At Korea's Anglican peace forum, Presiding Bishop calls for 'tearing down barriers'
Episcopal News Service, Seoul. November 16, 2007 [111607-03]
Neva Rae Fox, Program officer for public affairs
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
With those opening words of her sermon, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori set the tone for the five-day forum of the worldwide Anglican peace conference, Towards Peace In Korea (TOPIK), which started November 16 in Seoul, South Korea.
"We have gathered here to do just that, and to work at tearing down the barriers between us that make enemies," Jefferts Schori told almost 300 people gathered for TOPIK's Opening Eucharist. "We are here to practice peace-making, to un-learn our ability to make war, to shape communities that seek peace and harmony rather than division."
The conference, which began November 14 with a three-day peace trip to Geumgangsan in North Korea (story to follow), stems from a 2005 Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) resolution calling for peace, reconciliation and reunification of this Asian peninsula.
The November 16-20 forum is set just hours away from the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the heavily fortified dividing line between North and South Korea,
Chairing and organizing the event is Archbishop Francis Park of the Anglican Church of Korea. Joining more than 100 South Koreans at TOPIK are primates, clergy and lay leaders from throughout the Anglican Communion, including Australia, Cyprus, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Noting that peace has indeed occurred in war-weary areas such as South Africa and Ireland, and "is being built one school at a time in Afghanistan," Jefferts Schori expressed her hopes for peace in Korea. "This gathering can be a witness to that possibility. Wherever people begin to look for the image of God in people they would rather see as enemy, Zion emerges from the mist, and the nations begin to stream toward that holy mountain."
She concluded: "May this gathering be invitation to see the image of God we all share, even when overlain by fear and enmity. May we be transformed in this meeting, so that we may go forth and transform the world."
The Presiding Bishop's full sermon is available here.
Canterbury sends greetings
"The healing of damaged relationships goes on at many levels," noted Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who was unable to attend the conference but sent greetings read by his special envoy Robin Eames, former Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, who is serving as president of the conference.
"Where war, hostility and separation have occurred it is a process that will take time," Williams continued. "Taking the first steps in the process demands courage."
He concluded, "This Conference allows the Anglican Communion to demonstrate its solidarity with Korean Christians of all traditions in this deep desire for the day when the people of the peninsula can unite in brotherly love -- enjoying the peace, freedom and prosperity that they so deserve."
The full text of Williams' message is available here.
Traveling with the Presiding Bishop is the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, director of Peace and Justice Ministries; Peter Ng, partnership officer for Asia and the Pacific; and the Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop.