‘We must learn to grieve before we can heal’

In addition to bringing the alleviation of pain and suffering, Christians have to ask themselves how their Christian conviction enhances the lives of others, including other faiths.

Speaking at a media conference on April 15, the Most Rev. Roger Herft, Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Australia, said the Church was called upon to prophesy, reconcile and heal.

He said, “We must ask ourselves, ‘Where is there pain?’ and respond to it in a healing way, recognising that we need each other to be a wholesome community.”

Archbishop Herft was referring to his sermon earlier in the day during
the opening worship of the 13th Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia, when he said the suffering of the prophet Ezekiel was linked to the vision of God. Without pain and suffering the vision was not of God.

Archbishop Herft told the press conference, “That is why the Church, called to be a reconciling community, must take the tears of the poor seriously. It has to be a reconciling force in the community.”

He said, “We need to have a righteous anger at injustice as well as hope that, among the foolishness, we can make a difference.” The Assembly’s opening worship had begun with community singing and dance.

There was a procession of symbols from each delegation’s culture and thanksgiving for CCA’s ecumenical journey.

Archbishop Herft preached on the Assembly theme, “Called to Prophesy, Reconcile and Heal”. He said the prophet Ezekiel and the
apostle Paul in his Letters to the Corinthians reminded the Church that “to be called to prophesy and to reconcile we must know what it is to grieve. To be called to heal we must experience the onfusion that comes with seeking the causes that bring about illness,
brokenness, disease, the demonic within individuals and society.”
He said he was saddened that religious people, captive to diabolical
forces, continued in the name of God to bring division, conflict, persecution and death to many peoples in Asia and across the world.

He said, “As Christians in Asia, we who seek the call to prophesy must first ask God to gift us with tears that wash our eyes and burn our hearts to see the suffering and pain of the world in which God
has placed us.”

The call to prophesy, reconcile and heal was addressed But he said,
“The sad and sinful reality is that our history is one of competition and rivalry in which we refuse to see in each other the image of the reconciling son of God.”

He said, “We rightly critique the Colonial powers for their exploitation
of our peoples, yet continue to live by the labels placed upon us by
those who brought the Gospel into our midst. We use consumer choice and capitalist marketing and competitive mechanisms
to peddle our particular Christian brand to the world, often
engaging in propaganda that diminishes and belittles others who
claim the name of Christ.”

He posed for the Church Jean Vanier’s question: What is it
about your deepest conviction that denies the humanity and divinity
of the other? “Reconciliation is more than us living happily
together. It is the invitation we are given to be the ‘sign’ and witness of the costly unity found in the very essence of God,
the Holy and Blessed Trinity.

“It calls us to be healers, whose motivation comes from the One who was broken, wounded, forsaken and whose dying and rising offers the world the forgiveness that heals.”

Stephen Web

~ Berita Terkini CCA 2010 Day 2