wfn.org | Faith and Life commentary: The Balkans - a time for healing

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 9, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71BP{321}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of the Rev. Phil Wogaman is available.

A UMNS Commentary
by the Rev. Phil Wogaman*

Boris Trajkovski is the deputy foreign minister of the Republic of
Macedonia. He is also a United Methodist, which is unusual for a high
government official in that predominantly Orthodox land. (He has, in fact,
been a delegate to the last three General Conferences, where I first met
him). As you can imagine, Mr. Trajkovski is also in the epicenter of the
Kosovo crisis, supervising the handling of more than a quarter of a million
refugees currently being cared for in Macedonia.  

He was recently in Washington, along with the prime minister, Ljubco
Georgievski, seeking American financial assistance for this monumental task.
In a meeting with them here, I was deeply impressed by their compassionate
understanding of the situation and their determination to see it through.   

Mr. Trajkovski related some of his experiences in refugee camps and how he
is attempting to deal sympathetically with both Albanians and Serbians in
Macedonia. He and the prime minister were hopeful that the military part of
the crisis was about over (we met the very day the Serbian Parliament
ratified the peace agreement), but the tasks of resettlement and
reconstruction are daunting. They are, I thought, doing the work of the
Lord. They deserve whatever support our government and our churches can give
them.

We discussed the role and responsibilities of the United States as the
wealthiest nation on earth and the sole remaining "superpower." I noted that
their country, Macedonia, could once have been described in exactly those
terms. That was during the time in the fourth century B.C., when Alexander
the Great, of Macedonia, conquered the known world. Those moments in history
come and go. The United States will not occupy its present status forever.
The question is, will we be remembered for our vision and as a healing
presence in the world?

We certainly can be. Our presence in the Balkans has been to help ensure
that ethnic cleansing will no longer be tolerated. Our hope is that Europe
will be united and democratic and that the tragic legacies of ethnic
conflict will recede into the past. That can happen in the Balkans as it has
in other deeply divided parts of the world. But it will take much generosity
and compassion and a lot of plain hard work. 

I can scarcely imagine how bitter the Kosovo refugees must feel toward the
Serbs who inflicted such atrocities on them. One of the refugees was quoted
in The Washington Post about the prospect of living again side by side with
Serbs: "The lamb and the wolf cannot be in the same place. We must be free.
The Serbs must go." At the same time, the Serbs are deeply embittered by the
bombing that has set their country's economic development back by decades -
unless there is massive assistance.

We can understand such feelings. But these cycles of bitterness and the
desire for revenge cannot be allowed to go on forever. Part of the task is
very material: repairing the damage, feeding the hungry, reconstructing the
economy, repatriating the refugees, protecting both Serbs and Albanians from
reprisals. But much of the task is spiritual. Now is surely the time for
Christians and Muslims to reach deep into the resources of their faith
traditions to find the spiritual strength to forgive and be reconciled. For
unless a basis can be found for Albanians and Serbs to live together again,
neither will truly be free. 

I hope that the wider Christian community, along with our Muslim friends,
can help with that.

# # # 

*Wogaman, pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, is a
seminary professor of Christian ethics and author. He is a clergy member of
the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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