News
“Never before had I realized the power of simply walking together on a path of peace, how it connects people in a very deep and meaningful way”, writes Rev. Prof. Dr Fernando Enns in the newest Bible study on the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace published by the World Council of Churches (WCC).
In his text, Enns, a Brazilian-German Mennonite theologian, builds a parallel between the passage of the walk to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35) and the ecumenical “Walk of Peace” that gathered hundreds of young people and religious leaders on 23 August 2018, in Amsterdam, the city where the WCC was founded 70 years ago.
“Now that this important aspect of emerging friendship during our Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace has become so evident to me – by literally walking the streets of Amsterdam - I see more clearly in the text that the women who discovered the empty tomb did not walk alone, but together, as friends”, he writes, “and it is here, in this assembly of friends, that the risen Jesus joins them all”.
Recalling 70 years of ecumenical relations fostered by the WCC, Enns points out that “many have become friends on this journey, across ethnic and cultural backgrounds, across formerly divided denominational barriers, across age barriers, across gender identities”, he writes.
Fernando Enns’ Bible study is the last of three reflections on the walk to Emmaus, which are part of a wider collection of resources on the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace available online. New studies will be published in the coming months.
Links:
Read the full text of Fernando Enns' Bible study on Luke 24:13-35
Bible study series on the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace
Learn more about WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice
"Walk of Peace draws hopeful - and young - crowd in Amsterdam" - WCC news release 23 August 2018
