Editor EMILIO CASTRO

Managing Editors T. K. THOMAS THOMAS F. BEST MARLIN VANELDEREN

Editorial Assistant JOAN CAMBITSIS

The quarterly of the World Council of Churches

Editorial

“Come, Holy Spirit - Renew the Whole Creation.” The prayer-theme of the WCC seventh assembly had become a cri du coeur, a passionate calling on the power of God during the weeks before the assembly. The breaking out of the Gulf war raised the question: “Should the assembly be held? Will it not give the impression of ‘business as usual’? Will it not indicate that we are out of touch with the real problems of the world, wanting in solidarity with those who are suffering?’ A number of people were of the opinion that precisely because there is such a serious crisis in the world we must meet, and together pray for the inspiration of the Spirit.

For us in the World Council itself the advice of the churches in the Middle East was decisive. They wanted the churches to come together from around the world to pray for them and with them, and to search for ways to express our obedience and our response to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

The first and clearest answer to our prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit is the very fact that the assembly was held. Delegates, advisers, observers, visitors, journalists - in coming together we recovered a sense of belonging to the fellowship of churches. We could meet, crossing all walls of separation and proving that we are a communion that cannot be destroyed even by the terrible reality of war. The Spirit brought us and kept us together, and notwithstanding our differences and misunder- standings, we realize once again that we belong to each other and that there is no other way forward than deepening our communion in Christ.

A second response to our prayer is related to two fears which were evident before the assembly met. Both of these arose out of the crisis in the Gulf. The first fear was that this crisis would so dominate discussions that the assembly would have no chance to look at the ecumenical movement as a whole, to discern directions for the future work of the Council and the churches in the broadest possible perspective. The other fear was precisely the opposite, thatthe assembly would not be able adequately to

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address this specific tragic issue of the Gulf war. I think that both fears were proved to be unfounded. The spiritual reality of our common worship created a sense of transcendence and of communion that put the crisis in the world into its proper frame of reference. It was not a matter of winning or losing a political battle in the assembly, but an existential, spiritual walking together with the suffering people of the Middle East in the search for a just solution.

The first manifestation of the assembly’s concern was a peace march through the city of Canberra. We were joined by thousands of people from local churches. It was followed by a prayer vigil through the night, concluding in a liturgical celebration. We could not pretend to have any special wisdom to solve the problems in the Gulf but we could offer the vision of the crucified Lord and the promise of resurrection to help us and others to try again and again to take the path of peace.

Then came the long debate. From the very beginning, especially in the exchange of greetings with the prime minister of Australia, the issue had been clearly stated: what was the best way to affirm justice for the Kuwaiti people and to redeem so much suffering through facing squarely all the basic issues of the region? The resolution approved by the assembly belongs now to our common history. But the value of our discussions lies more in their openness than in the interchanges that took place. The democratic process of expressing our views took four hours in plenary session. It was at times very chaotic, but it was also surprising to see how, even within that chaos, reciprocal correction was taking place and a dimension of reciprocal trust was being built. We read in the scriptures that the Holy Spirit was hovering over the chaos at the beginning of creation; in all humility we hope that the Creator Spirit was also hovering over our own chaos, and was able to use the frailty of our human judgments to serve the cause of justice, and finally the cause of peace.

The debate on the Gulf crisis inevitably reopened the issue of the proper Christian attitude to war as such. This has been with us since the first WCC assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. The position of the World Council has been the systematic rejection of war as a way to overcome differences between human groups. This time it was particularly difficult because we sought not only to make a general statement on war, but to apply our principles to a specific conflict.

We entered the assembly through the smoke which traditionally expresses Aborigi- nal spirituality. The encounter with the original inhabitants of the land left a lasting impression on all of us, and I hope that in the years ahead the WCC will seek deeper relations with people who stand close to the land - and who usually have a long history of being oppressed. This encounter was not new, either for the churches in Australia (which are already fully involved in this issue) or for the WCC (which in 1981 organized a team visit to Aboriginal settlements, and brought out a report that made a substantial contribution to the national debate in Australia). But this time the Aboriginal friends were there to receive us; they were hosting the assembly. They shared with us their life, their worship, their culture, their dreams and hopes. They trusted us. We were deeply touched by the candour, the simplicity, the openness and the richness of the reception given us by Aboriginal brothers and sisters.

We find in the documents of the assembly several resolutions on land rights, the need for the recognition of Aboriginal rights, and so on. These are necessary, and will have their consequences in the life of our churches. But in no case shall we pretend to find solutions for others. Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians are looking

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for such solutions, and we give our full support to this process. Within the family of sharing, the Aboriginal peoples have blessed us. This blessing will be shared with all the churches in the world, and their story will be told. New prayers and a new sense of respect will grow everywhere. I hope that our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, through their strong presence at the assembly, have come to know that they belong to the wider ecumenical family, that they belong rightfully to the common house of Jesus Christ.

The theme of the assembly was introduced by Patriarch Parthenios of Alexandria and by Prof. Chung Hyun Kyung from Korea. It was a telling illustration of the richness of the ecumenical movement. Rooted in tradition, the presentation of the Patriarch was a testimony to the joyful free activity of the Holy Spirit. The fact that he could not be present physically was a powerful reminder of the tragic world situation. Prof. Chung’s dramatic presentation was an exposition of new hope and dealt with the varied manifestations of the Spirit, both in the past and in the present, as peoples struggle to overcome oppression and injustice.

The challenge for the ecumenical movement is to bring all the varied understandings of the action of the Spirit into conversation and constructive dialogue. The heated debate which followed the two presentations concentrated on the issue of the action of the Spirit within and outside the church, and on the criteria necessary to recognize the presence of the Spirit. To this question belongs, of course, the question of who has the power to define the criteria, to discern the action of the Holy Spirit. This debate is not a new one in the life of the WCC. For example, in 1979 when the central committee meeting in Jamaica discussed the programme on a Just, Participatory and Sustainable Society, we could not find a bridge between a theology that recognized the “messianic character” of the people and one that focused on the classical expressions of the messianic role of Jesus Christ and the related understanding of the nature of the church. The classic theological dilemma returns now in the context of a Trinitarian approach which may help us to take further this crucial “dialogue of theologies and cultures”.

Among the highlights of the assembly was our rich liturgical life with its enormous potential for spiritual renewal. Among them is also the re-entry into the WCC of the family of churches represented in the China Christian Council.

Among the questions that came up for serious discussion in the course of the assembly was one regarding the system of quotas and categories. That system was introduced to facilitate the participation of all in decision-making processes. Despite the evident benefits it has brought in some quarters, its effectiveness is now being called in question both in terms of the way it works and the erosion of memory and content it is said to entail.

These and many other issues are dealt with in depth in the articles included in this issue of The Ecumenical Review. The formal “results” of the assembly (the texts adopted or received in plenary, papers presented, a record of those present) will be published shortly. A foretaste of this material - the assembly Message and the reports from the Report and Programme Policy Committees - is given in the Chronicle section of this issue. Of the articles presented here the first two, written before the assembly, give an idea of the expectations that people had of Canberra. The others are about the assembly itself, its life and work. All the articles are by participants - delegates, observers, accredited visitors, stewards, co-opted press staff. A number of them were written during the last days of the assembly; others were sent to us soon

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after the writers went back to their countries. We are grateful to all who have contributed to this interim assessment of Canberra.

Interim, because anything more than that is bound to take time and require a longer and larger perspective. It will depend on the programmes we draw up for the WCC in the light of the guidelines the assembly has given us. It will depend on how we build on the past without becoming slaves of the past. Our response to Canberra alone will bear out whether our prayer to the Holy Spirit is being answered.

EMILIO CASTRO

Erratum The cover of the January 1991 issue carried the wrong volume number. It should be Vol. 43. We apologize for this error.

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