crossed in everyday life. We had to learn to trust and listen to one another; every member of the group was given the challenge of responsibility, and everyone rose to the challenge. Under the pressures of time and intensity, tempers were tested and conflicts embraced, and ultimately many of us felt greatly enriched by the mutual support. The ease with which the Austrian music students playing the Gypsy children slotted into the English cast is a measure of the 'reconciliation' the project entailed. We had great fun! Then there was the performing itself: people from many different nationalities sat next to each other and shared the same experience of the play - though hopefully each with their own individual reactions. A kind of communion, in which, as in the breaking of bread, we were reconciled in our brokenness as attention was focused on the broken violin, a symbol of broken humanity. At the end of the play the vision was extended outwards with the UN slides of refugees from far-flung parts of the world; these people also entered into our communion, though unwittingly.
We must surely concede that this is work well done! Sarah Dodds Feature Reconciliation in Ecumenical Partnership In the dual role as Church and Peace Executive Secretary and Secretary for World Mission and Service of the Braunfels Church District Christian Hohmann took part in September in a partnership consultation with the German Protestant (Lutheran) sister church district in Woodpecker, Botswana. Following is an adapted version of a sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 that he gave at the consultation. Corinthians 5:17-21 is one of the key texts of Pauline theology. "To reconcile" and "reconciliation", katalassw and katallagw, do not appear very often in the New Testament, but are nevertheless among the key concepts of Pauline theology. Reconciliation is inconceivable without Christ "A man, a prophet from Galilee, is nailed to a cross. The Lord God becomes one with him. God shows us where he wants to be found. God shares with his people and his creatures the Way of guilt, suffering and death. This is how much God loves the world!" God does not fulfil human expectations of power and greatness. All that is religion, human fantasy. There's no place for that in the church. From now on and forever: The Lord God is present at the place beyond our understanding, our wishes and projections of omnipotence and greatness. Rather God is in our terrible guilt, in mysteries, in the screams of the rav- "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us: we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God! For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
aged Earth, in our thirst for justice, and in our vain search for meaning. It is the cross which is the source of reconciliation. This is where God displays his justice, which runs counter to God performs reconciliation This is how God performs reconciliation. And, when we allow his reconciliation to work on us by putting our faith in it, He entrusts it to us as a precious gift which opens doors and tears down walls. Wolfram Kistner rightly says: The gift of reconciliation There is nothing stronger than his reconciling love, which breaks the cycle of hatred and violence and brings an end to separation and apartheid. It is through partaking of bread and wine that we become the church of Jesus Christ - in actual reality. What counts is our unity in Christ. He overcomes the divisions of geography and ethnic identity. And he unites us across confessional boundaries. Christ becomes the centre of our life. The way he relates to others should determine the way in which we relate to each other. We have been given a gift, the gift of the message of reconciliation, which is nothing less than the Gospel itself. Reconciliation means change In the encounter with Christ, nothing stays the same for the person who trusts in this gift of reconciliation: "there Feature is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" God transforms us: our fear of loss; the mistrust which separates us from others; our discouragement and all the other negative feelings inside us. God reconciles us with our doubts and with our search for meaning, which is so often fruitless. In God we find rest. In God we find a firm foundation on which to stand. God enables us to accept ourselves and our life history. God gives us self-respect. Our relationships are inevitably trans-
God grants us amnesty. But this transformation of our thinking and of our lives which God brings about is aborted if it doesn't move us to take action, if we do not feel impelled to pass on this message of reconciliation which God has given us to the world which is crying out for justice and reconciliation. Service for reconciliation Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus is immediately followed by his commissioning as an apostle. The gift of reconciliation leads us to take up a ministry of or service for reconciliation, not just in worship but rather as a form of service which extends beyond the boundaries of the church. Service for reconciliation is oriented towards the outside world. To accept reconciliation is That is why Paul is a Jew unto the Jews and a Gentile unto the Gentiles - in order to save them from disaster (1 Corinthians 9:20). Paul receives authority for this mission only because this "task of world-wide evangelisation is given (to him) not by human beings, nor through a human being acting as an intermediary, but by God the Father and Jesus the Christ, the kyrios (Galatians 1:3)". (E. Lohse, Grundriá der neutestamentlichen Theologie, pp 78)) Paul asserted this forcibly in the face of opposition from people who ridiculed him in front of the people of Corinth and who rejected his authority as an apostle. Nonviolent witness for peace The gift of reconciliation has led many Christians to witness nonviolently for peace. They have learned not to see the other as an enemy, but to recognize the face of Jesus in him or her. Violence only breeds violence and is the way of power and hatred. During his Christmas sermon in the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta thirty years ago Martin Luther King said: Active nonviolence is the way of love and deep faith in the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the path which we must follow as his Church and to which we must bear witness. It is not an easy way, but it is the hallmark of a church which is making a serious attempt to follow the Way of Reconciliation. This would mean rejecting war and violence and as a church practising active nonviolence as a response to injustice and violent conflict, including support and promotion of peace services and voluntary services. Facing the truth As with the experience of reconciliation, we can only find this truth if, together, we look to Jesus, who is himself the Truth and who has promised us the help of his Spirit, which leads us into all truth (John 16:13b). Photo: Christian Hohmann Feature The gift of reconciliation also has repercussions for the relationship between churches and for their readiness to resolve conflicts with patient dialogue and without threatening gestures. Konrad Raiser is quite right to complain that the member churches of the World Council of Churches often behave towards each other like sovereign states. Power, influence and religious domination are involved, so conflicts are not resolved in accordance with the reconciliation which Christ has given us, but in accordance with the rules of diplomacy. Sometimes it is even pointed out that there should be no interference in the internal matters of a sister church. The gift of reconciliation leads us to resolve conflicts between churches in a different way - without threats, within a framework of dialogue and, if necessary, in the presence of witnesses (see Matthew 18:15-18). In the context of tension between European churches, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Austria, Michael Staikos, thanked the participants at the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz in June 1997 with these words: The connection between reconciliation and justice This is also what Brigalia Bam, the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said very force-fully in her welcoming speech at the Graz Assembly: Without a doubt our credibility as Church in the service of reconciliation is at stake here. And the question is raised as to whether we accept the implications of reconciliation in Christ for our own way of life as well as for that of others. We will experience the gift of reconciliation between churches only if we Christians find a way which leads to justice and a sharing of material wealth between rich and poor churches. Only if we succeed in this, will we be able to contribute to overcoming social injustice in the world, because we will then be able to demonstrate an alternative. But as we face these challenges we are more than ever dependent on our meetings together, because this fellowship is a source of strength which makes genuine change possible. In conclusion I quote once again Brigalia Bam as she describes very vividly the importance of the power of reconciliation for each of us and for the common life and work of our churches: Christian Hohmann
Feature In recent years Christians committed to nonviolence in several parts of the world have taken on the task of active peacemaking. Trained in conflict analysis, Anabaptist mediators in particular have had a significant role recently in political-social conflicts in places such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Northern Ireland. Along with this commitment to engaging conflict in wider society, there is a growing awareness of the need for better conflict skills within the church. It is not unusual to find among Christians an attitude that conflict is undesirable. Ask a dozen people in your congregation what feeling-associations they have with the word "conflict" and they will likely suggest words such as anger, fear, discouragement, sadness and embarrassment. Ask for a metaphor of conflict in the church and you'll probably get images such as battle, nightmare, boxing match, storm or volcano. Such negative associations with conflict more often come to mind than words such as helpful, stimulating, productive and enjoyable. We fear conflict because we think it means somebody must win and somebody must lose. We delay dealing with conflict because we don't want to hurt others or ourselves. In the end such avoidance of issues we feel strongly about robs us of the intimacy and growth that could happen if we had the tools and the confidence to face into conflict instead of running from it. A few proposals about conflict in the church -Conflict is normal and will be with us to the end of time. -Conflict might be a sign that people really care Even if conflict in the church appears to be over trivial matters, what really might be at stake might be an individual's sense of significance in a group. Unruly individuals arguing fine points at church council might simply want to know that their opinions and pref-erences matter to the wider congrega-
-Conflict is related to power -Conflict, handled well, can lead to growth and intimacy. Practical teaching from Jesus and the early church -Address conflicts so we have freedom to worship God -Find appropriate ways to admit and express anger -Keep conflicts up to date -Speak directly to the person(s) with whom we disagree Jesus (Matthew 18:15-20) was concerned enough about how we handle conflict to give step-by-step instructions: Go directly to the person with whom we have the conflict and speak with them alone. If that doesn't work, go back with one or two others. If the conflict still cannot be resolved, then take the matter to the whole community. There are cases where such one-on-one dialogue is not wise (e.g., situations of violence or physical/sexual abuse). But in general this principle holds true: start the reconciliation process by speaking directly to the person(s) involved. "So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another" (Ephesians 4:25). -Protect the other person's sense of self-worth The author of Ephesians recognises that when we are angry, we are tempted to be more destructive toward people who hurt us. In conflict it is often necessary to tell the person with whom we have a strained relationship specifically why we are hurt or angry and to do so in a non-accusatory manner. When we attack or accuse others, they are likely to put up their defences and make conflict resolution more difficult. Dealing with the hurt that festers But sometimes a hurt is deeper than that, festering over days, months or even years. It is destructive to us individually and to the church as a whole for such conflicts to remain unresolved. It is possible for communities to foster an environment in which honesty about conflict is acceptable, in which members know a little anger will not lead to severing of relationships. "If you never take out the rubbish," somebody said, "someday your church will become a dump". I want to be part of a Christian community where the rubbish is taken out regularly, where the air is clear of unresolved tension and where relationships are strong enough that people can disagree. Nelson Kraybill, former Director of the London Mennonite Centre , is a trained conflict mediator. |