World Alliance of Reformed Churches News Release 25 October 2007
WARC Executive Committee: Trinidad and Tobago, 18-28 October 2007
Sacred journey marks abolition of transatlantic slave trade
A sacred journey from slave sites in Africa to the Caribbean was marked yesterday as Reformed church leaders from around the world commemorated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade by the British Parliament 200 years ago.
Members of the Executive Committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) gathered for an emotional service of worship adjacent to remains of a mortar building constructed by African slaves in 1802 on Nelson Island off the coast of Trinidad.
"This is holy ground,"? said WARC general secretary Setri Nyomi, who had uttered similar words three years ago when delegates to WARC's 24th General Council at Accra, Ghana, gathered at the so-called slave castles at Elmina and Cape Coast.
"It has been holy ground for many reasons and this is why we wanted you to be here,"? Nyomi added. Approximately 47,000 African slaves were brought to Trinidad during the trade, mostly from surrounding islands.
Nelson Island served as a holding area for 101,000 indentured slaves from India from 1865 to 1917 and later as a prison for political prisoners, including students and labour leaders, as well as those incarcerated during the black power riots of the 1970s.
"Unless we allow our minds and memories and spirit to go back to those times, we will not be able to move on,"? said worship leader Robina Winbush of the United States.
"I commend this action of WARC,"? added Hazel Ann Gibbs De Peza, a Baptist teacher from Trinidad and Tobago. "May the reflections and prayers of this sacred journey serve to release the burdens that the generations of the slaves carry with us today."?
Sombre delegates then joined together in reading a prayer for those taken by the slave trade:
"For the millions; for the millions of Africans chained to slave ships; for the millions of scars on the backs and faces of the bullwhip; for the millions who jumped overboard; for the blood that poured on the shores of the Caribbean, North America, South America, Central America? each ripple in the ocean is a grave to an African who refused to be a slave."?
The service included African music, drumming and a communion service, as well as a series of brief reflections from descendants of victims of the slave trade.
Collin Cowan of Jamaica, who talked about feeling "the pain of my ancestors" in Ghana in 2004, reminded the gathering that the abolition of the slave trade was as much an act of expedience as it was one of great morality. â??It was no longer economically viable for slave owners to bring the slaves across the Atlantic.â??
Added Oliver Patterson of the United States, his voice rising with rage: "I stand in and out of history, shaped by those who write history. Who am I?"? He added: "How could they have taken my tongue, my grandfather, my heritage?
"Who am I? I am still finding out. I stand in and out of history."
The delegates, including church representatives from some of the countries who ran the slave trade, prayed, "Today we confess our complicity in the atrocities of slavery and racism. Too often we have been silent when we should have spoken, we have been indifferent when we need to show concern and we have blamed others rather than ourselves for what has happened."
The service ended with a hymn that rang out across the island: "Slavery chain done broke at last?gonna praise God till I die:"? The theme of the WARC Executive Committee meeting "Called to be a communion: from Elmina to Port of Spain."? While the journey to the Caribbean marks an important step in recognizing the African holocaust, following the service president Clifton Kirkpatrick reminded the Reformed leaders that people continue to be brutalized in today's world.
"We live it out differently. I do we have to brutalize each other with now?"
Added, Winbush, who had led the communion service, "I look at the communion table differently now, as a place of invitation to struggle for justice."?
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The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) brings together 75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries - united in their commitment to making a difference in a troubled world. The WARC general secretary is Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana. WARC's secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Contact: John P. Asling Executive Secretary, Communications World Alliance of Reformed Churches 150 Route de Ferney P.O. Box 2100 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland tel. +41.22 791 6243 fax: +41.22 791 6505 web: www.warc.ch
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