The first day of the 10th WCC Assembly

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The first day of the Assembly is now over and following the induction and orientation sessions, the Assembly began with opening worship. Given the theme of 'God of Life, Lead us to Justice and Peace', it was particularly moving to hear prayers of 'Cries and Hopes' from eight regions of the world. These were read in different languages but with the trnslation of the whole liturgy each could be followed. What was noticeable was the repetition of cries across several of them which a liturgist might have thought spoiled the poetry but instead it reinfoced the awareness that so many people, esecially the poorest and most vulnerable, suffer the same kind of violence on different continents.

After an opening plenary session which contained a beautiful and powerful presentation by Korean young people the first business session began. This contained the reports both of the moderator, Bishop Walter Altmann from Brazil and the General Secretary Dr Olaf Tveit. Both reports encompassed the work of the WCC since the last Assembly in Porto Alegri 7 years ago, the challenges facing not just the WCC but the world and consideration of the future. In that sense they helped to set the agenda not simply in organisational terms but in a deeper sense too in focussing on things that touch people's lives deeply and the way in which the church both succeeds and fails in responding to the needs. The report also recognised the development of the ecumenical agenda and the changing landscape.

One of the issues that was raised both in the reports and in the comments that were made afterwards and which I particulalry noticed was the fact that the prophetic voice of the WCC has become more silent since the days of the programme to combat racism. It is clear that there is a difference between having efficient and rapid means of communication, such as blogging, and having a prophetic voice that is heard and even more seen and heard to have impact and make a difference. I suspect that this will be a significant theme in the coming days in one way or another but for me it highlights a number of factors. One of those is the wider significance of the issues with the Council is engaged and the other is the sense of involvement with the work of the council that the churches have. I cannot help but think that sometimes we see our part of the World Council as being an add on, an extra for those who are interested but for me it rather about recognising that we are members of a Body and that whilst we should be rightly concened about the health and wellbeing of our part, it in the end, the overall health of the entire body that is the primary concern. I began to reflect again today that we simply do not sufficiently plumb the significance of Paul's image of being part of a body for the peceptions which Paul himself had.

 

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