Blogging From Busan - Final Reflection on Peace From the WCC Assembly in Korea

Tomorrow we have the closing plenary and sending-off prayers and after these reflective and enriching days at the WCC assembly, Lungi and I will be travelling back home.

Thanks for your prayers, the peace plenary happened and we will leave it to those who attended to evaluate it. In Sepedi we say, "Ngoana wa Mosotho, senne o ipolela, Motho o motle, ha a bolelwa ke ba bang." In sum, you can't promote yourself, or you need to allow others to critique you.

But I felt privileged to moderate this last plenary on peace as part of the assembly theme, "God of life, lead us to justice and peace." Ms Leymah Gbowee, a Nobel peace laureate, and Korean theologian Prof Chang Yoon Jae shared their perspectives on peacemaking and the underlying issues that undermine peace.

Ms Gbowee shared the situation in her country, Liberia, that led women to march and present a petition to the former leader, Charles Taylor. Prof Chang raised his concerns about the lack of peace in Korea and the need to be critical of nuclear power. He gave theological insights important for understanding the politics of nuclear energy and its dangers.

We also listened to Stan Noffsinger from the Church of the Brethren, a peace church in the US, and two young members, Agatha Abrahamian from Iran and Fabian Corrales from Costa Rica shared their personal stories. Then the young people broke into song and dance, holding placards carrying peace messages.

We formed a human chain across the auditorium, reflected on the message we heard today and resolved to be peacemakers as we leave BUSAN. After a short peace greeting, we offered one another the sign of peace.

Thank you all for reading these reflections, I hope they gave you a little glimpse of what took place at the WCC 10th assembly. You could follow in depth the proceedings on the WCC Twitter feed and website.

The God of peace who raised Jesus from the dead, make you strong and courageous in all you do as you pursue peace in the world and with God's creation.

God bless
+ Thabo

PHOTOS: Liberian Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee spoke at the peace plenary on Thursday (top photo) and Archbishop Thabo (below) moderated discussions. (Photos by Teresiah Njoki/WCC)

Blogging From Busan - Reflections on Church Unity, Ecumenism - And a Little Gossip?

Today we discussed church unity, with Dame Mary Tanner from our Communion moderating the session. She concluded her opening remarks by saying, "It remains a scandal and a wound that we can't share together at the table of the Lord."

These words are apt and real and sum up the doctrinal and ecclesial wedges which have separated us over many years. In some ecumenical gatherings, at least in Southern Africa, this has eased a bit and I hope we will one day share not only in ministries but also the same cup of the Lord regardless of denomination, especially those who take sacramental ministries seriously.

In the unity plenary, we were careful not to raise the core issues of Orthodoxy and orthodoxy. His Excellency Metropolitan Nifon raised important theological matters, stressing that we all inherited our kinship as brothers and sisters in the Lord through baptism and that we need to remember the perichoresis, the concept that holds the Trinity together, as holding us together too, not allowing room for any differentiation or discrimination. But then he contradicted himself and said ecclesiology remains a challenge because "confessional dress" should lead to exclusion if we don't interpret the same understanding that God's eternal ideals are unchangeable. He did not dwell on this point and assumed we understood and agreed with this statement. A fellow South African, Ms Alice Fabian of the United Congregational Church, presented a view of church unity from the perspective of two congregations, who were once separated by apartheid and are now joined together to be one parish. The other presenters sketched the real issues of race, sexuality, class, gender and denominational dominance as they impacted on church unity.

Among statements which the main business plenary deliberated on was the unity statement, which was careful to raise only biblical and theological matters and the historical journey of the the WCC, staying away from controversial subjects, at this stage avoiding even mentioning same-sex unions. However, the participants forced the referral of the statement back to committee and for further submissions. The session was lively, it becoming apparent who the assembly's most eloquent spokespersons were -- they never failed to use their God-given time to approach the microphone and state their case on any issue.

The ecumenical conversations ended today. Bishop Jo and I have religiously attended these and we both agreed that we now have a better grasp of the concept of just peace. We both attended the Madang presentation by the Norwegian church on peace and signed our names to be included on any global network or initiative for peace if done ecumenically.

It is nearing time to say goodbye and termination anxiety is setting in. So completing the ecumenical conversation was the first stage of the goodbyes. In the business sessions we sit behind two Aussies, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, the Primate of Australia and the Archbishop of Adelaide. We connect daily and reflect quietly on the process, its similarities to and stark differences from the assumptions and practices of the Anglican way doing things. On my left, we are next to Archdeacon Bruce Meyers from Canada, who was a student I was suffragan bishop in Grahamstown. So we are well placed among Anglicans and can confer (or is it gossip?) on matters from time to time.

Again I conclude with where we started the day. We had greetings from the CEO of The Lausanne Movement, who reiterated the need for us as the household of faith to pursue unity, maintain ongoing dialogue and at least to foster partnerships in our mission and ministry to God's world. And as I reflected on bridges on Sunday, may we indeed continue to be "pontiffs", bridges that foster this unity that our Lord and yearned and prayed for.

God bless
+Thabo

PHOTOS:
Top - Dame Mary Tanner; Middle - Business plenary; Bottom - Morning prayer (All photos by Peter Williams, WCC)

Blogging from Busan - On All Saints Day, Meeting Anglicans, Moving Stories from Asia, Discussing Just Peace and Raised Blood Pressure

Today, on All Saints Day, let me start at the end of the day.

The Anglican Church of Korea hosted a dinner for our Anglican confessional group at the Novotel. There were about 160 Anglicans present, plus some of our hosts. I proposed a toast to our beloved Anglican Communion and to Archbishop Justin and Caroline Welby. A delightful evening with good company and delicious food on the occasion of the 123rd year of the founding of this diocese, as Archbishop Paul Kim of Korea pointed out. The dinner reminded us that nothing replaces face-to-face encounters with other Anglicans, for through these we appreciate each other more and consequently grow in love for God and one another, for this is communion.

The dinner was preceded by a service celebrating All Saints Day, and Archbishop Justin preached a sermon reminding us of the gift and responsibility we have as Anglicans to care for one another even as we value our differences. In a plenary session in the auditorium, Archbishop Justin had also addressed the WCC assembly, again drawing on our Anglican heritage and highlighting the enormous privilege and also responsibility of defining our identity within the broader ecumenical framework.

In another WCC plenary dedicated to Asia, drama and speeches drew our attention to the life, witness, worship and near-martyrdom of the church in this continent. This was very moving, drawing us into their story and how they perceived their position as a persecuted minority which faced near-extinction in certain places. There were also redemptive stories, especially one related by a missionary doctor who told of his experience of two parents at first rejecting a pair of Siamese twins, but then – when one died after an operation to separate them – reclaiming the surviving twin. Again, we were challenged by the difficulty most communities have in dealing with difference and disability.

Today, I also had an opportunity to connect with Presiding Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa at the assembly's health machine vendor, where as we measured our blood pressure we chuckled at how ecumenical work raised it. I also had some time with Bishop Jo of Pretoria, just connecting at a personal and informal level. Bishop Jo and I are together in the “Just Peace” conversation group. Today we were running behind schedule at this session, and there was less input by speakers and more rushed conversation. But it was still very useful since although we went off initially at a tangent, we finally got stuck into discussing the real definitional and conceptual issues of what a just peace is all about, as well as strategies for praxis.

The business plenary was tense and rigorous, which reflected our reality and was to be expected, especially after one of the speakers raised issues of marriage and sexuality and posited his theological view as the correct one. There is a growing conservatism – and I say this without advocating moral relativism – which can lead to the trashing of God-given freedom and rational thought, as well as of the celebration of diversity. Of course there should be limits to everything, such as we found in our ecumenical conversation, where we were starting to explore a call to close down a nuclear power plant, mindful of the fact that we are only a few kilometres from one in South Korea.

As most of you know by now, for me communications and accountability are key. Today I spent time with the Episcopal News Service in the person of Matthew Davies, as well as with WCC communications people, exploring further ways in which I and our province can communicate more effectively. We recorded an AIDS day message as well as one about our perception and understanding of ecumenism.

Tomorrow, we have excursions around the area where we are meeting and, God willing, we will go to the port and ecological areas preserved around Busan. It is our daughter's birthday today, so I want to end this on the personal and send her “hugs and kisses,” as she would normally say when she is in a good mood.

May God our parent who looks after us all shower her and all parishes named All Saints with blessings. We are all saints if we do the will of God who sent us.

God bless
+Thabo

PHOTO: A performance at the WCC assembly features Asian concerns, acknowledging struggles of churches seeking justice and peace.

Blogging from Busan - Of Anglicans, Aids, Pamphlets and Pickets at the WCC

At the World Council of Churches assembly in Korea today, we spent more time in a “business plenary”, “ecumenical conversations” and then a “theme plenary” as well as in regional groups. (See an explanation of the programme here>>)

Prior to these, I had the opportunity to meet privately with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi with the head of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidibé.

We spoke of the need to address as an Anglican Communion some of the systemic issues that still cause new HIV infections when in general the rate is dropping. Inequality has robbed many of a voice in calling for access to treatment and the church is urged to speak up urgently on this. The concern is that epicentre of this crisis has shifted into stable heterosexual relationships and this is of great concern, says Mr Sidibé. We three archbishops agreed to collaborate with UNAIDS, particularly around the forthcoming 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence and on AIDS Day. We noted the growing marginalization of some groups, especially in homophobic countries, and how this may indirectly spread infection as people hide both their sexuality and their HIV status.

In the theme plenary, we listened to the church address its impact or lack thereof in the mission field. We heard of the isolation and pain of the Coptic Christians in Alexandria and of the need to come alongside them in this difficult time.

In our ecumenical plenary, I chose the the justice and peace session and was again struck by the notion of “just peace” and the reminder that "the strength of the powerful depends on the obedience and compliance of its citizens..." Citizens do have the capacity to use non-violent means to change a violent order, to give voice to the voiceless and accomplish reconciliation. The session enabled us to explore this notion of just peace in a little more depth.

Jape Heath, a priest from our province now working in Sweden, who is both HIV positive and in a same-sex relationship, is open these issues and shared with the Archbishop of Canterbury and me the work of INERELA+ – an organisation now comprising thousands of immuno-compromised religious leaders who are ready to share their redemptive stories on living with the HI Virus.

We ended with an Africa group regional meeting, sharing issues as they affected the continent and recommending candidates for election to the Central Committee of the WCC. I was so proud of how our continent, without compromising the process, performed in reflecting a gender balance in nominations. Pray for the candidates as nominations close.

Let me end with what we started with after morning prayer. We had Chung Hongwon, prime minister of South Korea address us and bring greetings. He spoke passionately and demonstrated the importance of church-state relations. Please pray for the ecumenical witness in our country. Today at the regional meeting, I was able to see colleagues from our country's ecumenical bodies and could at least "praat”, “khuluma” and “buwa” our country's languages. There are of course some who, as is customary at these gatherings, are picketing us, putting pamphlets in our faces because they like neither the conference theme nor the WCC. Pray for us all.

God bless
+ Thabo

PHOTO: Dr Wedad Abbas Tawfik from Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria speaking at the WCC assembly in Busan.