 September/October 2001 (XXXIX 4) |
Editor's Note: This is how Gene Hillman, PYM coordinator of adult religious education, spent his summer vacation.
n June 25 about 70 Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers gathered at the Bienenberg, a Mennonite school and seminary near Basel, Switzerland, for a consultation of the Historic Peace Churches. The purpose was to give guidance to the World Council of Churches (WCC) as it begins the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser gave the opening address.
Among the 15 Quakers were three from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, all from Middletown Monthly Meeting in Concord Quarter: Patricia Daly, Doug Gwyn, and Gene Hillman. Doug, currently a tutor at Woodbrooke in England, represented Friends on the organizing committee and continued to guide the gathering toward a statement we could all unite with, and which we could present to the WCC. Pat Daly worked with John Rempel (of the Mennonite office at the United Nations) to provide us with worship each morning integrating the use of readings, music, prayer and silence drawn from our three traditions, and in the eight languages represented.
The language of the consultation was English for purposes of the presentations, but Dutch, French, German, Korean, and Spanish could also be heard in small groups and informal discussion. Papers were on everything from Biblical exegesis to spirit-led direct action in Scotland. Gene presented a paper on “The Lamb’s War: A Hermeneutic for Confronting Evil” drawing on the writings of James Naylor, George Fox, John Woolman, Walter Wink, and Alternatives to Violence Project. There was reference to a 1755 Woolman letter to Friends which was co-signed by the same John Pemberton whose Fund made possible the travel of two of us. Other Quaker papers were given by Elaine Bishop (Britain Yearly Meeting), Ann K. Riggs (Friends General Conference), and Alastair McIntosh (Britain YM). Eden Grace (New England YM, and WCC Central Committee) was on the Listening Committee.
The sessions were academic in format, with 20 minutes for each paper followed by about five minutes for questions and comments. There was much attention to building a culture of peace, and writing its history (see excerpts from the Bienenberg Epistle). I feel one of the most productive sessions was an evening of worship sharing around the matter of what we had to say to the WCC.
In addition to the worship and presentations, we enjoyed the Swiss food and hospitality, Christian fellowship, and the beauty of “Bees Mountain.” I was told by our Mennonite hosts that it was in the Jura mountains near Basel that Mennonites were permitted by the local bishop to settle to escape persecution, but only above 1100 meters (3600 feet), so as to reserve the best farm land for the Catholics. I was also told that it was to this area that William Penn sent his agent to recruit Mennonites for Pennsylvania.
On Friday, after four days of presentations and discussion, we set off by bus to Geneva singing “The Trees of the Field” as drove down the mountain. The purpose of going to Geneva was to meet with Konrad Raiser again, and the staff of the DOV, at WCC headquarters. They shared with us their tentative plans for the decade, and we shared with them preliminary conclusions of the consultation. The consultation concluded with a catered dinner (Vietnamese) at the WCC Friday evening. We continue to work on our epistle (in the Quaker tradition), and on a response to an earlier WCC statement allowing for the possible use of violence in certain circumstances.
Papers from the consultation are at www.peacetheology.org.
The epistle is located at www.peacetheology.org/papers/letter.html.
Gene Hillman
Middletown Meeting (Concord Quarter, PA)
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM