Healing
the Land
Sermon preached
during the ecumenical worship
in Luanda, 12 October 2003
Dear Christian friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,
I.
I bring you warm Christian greetings from the World Council of Churches with its more than 340 member churches throughout the world. This is the first time that an official delegation from the World Council of Churches visits Angola. Our delegation also includes representatives of the regional ecumenical organization, the All African Conference of Churches and of the sub-regional fellowship of churches and councils, FOCCISA. We have come on a pastoral visit to express ecumenical solidarity with the Angolan people and with the Christian churches in the country. We seek to understand the current situation and development in Angola, to learn about the process of consolidating the peace and discover how the ecumenical community can accompany the churches in their efforts of healing the wounds of war and rebuilding the country.
The World Council is no stranger to Angola. During the liberation struggle, the WCC ministered to Angolan refugees and maintained active contacts with all three liberation movements, looking forward to an era of independence and unity for the whole country. When the transitional government failed and Angola plunged back into war, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr Philip Potter, on the eve of the day of independence, issued a statement urging an immediate end to the conflict and expressing solidarity with the Angolan people and churches in their aspirations for a peaceful and united nation.
Throughout the subsequent 27 years of war, the World Council, together with the AACC and other ecumenical partners, has not ceased to foster efforts for a negotiated political solution to the conflict. It actively supported the mediation efforts of the United Nations while at the same time continuing to mobilize humanitarian assistance. Since the establishment of the Council of Angolan Christian Churches in 1977, the WCC has maintained close contact with its ecumenical partner in Angola. In 1985 it welcomed three new member churches from Angola who joined the UMC and the Kimbanguist Church as members of this world-wide fellowship of Christian churches. More recently, the WCC has warmly welcomed the formation of COIEPA, whose General Secretary is a former member of the WCC staff. COIEPA has become the widely recognized symbol of the commitment of all Christian churches in the country to work together for peace and reconciliation, based on the conviction that the decisive breakthrough to peace had to come from inside, from the people themselves.
II.
Now peace has come at long last. We give thanks to God that the fighting has ceased and that people can begin again to rebuild their lives and their homes. At the same time, it is only now that the full extent of the devastation of the country and of people's lives is becoming visible. There is no need here to quote figures in order to appreciate the enormous problems that lie ahead. During these last few days we have visited some of the sites of destruction. We have looked into the eyes of children and young people who have become the principal victims. We have also seen some exemplary projects of reconstruction and have experienced that the people want to rebuild their lives and are motivated by hope for a better future. This hope must not be disappointed.
The motto which has been chosen for this visit is Healing the Land. It is taken from a scene in the Old Testament when King Salomon was inaugurating the Great Temple in Jerusalem. At night God appeared to Salomon and assured him that God would bless the temple with God's presence, on the condition that the people turn away from following other gods and idols. Then God would hear their prayer, forgive their sins and "heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
This conditional promise has accompanied the biblical people of Israel throughout its turbulent history. Again and again, they had reason to recall God's promise to heal their land, especially in the situation after the return from exile in Babylon and being faced with the challenge of reconstruction. This is most probably the context of Psalm 85 to which I now want to turn.
The
first three verses are like an echo of God's promise to Salomon:
"Lord, you were favourable to your land; you restored the fortunes
of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their
sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned away from your hot anger."
Yes, they know and remember that again and again God came to the rescue
of God's people in spite of their unfaithfulness; but they also remember
the catastrophic defeat, the occupation of their country and their forced
exile. Has God forsaken them? Will God never forgive their arrogance of
power which led to the catastrophe?
So
the Psalm changes in tone and language and turns into a passionate, almost
desperate plea with God. The proclamation of peace and the possibility
of return from exile had raised their hopes, but the reality of the new
situation facing them was worse than they could bear. Thus they pray:
And
then comes the answer from God, probably through the mouth of a priest
or prophet: And
then the Psalm develops a vision of true peace which is not only more,
but is different from a situation where fighting has ceased. The foundations
for building a lasting peace are: steadfast love, faithfulness and, most
of all, righteousness and justice.
When
justice and peace will not only co-exist, but embrace each other, then
III. Indeed,
faithfulness and righteousness are the foundations of a sustainable and
durable peace. When those in public authority enjoy the confidence of
the people, when they uphold justice and defend human rights, then peace
can grow and the wounds of the land can be healed. In
Angola, the land has suffered together with the people. It had been entrusted
to the care of the people to sustain their lives. War action and land
mines have disfigured the land as they have destroyed people's lives.
The land is being exploited of its riches, but the people are deprived
of the true benefits. This is a question of fundamental justice which
must be addressed if peace is to be consolidated. Several
generations of children and young people have grown up who have hardly
experienced love and affection. Instead, their lives are marked by the
trauma of violence. How are they to practise faithfulness when all they
know are broken promises and the brutality of the struggle for power?
The wounds of the land will require intensive care even beyond the first
successful harvest in peace times. Healing the land calls for patient
efforts of moral formation, planting the seeds of a new consciousness
of values into the hearts and minds of the people of the land. The process
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa shows how painful
this healing process can be. We
have learned in the ecumenical movement that justice, peace and the integrity
of creation are inseparably linked with one another. This Psalm has been
one of the sources of inspiration for our ecumenical struggles. Thus I
would like to offer this Psalm as our prayer for Angola and its people.
May God fulfil for you the promise that: "The Lord will give what
is good and our land will yield its increase."
Konrad Raiser "Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away
your indignation toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you
prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, so
that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation."
"Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace
to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory
may dwell in our land."
God wills peace for God's people, for those who turn to him in their hearts.
God keeps the promise, and the land shall reflect God's glory. "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness
and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky."
"the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps."
General Secretary
World Council of Churches