A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace: Global Mennonite Perspectives on Peacebuilding and Nonviolence

By Fernando Enns, Henk Stenvers and César Garcia

This edited volume includes contributions by scholars, ministers, artists, and NGO workers from around the world who are interested in topics of Mennonitism, peacebuilding, and theologies of nonviolence. The papers published together here reflect the richness and diversity of peacebuilding interests and approaches within the current global Mennonite family and offer interdisciplinary explorations of peace and conflict with attention to historical, theological, and lived perspectives.

The book includes papers based upon research and insights that were shared at the Second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival (2019) at Mennorode in the Netherlands. The findings presented here are structured thematically with attention to key points of current concern and research--including, among others, studies on historical and current peacebuilding efforts pertaining to migration and refugee care, ecological justice, gender justice, interreligious dialogue, church-state relations, and racial justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Release date: Apr 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666713831

Book preview

A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

Global Mennonite Perspectives on Peacebuilding and Nonviolence

Just Peace vol. 2

edited by

Fernando Enns

Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip

Andrés Pacheco-Lozano

forewords by

Henk Stenvers and César Garía

A PILGRIMAGE OF JUSTICE AND PEACE

Global Mennonite Perspectives on Peacebuilding and Nonviolence

Copyright ©

2023

Wipf and Stock Publishers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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Pickwick Publications

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paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-1381-7

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-1382-4

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-1383-1

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Enns, Fernando, editor. | Schroeder-van ’t Schip, Nina, editor. | Pacheco-Lozano, Andrés, editor. | García, César, foreword. | Stenvers, Henk, foreword.

Title: A pilgrimage of justice and peace : global Mennonite perspectives on peacebuilding and nonviolence / edited by Fernando Enns, Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip, and Andrés Pacheco-Lozano ; forewords by Henk Stenvers and César García.

Description: Eugene, OR : Pickwick Publications,

2023

| Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers:

isbn 978-1-6667-1381-7 (

paperback

) | isbn 978-1-6667-1382-4 (

hardcover

) | isbn 978-1-6667-1383-1 (

ebook

)

Subjects: LCSH: Peace—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Nonviolence—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Restorative justice. | Mennonite Church—Congresses.

Classification:

br1720 .P55 2023 (

print

) | br1720 .P55 (

ebook

)

Copy Right Notices

Connie T. Braun, Against Disillusionment, or, Luciérnaga, is published here for the first time with permission of the author.

Blue Horses by Mary Oliver, Published by The Penguin Press New York

Copyright ©

2014

by Mary Oliver

Reprinted by permission of The Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency Inc.

All images are published in agreement with relevant parties and museums. Image permissions and rights are indicated as appropriate alongside each image caption.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword 1 — Henk Stenvers

Foreword 2 — César García

Poem, Kees Blokland — You Are Somewhere

Editors’ Introduction: A Peacework Quilt

Poem, Connie T. Braun — Against Disillusionment, or, Luciérnaga

I. Walking Together: The Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

The Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace:A Programmatic Approach to Peace and Justice

Were not our hearts burning within us?

The Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace—Reception in the Netherlands

II. Spiritualities of Just Peace: Formative Paths

Conflict Transformation, Contemplative Spirituality, and the Image of Selfhood

Who, Then, Is My Neighbor? Searching for an Ethics of Civic Selfhood between Modern Rationalism and the Postmodern Nonself

Practicing What We Preach: Personal Formation as Peace Practice

Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness

III. Theologies of Just Peace: Innovative Explorations

In the Patience of Love’s Delay

Rethinking Martyrdom Theology

Make Art, Not War

Sexual Violence

IV. Ethics of Just Peace: Judging Processes

Dignify(ing) Narratives

Reclaiming Our Power

Responsibility to Protect

The Necessary Nonviolence to Reduce Terrorism in France

Drone Warfare, the Incarnation, and Historic Peace Church Peacemaking

Centrifugal Forces

V. History and Just Peace: Self-Critical Historical Journeys

Mixed Messages

To Burn or Not to Burn

Whether to Turn to the Strong Hand of the State

Mennonites in Nazi-Occupied Ukraine

For the Sake of Peace

A Strategy of Supporting and Learning

Peacebuilding across Religious Lines

VI. Practices of Just Peace: Walking the Word

i. MIGRANTS & REFUGEES

Philoxenia as Befriending the (Needy, Migrant) Foreigner

Refugee Policies, Resettlement,and Integration in Canada

ii. GENDER & JUST PEACE

LGBTQ Mennonites

Gender and Sexual Violence

iii. RACE & JUST PEACE

Racial Justice

Vincent Harding, the Black Freedom Struggle, and Just Institutions

iv. ECOLOGICAL JUST PEACE

A Slow Disaster in Groningen, The Netherlands

Ecojustice Is Part of Just Peace

v. JUST PEACE in CONTEXTS of CONFLICT

Church and Ecumenical Peacebuilding in Zimbabwe

Can Nonviolence Foster Reconciliation in Syria?

Glimpses of Peacebuilding in Asia

Church and Peace

Appendix 1: List of Authors

Appendix 2: Historic Peace Church-Based Centers for Research, Education, and Formation in Peace and Conflict Studies

Appendix 3: Selected Photos from the 2nd Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival

Dedicated to the participants of the

Second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival

(Mennorode, The Netherlands,

2019

)

Foreword 1

After the success of the first Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival in Canada, organized by the Conrad Grebel University College in 2016, we were honored to organize and host the second edition in The Netherlands in 2019.

As an organizing committee, we agreed from the start that we would hold the conference at Mennorode (near Elspeet), a conference center and hotel nestled in the Dutch forest called the Veluwe. This retreat location, away from the bustle of city life, proved to be the ideal venue for the 2nd Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival because the whole range of activities could be concentrated in one location; the event also resonated well with the heritage of the site as a Mennonite meeting place. In 1925, Mennorode was set up as a "Doopsgezind Broederschapshuis" (Mennonite Community House), one of several Mennonite community retreat sites in the Netherlands. As such, it carries a long history of Mennonites coming together there to discuss faith and life issues and to worship as a community. It was fitting that the global Mennonite community should gather here for discussions about following Jesus in being peacemakers.

More than 250 participants from thirty-two countries gathered together for three days, listening to presentations, engaging in discussions and workshops, hearing music, taking in theatre, seeing or participating in art installations, worshipping together, and—last but not least—enjoying good food and company on the terrace in the summer sun. Being together like this was a stimulating and inspiring way of experiencing community and learning from each other. While the practice of being a peacemaker can sometimes be lonely, stressful, and disappointing, the experience of being part of such a large community of peacebuilders provides new energy, fresh ideas, and renewed inspiration.

We, as the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (Mennonite Church of the Netherlands), felt very blessed that we could participate in organizing and hosting this event alongside the Dutch Mennonite Seminary, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and its Amsterdam Centre for Religion and Peace & Justice Studies. This organizational teamwork, and the event itself, would have not been possible without the generous financial support of several Dutch Mennonite foundations, for which we are very thankful. We enjoyed working together to coordinate this international event in a way that would foster a spirit of innovation, respect, and peace among participants.

This conference highlighted the wide variety of peace-work being done by Mennonites and many others here and all over the world; it was a testament to our commitment to being a community of peace as a global family of faith. While peace, in the sense of absence of war, is not always within our reach in this world, we work for peace, and we rest in the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding. In the different workshops and presentations, theological and historical concepts, as well as current experiences and challenges of working for peace, were shared among participants, providing insights on the past and new directions for the future.

By publishing the various findings and reports based upon many of the 2nd GMP presentations and workshops in this edited volume, we can ensure that this rich spectrum of information is shared with an even wider circle of people who are interested in the work of peacemaking. This book offers a good picture of what we shared together in Mennorode. I hope that it will be as inspiring to readers as the conference was for the participants.

Naarden, December 2020

Henk Stenvers

Emeritus General Secretary of the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit

President-Elect of Mennonite World Conference

Foreword 2

Grassroots theology in the Anabaptist tradition identifies reconciliation as the center of the church’s mission. Reconciliation is part of a cluster of words, including justice, peace, communion, interdependence, and unity. That may be why Mennonite World Conference (MWC) has included several peace-related structures over its history: the International Peace Committee in the 1980s, the Peace Council and the Global Peace and Justice Network in the 1990s, the Peace Commission in the last two decades, and the emerging Global Anabaptist Peace Network (GAPN).

Unfortunately, fragmentation in our Anabaptist tradition stands in contrast with our work on reconciliation and our structures that support it. Divisions in the body of Christ don’t make sense in a tradition that speaks about love, forgiveness, and peace. Fragmentation in the church challenges the validity of its message about reconciliation.

Jesus linked the credibility of his life to the quality of relationships among his followers: that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me (John 17:23 NRSV). How we relate with each other has a direct impact on our peace witness.

That is why MWC exists, to be a global communion that resists fragmenting tendencies in our tradition. That is why we support events such as the 2nd Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival (2GMP). Such gatherings bring together diverse Anabaptist groups to discuss, plan, and work interdependently on issues related to peace. Different languages, theologies, ethics, ecclesiologies, and peace practices met together at 2GMP, this time in the Netherlands. In tandem with MWC Commission meetings, participants experienced global communion, working together on reconciliation despite racial, gender, and cultural diversity.

In a world of fragmentation and exclusion, only a community that lives out of a contrasting reality can offer a relevant reconciliation message. In the words of renowned twentieth-century inventor Buckminster Fuller, You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.¹ Jesus has provided that new model, which we take as the ongoing work of MWC.

We hope the memories of this conference and festival will give you a glimpse of the unity within diversity that we taste in MWC and its events. May these articles and reflections invite you to join our global communion in reconciling mission, interdependence, and unity.

César García

Mennonite World Conference General Secretary

Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday, 2021

1. Cited by Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a

21

st-Century Economist (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing,

2017), 3–4

.

You Are Somewhere

you are somewhere

in here and now

in the midst of

extended woods

dreams and thoughts

wandering peacefully

between trees

on the track of life

you are somewhere

away from home

while silence falls

over the conference

and slow light

colours the leaves

whilst time almost

stands still

you are somewhere

exercising in depth

understanding and

divine patience

in encounters with

familiar strangers

in the cool shadow

of high trees and

God’s presence

Kees Blokland

Editors’ Introduction: A Peacework Quilt

Journeying Together and Quilting Together: Metaphors and Models for Peacebuilding

On the front cover of this volume, you see a quilt that was pieced together during the Second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival (2nd GMP) at Mennorode Conference Center in Elspeet, The Netherlands (2019). During the course of the conference, every participant was invited to take some time to sit down at a large table and design a personal peace vision on a small cloth square. These contributions were all gathered together, and Jeannette Stenvers, a Dutch Mennonite who coordinated this creative opportunity, sewed the cloth together to make a huge comforter out of the many pieces. This style of piecework quilting is a craft form that results in a final whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Both physically and symbolically, this quilt illustrates the colorful diversity of our visions for peace and our hopes for peacebuilding communities: each contribution alone is beautiful; however, these pieces are stronger, warmer, and more effective in bringing about positive change when joined together. It wonderfully represents our experience during the 2nd GMP.

Over the course of past decades, in hundreds of Mennonite congregations around the world, thousands of such comforters have been produced—mostly by women, gathering to join hands for the relief of the needy.² These comforters are sent to refugees, to victims of wars or natural disasters. You will find them in many shelters and camps, families, and homes—from Indonesia to Iraq, from Syria to Zimbabwe, from Canada to Japan. Comforting people is a multi-dimensional way of building peace; it provides safety and shelter, it demonstrates care and remembrance, and it connects people from different cultural and regional backgrounds into one community. It is not the most spectacular, most visible way of connecting; it is rather soft, practical, and gentle. Those, who have received a comforter from people they do not know personally as well as those who have produced comforters for persons in need are in fact building compassionate and healing relations with each other—they are building peace.

At the end of our conference, the 2nd GMP comforter was handed over to Dr. Agnes Abuom, Moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), as a gift. It was intended to express solidarity with the global ecumenical fellowship on our common Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. The 2nd GMP met under this thematic umbrella, to which the WCC had invited all people of good will at their 10th Assembly in 2013 in Busan, South Korea. As participants of the conference, we explored our roles as co-pilgrims in this ecumenical journey—searching for peace and justice, innovative ideas, practical concepts, truthful narratives, reinvigorating experiences, new visions, and opportunities for action.

As pilgrims on a journey, we are eager to attend to the spiritual dimension along the way. Since we gathered from around the world to be at this conference, we traveled literally and figuratively in order to meet with each other and take next steps in this pilgrimage together. Every day, the conference started with a moment of prayer in the inspiring chapel De Luwte at Mennorode. Each long day of pilgrimage included workshops, lectures, artistic moments of connection, meals, and even sports. Then the day closed again with prayer (thanks to the leadership of the minister Margarithe Veen and the rector of the Dutch Mennonite Seminary, Alex Noord). In this way, topics of peace and justice were neither purely academic nor relegated to lofty sociopolitical goals for the future; they became a transformative attitude and a tangible present aim of the conference-pilgrims.

Carrying on the Tradition of Nonviolent Peacebuilding—and Launching Something New: The Global Anabaptist Peace Network

The 2nd GMP was definitely not the beginning of Mennonite participation in this pilgrimage to build peace with justice. Peacebuilding in various forms has long been an essential expression of faith for many Mennonites around the world. Furthermore, peace churches, including Mennonites, have played an important role in bringing visibility to just peace belief and practice within the ecumenical world.³ With regard to the Mennonite peace conference format, the 2nd GMP was another stop along the way in this longer journey, which began in its current iteration in 2016 with the first Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, hosted by the Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Canada (1st GMP). That initial meeting addressed the need to bring together academics and practitioners to engage in dialogue and information—sharing on the theory, theology, and practice of Anabaptist/Mennonite peacebuilding around the world.⁴

Inspired by the energizing results of the 1st GMP, we recognized the importance of continuing in this journey; hence, the value of a subsequent gathering devised with a similar mandate to that of the first one—the 2nd GMP. The Dutch Mennonite community was ready to host this conference and festival, and it was accomplished via teamwork between members from the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (ADS, Mennonite Church in the Netherlands) and the Doopsgezind Seminarium (Dutch Mennonite Seminary) with its Amsterdam Center for Religion and Peace & Justice Studies at the Vrije Universiteit (VU Amsterdam), alongside further input from many more partners (see acknowledgments below). This was the second in what will hopefully become a long tradition of GMP gatherings.

The impetus for the 2nd GMP was also the result of a very close relationship with the emerging Global Anabaptist Peace Network (GAPN), under the auspice of Mennonite World Conference’s (MWC) Peace Commission.⁵ GAPN has been a common dream for many years within Anabaptist-Mennonite spaces: crucial steps were taken at the 1st GMP, when an ad hoc committee offered a proposal that established a path for the development of such a network. During the 2nd GMP, the GAPN was officially launched—an important milestone for this long-standing initiative. It is a network that seeks to connect and support peace organizations (agencies, universities and schools, training programs, research projects, think tanks, and activist-focused initiatives) that have emerged from the Anabaptist-Mennonite church community.

On this Volume: Current Perspectives within the Global Mennonite Community

The 2nd GMP was deeply interdisciplinary in its exploration of peacebuilding: among those gathered were scholars, NGO workers, and artists of all varieties. This made it possible to consider interrelated topics from many different vantage points. Participants shared findings on peace from lenses of theology and ethics, philosophy and political science, conflict transformation, history, Mennonite Studies (itself an interdisciplinary field), and the arts. We are most grateful to our wonderful panel participants, workshop leaders, and festival contributors, all of whom are named in the conference website,⁶ many of whom have contributed to this volume.

This edited volume, like the 2nd GMP peace-work quilt, includes contributions from participants coming from across the world. The papers published together here reflect the richness of peacebuilding interests and approaches within the current global Mennonite family. The book is structured thematically with attention to key points of current concern and research—including, among others, studies on historical and current peacebuilding efforts pertaining to migration and refugee care, ecological justice, gender justice, interreligious dialogue, church-state relations, and racial justice. We hope that readers will be inspired by this collection as much as we all were by the proceedings themselves at the Conference and Festival in 2019.

Arts for Peacebuilding: A Festival of Colors, Harmonies, and Stories

As an organizing team, we were intentional about making the artistic programming for the 2nd GMP festival a core and integrated aspect of the conference—a choice reflective of our vision of the arts as both an important part of the intercultural dialogue on peacebuilding and an important methodology for peacebuilding in its own right.⁷ We did not wish to frame arts sessions as entertainment or simply as a break from the formula of panel discussion. Rather, we aimed to offer this programming as a platform for artists specialized in many media to inspire our thinking on just peace, call us to action, and offer space for reflection and recovery. Artists demonstrated some of the ways that arts can be used for expressing trauma, shame, or vulnerability and showed how artistic practices could be tools for conflict resolution, healing, and reconciliation processes.

For example, Musicians without Borders took part in the opening plenary session, leading all participants in a body percussion workshop the likes of which they have used to build trust among members of communities in conflict or in refugee camps.⁸ Likewise, American story teller Jonathan Larson led participants in a workshop on the use of narrative and storytelling for peacebuilding. The European organization Church & Peace highlighted musical potential for building harmony (on many levels!) with their workshop Singing for Peace. Meanwhile, in the workshop Playing for Peace, the Dutch program leaders Margreet Stelling and Gerrit Jan Romeijn demonstrated how interactive games can be an effective option for problem solving. With their play #Church Too, Canadian acting troop Theatre of the Beat placed a spotlight on sexual harassment and sexual violence in the church, highlighting topics that are too often glossed over and stories that mustn’t be silenced.⁹ In a similar vein, with their multi-media installation Do Not Discard, American artist Nicole Litwiller, interviewer Lindsay Acker, and composer Luke Mullet urged viewers not to cast aside or ignore the stories of survivors of sexual harassment and violence: Litwiller’s collage made of garbage and recycled objects (bringing in the sub-theme of ecological justice) included transcribed stories and audio of interviews with survivors of sexual violence.¹⁰ As a reflection on peace and a call for peace, Swiss filmmaker Max Wiedmer shared his art film Peacemaker: the work tells the story of a young boy in search of peace and security; it alternates between this narrative and biblical readings about the divine peace plan, with the implication that these can be put into practice today.¹¹

Historical exhibitions also served as a means to explore past and current experiences in different sociohistorical contexts, and they offered a chance for critical assessment of the narratives and memory cultures that we construct. A few days ahead of the conference, an exhibit of early modern prints and books, titled Heretics, Martyrs, and Merchants: The Anabaptist-Mennonite Tradition in Visual Culture of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), which was on display in the foyer of Allard Pierson in Amsterdam, offered a glimpse into early modern understandings of Dutch Mennonitism and Anabaptist-Mennonite history—several of the artworks focused in upon insurrection and nonviolence.¹² The documentary photography exhibit, Photographs of Diplomacy in Action at Quaker House Brussels, curated by the Quaker Council for European Affairs, called attention to a fellow Peace Church tradition and presented an overview of Quaker work for peace. Furthermore, Bernhard Thiessen’s large exhibition on Mennonites in the former German Democratic Republic, Confessions for the Sake of Peace: Contacts between Mennonites and SED Dictatorship in the GDR," afforded conference participants the chance to learn about the challenges of a peace church living in a suppressive political system.

The monologue and workshop Peace Day written by Philip Orr and performed by the Irish actor Andrew McCracken (in liaison with MCC West Europe), blended memoir, history, and imagination in a monologue using stories of war gathered from veterans. McCracken performed in character as a WWI soldier. Connie Braun’s poetry reading also explored memory, trauma, and identity, including (Mennonite) migration experiences and aspects of displacement, belonging, and multi-generational memory. Her poem, Against Disillusionment, or, Luciérnaga, in this edited volume reflects upon the dangerous journey of migration, holding up a mirror to present-day injustices toward refugees and leading us in a pilgrimage that maintains hope for change while admonishing us not to look away."

Music, interactive art installations, and multi-media performances also promoted social connection among 2nd GMP participants and presented tangible reminders of our own creative abilities and our own pilgrimage. A bustling interactive art foyer offered a site for several artists who were willing to make art in situ. Dutch artist Jan Piet van den Berg brought his woodcarving practice for the weekend: He displayed an exhibition of his existing peace-oriented artworks, titled Peace as Our Common Baby. He also made new sculptures on the grounds—including one sculpture which he donated to the ADS as a visual reminder of this conference. Dutch collaborators, Jelien Veenstra, Sonja van Berkum, and Jacob Schiere, guided participants in participatory artworks focused on land and relationship to place: this resulted in a collaborative art installation that literally pin-pointed everyone’s pilgrimages—the journeys they had made across the world to be in the Netherlands for the 2nd GMP.

In opening and closing concerts, artists led the way in creating spaces for remembrance, spiritual reflection, and introspection, ushering participants into a safe space—and a brave space!—for exploring and processing themes that are emotionally difficult and complex. Canadian violinist Karl Stobbe and German pianist Ben Moser performed a program of classical music through which they invited everyone to reflect upon themes of war, oppression, peace, and remembrance. With Schubert’s Sonata in G Major they evoked the calm serenity of peace; with Pärt’s Fratres (brothers), the performers offered a soundscape of spiritual simplicity and unity; Debussy’s Four Preludes, including Sunken Cathedral, were described as a metaphor for worlds lost to conflict and struggle. Prokofiev’s Sonata in F minor was written in the heart of Stalin’s ‘Great Terror,’ a time of danger and oppression for so many, including Mennonites there. The concert concluded with Williams’ theme from the film Schindler’s List; the haunting violin melody was at once a visceral reminder of the Holocaust, and also a reminder of Schindler’s acts in order save the lives of 850 Jewish prisoners.¹³ This musical pilgrimage set the tone for the conference.

Dutch pianist and composer Jan Marten de Vries and Finish violinist Kirsti Apajalahti presented a synthesis of music, visual art, and pilgrimage in their closing performance of the formal conference program: Kreuzweg featured a series of paintings by Dutch artist Auke de Vries and Scottish artist Ruth Taylor. This contemporary artistic take on the stations of the cross was a meditative, multi-sensory journey bringing to mind imitatio Christi. Finally, the Colombian rock band, La Repvblica, offered a joyful postlude to the 2nd GMP with a rollicking program of music outside in the sun throughout the final evening: This enthusiastic invitation prompted dozens of those present to get up and dance together—the sound and image of community and connectedness.

Acknowledgments and Thanks

The success of the conference would not have been possible without support, hard work, and wisdom of many different people and organizations, including the conference planning committee,¹⁴ the volunteer team,¹⁵ and the interpreters. The 2nd GMP became possible thanks to the financial donations of different organizations and funds in the Netherlands, including the ADS, the Doopsgezind Seminarium, and the Fonds tot de Predikdienst uit Haarlem, in addition to the support of several Dutch Mennonite congregations that covered some of the travel costs for international participants. Furthermore, we are grateful for the support of Conrad Grebel University College—organizers of the 1st GMP—who provided input and resources to be used as a starting point for the 2nd GMP. Mennonite Central Committee covered the costs of several conference presenters, and Mennonite World Conference decided to organize their commission meetings in a way that would allow participants to join the 2nd GMP.

Special thanks to sound technician and IT coordinator, Paul Misset, who ensured smooth proceeding in all of the conference sessions, workshops, and concerts; and thanks to the flexible and helpful staff of Mennorode. Thanks also to Gwendolyn Verbraak and other curators and staff of the University of Amersterdam’s Special Collections, now Allard Pierson, for allowing a short-term Mennonite history exhibition to occur there in conjunction with the 2nd GMP.

2nd GMP has been a blessing for us, the hosting community in the Netherlands. We consider it a gift to have been able to meet each other on our individual, diverse pilgrimages in such an inspiring way. Peace be with you.

Fernando Enns

Andrés Pacheco-Lozano

Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip

Bibliography

Beck, Ervin. Mennonite and Amish Folklore and Folk Arts. https://www.goshen.edu/academics/english/ervinb/mennonite-folklore.

Born, Daniel. From Cross to Cross-Stitch: The Ascendancy of the Quilt. Mennonite Quarterly Review 79.2

(April

2005) 179–90

.

Conrad Grebel University College. Reflections and Gleanings: A Learning Document of the Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival. June

2017

. https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/sites/ca.grebel/files/uploads/files/gmp_booklet_final_

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Doopsgezinde Wereldwerk. Comforters en meer. Doopsgezind web. https://www.dgwereldwerk.nl/text.php?paginaid=

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Enns, Fernando, et al., eds. Seeking Cultures of Peace: A Peace Church Conversation. Telford, PA: Cascadia,

2004

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Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival. Program. https://www.gmp-festival.org/text.php?paginaid=

4093

#

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Keuning-Tichelaar, An, and Lynn Kaplanian-Buller. De verbindende kracht van Quilts: lappendeken van verhalen. Witmarsum, Brazil: Internationaal Menno Simons Centrum,

2008

.

Miller, Donald E., et al., eds. Overcoming Violence in Asia: The Role of the Church in Seeking Cultures of Peace. Telford, PA: Cascadia,

2011

.

———. Seeking Peace in Africa: Stories from African Peacemakers. Geneva: World Council of Churches,

2007

.

Mitchell, Jolyon P., et al., eds. Peacebuilding and the Arts. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan,

2019

.

Stobbe, Karl, and Benjamin Moser. "Program Notes:

2

nd Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival Opening Concert." Unpublished Booklet.

2019

.

2. On Dutch context, see Doopsgezinde Wereldwerk, Comforters en meer, and Keuning-Tichelaar and Kaplanian-Buller, De verbindende kracht van Quilts. See also, Born, From Cross to Cross-Stitch,

179–90

. For extensive bibliography on Anabaptists and quilting in North America, see Beck, Mennonite and Amish Folklore and Folk Arts.

32

. See, for example, the contributions of Peace Churches to the "Decade to Overcome Violence.

2001-2010

," initiated by the WCC: Enns et al., Seeking Cultures of Peace; Miller et al., Seeking Peace in Africa; Miller et al., Overcoming Violence in Asia.

4.

Conrad Grebel University College, Reflections and Gleanings,

11

.

54

. See https://mwc-cmm.org/global-anabaptist-peace-network.

6.

Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, Program.

76. Much evidence for this is offered in Mitchell et. al., Peacebuilding and the Arts.

87

. See https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org.

98

. Actors were Meghan Fowler, Lindsay Middleton, Robert Murphy, Johnny Wideman, and Brendan Kinnon. See: https://theatreofthebeat.ca.

109

. See https://donotdiscard.wixsite.com/donotdiscard.

11.

The film uses a distinctive vertical format achieved by shooting the film with the camera tilted at

90

degrees. Film details from email correspondence with filmmaker, Max Wiedmer, in spring

2019

.

12.

The exhibition was curated by Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip.

13.

All quotations pertaining to this musical performance are taken from Stobbe and Moser, Program Notes,

3–4

.

14.

Fernando Enns, Fulco van Hulst, Vera Kok, María León Olarte, Alex Noord, Andrés Pacheco-Lozano, Daan Savert, Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip, Daniel Yang Serrano-Bernal, Henk Stenvers, Jan Willem Stenvers, and Margarithe Veen.

15.

Many of them students of the one-year master’s program on Peace, Trauma, Religion at the Vrije Universiteit, coordinated by the Dutch Mennonite Seminary.

Against Disillusionment, or, Luciérnaga

i.

Desperation and hope are a couple

expecting a child. Life begins

in trauma, and all of life is both the way of the refugee

and a pilgrimage.

The migrants walk for thousands of miles

with their children. Who can say how far away

a refuge lies. When there is a knock

we must open the door.

Inclusion and love are simply refugio and cup of water.

ii.

Neglected children care for younger children.

Babies, unswaddled,

three hundred children without blankets

lie down to sleep

on cold concrete,

no water to wash with, no soap,

no water to drink, guards point to the toilets

… don’t look away.

We have all asked ourselves what we would have done.

The past echoes.

Outbreaks of flu, scabies, lice.

The guards, the razor wire,

harsh lights throughout the night.

We will do now what we would like to think we would have done.

*

Without words in their language,

the children draw pictures for the visitors

who have come to see with their own eyes.

Luciérnaga is firefly in Spanish.

iii.

In the desert, swelling rivers.

On the sea, the roiling waves.

A child who could not be resuscitated

is placed in the ship’s freezer.

And in the camps, children

are placed in cages.

Each is a mouth that swallows them.

iv.

The generation that has not known

banishment will come to it in some way,

those not born into exile

have lived it in a past life.

Of what meaning are our stories, if not to guide us?

*

The night before he died,

Jesus prayed that all of them may be as one.

Their outcry moves through the air,

and we cannot be silent.

Across the city evening bells ring.

Connie T. Braun

I. Walking Together:

The Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

The Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace:A Programmatic Approach to Peace and Justice

Address by the Moderator of the World Council of Churches

Agnes Abuom

Introduction

Good afternoon sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. It is a great honor and a delight for me to join all of you during this important space of your second global gathering on peace and justice. The theme resonates very much with the ecumenical focus that is guiding the work of the World Council of Churches (WCC) until the next assembly. I am looking forward to drawing from the fountains of wisdom in this place. What I will be sharing is about people, places, incidences, pain, joy, hope, and celebration of life under God’s divine guidance; a story which one of your own sons, the Rev Prof. Dr. Fernando Enns, could very easily tell as he has been on the journey since the 1996 Central Committee of the WCC. Nevertheless, I have been asked to share about the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace as a programmatic approach, based on the work the WCC has been doing together with a variety of churches, groups, faith-based communities and individuals.

The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP) is about stories of people’s lives, stories of people on the move; it is all about spaces and places where pilgrims interact while on pilgrimage; it is about listening to the people one encounters; indeed, PJP is about moving beyond comfort and familiar zones to unknown and unpredictable arenas; it is about being vulnerable, opening oneself to stand in solidarity with the wounded, those hurting, desperate, and seeking healing and wholeness; PJP is about taking time to listen and discern God’s will. Simply put, PJP is an open book to be filled by pilgrims: those pilgrims and their contexts are blessed as they stand in solidarity and pray with others at particular moments in particular times and spaces. PJP lifts up the diverse experiences and narratives of communities and it invites others to join in the journey as companions and as fellow seekers of justice and peace, all the while sharing the vision of an inclusive, just, and peaceful world; a world characterized by healing and reconciling broken relations and by the restoration of the whole creation. PJP is also an affirmation that humanity has been on the move, from Genesis to the present, in search of justice, peace, security, and reconciliation.

Brief Historical Overview of Justice and Peace in the Life of the WCC

A scan of the WCC’s seventy-year journey shows that justice and peace have been hallmarks of the organization’s prayer and work on church unity and mission; although Justice later also became a separate pillar, assuming its own space but in close connection with Unity and Mission. The language used to articulate these themes over the years differs but is nonetheless evident in the various general assemblies. For instance, in 1948 the WCC was founded with the great hope that unity among churches might be a sign of that peace which the world cannot give, but which God promises. Through reflection, prayer, and action, churches covenanted to continue the search for unity as they formulated the motto: We are Committed to Stay Together. The operative concept at the time was Responsible Society as the new council declined to be associated with either capitalism or communism. The context at the time reflected the fragile nature of peace and the need to strengthen fellowship, trust, and confidence in one another since the church and communities had been deeply shaken to the core by the two world wars. Responsible Society as a concept was better articulated at the second assembly in 1954, while in Uppsala 1968, attention was placed on issues pertaining to ethics and faithfulness in decision making on global trends that were contributing to deepening divisions among people and fracturing of relations. Examples of topics include the economic development paradigm, biotechnology, and racism. It was at the 1975 assembly that the concept of Justice, Peace and Creation clearly surfaced, resulting in Just, Participatory and Sustainable Society (JPSS) as the program framework.

As the council grew in numbers and became strong organizationally, it convened the 6th assembly in Vancouver in 1983. The context of Indigenous Peoples had a bearing on the next program thrust which became Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. Emphasis was on the integrity of creation, a concern reflected in the 7th assembly theme (Come Holy Spirit; Renew the Whole Creation). Critical analysis and sensitivity to the global environment enabled the WCC to pick the growing global challenge of violence, particularly its manifestations in the cities, perpetuated partly by underground criminal activities and business. As a response, a program was developed known as Peace to the Cities; this became a precursor for the Decade to Overcome Violence 2001–2010 (DOV) and eventually the 2011 International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) held in Jamaica. It is the harvest of DOV in Jamaica and the peace and security situation in North East Asia that informed the deliberations and subsequent articulation of PJP.

At the latest assembly in Busan 2013, the churches committed themselves to stay and move together in pursuit of the vision of unity, justice, and peace: We intend To Move Together. During the WCC 70th anniversary year (2018) a number of activities were held around the world—among these, the commemoration services in Amsterdam and in Geneva, including the visit of Pope Francis to the WCC in June. One of the key church leaders in reflecting on the seventy-year anniversary states: In 2018 we continue to long for the gift of unity; for the church and for the world. We gladly take this anniversary moment to recommit ourselves and our churches to continue the journey together. His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, reminded us, as part of our celebrations, that the fruit of unity cannot ripen without divine grace. We have learned, over seventy years, that human endeavors often fail, but that the grace of the God who is always faithful is with us and will bring to fulfilment the prayer of Jesus, that they may be one.

Translating the Message of the 10th WCC Assembly to Program

Now let us look at how PJP has and continues to evolve programmatically. After the conclusion of the 10th assembly, the WCC–Central Committee gave direction on the program to be developed and implemented using the reiterated Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace as an overarching framework, requiring that all programs be aligned to the PJP as the overarching theme. The General Secretary formed a PJP-Reference Group. Besides the Reference Group, a Theological Study Group was also put in place. The composition of the Reference Group seeks to be faithful to the invitation offered in Busan; namely, the call to member churches and people of faith—all men and women of good will—to join the pilgrimage. Therefore, the Reference Group has members from other faith traditions such as Muslims, Hindus, and a Jewish member. In addition, priority countries for the PJP were agreed upon by the governing organs of the council.

As the overarching theme, the PJP had to permeate the work of all Units and Working Groups and Commissions of the WCC. The PJP Reference Group is located in the Public Witness and Diakonia Unit. [Some aspects of the structure are outlined in figure 1; note that the diagram is not exhaustive—it does not reflect commissions like ECHOS, for young people, and many others.]

Figure

1

. The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

World Council of Churches Strategic Objectives (2014–20)

As a means to facilitate monitoring and reporting, the council reaffirmed and reformulated five strategic objectives to guide annual plans and budgets.

Figure

2

. Five strategic objectives to guide annual plans and budgets within the Council

Programmatic Thrusts

The approach employed by the Council in translating PJP program-wide means that all the existing units and their commissions integrate the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace: this includes the Commission of World Mission and Evangelism, the Commission on Faith and Order, the Public Witness and Diakonia, the churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA), and the Ecumenical Formation. Every program is expected to engage with PJP from its particular perspectives. For instance, Mission and Evangelism has endeavored to discern how the PJP can harness the missionary journey, and play a role in the continued journeying together to affirm, save, and sustain life. A vital question raised in their work is this: how can PJP strengthen the work and prayer for unity of the church and humankind?

Approach of the PJP Reference Group

The Reference Group (RG) continued to extend the invitation to member churches, and all men and women of good will, to organize pilgrimages in their own localities and share their experiences through the communication department of the WCC. A methodology of undertaking real pilgrimages is designed as Pilgrim Team Visits (PTVs), this also subsequently enables different programs to emulate the pilgrimage model of the PTV for themselves during their normal project activities. In order to guide the Pilgrim Team Visits a method was devised by the moderator of the RG that secures companionship between pilgrims and those they visit. Pilgrims are to be sensitive as they (a) visit the wounds—the via negativa; (b) celebrate the gifts of life—the via positiva; and (c) transform injustices and witness the transformative processes of communities—the via transformativa.

Visiting the wounds: via negativa

From Jerusalem and Palestine through Nigeria to Colombia and on to Asia, narratives of wounds are overwhelming. We all know the decades old—if not centuries—conflict for identity and nationhood in Palestine. The pain and wounds inflicted by continuous evictions, violence, and statelessness cannot be adequately explained here. In Colombia and Bolivia, the RG, Oiko Tree, and CCIA organized Pilgrim Team Visits. Injustices meted out against people in these places are indescribable; land grabbing by multi-nationals results in landlessness, and there is a devastating impact of protracted war on women, children, and elderly. The Women Pilgrimages to Northern Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Burundi, illustrate the growing accounts and the normalization of rape in war. One of the pandemics affecting humanity is sexual and gender based violence; the cycles of trauma for individuals and communities cannot be fathomed, and children born out of this ugly, cruel and dehumanizing sexual violence must also be taken into consideration. South Sudan is the youngest nation born out of brutality and now drowns in murder, rape, arson, and vicious civil war; villagers are murdered and homes burnt.

Revisiting wounds in Kaduna, Nigeria illustrates how the demonization of religion can cause so much pain and divisiveness: women who grew up together and shared a lot in life now cannot interact because of religiously inspired conflict. Pilgrims to Asian countries found the same depth of pains and wounds, only manifested differently: there are people whose destiny to perpetual subjugation is decided by certain classes and races of people and these oppressed groups bear children into this caste and life of scavenging. The pain of forceful displacement and rejection experienced by the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, crowded in dingy camps in one of the poorest countries, speaks volumes of the venomous hate that a human being can experience and express to others.

Celebrating life: via positiva

A Muslim-Christian center for dialogue was established jointly by the WCC and the Jordanian Prince in Kaduna, Nigeria, and it is expected to contribute to peaceful co-existence. Youth and others meet and enhance their skills. In Colombia, the Peace Agreement signals hope and WCC follows the developments; moreover, the Ecumenical Women Peace Group is an organization worthy of celebration because it keeps alive the candle of hope for sustainable peace as the communities focus on peacebuilding. Asia—Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand—is being blessed and being a blessing; in these places, there are ministries of presence and solidarity that contribute to peacebuilding. Though many communities were isolated and felt forgotten, when the Pilgrim Teams arrived they felt remembered. Visits to Papua New Guinea offer a reminder that in spite of deep-seated wounds, people continue to resist oppression and expect change.

Transforming injustices, changing lives: via transformativa

Refugees are reorganizing their lives and finding capacity for resilience as they start new forms of livelihoods. Local communities have expressed hospitality beyond human understanding. In India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, churches which felt forgotten by the Ecumenical Movement are thrilled to be back at the table and have a sense that the others in the ecumenical fellowship are in solidarity with them. Through the Pilgrim Team Visits, the fellowship is revived and strengthened. The role of the church in South Sudan in mediation and building peace through Action Plan for Peace (APP) provides hope and the PJP, around the Power of Forgiveness, has provided relief by offering a space for people to express and come to terms with their anger and fear.

Objectives of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

From a program perspective, PJP has been embraced by all the WCC Commissions. They have integrated the PJP approach in light of their respective mandates. Relating the PJP to the strategic objectives of WCC, we note the following aims:

Objective 1: Strengthening the Fellowship. PJP visits affirm the distinct spaces of engagement, which each have their own distinct characteristics as well as common spiritual values. We affirm these spaces through prayers, working, and walking together. Fellowship has been strengthened as pilgrims have worshipped, shared, and expressed solidarity with churches and communities. Those in conflict and post-conflict situations find the presence of pilgrims reassuring and churches are reminded of their place in the wider ecumenical fellowship.

Objective 2: Witnessing Together. The purpose of God’s mission is the fullness of life (wholesome gospel resulting in wholesome communities). Pilgrim Team Visits and the Commission for World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) activities, especially the 2018 World Mission Conference in Arusha, Tanzania, brought the aim of churches witnessing together to the fore. In every space Pilgrims go to, the purpose is to interact with all shades of population groups, including people of other faiths than Christian.

Objective 3: Building Relations of Trust and Understanding. To begin with, communities—especially the ones where pilgrim visits take place—require trust between community members, the churches, and the organizers of pilgrimages, and then, eventually, with the pilgrims. A means to open up sacred spaces where people can share and listen to each other’s stories, PJP has contributed to building relations of trust and understanding. The project on Churches’ Commitment to Children, concerned with the safety of children in churches and public spaces, may be an area where attention is crucial in the coming years. The home and the church are locations of violence for many children; such danger is not just in the public arenas.

Objective 4: Encouraging Spiritual Formation. The PJP-Theological Study Group, together with the Commission on Faith & Order, through the publication launched in May 2019, Come and See,

¹

reinforces the spirituality of pilgrimage; it also provides power for pilgrims as they journey together. Community engagement through prayer and worship also offers exposure to spiritual life. PJP hopes for a spirituality that inspires and strengthens people to go forward, facing life in the midst of injustices, violence, and death. This spirituality, which helps us to find out who we are in relation to other people and to the planet earth, allows us to get to know our own identity as children of God.

Objective 5: Inspiring and Innovative Communication. It is communication that ties together the various activities of the PJP, and communication has played a pivotal role in disseminating information and resource materials to a variety of constituencies. It is encouraging to read the materials that are presented in simple and accessible language and format.

²

Lessons Learned so Far

First, it is important to allow and trust God to lead, guide, and protect the pilgrims because some countries are classified as highly insecure. Pilgrims have learnt to walk by faith, walk in obedience to God, and pray for discernment.

Second, pilgrimage offers opportunities to build and renew networks, connections, and friendships. It also facilitates a deeper sense of the ways that people can better acknowledge and understanding each other; this is crucial for overcoming prejudices.

Third, the place of children in a pilgrimage may not be adequately catered for and the tendency is for us adults to speak for children, but we need to let children speak and to own their voices. As a matter of fact, children are the vehicle for peace and our engagement with them should be intentional and consistent. Together with other organizations we create a moral force in defense of the rights and dignity of the child.

Fourth, with such a large WCC program and with this integrated approach, the risk is that all information and experiences are not fully harvested; follow up can be difficult.

Fifth and finally, the Reference Group is planning for Team Visits to the Pacific region and Canada, as it also begins to harvest the experiences from the different parts of the world and different communions. You are invited to share your pilgrimage stories. The Communication department of the WCC is available to distribute them widely. The 11th Assembly motto is decided: Christ’s Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity; your input on this common Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is more than welcome.

Thank you once more for creating this space at the Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, and thank you for listening.

Bibliography

Durber, Susan, and Fernando Enns, eds. Walking Together: Theological Reflections on the Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. Geneva: World Council of Churches,

2018

.

World Council of Churches. Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. https://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/pilgrimage-of-justice-and-peace.

1

. See Durber and Enns, eds. Walking Together.

2

. See World Council of Churches, Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.

Were not our hearts burning within us?

The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Continued: Towards an Ecumenical Theology of Companionship

Fernando Enns and Andrés Pacheco-Lozano

Introduction

Since the ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP) was officially launched during the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, South Korea, 2013, it has become the new programmatic horizon for the life of the global ecumenical fellowship. Framed as a transformative journey in anticipation of God’s final purpose for the world,

³

the PJP has sought to explore more deeply the spiritual dimension of participating in and witnessing to God’s Just Peace. During the first Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, we introduced that fresh approach.

⁴

Here, we are going to report and reflect on the continuing progress of the pilgrimage.

In order to study and reflect on what it means for the churches together to be on a pilgrimage of justice and peace, the WCC implemented an international Reference Group as well as a Theological Study Group, as recommended by the Assembly.

⁵

These two consultative groups are composed of a rich diversity in terms of faith traditions, gender, age, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds, in order to explore the meaning and the theological implications of the PJP from different perspectives. The two authors of this article have the privilege to be part of these groups, representing the peace-church traditions from Latin America and Europe.

In organizing their work, the two WCC-Groups are following a methodology that was inspired by the pilgrimage metaphor itself: Pilgrim Team Visits to different communities around the world are taking place, each year with a focus on a different region.

⁶

Their primary experience can be summarized with those wise words Rowan Williams once expressed: the place works on the pilgrim.⁷ During their annual meetings, the Reference Group (RG) as well as the Theological Study Group (TSG) have celebrated spiritual moments with local communities and churches, shared their sorrows and pains, and witnessed their transformative actions—following the different dimensions of via positiva (celebrating the gifts), via negativa (visiting the wounds), and via transformativa (transforming injustices), as introduced in the beginning of the PJP.

⁸

During these pilgrimage stations, one of the discoveries was to see that the reverse of what Williams said is true as well: the pilgrims work on the place. Hosting pilgrims of justice and peace has an impact itself on the local contexts, the hosting communities report. In addition, moving from one pilgrimage station to the next, four crucial themes have emerged, each raised in different ways by the diverse contexts, yet common in terms of urgency: (1) Truth and Trauma, (2) Land and Displacement, (3) Gender Justice, and (4) Racism. Trying to be faithful to our hosts, we have welcomed these themes to shape the common ecumenical agenda for theological reflections on our common pilgrimage of justice and peace.

Furthermore, the experiences from the many pilgrimage stations invite the ecumenical fellowship to discern what it means to walk with one another, particularly when some communities suffer from the threats of direct violence and injustice. Here, we have discovered the need for an important shift from a rather one-sided, sometimes even paternalistic, accompaniment approach to companionship—we should become com-panions to each other, those who share the bread with each other on the way. We have identified the need to reflect more consistently on an ecumenical theology of companionship in order to support the churches as they seek to become true pilgrim churches.

Some results of the ongoing journey shall be presented to the next WCC Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2022. With this article, we hope to contribute to this process of harvesting and reflecting theologically on the learnings along the way, considering the four identified themes (there are more and contextually specific challenges, of course, as well as intersections of related themes) in a coherent theological framework of companionship, not primarily as an academic research project, but to strengthen the peace-building ecumenical movement at large.

Challenges on the Way: The Pilgrim Team Visits

The three vias (celebrating the gifts, visiting the wounds, transforming the injustices—borrowing language from Dorothee Soelle)

⁹

have become the crucial lenses to experience, with mind, heart, and body. Visiting the different communities in their locations, we were invited to share in the rich spiritual resources, analyzing critically the sociopolitical contexts, most often in their cross-cultural interdependence. We also learned from their empowering involvement in transforming injustices and building peace. During these enriching spiritual journeys to vulnerable people and places, those who are part of the Pilgrim Team Visits (PTV) experience mutual transformation: both those who are visited as well as those who are hosted are shaped by the experience, witnessing together to God’s Pilgrimage of Just Peace.

¹⁰

This methodology allows for input and common actions inspired directly by the local communities.

I. Truth and Trauma

In Colombia, we visited wounded communities where people were crying out for truth-telling in order to acknowledge the harms done during the long-term armed conflict. One of the key factors of the peace accords between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla forces (signed in 2016) has in fact been the implementation of a Truth Commission (TCC). We met with Father Francisco de Roux, who chairs that commission. He explained that, instead of trying to develop one final version of the past cruel events, TCC aims to put different narratives—even opposing ones—in dialogue with one another. The aim is to create space in one’s own narrative of truth for the truth of the other. Truth could only be interpreted as a common process to give meaning to hurting wounds (Greek: trauma).

Truth-telling can have a liberating, even restoring power, for victims, survivors, offenders, bystanders, and communities at large. When people live in truth, there is no need for deception and pretense. When truth is revealed, after experiencing severe violation and injustice, penance might become possible for some, forgiveness for others. Once truth is acknowledged, justice comes into sight. Yet, in order to unfold this power, truth cannot be claimed exclusively from one particular perspective, nor may truth-telling be reduced to bare fact-finding. Truth is always relational.

This relational notion of truth resonates with the Christian conviction that Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Christ, the Truth, reveals the fragility and limitations of all principalities, powers, and privileges, but recognizes—and thereby empowers—all marginalized and traumatized to become active agents in processes of healing. For Christians, it is in relation to Christ-the Truth that reconciliation for all becomes possible, once any attempt to self-salvation is given up.

When [T]ruth is neglected, trauma remains unhealed. Trauma is a moral injury that occurs when the fabric that holds moral agency and the self together are torn asunder.

¹¹

It silences people. In many cases, silence has been imposed on individuals and communities, in Colombia as in so many other places. And in turn, silence (and silencing) may freeze experiences further, causing them to become traumas. On our pilgrimage, we tried to listen intentionally to that silence. Trauma healing processes function in different rhythms and times for different people and communities. Yet, in all contexts, truth-telling plays an important role in creating the conditions for healing.

Traumatized people have troubled memories, and therefore their narratives are often not accepted as valuable or are even denied. Their way of remembering is most complex, because it carries the power of condemnation, shame, and guilt that can unleash a view of the self as irredeemable and un-reparable.

¹²

Reflecting theologically in light of this reality, Phillis Isabella Sheppard warns:

Trauma demands that our theology and commitments begin on the ground, in the blood, sweat, and tears, and the pain-induced lesions that are carved into our bodies and psyches, and in the intersubjective realm . . . If our theology is not of those who live with trauma and . . . subject to their reflection, it is dangerous to talk about theology, and its danger lies in its power in theological discourse and theological practices to reproduce trauma.

¹³

Individuals and communities need to draw from their own spiritual cultures and traditions to walk a pilgrimage of trauma healing. Actually, spirituality can open up possibilities for creative individual and communal responses to trauma.

¹⁴

Symbolism and rituals play a key function in these processes of remembering rightly.

¹⁵

For instance, sharing the bread of life with each other—in remembrance of the Truth that was tortured, killed, yet resurrected—may help to acknowledge the truth about injured bodies and souls in our midst. As Willie James Jennings interprets:

Jesus is the innocent who has been killed in conflict. Yet, he has risen not in vengeance or condemnation, but in new life . . . He offers forgiveness from the site of his body marked by violent death. Jesus returns to the scene of violence and betrayal, that is, to a world stamped with the memories of his murder, and he remembers with and for us, drawing our past into his future and shaping our present in his presence. In Jesus, we learn that God remembers. This is not a declaration of the divine capacities for memory, but for the communion dynamic in God’s memory.

¹⁶

In regard to an emerging theology of companionship, these pilgrimage discoveries show the importance of creating safe spaces in which painful memories of the past can be shared and processed by shaping healing [T]ruth-narratives—both to help express and process the wounds and to reaffirm belonging and identity. Here, communities need to join in healing exercises of shared memories—acknowledging what happened and what did not happen, recognizing pain and silenced voices, and reflecting upon dreams and hopes. As Jennings writes, the memory work of a faith community finds its life in the God who remembers altogether and moves us by the Holy Spirit toward a shared exposition and shared confession.

¹⁷

Lamenting together and grieving together are indeed Christian practices. A community of com-pan-iero/as might prove strong enough to hold the brokenness of bodies and embrace the traumas inflicted; such a community can walk together in a pilgrimage of restoration for individuals and their relationships. No-one shall carry the burden of memory alone, since healing is promised to those whose relations are shaped by the Truth of companionship with each other. At times, the trust of the traumatized might be placed more in the companions than in themselves. At times, it will be the companions who carry the hope for those who are broken. For some, the reality of Good Friday will be too dominant; they simply cannot trust the liberating resurrection of Christ, the