Edinburgh 2010
Edinburgh 2010
Sister Elizabeth Moran writes of the Edinburgh 2010 Missionary Conference,
the theme of which is "Witnessing to Christ Today"
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams and Pope Benedict XVI at a recent meeting. |
Of Parables and Fruits
I think my favourite parable has always been the one about the man who went out one day and scattered seed on the ground. Then he goes back home, and gets on with living day by day. He goes to bed and he gets up and the days pass by - and meanwhile the seed sprouts and grows, he does not know how. When the harvest time comes, he goes out with the sickle. He knows how to do that. Working for unity among the Christian Churches and communities can have that feeling sometimes. Many efforts are made, by many good people. Many times the seeds are planted, and everyone goes home again to get on with life, and the days pass by. And then, at some point, the harvest time arrives. At the start of the year 2010 we are at that point. There is a harvest to be gathered in, and there is a festival to share. Time to go out with the sickle!
Fellow-Travellers
I was travelling back to the northeast of Scotland from Edinburgh some days ago. I had been at a rather lengthy meeting in the Church of Scotland offices. The evening was chilly, it was raining a bit, and already dark at four o'clock. Best described by the Scottish term "dreich" – and that type of weather can reach the spirit as well. I got into the Aberdeen train a few minutes before it was due to leave, and my musings about efforts towards church unity were not too bright or sunny. Then, just as the train was about to go, a young woman came in by the door behind me. She was hurrying, out of breath, and carrying a backpack. As she came into the carriage she asked anxiously "This train is for Stonehaven?" Since no one else said anything I said "Yes, I hope so!" which made her smile. She then unloaded the backpack and had a long conversation on her mobile phone, in the course of which she said "Ja" several times. After that I asked if she was from Germany. Yes, and she had had a day to spend in Edinburgh as her husband (the other end of the mobile phone conversation) was at business meetings all day. When I said that my visit to Edinburgh had been about work for the Churches, I was asked "which Church?", and when I said "the Catholic Church" this young German woman, who was a Lutheran, said "It is wonderful now that the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church are not enemies and we can go on together". I thought back to all the meetings and the conversations that had gone on between Church leaders before that agreement had been signed, and I looked with gratitude at this "ordinary" German traveller so pleased by the results. We had a most interesting conversation for the rest of the journey north – a rather unusual one perhaps for the 16.29 out of Edinburgh, but just what I needed.
Edinburgh 1910
The seeds of unity and peace can take a very long time to sprout and grow. It is easy to lose confidence in the power of growth. Maybe the emerging shoots are in a place we did not expect, or they are not familiar to us, so we do not really see them. However, that is not the case this time. The growth is there, clearly visible, to be gathered up and put to use. One part of that growth is the ever-clearer sense that mission and unity are intimately connected. It does seem obvious that those who set out to carry a message of reconciliation from God for all of humanity need first to experience reconciliation themselves, and yet the history of Christian mission has included a great deal of conflict and struggle. In June 1910 in Edinburgh there was a remarkable Conference of 1200 church and mission leaders who met to pray and think together about the world-wide mission of Christian communities. Many of them had experience of living as missionaries in another land. Most of them were English-speaking men coming from the Protestant Churches of the West, though there were also representatives from other areas of the world. Their gathering around the themes of mission, with its prayerful process of study and reflection, is still recognised today as one of the most important occasions in the growth of the modern ecumenical movement.
Edinburgh 2010
Now, 100 years later, as efforts to build dialogue and cooperation towards unity among Christian Churches continue, a centenary Conference in Edinburgh, from June 2 to June 6, 2010, will bring to Scotland about 250 delegates from Churches and mission-sending bodies. They will once more meet to pray and think together about Christian mission in today's world. There will be a celebration of the events of Edinburgh 1910, with a recognition of the need for repentance for all that has prevented the progress of mission together in the past hundred years. This time, the Conference membership will include representatives from a much wider range of nationalities, and of Christian Churches and communities, including the Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal communities. The attention of the Conference will be focused on the meaning and the challenge of Witnessing to Christ together in the world of today. Worship and prayer together will be a vital part of this missionary gathering, and will of course draw on the gifts and resources of many countries and nations.
An Invitation to Be Involved
Those who are sent will work together as delegates, and in the technological world of today, their work and their prayer will be seen and heard through links and communications world-wide. They represent a great number of people of faith, who have contributed time and energy in preparing for this meeting. For several years, a great international conversation on nine themes of mission has been happening in study centres around the world. It will conclude and be shared in the 4-day June Conference, with the final Sunday, June 6, as a wider Celebration of Mission shared with the local Churches. There is an invitation for all of us to be involved. The leaflet 2010 Local suggests how communities, small or large, might do that. It is on the Conference Website at www.edinburgh2010.org.uk, or at www.scot2010.org.uk (go to 'resources, leaflets').
There is also a Newsletter (go to 'news') which gives plenty of information on events and resources and offers the opportunity to share reflections. Most important of all is the realisation that everyone is asked to pray for this Conference, for all those who share in the preparation and in the actual days in Edinburgh. There is a prayer card given on the Website (go to 'resources', then 'prayer and worship'), so that in many places the same prayer will be offered by many voices. The Newsletter also includes a 'pray with us' guide each month, helpful for personal prayer and reflection.
The Edinburgh 1910 Conference was a remarkable occasion, recorded now as a moment in history which brought the start of a new vision of unity in mission for Christ. Edinburgh 2010 offers the opportunity for celebration, repentance and progress.
Sr Elizabeth Moran, a Columban Sister, worked as a Catholic Consultant with the World Council of Churches staff in Geneva for eight years. She is now based at Montrose, Scotland.