Prayers of gratitude and intercession

Friday morning

Once the laws became progressively more flexible during the lockdown we all experienced in 2020, I was able to cycle through the mountains in my home city. Although we were not allowed to mill about on the street, we were allowed to go out and do sports for a few hours at a time.

During the pandemic that so radically changed our lives, the best thing I could do to remain grounded was go cycling. I enjoyed every outing, not only for the physical activity but also for the opportunity to take in marvellous views hidden within the mountains of the beautiful city where I was born, Ibagué, Colombia.

Each morning, despite sometimes feeling sleepy, I got ready to go for a ride, anticipating discovering more of the beautiful work of our Creator. I was looking for a new, colourful scene to photograph, a new view from the top of the mountains, simple peasant families waving and urging me on along the route, and of course, a new physical challenge. I realized that, more than the physical exercise, it was like therapy, giving me peace of mind.

Each outing confirmed for me what the superlative emphasizes in Genesis 1:31: “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good”. God’s creation is perfect! He put everything in its place, including us as human beings. This verse is included in the account of the sixth day on which God created humanity

The scenery that I was able to take in, the vegetation, the animals and also the humans are all part of God’s creation. All of it together is included within the adjective used only at the end of the sixth day “God saw that it was good”

After seeing these great wonders, I asked myself: Why do we want to destroy God’s perfect work? Why do we, as humans, expend so much effort in destroying it? Is this a reflection of our sinful nature?

I am convinced that a large part of the damage is due to the ambitions of powerful people. And yes, ambition and envy are what prompt them to ride roughshod over others and creation itself without considering the damage being caused for the benefit of only a few.

I have already told you that my city is surrounded by majestic mountains that harbour beautiful views and a wealth of natural diversity for all to see. Well, almost, but not quite all. In addition to peasants, indigenous communities and cyclists, a multinational company has discovered the wealth hidden beneath the soil.

They requested a licence to explore and then exploit open pit gold mines. This spectacular place – brimming with diversity – is a source of life not only because of the water that springs up there, but also because it produces a great quantity of food for the region. This is being put at risk, all for the sake of gold.

Naturally, the peasant, indigenous and civil society communities joined together to put a stop to this unprecedented ecocide in the region. My church community did not stand by idly on this problem. The Ibagué Mennonite Church joined the movement that slowly but surely turned into a symbol of resistance and love of creation. As part of our commitment to steward creation, we joined with other movements and expressions of faith that diverge from our own. We joined because of our love of the natural beauty and life itself.

In his book, Anabaptist Essentials, Palmer Becker reminds us of three core values that he says define us as Anabaptists. We are probably all familiar with them.

Can you recall them?

1. Jesus is the centre of our faith.
2. Community is the centre of our life.
3. Reconciliation is the centre of our work.

I can see these three values reflected in the Ibagué Mennonite Church’s experience I just told you about.

Jesus is the centre of our faith, guiding us in love for one another and for Creation.

Community is the centre of our lives, reflected in who we care about and as we help one another to defend our territory.

And, reconciliation is the centre of our work, bringing together people around a shared problem in spite of their divergent thoughts and beliefs.

Beyond this, though, is the task of not only being reconciled to God and our neighbour, but also with nature – our sister and the work of our Father; Pacha Mama (Mother Earth); the source of life.

Thanks to God, and the unity of the people, a public consultation managed to stop the exploration and the exploitation of gold in our mountains. The project tried to sell the idea of development for the region, but the people came out on the side of water and life in place of gold.

I am aware that this does not make up for the suffering of our planet at this moment, but it is an example of the change that can be achieved when we work together as a community, caring for creation. Of course, small actions are also valuable and count, and even more so if each one of us practices caring for the environment.

So, I would like to conclude with a question.

• If all of us have heard of reduce, reuse, recycle, what are we doing to leave a small mark for the better in our environment?
• What changes are we bringing about in our communities?
• Are we impacting our contexts with the Anabaptist value of reconciliation with God, our neighbours and nature with the utmost of love?

—Oscar Suárez is the YABs (Young AnaBaptists) Committee representative for Latin America and the Caribbean (2017-2022). He serves as a teacher in Colegio Americano Menno (a Mennonite school in Colombia) and youth leader for Iglesia Menonita de Teusaquillo in Bogotá. He is a member of Iglesia Menonita de Ibague, Colombia.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Friday morning

Ephesians 2:14-17 “For he is our peace, in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near…”

The varied global contexts characterized by polarized ideologies, culture, ethnicities, religions, technologies and economies – with their power structures that oppress societies – are what lead to war and all kinds of human rights violations. The hope of creating more just societies is frustrated, making reconciliation with God, nature and ourselves more difficult. In such circumstance it becomes possible to see the deep resentment in all its daily forms that occupies our human realities.

This reality demands that the Anabaptist church and other confessions and religious expressions urgently reconsider the importance of Christ’s gospel. The kingdom of God needs to be built in such contexts through reconciliation strategies that cross ethnic, economic, technological, religious, and cultural boundaries.

The apostle Paul was able to read the socio-political and religious situation between Jews and other first century societies well. He did so by virtue of his Judeo-Christian worldview informed by an understanding of Jesus’ ministry as the Son of God: breaking down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us… thus making peace.

Social dialogue becomes an essential tool for transforming society that has been forced to put up with incomprehensible wars for decades. The intentional and thoughtless practice of war has destroyed the social fabric and placed people’s ethnic and cultural identities at risk. War leaves ethnic, cultural and faunistic genocide in its wake that primarily affects the most vulnerable communities.

For instance, in Colombia, the groups most affected by the armed conflict have been Black and Indigenous communities in ethnic and collective territories. They have been coerced into abandoning their amicable relationship with their environment and social context. When this happened, the conflict led to drastic changes in how differences are resolved between people. The use of weapons became the context has forced sectors of society to use develop a shared vision for building peace through the use of social dialogue.

Social dialogue entails finding common ground that allows for finding practical solutions for living together peacefully, with the goal of embracing the humanity and reciprocity in each other. This idea flows from the Bantu word used in southern Africa and popularised by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu: ubuntu, which means “I am because you are”. We exist because of a community.

In Colombia, we have a strategy that seeks to respond to these challenges. We have begun interethnic and ecumenical work from a collective worldview that is more than a theological and religious posture. We start with various processes that are community-based, using local know-how and capacity, with a respect for autonomy. In this way, we work toward concrete actions.

We serve as a space where inter-ethnic organizations and churches can connect and be strengthened as we support them in building and making their life-giving plans for peace visible in their territories.

Our work is centred around reconciliation processes, ethnic peace and local development, through strategic alliances between churches, government bodies, the private sector, regional peace platforms and international organizations.

Core strategy

Work in favour of holistic and sustainable ethnic community development in ethnic regions that facilitate linkages between base communities and regional organizations and peace agendas through dialogue that focuses on resolving conflict in local areas.

We use the following lines of action:

1. Victims’ rights: Life, dignity and justice. Holistic reparation for victims of the armed conflict (includes truth, justice, reparation, assurances of non-repetition), full enjoyment of their rights, safe return to their local communities with dignity (education, health, shelter, security).
2. Peace education: Spiritualities, cultures and territories. Training in citizenship, human rights, cultural identity and democratic participation, development of shared visions for the region, and nonviolent social and political conflict transformation.
3. Citizenship participation guarantees. Local autonomy and self government. Strengthening direct, participative and representative democracy; consolidating multi sectoral citizen pacts and moving towards an inclusive political climate that respect the ethnic, social and cultural pluralities present in the nation.
4. Production: Ethnic development and creation care. Guarantee food security and sovereignty from an ethnic and environmental sustainability perspective.
5. Reconciliation: Spirit of dialogue and social collaboration. Reach agreements based on justice and social inclusion; open a path to the future through building relational networks of trust amongst diverse social actors, the private sector and government bodies. Justice, peace, development and reconciliation all require space for transforming conflict through dialogue, participation and social agreement with respect to policies that deliver well-being to communities
6. Peaceful communication: This proposal is oriented toward strengthening the network of popular communicators so that they share, build and strengthen processes and communication skills rooted in afro, indigenous and mestizo communities that inhabit subregions of the country. Also, these communicators make actions related to peace building, historical memory, resistance, forgiveness, reconciliation and protection of the regions and their development visible.

— José Rutilio Rivas Domínguez is a Mennonite Brethren pastor, theologian, social enterprise entrepreneur and peacebuilder in Colombia, and a member of the MWC Mission Commission.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

As the year draws to a close, MWC is finalizing the numbers on the Assembly in Indonesia.  

“We are very pleased to report that, as of publication time, we met the financial goal of breaking even,” says Chief Operating Officer Jeanette Bissoon. 

This was MWC’s first time hosting a hybrid event with in-person and online attendees. “There were many unknowns that made it challenging to budget for registration fees,” says Jeanette Bissoon.  

“Thanks to the careful planning and spending by Assembly staff, we were able to contain expenses, despite an additional year of commitments due to the postponement. Total expenses came in $285 000 less than budget. These savings made up for the shortfall in revenues,” says Jeanette Bissoon. 

The net impact of the variances in revenues and expenses, along with a transfer of $100 000 from general revenues that had been budgeted, resulted in a break-even position. 

“We are thankful to each person and organization that gave to make this result possible,” says Jeanette Bissoon. 

“We are also thankful for each person who attended Assembly,” says Chief International Events Officer Liesa Unger. “We thank those who joined online – at home on their computers or together with others at a local church – for joining us as we learned to run a hybrid event. We thank our Indonesian brothers and sisters who attended portions of the event in Salatiga, Semarang or at one of the satellite locations. We are confident that God’s Spirit moved among us and it is our prayer that the blessing we received in gathering will carry us forward.” 

See chart below for revenues and expenses. 

*(A positive Assembly 17 balance will be credited toward Assembly 18.) 

“Our duty is to bring peace and love.” These words, relayed from Indonesian by a translator at the closing worship service of Mennonite World Conference’s Assembly 17 in Indonesia, came not from one of the featured speakers but from the governor of Central Java. “Our founding fathers gave us this mission of peace,” said Ganjar Pranowo. “The truthfulness [of peace] has been embedded in every soul…. The choice depends on us.”

His message fit seamlessly into the event’s theme: “following Jesus together across barriers.”

Nearly a thousand participants – seated one chair apart in careful adherence to local health pandemic guidelines – attended the closing ceremony. Some 600 participants took part in the full event with some 400 locals attending one or more day.

Four groups of MWC leaders including a Global Youth Summit delegate spent four of the days with a local congregation. Each community – GITJ Jepara, GKMI Solo, GITJ Margokerto and JKI Ungaran – hosted one plenary speaker along with a dozen other MWC guests. The host congregations shared their life and ministry with their guests. Evening plenary worship was broadcast from these four congregations while the rest of participants gathered at STT Sangkakala in Salatiga and untold numbers watched online – live or later.

“Only by God’s grace”

There were plenty of barriers to cross.

Wi-Fi internet was consistently unreliable; the web-based translation app was difficult to use for on-site French- and Spanish-language participants.

Disruptions and distortions in the video feed, especially the first night, discouraged some online participants from tuning in again.

Logistical challenges frustrated guests as did a scourge of lost luggage and delayed or cancelled flights.

COVID-19 cases sent some participants into isolation. “Showing regard for each other’s health is an act of loving one’s neighbour, Jesus called us to do,” says Cynthia Dück, MWC regional representative and trained nurse, who supervised care. “We are grateful for our participants who sacrificially cared for each other whether through service or quarantining.”

The General Council meetings were truncated to prevent further spread and the registration process included a COVID test.

Members of the choir and the interpreter team were affected, requiring flexibility and grace from all the remaining volunteers.

“Only by God’s grace, we could finish from one service to another while clinging our hands to each other,” says Debra Prabu, international ensemble director. It was a masterclass in trust. “I learned to be more humble, to respect my worship partners, to set aside some of my time praying for them and to forgive more.”

Incoming guests were tested upon arrival. Some, to their surprise, tested positive and had to be quarantined, missing the bulk of the event.

“We learned to have changed plans and hope and pray something good would come out of it,” said newly invested president Henk Stenvers (2022-2028) at the closing worship. “We will work hard to make MWC a stronger communion…that works together for shalom.”

Barriers defeated

Thankfully – together – many barriers were crossed: from 58 countries around the world, Anabaptist-Mennonites came to worship and fellowship. Despite continued reverberations of the COVID-19 pandemic, friends – old and new – met face to face in Indonesia while many more joined online.

Participants cared for each other. They cheerfully complied with required mask wearing, although face coverings usually came off for photos.

Some volunteers became very familiar with the halls of the hotels, walking back and forth to deliver food to quarantined guests. “This service allowed me to share the love of Christ with people from different cultures, different languages and different ages,” says Gracia Felo from DR Congo.

The very identity of the church

A highlight of the plenaries for many was the 8-minute contemplative dance by Sufi dervishes to music by local church members at GITJ Jepara. The congregation works hard to build interfaith relationships that cultivate peace. “Relating to another faith or religion is not just a church method to make peace; it is a part of the very identity of the church, without which the church will not fulfill its own mission,” says pastor Danang Kristiawan.

Plenary speakers courageously named challenges for the church on mission.

Salome Haldemann reprised Ron Sider’s call to train – and practice – for active peace work and nonviolence (page 7).

Tigist Tesfaye Gelagle named the pain of racism and inequality (page 17).

Nindyo Sasongko challenged Anabaptists to address injustices in the world like colonial, racism, misogyny, climate change, sexual abuse (page 20).

Meet Indonesia

In this majority Muslim country, both hosts and guests shared stories and teaching in plenary sessions, workshops and conversations about interfaith friendships.

The hospitality of Indonesian hosts covered over the logistical blips with smiles, good food – and a lot of dancing. Numerous performances of traditional and collaborative styles of Indonesian music and dance demonstrated that Anabaptist-Mennonites not only know how to sing but also how to move.

“I am amazed at how things just fell into place in spite of everything and how our Indonesian brothers and sisters took care of everything, even going the extra mile to make sure things work out the way they should,” says Jessica Mondal, coordinator of the Global Church Village (page 32-33).

On half-day tours, participants encountered Indonesian history and culture (page 28-29). Learning continued in workshops on Bible study, creation care and interfaith dialogue (page 26-27).

Watch parties

For the first time, an MWC Assembly was fully hybrid. Participants could register for an online experience that included not only exclusive access to the full plenary sessions, but also a chance to join workshops on Zoom, view vlogs from the Global Church Village and satellite sites and chat spaces to interact with other participants.

“I think this type of “hybrid” connectedness has great potential for strengthening the communion of Mennonite-related churches around the world,” says Ray Brubacher. The former MWC event planner organized daily inter-Mennonite watch parties in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. A different church served as host for each event, sharing worship singing from their own community and streaming the plenary sessions on a large screen.

Return to Jesus

The closing service highlighted all aspects of the Assembly program, including the children’s & youth programs (page 30-31). The morning’s emcee pastor Lydia Adi called up “The most important people in MWC” to share songs they had learned in the children’s program.

John D. Roth of the Faith and Life Commission and Christen Kong, Mennonite Church Canada delegate from the Global Youth Summit (GYS) spoke on Renewal 2022 (marking 500 years of Anabaptism).

“I invite persistently people into God’s Spirit. Jesus calls us to suffer together, to carry burdens, to journey together in a return to Jesus,” said Christen Kong.

And all too soon, it was at an end. Host pastor at Holy Stadium, Tina Agung continued the challenge in her closing prayer for MWC to “Be a messenger of truth to all nation sand a bearer of truth to all the world.”

Amen.

—Karla Braun is editor of Courier and writer for Mennonite World Conference. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Thursday morning

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.” Psalm 133:1 is an affirmation of how the biblical David delighted in the company of his brothers. As a social species, humans need the fellowship of others. Through fellowship, we witness to and live out our faith; it is where we receive mutual support because we all depend on others in one way or another for material, emotional and spiritual support.

Fellowship, the opportunity to share life with others, is a gift from God. From birth, we seek acceptance from others and we depend upon the loving care of family. Sibling relationships and friendships encourage and guide us, making our lives easier, especially in those difficult moments we all must face.

Living in fellowship is God’s gift to us.

We were created as social beings to share with others; this is part of God’s plan for us – and God’s plans are good and perfect.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God’s plans for us are to prosper us and not to harm us. We can realize that living with others produces many benefits that we ignore and therefore sometimes we work against ourselves and others.

Research has proved that fellowship is good for our physical and mental health just as Ecclesiastes illustrates in chapter 4:9-12: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

In another example, when Jacob met Esau again after a lengthy separation due to their differences, his face displayed his joy of knowing that they could count on one another and he said: “… truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God” (Genesis 33:10). This anecdote is evidence that being able to count on one another is a gift from God.

According to the Apostle, Paul, this is a Christian obligation: Hebrews 13:16: “Do not neglect to do good and share what you have” … Sharing is an indispensable characteristic of living with or in fellowship and implicates other people with different ways of doing so.

We need to understand that as children of God, we are predestined to live well and we must do so while interacting with everyone else – in communion. This lifestyle that includes relationships with other people happens in a special way that overcomes all the barriers that can come between us. The Holy Spirit manifested powerfully during Pentecost when people were together in unity (Acts 2:1-2).

In the book of Mark 2:1-12 we find the story of the paralyzed man who benefited due to the efforts of friends, neighbours, siblings (I don’t know; there aren’t a lot of details). There were many barriers they faced, among them the great crowd that blocked the way, and they had to carry him.

We can identify the characteristics of these people (the paralytic’s friends) that enable effective fellowship – love, service, unity, empathy, kindness, patience and faith – without which it would not have been possible to attain the final victory for this man.

Throughout the Bible there are stories that help us identify the advantages of learning to practice healthy fellowship with others: the beautiful friendship between David and Jonathan; or Mary, Martha and Lazarus with Jesus.

It is important to note that time spent with friends, conversing about our projects, creates emotional bonds; improves our self-esteem; releases stress; is therapeutic. We laugh and this produces positive reactions within our body, we share our concerns which lightens the load, and people enjoy being sociable creating healthier lifestyles as a result.

It is important to highlight that we build life through life-giving messages and actions. A positive attitude makes us likeable, sought after, followed.

If we want to be peacemakers, a positive attitude should be part of our daily lifestyle. Our world needs these peacebuilding actions that create healthy fellowship, tolerance and solidarity. We need to commit ourselves to doing good, to the divine project of love and at times give more than is expected of us. As children of God, we must make manifest the divine plan of abundant life, seeing the face of God in the face of our neighbour.

These characteristics have to do with harmonious relationships, mutual support, sharing time, laughter, agreement and even disagreement. That is life.

What is the key to living this way? Approach others with empathy, love, solidarity, willingness and faith. It will always be necessary to know how much life we have to offer others, how connected we are to the well of life so that we can definitely transmit it to others.

—Adriana Belinda Rodriguez Velasquez is a psychologist, counsellor, wife and grandmother, and a member of MWC’s Peace Commission. She is a member of Caminando con Dios, part of the Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Hondureña.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.