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Photo: Albin Hillert/ WCC

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sent greetings to Church and Peace commemorating the organization’s 70th anniversary.

“When I think of the Church and Peace network and its contribution to the ecumenical movement during the last seventy years since 1949, I think of obedient discipleship in Christ and a prophetic witness for peace and non-violent action as decisive marks of your contribution,” Tveit wrote. “You constantly remind the ecumenical movement of the preferential option for non-violence as a response to Christ’s love and God’s gift of justice and peace as signs of God’s reign to come.”

Tveit noted that he has become more and more aware that our theology, and particularly our reflections on reconciliation and unity, are not abstract issues and objectives, but are relevant in the context of injustice, racism and poisoned memories. “Many others, with far more dramatic experiences than mine, have also come to the same questions and convictions,” he wrote. “The role of the churches in sharing the gospel of Christ’s love has an impact on the human beings, as persons and individuals.”

Love is a huge issue, he concluded, and not so easy to understand. “The call to preach the gospel of Christ’s love is a call to serve the reconciliation of the world,” he wrote. “Nothing less.”