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“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Mt. 8: 20)

A reflection originally shared at the "Working Together" meeting between the World Council of Churches and specialized ministries, convened 3-4 May in Bossey, Switzerland. 

A reflection originally shared at the "Working Together" meeting between the World Council of Churches and specialized ministries, convened 3-4 May in Bossey, Switzerland. 

On the occasion of the upcoming World Interfaith Harmony Week 2023, which is observed annually from 1-7 February at the United Nations, my thought goes to the urgent call for biodiversity protection from the COP15 held in Montreal, from 7-19 December 2022.

Our successful visit to Rome with various ecumenical deliberations itself testifies that ecumenical engagements can move forward despite the pandemic. The launch of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity document “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity,” followed by an ecumenical panel discussion, helped us to understand how different churches have approached the pandemic. 

Who am I?

Bonhoeffer remembrance, April 2005

Ezek. 37:1-16, based on a Lenten devotional poem from prison

Theodore Gill, Ecumenical Centre Chapel, Geneva, on the 60th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's death.

‘Resist with all your heart and soul any attempt to substitute power for truth’ – so exhorted the late and widely lamented Jonathan Sacks in his most recent book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times (2020). Lord Sacks, who died on 7 November at the untimely age of 72, served as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, and subsequently as chief rabbi emeritus. 

Often we hear the question: where is the church in the context of socio-economic inequalities and injustices, negative ethnicity and so on?

Using Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, I crafted the following text to reflect the timelessness of Dr King’s speech, and to share my own personal dream within my context of the Holy Land. I am attempting to honor the original words of Dr King while, at the same time, making it clear that his passion and unflagging determination are still badly needed today. May the spirit of our dreams find unity in pursuing peace and justice for all human beings.

At a meeting held in Paris, June 25-27, the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) restored formal relations after a hiatus of more than two decades.

‘We call upon all the churches we represent to denounce antisemitism, no matter what its origin, as absolutely irreconcilable with the profession and practice of the Christian faith. Antisemitism is sin against God and man.’ This unambiguous WCC declaration in 1948 has been regularly re-stated over the last 70 years. In the same spirit, the annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an opportunity to be welcomed. It focuses a widespread commitment not to forget the Holocaust of the Jewish people (while not excluding remembrance of other genocides) and to help prevent such atrocities in the future.

When it comes to the stance of churches towards the so-called conflict between Israel and Palestine, it is useful to understand it as a process of grief. The theory of the five stages of grief from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is a creative way to describe the “dying” and “mourning” process of the churches and international community. The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was seen by the Western world as a sign of justice for the suffering Jewish people after the Holocaust and centuries of persecution of Jews in Europe. Two elements played a major role in this initial excitement: the historical guilt of Europeans and the fulfilment of biblical prophecies related with the reestablishment of Israel.

"Unterwegs für das Leben," on the road for life, was the name chosen for an initiative started by the women's work section of the Evangelical Church in Baden in the eighties. Christian women went walking together along the Rhine from Karlsruhe to Basel, going from place to place in order to collect signatures in opposition to the upgrading of armaments and to hand these over to the disarmament conference in Geneva. The walk was combined with evening peace prayer vigils held in local churches.

The Bible is a constant source of encouragement, especially for the women in our West African churches. It helps us keeping the faith and continuing to work for justice in gender relationships. Listening to the word of God rhythms our daily life, it is like a silent song recurrently sung inside, no matter what hardships we undergo.

After the terrorist attacks last week, I think we can better understand the feelings of the disciples of Emmaus: sadness, lots of questions, fear, despair. But, however terrible the episode that had occurred, it didn’t paralyze them. They walked to Emmaus. Maybe they were escaping from Jerusalem, full of fear, but they walked, they were pilgrims…

Peace will not come by itself. We have to work for it. That is the reason for hundreds of people to join the Walk of Peace on the 20th of September 2015, which will be held in The Hague. The Hague is a symbol of justice and peace because of the Peace Palace, where the international court of justice does its work.

What does the environment have to do with the pilgrimage of justice and peace? In my view, a pilgrimage is an expression of what we are as human beings: people on the way, from birth to death. A pilgrimage is also a spiritual practice for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other faith traditions.