wfn.org | WCC General Secretary Issues 1997 Christmas Message

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

9-December-1997 
97451 
 
    WCC General Secretary Issues 1997 Christmas Message 
 
    by the Rev. Konrad Raiser 
    General Secretary, World Council of Churches 
 
    Once again, at Christmas, we hear the message of the angels who sing: 
"Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to all in whom he 
delights" (Luke 2:14).  This was and is the announcement that a new era, 
the reign of the Prince of Peace, his begun. 
 
    We hear the message.  It responds to our deepest longings, but we still 
wait for its fulfillment.  Who can count those who were killed during this 
year in wars and military confrontation, those who were massacred as 
defenseless victims of terrorism?  More than ever the world seems to be 
held captive to the unending cycle of fighting and killing, of victory and 
revenge, of merciless competition for power, and of a culture of violence 
in which only the winner counts. 
 
    And yet, the reign of the Prince of Peace has begun.  It does not make 
the headlines.  It escapes the focus of TV cameras.  It does not conform to 
the law that the winner takes all and can impose the terms of peace.  The 
new era of peace which began with the birth of Jesus continues today among 
the little ones, those who are forgotten, excluded and lost.  These are 
those whom God loves and in whom he delights.  For, as Mary the mother of 
Jesus said, "[God] has lifted up the lowly and has filled the hungry with 
good things" (Luke 1:52f.). 
 
    Is this real or is it wishful thinking?  We may indeed need new eyes to 
discover the ways in which God's reign of peace shows itself in our time. 
And there are examples, like parables, pointing to this different reality. 
 
    In August this year, the World Council of Churches launched a "Peace to 
the City" campaign as the initial focus of its Program to Overcome 
Violence.  The campaign is designed to make visible the efforts of those 
often unknown groups of women and men who dare to be peacemakers in the 
midst of a culture of violence.  They live among us in our troubled cities, 
like Belfast and Boston, Rio and Colombo, Suba in Fiji, Durban and 
Kingston.  They live and work among street children and urban gangs.  They 
seek to mediate between ethnic groups and protect minorities.  They monitor 
police actions and help to improve run-down neighborhoods. 
 
    Through their lives and actions, they help a culture of peace to 
emerge.  These people of peace are signs that the reign of the Prince of 
Peace has begun.  It is real.  In this, today's peacemakers echo the 
Christmas message of the angels: "Glory to God in the highest heaven and on 
earth peace to all in whom he delights." 

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