Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

I was privileged to attend the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in October 2013 in Busan, South Korea. More recently in May 20015 I took part in a gathering of 40 Ecumenical Officers from around the world in Geneva, Switzerland. The theme of the week was the ‘Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace’. That theme informs the current work of the World Council of Churches. The 345 member churches of the World Council of Churches are invited to link up with it. So what is the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace?

Pilgrimages can imply different things. It can mean going to holy places. Muslims are to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives. People may go on a pilgrimage in order to reorient their lives, as in the film Wild, based on a true story. The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace suggests a group of people moving together with a common purpose towards a common goal. A document from the WCC says, “We call first of all on the member churches and partners to walk together in a common quest, renewing our vocation of the church through collaborative engagement with the most important issues of justice and peace, healing a world filled with conflict, injustice and pain.” We are to participate with others in God’s mission of justice and peace (missio Dei), and respond to God’s will for the world by becoming communities of justice and peace and celebrating the fellowship of such communities.

The message of the 10th Assembly says, “This Assembly calls you to join us in pilgrimage. May the churches be communities of healing and compassion, and may we see the Good News so that justice will grow and God’s deep peace rest on the world.”

The message of the first WCC Assembly in Amsterdam in 1948 expressed the commitment of the churches ‘to stay together’. The WCC Busan Assembly in 2013 declared that we intend to ‘move together’ and invited all people of good will to ‘join in pilgrimage’, and called on people to respond in a new way to the contemporary contextual challenges to the needs of people and creation yearning for justice and peace and to the perceptions of many young people eager to see signs of hope.

Hence there was a shift from a static to a more dynamic understanding of unity. The word ‘pilgrimage’ was chosen to convey that this is journey with deep spiritual meaning and with profound theological connotations. As a ‘pilgrimage of justice and peace’, it is neither a journey towards a geographical place not some simple form of activism. A WCC document says, “It is a transformative journey that God invites us to in anticipation of the final purpose for the world what the Triune God brings about.” There can be signs of God’s reign to come already visible here and now wherever reconciliation and healing are seen.

Christians are to participate in signs of God’s reign of love, justice and peace and to seek them in response to God’s will and promise. The pilgrimage of justice and peace is grounded in God’s mission for the world and the ministry of Jesus Christ. Following Jesus means meeting him wherever people suffer injustice, violence and war. We can experience God’s presence as we care for the most vulnerable, the wounded and marginalised. It can be a transformative experience. Alive in the Spirit Christians discover power for the transformation of an unjust world.

The pilgrimage has at least three interdependent dimensions. First is celebrating the gifts (via positive). We do not journey with empty hands, nor do we walk alone. Together we celebrate God’s gift of life and the beauty of creation. We are empowered by God’s grace to participate in God’s movement of love, justice and peace in the world.

Second is visiting the wounds (via negative). The pilgrimage leads us to locations of ugly violence and injustices. We look for God’s incarnated presence in the midst of suffering, exclusion and discrimination. We might be led to repentance and liberation from obsession with power, possessions, ego and violence, so that we become more Christ-like.

Third is transforming the injustices (via transformative). Being transformed ourselves, the pilgrimage may lead us to specific actions of transformation. We may grow in courage to resist evil and live in true compassion. Economic and ecological justice as well as the healing of the wounded and striving for peaceful reconciliation is our call from God. We are to be a fellowship of justice and peace praying and acting for the good of the world.

The World Council of Churches has a convening, coordinating and enabling, and leading role in the pilgrimage of justice and peace. It participates in the pilgrimage through its own programs and as it facilitates member churches and ecumenical partners to participate as is appropriate for their context. The WCC itself in its programs will be focussing on: life affirming economies, climate change, non-violent peace-building and reconciliation, and human dignity. Churches and ecumenical partners will be the main actors of the pilgrimage. The process of being involved will include listening, sharing, praying, penance, witnessing, reflecting, advocacy and acting.

In the end, we are invited by God to join this pilgrimage with joy, humility, courage and commitment, praying:
We are a fellowship on the move, a community of pilgrims. We journey together towards life in all its fullness. We pray for God’s guidance and inspiration, so that our pilgrimage will open us to one another through dynamic and creative interaction for justice. God of life lead us to be living instruments of your justice and peace! Amen

The WCC website for the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is: http://www.wccpilgrimage.org