wfn.org | On waging reconciliation: Statement from Bishops of the Episcopal Church

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2001-272

On waging reconciliation

Statement from Bishops of the Episcopal Church Released by the Office of the 
Presiding Bishop

     September 26, 2001

     We, your bishops, have come together in the shadow of the shattering events 
of September 11.  We in the United States now join that company of nations in 
which ideology disguised as true religion wreaks havoc and sudden death.  Through 
this suffering, we have come into a new solidarity with those in other parts of 
the world for whom the evil forces of terrorism are a continuing fear and 
reality.

     We grieve with those who have lost companions and loved ones, and pray for 
those who have so tragically died.  We pray for the President of the United 
States, his advisors, and for the members of Congress that they may be given 
wisdom and prudence for their deliberations and measured patience in their 
actions. We pray for our military chaplains, and for those serving in the Armed 
Forces along with their families in these anxious and uncertain days.  We also 
pray "for our enemies, and those who wish us harm; and for all whom we have 
injured or offended." (BCP, page 391)

     At the same time we give thanks for the rescue workers and volunteers, and 
all those persons whose courageous efforts demonstrated a generosity and 
selflessness that bears witness to the spirit of our nation at its best.  We give 
thanks too for all those who are reaching out to our Muslim brothers and sisters 
and others who are rendered vulnerable in this time of fear and recrimination.

     We come together also in the shadow of the cross: that unequivocal sign that 
suffering and death are never the end but the way along which we pass into a 
future in which all things will be healed and reconciled. Through Christ "God was 
pleased to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, by 
making peace through the blood of his cross."  (Col. 1:20)  This radical act of 
peace-making is nothing less than the right ordering of all things according to 
God's passionate desire for justness, for the full flourishing of humankind and 
all creation. 

     This peace has already been achieved in Christ, but it has yet to be 
realized in our relationships with one another and the world around us.  As 
members of a global community and the worldwide Anglican Communion, we are called 
to bear one another's burdens across the divides of culture, religion, and 
differing views of the world.  The affluence of nations such as our own stands in 
stark contrast to other parts of the world wracked by the crushing poverty which 
causes the death of 6,000 children in the course of a morning.

     We are called to self-examination and repentance: the willingness to change 
direction, to open our hearts and give room to God's compassion as it seeks to 
bind up, to heal, and to make all things new and whole. God's project, in which 
we participate by virtue of our baptism, is the ongoing work of reordering and 
transforming the patterns of our common life so they may reveal God's justness - 
not as an abstraction but in bread for the hungry and clothing for the naked.  
The mission of the Church is to participate in God's work in the world.  We claim 
that mission.

     "I have set before you life and deathchoose life so that you and your 
descendants may live," declares Moses to the children to Israel.  We choose life 
and immediately set ourselves to the task of developing clear steps that we will 
take personally and as a community of faith, to give substance to our resolve and 
embodiment to our hope.  We do so not alone but trusting in your own faithfulness 
and your desire to be instruments of peace.  

     Let us therefore wage reconciliation.  Let us offer our gifts for the 
carrying out of God's ongoing work of reconciliation, healing and making all 
things new.  To this we pledge ourselves and call our church. 

     We go forth sober in the knowledge of the magnitude of the task to which we 
have all been called, yet confident and grounded in hope. "And hope does not 
disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the 
Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Romans 5:5)  

     "May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the 
power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

--Statement from Bishops of the Episcopal Church Released by the Office of the Presiding Bishop