Justice and Peace

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The themes of Justice and Peace have been at the heart of what the Assembly is about. As I write this, the business plenary is negotiating the wording of a statement asking for the theme to be integrated into the future direction and programme of the World Council by means of a shared pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. The theme of evangelism too has incorporated the perception that issues of Justice and Peace cannot be separated from the ultimate goal towards we which we believe God is moving not only the Church but the whole of creation, that we cannot evangelise without including these themes in the message we share. As a balance, the idea that Justice and Peace can somehow be detached from spirituality and the communication of the Good News is also addressed and corrected. My own sense has been of a gradual growth of a holistic perception of what the mission of the Church is. For me this is all about the expansion of our spirituality, moving away from narrow interpretations to both deeper and broader ones.

This was strong in the small Bible study group discussion around Peace. We started by looking at the meaning of the various translations of the English word that some of us reflected has commonly come to be used to simply mean the absence of something disruptive. We were fortunate to have a Jewish participant in the group for whom the word Shalom of course means something much more positive and dynamic; wholeness, completeness, harmony. In Samoan the word is Talofa which translates 'I greet you in love' and so the sharing went on building up of a spectrum of interpretations that expanded our understanding of the meaning. This is the value of such a method and such a gathering as this.

Our Bible study ended with the thought that both Justice and Peace are things that demand engagement and commitment if they are to be achieved and that both must be rooted in love rather than fear and can and often will take us into very rough rather than calm waters if we are properly engaged. But it also connects us with one another and with the active agenda of the Holy Spirit which is where we find the more personal experience of peace which is about life and not simply about escape into heaven.

Once again I reflect on the fact that it is about the difference between an understanding of salvation that is only about survival and one which is about Life in all its Fulness.

I hope it doesn't begin to sound like a stuck record (remember them?) but I keep finding that understanding the dynamics of not recognising the difference sheds a lot of light on many of the issues of both divisions between Christians and the failure of the Church often to be seen as relevant to people's lives.

 

 

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