The Ecumenical Movement beyond Busan.
Gill, Theodore A., Jr.
"God of Life, God of Mission" is the title of the current
issue of our sister journal International Review of Mission (April
2013), and in its first article Metropolitan Geevarghese Mor Coorilos,
moderator of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, leads an
excellent collection of essays with his reflections on the missiological
import of the theme for the 10th Assembly of the World Council of
Churches (WCC), which will convene in late October 2013 in Busan,
Republic of Korea.
Regular readers of IRM and the The Ecumenical Review know the theme
(and prayer) under which the Busan Assembly is organized: "God of
life, lead us to justice and peace." The past three issues of ER
have been devoted to aspects of the theme as examined from particular
perspectives.
In October 2012, the cover of The Ecumenical Review (64.4)
announced a series of "Gendered Perspectives" on the assembly
theme, introduced by guest editors Fulata Lusungu Moyo and Sarojini
Nadar. They called readers "to embrace vulnerability as a
relational resource with our brothers and sisters who are
struggling," to explore adopting "an option for the
marginalized" and to admit "our total dependence on our
self-emptying, relational God."
In December 2012, guest editor Deenabandu Manchala continued the
exploration of "Justice, Peace and Marginalized Communities"
with an editorial suggesting a possible sub-theme, also in the form of a
prayer: "God of life and peace, grant us the courage to struggle
for justice." Other authors shared their own prayers in response to
marginalization in the world, societies and the churches. One such
prayer formed the title of Sathianathan Clarke's article: "God
of life, God in life, and God for life: lead all of us through the
wisdom of the crushed ones to justice and peace."
And in March 2013, guest editor Ernst Conradie provided us with a
set of eleven "Ecumenical and Ecological Perspectives on the
'God of Life.'" This spring issue lifted up the first
three words of the theme and asked, in Conradie's words, "how
the phrase [God of life] is used in contemporary eco-theology. This
invites theological reflection on two related aspects of the provocative
Christian confession, namely that all of life may be understood as
belonging to the triune God and that the triune God may be understood as
the God of life."
This summary of recent topics in ER and IRM comes by way of an
invitation to consider these resources, whether found in "hard
copy" volumes or unscrambled electronic pulses on the Internet.
They make fine preparatory material for the 10th Assembly in October and
early November 2013. If a congregation or local discussion group, or a
regional group of delegates to the assembly, is seeking background
material on the issues that will be raised in Busan, a promising place
to start may be the pages of Ecumenical Review and International Review
of Mission, as well as publications like Current Dialogue or the
websites of the World Council of Churches (www.oikoumene.org) and the
10th Assembly (www.wcc2013.info).
The purpose, of course, goes beyond surveying the background to the
assembly. In this issue of The Ecumenical Review, we feature responses
to a request for visions of the WCC and the broader ecumenical movement "beyond Busan"--visions taking in personal experience, present
reality as well as possibilities that lie ahead.
The 20th-century German theologian Ernst Lange wrote of the
"dream and reality of the ecumenical movement." Genuinely
grateful as we are to all the authors in this issue of the journal, one
wonders which of our many visions may remain more dream than reality.
Even so, there is much to be said for dreams. Decades ago, one read the
prophecy of Joel and the second chapter of Acts and associated oneself
with the "young" who would "see visions." These
days, some of us settle happily into the role of older believers who,
the prophet said, simply "dream dreams." Nevertheless, we
elders look forward to the 10th Assembly with the knowledge that a
certain percentage of youth delegates will be required in the makeup of
each set of nominations to leadership.
In an inspired moment, an English-language publisher gave one of
Ernst Lange's books a title that echoes Galileo: "And Yet it
Moves" (subtitle: "Dream and Reality of the Ecumenical
Movement"). That is one important thing to remember about the
ecumenical "movement": for all its hesitations and meandering,
false starts and occasional retrogression, it does continue to move.
There is recognition of that, and of the possibilities for progress, in
a theme that prays for guidance on our journey: God of life, lead us to
justice and peace.
DOI: 10.1111/erev.12045
Editor
Theodore A. GILL, Jr.
