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
German Mennonite Peace Committee Volunteer
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'The Bridge: A Journey Towards Reconciliation'

Echoes of Graz

'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.

Of course the aim was to inspire people to think about the issues of refugees, prejudice, injustice, the need for reconciliation in our world....No doubt some will have gone away with images in their minds, songs and words in their ears and associations which will sow the seed and nurture work towards reconciliation.

We must surely concede that this is work well done!

Sarah Dodds

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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
Forgiveness has to do with reconciliation. Reconciliation is inconceivable without Christ and without the cross as a symbol of reconciliation.
Peter Beier, former President of the Rhineland Protestant Church, now deceased, often reminded us forcefully of what this message of the cross means - for us, for our image of God, and for our faith and action. Let me quote from one of his sermons:

"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-
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"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."
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NRSV)

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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
the logic of our own sense of justice, a form of justice which does not condemn people to death, but which saves them and gives them new life.

God performs reconciliation
That is why it is always God who performs reconciliation. It is not God who must be reconciled by us. No, He reconciles us with himself. God comes to meet us with open arms, like the father who goes to meet the prodigal son who had come to grief in a distant land (Luke 15:11-32).

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:
"We can't bring this reconciliation about. God has already effected this reconciliation in Christ. So we can only accept his reconciliation or stand in the way of it and oppose it. This reconciliation is not cheap, because it has been brought about by the death and resurrection of the Son of God and by his victory over the powers of destruction. From a Christian point of view this reconciliation is both a precondition and a touchstone for all our attempts to bring about recon-ciliation between individuals and between peoples or nations." (Hoffnung in der Krise, pp 95)

The gift of reconciliation
A gift is laid in our hands: the gift of reconciliation. This gift finds its most intimate expression in the Eucharist. Christ gives himself to us entirely in the symbols of bread and wine. In bread and wine we partake of his reconciling love and power which enable us not only to live but also to live together.

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
Paul experienced this in his own life on the road to Damascus. This experience was of fundamental importance to him and plays a key role in his theology.

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-

Photo: Christian Hohmann
formed as a result. Reconciliation with God means to be at peace with God. God does not judge us.

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
The message of reconciliation is not a
world view, which is to be kept like a precious jewel between the covers of a book. It is the basis for the survival of life on this planet.

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
an act of faith: faith that it is not yet too late for our world, that conversion and transformation are still possible; faith that our going astray is not inevitable and that it is possible to overcome the institution of war and genocide.

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
Reconciliation requires people who voluntarily undertake service for reconciliation, people who work for peace and reconciliation, people who are willing to go into areas of conflict and to try to contribute to the nonviolent resolution of conflict.

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:
"I have seen too much hatred to want to hate.... Hatred is too heavy a burden to carry. Somehow we must be able to go up to our bitterest enemy and say: We will meet your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering." (Schöpferischer Wider-stand, pp 115)

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
We can only serve the cause of reconciliation if we are ready to face the truth, sensitively, but consciously and without hesitation. We have to face the truth of our partnership, the truth of our very different situations and the different challenges of being a church in the German or Botswanan or other context.

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).
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Photo: Christian Hohmann

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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:
"Thank you for not wanting to tolerate the scandal of separation and for wanting to overcome it with so much commitment and un-mistakable determination. Thank you for encouraging us to continue on the direct and open road of reconciliation and unity, not only in words, but also, more importantly, in our deeds. And even though we have disap-pointed you so often, please make your voice heard even more clearly and remind us to fulfil our obli-gations as servants of God and the Church. We must serve and not rule! (...) So what we need is an open, transparent and honest dialogue of reconciliation with self-criticism and humility (...)." (EEA Document W7)

The connection between reconciliation and justice
As Christians, we have to face the fact that we ourselves are involved in the turmoil and injustice in the world. Christians are to be found on both sides of so many conflicts. There are huge material and economic differences between us. Whereas some fear for their livelihood each day, others live in relative financial security. Although our churches are now having to cope with considerable financial losses, the gap between rich and poor churches has yet to be overcome. Nowhere is the split between Christians more oppressive and painful than where wealth and poverty meet each other in the church context. I believe the most fundamental problem which the ecumenical world has to face lies in these differences.

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:
"Africa was once the centre of colonial interest: every ship leaving a European harbour sailed to Africa to return with great wealth. Now it is no longer worth colonising or defending Africa. It doesn't even seem to be worth spending money on UN peacekeeping missions in regions of conflict in Africa. The life of an African does not seem to be worth as much as the life of a European. When we see African children dying on television news reports and African women carrying all their worldly goods on their heads and with dead or dying children on their backs, looking for a place to bury them, we must ask ourselves: What does recon-ciliation mean? What does it mean in an era of global economic apartheid?" (EEA Document P7)

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:
"(...) in our human relationships we have learnt that without recon-ciliation we are condemned to repeat old conflicts and to go to the dogs together. To put it briefly, where there is no reconciliation there is no chance of new life and a new beginning. The most important thing that we have learnt from the Truth Commission in South Africa is that reconciliation is not a luxury which nations can choose if they wish. Every day we learn that nations reap death and self-destruction, if they do not invest time and resources and pray and work for the realisation of rec-onciliation." (EEA Document P7)

Christian Hohmann
trans GM, MK
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Dealing Creatively with Conflict in the Church and Christian Communities

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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
The past twenty years have seen a great deal of research and writing on conflict theory and management. That growing field sometimes coincides in striking ways with teaching grounded in Jesus and the early church. Biblical teaching -- often confirmed by modern conflict theory -- points to the following proposals:

-Conflict is normal and will be with us to the end of time.
All churches have conflict, even if the conflict is suppressed by authoritarian leadership or fear of confrontation. We humans have different perspectives, we "see through a glass darkly", and we are sometimes given to selfish agenda. The early church was rife with dispute: there were divisions at Corinth (1 Corinthians 3:1-9), Paul and Barnabas could not agree and parted company (Acts 15:36-40), and the status of Gentiles among the first Christians led to angry confrontation (Acts 15:1-35, Galatians 2:1-14).

-Conflict might be a sign that people really care
Woe to the friendship or Christian community where there is never conflict; relationships in that case are at such a superficial level that they cannot be life-transforming.

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-

tion. Such individuals care enough about the church and their relationship to it that they are willing to take up vigorous debate to be heard and noticed. If such people didn't care about the community or its direction, they would not spend the energy and time necessary to engage in conflict.

-Conflict is related to power
Many of us would like to deny that power is even an issue among "us humble saints" of the Christian community. In fact, any group that functions corporately must have some distribution of power. Power is the ability to influence others and to help shape the outcome of group decisions. Conflict arises when we perceive a threat to our power. Leaders in a position of power sometimes use their status to silence disagreement. In the end, forced consensus may produce a surface calm, but underneath community members may still be angry and find their creativity stifled. People who feel themselves to be on the losing end of conflict may withdraw emotionally or physically from the community.

-Conflict, handled well, can lead to growth and intimacy.
Have you discovered that you sometimes feel closest to a friend or colleague after you've creatively worked though a difficult disagreement? If we care enough to listen, to express our anger and hurt, we learn to know others on a deeper level. It is critical that we engage in conflict in such a way that the other party knows we respect and care about their concerns. Here the example and teaching of Jesus is helpful.

Practical teaching from Jesus and the early church
Almost from start to finish in his ministry, Jesus generated conflict or found himself caught in it. Herod slaughtered innocent children in an effort to destroy the baby Jesus; folks in his hometown tried to lynch Jesus when he first spoke in the synagogue of Nazareth; Jesus had lengthy and heated exchanges with local religious leaders - who eventually engineered his execution. The early church was full of disagreements, and New Testament authors have quite a lot to say on the topic. Biblical teaching seems to point to the following guidelines.

-Address conflicts so we have freedom to worship God
Jesus says, "When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24). Jesus does not allow us to separate our relationship to God from our relationship to others in the church. At the centre of the Lord's Prayer we find the words, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." Our forgiveness in the eyes of God, and our freedom to come to him in worship, are closely related to our willingness to share God's grace and forgiveness with those with whom we are in conflict!

-Find appropriate ways to admit and express anger
Jesus got angry (e.g. Matthew 23) and once even overturned tables in the temple courts. He also knew that anger inappropriately expressed could do great damage, "If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say 'You fool', you will be liable to the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22). Jesus never suggests we should avoid anger; he simply reminds us that God is watching what we do with it. The point at which anger threatens our own soul is when we resort to insult. It is insulting to attach dismissive labels to Christian brothers and sisters or to write off their convictions and ideas as "ridiculous".

-Keep conflicts up to date
A friend of mine once said that it is urgent that we not keep a list of complaints about others and then "dump the whole load" some time when we really get angry. Jesus instructs us to make sure we are in right relationship with sisters and brothers every time we worship, never allowing a backlog of anger and unresolved issues to accumulate. Festering anger ends in bitterness that could lead us to dishonourable actions and attitudes.

-Speak directly to the person(s) with whom we disagree
Perhaps our most natural response when we feel wronged by someone in a Christian community is to talk to a third party. Sometimes it is helpful to get a third person's counsel or perspective. But modern conflict theory agrees with the teaching of Jesus: go directly to the person with whom we are in conflict, rather than creating a "triangle" of conflict by unloading our feelings on a third person.

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 writes of "speaking the truth in love" (4:15). I can think of no more succinct advice than that for dealing with conflict. Tell the truth, let others know exactly how we feel and where we hurt - but do it in love.

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
Are there hurts we should "forgive and forget" without ever discussing with the people who wronged us? Yes! Life is much easier if we allow others a certain margin for human error and poor judgement. There's no reason to be constantly falling over each other demanding apologies and reassessing every little altercation.

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.