wfn.org | Syngman Rhee on reconciliation: be a bridge - touch both sides and

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6683 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

lie down
14-June-2001
GA01124

Syngman Rhee on reconciliation: be a bridge - touch both sides and lie down

by Luca Negro

LOUISVILLE, June 14 - Who could guess that the Rev. Syngman Rhee, moderator
of the 212th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), served
for 5 years as a Marine in the South Korean army? "But at that time I really
looked like a marine," said Rhee Thursday morning speaking on reconciliation
at the Worldwide Ministries Breakfast of the 213th Assembly.

	Originally from North Korea, persecuted by the communist regime because of
his Christian faith, Rhee fled to South Korea, joined the Marines and fought
against the North. In 1955 he was discharged and decided to attend the
Presbyterian Seminary in Louisville, later becoming a campus minister in the
same city.

	"My impetus for reconciliation," said Rhee, "came in the years of the civil
rights movement, when Martin Luther King used to march with us here in
Louisville. At that time many people asked why, being an Asian, I got
involved in 'black and white' issues. But justice and peace are not white
nor black nor yellow. They are God's people's issues, because we live in a
global village."

	"The most important lesson I learned from Martin Luther King," he added,
"is that the civil rights movement was not merely for the oppressed, but for
the oppressors too. In fact, I wanted to destroy my enemies, but I was
enlightened by the vision of a new society for all, based on peace and
justice. That's how I began to think and work for the reconciliation of
North and South Korea."

	"What does the message of reconciliation mean for us in our Church?" said
Rhee, hinting at the critical tensions within the PC(USA). "We have to
become bridges, but in order to be a bridge you need to touch both parts,
and also to be willing to lie down, to stretch out so that people from both
sides can cross over, back and forth. Sometimes I would like to get up and
say, 'look and listen, I'm the bridge!'  But in that very moment I am no
more a bridge. Therefore we have to lie down, so that many can cross."

	Rhee concluded quoting Dag Hammarskjold, "Forgiving is forgetting, in spite
of remembering."

_______________________________________________
pcusaNews mailing list
pcusaNews@pcusa.org

To unsubscribe, go to this web address:
http://pcusa01.pcusa.org/mailman/listinfo/pcusanews