wfn.org | WCC pastoral letter to US churches urges discernment in

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

response to attacks

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-33
For Immediate Use
21 September 2001

WCC pastoral letter to US churches urges discernment in response
to attacks

cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-32, of 11 September 2001

WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, sent a pastoral
letter to WCC member churches in the USA on Thursday, 20
September, to express continued ecumenical support and sympathy
in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington, DC, and to
urge discernment and encourage faithfulness in local, national
and international responses.   

The letter also shares the WCC Executive Committee's
recommendation to send a delegation of church leaders from around
the world to the US as "'living letters' of compassion, and to
engage with you in a common reflection about how we can shape a
shared witness to the world in a time of such great need".  

The text of the letter follows:

"Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Grace and peace to you in our One Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ.  

In the brief message I sent you on behalf of the Executive
Committee of the World Council of Churches on that tragic morning
of 11 September, I assured you of the prayers of your sister
churches around the world. That was an affirmation of faith. Now
you have had the evidence of those prayers in an almost
unprecedented flood of messages of compassion, love and
solidarity from churches in East, West, North and South.  

This expression of unity in such a time of trial gives flesh to
the words Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth: "Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies
and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so
that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction,
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through
Christ we share abundantly in comfort too... Our hope for you is
unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you
will also share in our comfort" ( II Cor. 1:3-7).  

As I write to you now, ten days after the tragedy, the words in
the Revelation to John addressed to the angel of the church in
Ephesus also come to mind. "I know your works, your toil and your
patient endurance... I know you are enduring patiently and
bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary"
(Rev. 2:2-7).   

In these days, you have sought to respond in faith to many
contradictory voices. Some plead for a form of justice that would
name the evil and identify those responsible and bring them to
trial in appropriate courts of law. Others, however, want
decisive military action to show the will of the nation to avenge
its losses and deny victory to its enemies. Very many share the
deep apprehension you have heard from churches abroad about the
prospect of the United States striking out again with its
uncontested military might. They fear that this would result in
an ever-rising spiral of retributive violence and the loss of
ever more lives.  

Words of condemnation and the language of "war" come so quickly
to the fore. Blame is easily assigned to "the enemy". These are
reinforced by the images and messages streaming across all our
television screens, wherever we live. It is far more difficult to
regard ourselves in the mirror of such hatred, and to have the
courage to recognize how deeply violence is rooted within
ourselves, our communities and even our churches. These are
lessons we are all trying to learn in the Decade to Overcome
Violence.  

Among those who have contributed to the remarkable outpouring of
sympathy with the USA have been other communities of faith. They
share both your sufferings and your fears. Partly in response to
this, but also out of your own sense of justice, you have reached
out to those communities in your own nation and with them have
spoken out clearly against threats or open acts of violence
against Muslims and Arab Americans. This powerful witness must be
heard both at home and abroad. No one should be allowed to forget
that in the places often mentioned as primary targets of military
retaliation, Muslims, Christians, and people of other faiths live
side by side. Minority Christian communities and those majority
communities with whom their lives are shared stand to suffer
severely at the hands of religious extremists if the "Christian"
West strikes out yet again.  

People in your country and around the world have gathered
together during this past week in sanctuaries of the churches for
silent reflection, and to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit,
who stands beside us in our time of need and journeys with us
through the valley of the shadow of death. In these safe spaces,
Christians and others have sought to discern the deeper meaning
of such thoughtless acts and the suffering they have inflicted.
This is indeed a time for quiet discernment of the "signs of the
times", for courage and wisdom, and to pray for God's guidance.
As the prophet Isaiah says: "In quietness and trust shall be your
strength" (Is. 30:15).  

The message to the church in Ephesus goes on, however: "But I
have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had
at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do
the works you did at first." The United States was one of the
early architects of the United Nations and was once among the
strongest advocates for the international rule of law. In recent
times, however, it has repeatedly ignored its international
obligations and declared its intention to ignore the rest of the
world in pursuit of its own perceived self-interests. This it
does to its own and the world's peril. The events of 11 September
have again reminded all nations that all are vulnerable and that
the only true security is common security. The United States, so
often accused, has now been the beneficiary of the sympathy and
solidarity of the whole world. It could respond in kind and with
humility by reversing its course now and rejoining the global
community in a common pursuit of justice for all. It could set
aside its reliance on military might at whatever cost and invest
in efforts to find non-violent solutions to conflicts generated
by poverty, mistrust, greed and intolerance.  

As the writer of the Book of Revelation says, "He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."  

It is one of the chief marks of the ecumenical movement that the
churches understand Jesus's prayer that they all might be one, as
he is one with the Father. They are being called to practise
mutual love and to extend this love even to the enemy, to become,
as our familiar hymn puts it, "one great fellowship of love in
all the whole wide earth". No one can live alone, separated from
the wider fellowship, for we share one humanity. When one hurts,
all suffer together.  

As an expression of that fellowship, the WCC Executive Committee
has expressed its desire to send to you a delegation of church
leaders from around the world as "living letters" of compassion,
and to engage with you in a common reflection about how we can
shape a shared witness to the world in a time of such great need.
I hope that you will welcome and open your hearts to them as they
will to you.  

I reassure you again of our constant prayers, our love and our
appreciation for your ministries of consolation and of prophetic
vision. May God bless, guide and continue to strengthen you.  

Yours in Christ, the Prince of Peace."

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer, Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53, Mobile:  (+41)
79.284.52.12

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
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