United Nations community affirmed in September 11 prayer service
Episcopal News Service. September 12, 2007 [091207-02]
Members of the United Nations community were welcomed to the Episcopal Church Center for a September 11 evening prayer service co-sponsored by the Office of the Anglican Observer at the U.N.
Anglican Communion Secretary General Kenneth Kearon; Bishop John Paterson of Auckland, New Zealand, chair of the Anglican Consultative Council; and Bishop Alexander John Malik of Lahore, moderator of the Church of Pakistan, were among Anglican Communion leaders welcomed to the gathering by Hellen Wangusa, Anglican Observer at the U.N.
During the liturgy, volunteers in the Observer's Office were commissioned for service by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who also preached the homily.
The Anglican Observer's Office "has a prophetic role," Jefferts Schori said. (Full text of her homily follows below.)
"The U.N. Observer also has the challenge of reminding us of all the children of God whose lot is violence. She and her staff call us to remember hungry children, all who suffer from disease, women who never know basic human dignity, indigenous peoples who are ignored, devalued, and exploited, and this abused earth which is our only home," Jefferts Schori said. "The Observer's work tells us where there is no peace, and challenges us to go forth and make peace."
Acknowledging the impact of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the Presiding Bishop said: "We are also remembering the violence wrought in this city of New York six years ago. The sources of that violence have something to do with the dreams that others have associated with this city and this nation, unholy dreams and dreams that don't have much to do with peace and justice. The prophetic work that continues in the aftermath of that violence is to seek peace, and dream of a world in which people of all faith traditions and all nations can live together in justice.
"That dream has a great deal to do with the work of the United Nations. Those who continue to dream of nations living together in peace challenge the deadly destruction wrought here, and wrought daily around the globe. Peace-making is dangerous and difficult work. But it is the work that is most worth doing."
Presiding Bishop's Homily for Evening Prayer Service for the U.N. Community co-sponsored by the Office of the Anglican Observer at the United Nations
September 11, 2007
Chapel of Christ the Lord, Episcopal Church Center, New York City
Lessons: Micah 4:1-5; Matthew 5:43-48
Welcome to all of you, those associated with the United Nations, with the Anglican Observer's office, or with the Episcopal Church center. It is a delight to welcome you to this space, and to gather to give thanks for the work of the U.N. Observer, the gifts Hellen Wangusa brings to that post, and the gifts others on her staff bring to their work.
The United Nations claims that its purpose is "to bring all nations of the world together to work for peace and development, based on the principles of justice, human dignity and the well-being of all people."
The scripture readings we have just heard echo but also underlie that understanding, particularly through the image of a city set on a hill, where God is worshiped, and to which all the nations come seeking justice. Those images first spoke of Jerusalem as the city of peace, and despite the continuing struggle over that particular city, the Abrahamic faiths still hold up that dream of a city that is a source of justice for all.
The United Nations, in the minds of many, is also an image of that city of God, in which all the nations may find peace. When the nations gather, seeking peace, we still dream that justice will prevail. When human beings begin to converse together, to seek understanding and cooperation, even in multiple languages and with many interpreters, that possibility begins. We claim a heritage, common to the Abrahamic faiths, that God's justice will eventually prevail, and that justice has something to do with an ideal city - an interconnected and interdependent human community.
The mission of the United Nations is peace with justice, the same mission that is claimed here in Micah and the psalm for Jerusalem, the city built on a hill. Each and every one who labors in that city to build a just and peaceful world participates in God's dream. Ambassadors, translators, mail clerks, and those who maintain the building in which the nations gather, all contribute to that vision of possibility.
We live woefully short of that vision, that dream of righteousness and justice, especially when the city that is the model for that vision continues to be fractured and divided, when it produces more strife than peace, when plowshares continue to be re-forged into swords and weapons of war.
We're here tonight to recognize and celebrate the ministry of one particular office, which exists to advise and challenge and inform both the members of the U.N. and the members of the Anglican Communion. The Office of the Anglican Observer seeks opportunities to sue for peace. This office has a prophetic role, and like the great prophets of the Hebrew scriptures, that role has two essential parts.
Prophets cry woe to those who subvert and violate the dream of peace with justice, and they also cry encouragement and hope to those who yearn for a better world. Every time Hellen Wangusa shares the statistics of poverty, disease, and conflict with those who labor at the U.N., she is doing that first kind of prophetic work. Every time she listens to a story of woe and offers hope and possibility, she is doing the second kind. Prophets lurk on the margins, for they need the perspective that comes with seeing and hearing those outside the city of dreams, those who do not yet enjoy its peace. Prophets also need the perspective to see into a community of insiders who believe they already live in that city of dreams.
Prophets are not always popular. An American social commentator and preacher named Garrison Keillor puts it bluntly. Prophets are not much fun to have around, and they don't get invited to a lot of birthday parties. Prophets often experience pain and isolation in their work, and as Jesus notes, the prophets most often die in Jerusalem. Prophets produce the strongest reaction in the place that should most welcome their voice -- the dream of peace often evokes massive and violent resistance. Most governments are not eager to hear the voice of prophets -- in either of their roles. Prophets need and deserve their own communities of support, and I hope and pray that that is why you are here tonight.
We are also remembering the violence wrought in this city of New York six years ago. The sources of that violence have something to do with the dreams that others have associated with this city and this nation, unholy dreams and dreams that don't have much to do with peace and justice. The prophetic work that continues in the aftermath of that violence is to seek peace, and dream of a world in which people of all faith traditions and all nations can live together in justice.
That dream has a great deal to do with the work of the United Nations. Those who continue to dream of nations living together in peace challenge the deadly destruction wrought here, and wrought daily around the globe. Peace-making is dangerous and difficult work. But it is the work that is most worth doing.
Peace-makers bring remarkable gifts to their work, beginning with the ability to dream of a city where justice for all is both law and normal expectation. Peace-makers teach others how to see beyond division, how to see the fundamental humanity that unites us all. In this place we call that fundamental unity being made in the image of God. We insist that each life is of ultimate value and dignity. The U.N. Observer shares the vocation of visionary, able to see what unites. The observer and her staff also share the vocation of prophetic challenger, to see the dignity and worth even in those who hate us. We, too, begin to make peace when we can see our mortal enemy as made in the image of God.
There is a remarkable story told of a man imprisoned in Asia during the Second World War, who was asked how he survived the brutality of his captors, and was able eventually to forgive them: "I imagined the most vicious of them as a babe held in his mother's arms, and I kept that image before me, day after day. It made it impossible to hate."
We have special reason to remember perpetrators of violence as babes held in their mothers' arms this night. The U.N. Observer also has the challenge of reminding us of all the children of God whose lot is violence. She and her staff call us to remember hungry children, all who suffer from disease, women who never know basic human dignity, indigenous peoples who are ignored, devalued, and exploited, and this abused earth which is our only home. The Observer's work tells us where there is no peace, and challenges us to go forth and make peace.
Together, we can dream of Yerushalayim, city of dreams. Together, we can challenge the cities and nations of this world to beat their swords into hoes and shovels, and turn their cannons and grenade launchers into fertilizer spreaders. We can dream and work for a world where no one learns war any more, where every human being enjoys the abundance of vine and orchard -- not just enough to stave off hunger, but enough to feast and celebrate.
Indeed, let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, of every-city that has no peace. Let us pray for a world where no one lives in fear, where enemies become friends, where the sun rises and the rain falls on all alike, who dwell in peace.
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church