A day in the life of the Assembly

What does an ordinary day at the Assembly look like?

  The rhythm of the Assembly is punctuated by two moments of prayer.  After we arrive the delegates go to the worship space where we have a morning prayer.  Each day has a theme that takes some aspect of the work of the day.

Based on the psalm 139: “You trace my journeys and my resting-places and you are acquainted with all my ways”.  This psalm gives the setting of the prayer experiences.  The Assembly is seen as a journey or pilgrimage that is expressed in the theme “lead us” to justice and peace.  All of the prayer experiences are designed as one more concrete step together toward the realization of our prayer to God for justice and peace.

  Pilgrimage is an ancient activity of all religions.  We can think of that first great pilgrimage where God called Abraham out of his home land to a new land.  The Old Testament is filled with the stories of how God was leading and forming a new people with a purpose to be carried out in God’s creation.  In the New Testament, Jesus is the great pilgrim leader, leading us as the Good Shepherd back home to the heart of God.  In fact he is, as John says in his Gospel, “the way, the truth, and the life”.
 Each day will use some symbol of this journey together.

Today the symbol was the tree of life.  This symbol may be understood from several different aspects.  In the creation story trees were made to sustain life-for clean air, to rest under the shade of their leaves and to eat of their fruit.  They also provide beauty as seen in these autumn days where colors abound and amaze the eye and uplift the spirit.  Nevertheless the tree is also a symbol from the first pages of Genesis.  It was placed in the center of the garden and called the tree of knowledge. Perhaps the harvest of its fruit was done without wisdom from the tree of life.  In the New Testament the cross of Jesus was identified by the apostles as the tree of life (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29).

I can’t but think of good friends of mine who have made their life’s pilgrimage collecting examples of the tree of life in art, literature and song.

 We sang this refrain today: The righteous are like tress planted by living streams.  Today’s evening worship ended with this prayer:

Creator of all life,

you brought into being all that is, and pronounced it good.

We are careless with your gifts.

You invite us to be stewards of your creation.

We take much and return little.

You want us to live in unity,

yet we build boundaries between people and nations.

Heal our divisive, miserly ways.

Forgive out greed.

Create in us hearts of generosity and humility.

Amen.

Bible studies
After the worship, the assembly breaks into bible studies by language.  This is a very imporatnt aspect of the gathering since it will break open the word of God around the theme of the Assembly.
Listen to the description of the studies from Fr. Lawrence.

Today’s study comes from the book of Genesis, the creation account.  It is a reflection on the nature of life and how to celebrate, sustain and affirm it in relation to the theme of the assembly. We used a contextual interpretation of the text where we heard the text in its context, and then tried to identify how our various cultures hears the text and how the text interprets us.  The group then shared how each identified with some aspect of the text and the group was enlightened by listening to how various cultures heard the text.  This process produced a very rich result.

Theme Plenary
The plenary session sets the tone for the conversations and programs of the WCC assembly for each day. In the plenary sessions the whole assembly gathers to hear reports or messages from various leaders or programs that have been sponsored by the churches in various parts of the world.
For example, Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, encouraged the churches to “protect the vulnerable”.
Duleep de Chickera, Anglican Bishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, spoke on the concept of “victim theology”. He noted that a theology disconnected from victims or in support of war in a violent world robbed of justice and peace amounts to the mutilation of the heart and mind of Jesus.
Dr Wedad Abbas Tawfik from the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in Egypt shared how the Egyptian people have born “witness to the God of life” by facing up to turbulences in their country. She called the WCC theme a universal prayer, directly relevant to the Egyptian Christians who, following events of the “Arab Spring”, have worked with their fellow Muslim citizens in pursuit of dignity, peace and social justice for their country.
These presentations were followed by a conversation in which the young theologian Mélisande Schifter put some hard questions that youth ask to the presenters.  What young people want to see is action and not more discourses.  So the question put to the Assembly at the beginning is what will we concretely do about the issues.

Business Plenary
After lunch we are all back for the business meeting.  Here the delegates deal with the various programs, policies and structure.  Since this Assembly has adopted a politic of consensus there is no real “voting” going to take place on issues.  Instead the delegates will try to find a common solution or consensus.  They have two cards to raise: orange for favorable and blue for unfavorable.

  Delegates do have the possibility to speak to issues.  This first day everyone was on their good behavior and there were no real “hot” issues brought to the floor.  During these sessions there may also be a major input given which can be up to three minutes.  Delegates are eager to hear one of these tomorrow with Bishop Hilarion scheduled to speak.

Ecumenical conversations
Ecumenical conversations engage assembly participants in sustained, in-depth dialogue on critical issues that affect the unity, mission and witness of the church today – issues that require a response by the churches together.

There are 21 ecumenical conversations.  Some examples of these include:
• Called to be one – new ecumenical landscapes
• The Church: toward a common vision
• Transformed by renewal: biblical sources and ecumenical perspectives
• Moral discernment for life, justice and peace
•We must pray together if we are to stay together
• Developing effective leadership: contextual ecumenical formation and theological education
• Together towards Life: mission in changing contexts
• Evangelism today: new ways for authentic discipleship
• Exploring Christian self- identity in a world of many faiths

Regional groups or confessional meetings
In these meetings there is an opportunity for the delegates to gather as churches in the same region or by confessional identity.

   Even in Korea there are protests,  There are some Christians who are not happy with the WCC and so they had the right to protest outside of the convention center.  They were very respectful and for the most part silent.

Prayer
The long day ends with prayer.  These prayers pick up the theme of the day again but are more simple than the opening worship.  By the end of the day most of us are pretty tired.  Curious as it may be even in Korea do they celebrate Halloween.  This is the restaurant where we are eating!

 So I will wish you all:
Happy Halloween
Peace and all good!

What is a General Assembly?

What is a General Assembly?
  Well today was the opening of the tenth General Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), God of life, lead us to justice and peace.  But many of you may ask what is a General Assembly?  An assembly of the WCC is a gathering of the member churches to reaffirm their fellowship and to take counsel with one another.

Banner of the Assembly

Catholic delegation at the opening

  The first Assembly took place in Amsterdam in 1948 just after the war.  This assembly is known as the ‘founding assembly’ since it was at this meeting when the WCC officially came into being.  Since then every seven years there is a coming together to do the work of the council   The last one was held in Porto Alegre in Brazil in 2006.
  The way the assembly works is that Council’s member churches sent delegates as their official representatives.  These would be the voting members of the assembly.  However, other invited delegates come as well and participate in the sessions but do not take part in the voting decisions that are held.

Cardinal Kurt Koch delivers Pope Francis' message

 Every assembly has three main functions:
  • the assembly is an occasion to celebrate and reaffirm the mutual commitment that member churches and ecumenical partners have made through the WCC.  It is a celebrative moment to reaffirm their confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and to express the visible unity of the church.
  • it is the time to render an account of what has been done since the last assembly.  Many reports are given both in oral and written form to the delegates in the business plenary sessions.
  • since the assembly is the highest decision making body of the WCC, decisions and policies must be taken and made. In addition it needs to select 150 members of the central committee which assumes the responsibility for guiding the work of the Council for the next seven years.  These are elected from a slate of nominated persons from the churches.

The beginning
  Each assembly is different and Busan is no exception.  The gathering of so many people (5,000) and the re-connecting with old friends and the making of new lasting relationships is one of the joyful aspects of the Assembly. The colors and traditions of the Korean church added a lot to the opening ceremony.

  Since the theme of the assembly touches on the questions of peace and justice, the opening worship brought in the ideas of seeking forgiveness against nature and the against the rights of people.  At the beginning of the worship the Assembly asked for forgiveness in a dramatic way.

  In addition we experienced the history of the Protestant churches in Korea in the opening plenary session.  It was a spectacular of drama, music and history.

 Tomorrow the Assembly will go into full swing with a very full day.  The real work will begin tomorrow with the various committees starting their work.  By the way the meeting is being held in the very modern Conference Center in Busan.

Peace and all good.

Anglicanism and Orthodoxy in Korea

  Today is our last day in Seoul since we will head down to Busan for the Assembly this afternoon.  However, before  doing so we had two stops left: the Anglican Church and the Orthodox Church.

Anglicanism in Korea
  Anglicanism came to Korea in 1889 when Bishop Charles John Corfe was ordained and the first diocese of Joseon was founded.  As was the practice of many of the mission societies, the Anglican church established a number of educational institutions, medical facilities and social work in various centers throughout the country (both in the North as well as in the South).  The Anglican church sought ways for the church to be integrated into Korean culture.  For this reason many of the buildings may be found in the traditional Korean style such as the Bishop’s residence in Seoul.

  The first native Bishop, Lee Cheon Hwan, was ordained in1965 and only died in 2010. Three dioceses were established and social institutions continued to be opened.  The Anglican cathedral in Seoul is named Sts. Mary and Nicholas and was built in 1922 in the Romanesque style.  The actual community is not very large but is active with many projects.

  Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity joined us in our last visits and will travel with us to the Assembly.

Card. Koch receives gift from Anglican Bishop Paul K. Kim

The Orthodox church in Korean
 Orthodoxy came to Korea via Russia in 1900.  For various political reasons such as the Sino Japanese war and the Bolsheviks revolution, caused great difficulties in continuing orthodoxy. The care of the church was transferred to the Archbishop of Tokyo. Then came the horrors of the Second World War and the Korean Orthodox church found itself cut off once again.  Finally in 1950, the Korean War followed.  This was

disastrous for the church since the only Korean priest was captures and never seen again.  It was under the care of the Archimandrite Andreas Halkiopoulas that the church found new live in the Ecumenical Patriarchy.  Even though it is not a large community is it once which cares for its people and is open ecumenically.

Card. Koch & Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea

After a quick lunch in the train station we were off to Busan leaving at 2:15 PM and arriving at 4:58 PM.  Now its down to business with the opening of the 10th General Assembly.

Buddhism and ecumenism in Korea continued

Pilgrimage to the shrine of martyrs
The second part of our day was highlighted by a pilgrimage to the place of martyrdom, the Jeoldusan Martyrs’ Shrine.  There were several waves of persecutions of Catholics since the first in 1791. This was the site of the beheading of Catholics who were suspected of helping the French invade the Joseon coast in 1866.

This event sparked the fifth major persecution of Catholics and led to the execution of many. Why was this site chosen? It was on a high hill overlooking the transportation, trade, and business on the Han river between China, Japan and Western powers.  Since the Catholics were considered to be the culprits enabling the French invasion, only their blood could wash away the filth of the invasion.  This is why after beheading their heads were washed in the river.

Today this is the resting place for the relics of 27 of the martyrs who lost their lives defending their faith.  The most famous one was Andrew Kim Tae-gon, the first Korean priest who received the palm of martyrdom on September 16, 1846.  A very large bronze statute of St. Andrew Kim wearing traditional garb was erected on the site.

The Catholic delegation celebrated the Eucharist in the chapel after praying in the crypt that contains the relics of some of the martyrs.  May the blood of these witnesses of faith inspire all the delegates at the WCC Assembly to seek the unity of all those who believe in Christ and witness to him with lively faith and especially for the unity of this divided Korea.

Gyeongbokgung Royal Palace

Next we went to explore some more of Korean history and culture by visiting the Gyeongbokgung Palace (which translates: Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven).  This Palace was built in 1695 three years after the founding of the Joseon dynasty. It was a beautiful autumn late afternoon with the sun beginning to set when we arrived at the site of the palace.

 At the apex of the Joseon dynasty this complex had over 500 buildings.  Most of these were destroyed during the Japanese invasion in 1592 since it was the symbolic location of the royal power, politics, economy and culture of the dynasty.  After the Japanese occupation, the palace was partially rebuilt and has been restored since 1990 to his past splendor.  It is an extremely beautiful complex especially with the fall colors and the play of the light of the setting sun on the buildings and reflection in the water.

We were fortunate to have a guided tour the complex which now consists of only 125 of the original buildings.

The last rays of the setting sun accompanied us to our last stop of our second day.





Representatives of the National Council of Churches
Rev. Kim Young-ju, General Secretary, met us and hosted another traditional Korean meal with its many dishes and surprises.  It was 130 years since Protestantism arrived in Korea.  The Korean National Christian Council was founded in 1924 which were the beginnings of the Council of Churches in Korea.

We learned that Protestantism established itself first by missionary work in the founding of women’s hospitals and schools for the education of girls.  Then came Bible schools. While the Catholic mission was orientated toward the establishment of the hierarchy and a sacramental structure, the Protestant Methodist and then Presbyterians began with the education of women and the establishment of schools.  Of course, this is not to say that Catholics didn’t do so as well but it was important to establish the faith in a new cultural setting.
The various mission societies decided that instead of competing for believers they divided the peninsula into mission territories, each being assigned a geographical area. This is how Protestants arrived mainly form the united Stated and Great Britain to evangelize the country.
  As I said earlier we had some new dishes to try before calling it a night.

Buon appetito!

It was a long day.  Tomorrow, our last in Seoul we will visit the Anglican and Orthodox churches and then make our way to Busan and the beginning of the Assembly.
Peace and all good!

Buddhism and ecumenism in Korea

  Wow what a day!  It will be impossible to tell all that I did today but let's at least get a start.

  It was another beautiful, crisp Fall day as we started out from the Bishops' Conference after breakfast.  We traveled across Seoul to the Hwagye Temple at Suyu-ri dating from the late Joseon Period in the 1600's.  The temple and monastery are highly regarded for the formation of monks from all over the world who come to the international school.  The characteristics of this temple and monks is thier prayer for inner peace and especially for the unity of  Korea.  They have excellent relations with the Catholic parish near by.

  We were welcomed by traditional ceremonies of greeting and then given a tour of the beautiful old buildings set in a harmonous setting of nature.

   The monks explained the way of contemplation and prayer that they follow each day and that many people come seeking their advice and inner peace.  The piety of the people is not much different than that one would find practiced by many Christians.  For example, in a few weeks entrance exams for university will take place. The monks said that many students will come to ask enlightenment so they can pass their exams and enter university.

   Our delegation had a special meeting with the head teacher who explained their way of life and traditions. We began by removing our shoes out of respect (a typical oriental custom when entering anyone's house). Then  we were all seated on the floor in a typical Eastern fashion, and served a type of juice made from herbs and rice along with fresh melon, oriental pear, and several types of rice cakes.  We had the opportunity to talk about similar customs of meditation and prayer as well as the desire to seek peace and arrive at a deeper state of contemplative love and respect for all of creation. It was explained that the buddhist temples and meeting rooms are all built with a sense of flow from inside to outside and to be situated in settings of nature.  We stayed for the better part of an hour.  However, our Western bodies are not used to sitting in certain positions! Inspite of the creeking of bones and setting down on the floor, we all made it up (with the help of a monk or one of our own).

Before moving on to our next stop we took (another) group picture.  It seems that the media is really covering this event with video cameras, several photographers and journalists.

You can easily see the beauty of the gardens and the harmony that exists in this setting especially with the autumn colors coming to peak just as we arrived in Korea.

Next stop: Hanshin University

  After leaving the Temple we traveled a ways down the road to the very modern university, Hanshin University.  It was founded in 1940 as a more liberal university with the intention of forming "intellectuals in action".  The University has several sites and the one we visited was the graduate school of theology.  We arrived just s a special program called "envisioning ecumenism" was beginning.  Severasl hundred students from around the world came for this special seminar which will accompany the WCC General Assembly. You will remember that the theme of the 10th Assembly is God of life, lead us to justice and peace. 

Our delegation entered the auditorium just as the introductory session was ending.  Bishop Braian Farrell and Archbishop Kim were asked to say a word about our delegation and here is what they had to say:

Following the conclusion of their remarks the students headed off to go to their seminars.  They will be following each on the themes that will be discussed at Busan during the Assembly and do their research papers in Busan as invited guests.  In a certain manner this is the preparation of the next generation of ecumenists, getting their feet wet in a "full immersion" fashion.  Many will remember that the ecumenical movement was formed by many young students in the post war period in Europe.

Our program continued with a meeting with the dean, Rev. Kang, Sung-Young and some of the faculty.  We had a very special presentation by Young-oak Kim considered to be the leading intellectual in Korea. He is a Buddhist monk and expert on Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.  He spoke about the origins of the Hanshin University, founded by Dae-hyun Kim as Chosun Theological Institute.  The origins were in the Seungdong Church (Presbyterian).  From its inception intellectual excellence was inspired.

Young-oak Kim

The delegation was given a tour of the ultra-modern facilities. Once again we ended up having another group picture, this time in the ecumenical chapel.

After the visit we were treated to a very special Korean traditional meal which as you can see below had many dishes and we didn't even have the main dish yet!

As I said at the beginning of today's blog it was a day filled with many events (and as you will see later, group pictures).  It is getting late and I want to publish this so I will say: "Peace and all good" until tomorrow when I will talk about the moving experience of the pilgrimage to the shrine of the Korean martyrs.