Did you grow up in a Christian home? When did you start believing in God? Dr Abuom: Yes, I grew up in a family where both my parents were baptized Christians. I vividly remember my own maternal grandmother refused to go through traditional rituals when she became a Christian at 16 years of age. She refused female genital mutilation, and she raised my mother and her siblings in a very strong, spiritual, Pentecostal tradition. Because of refusing to undergo female genital mutilation, my grandmother was initially marginalized by community which meant marrying outside her immediate community. Because she believed in reaching out to those who had not heard the gospel /Christianity, she as an evangelist together with two others went to preach in another community which did not go well with leaders resulting in their excommunication for some time. I come from a very strong Christian family and my grandmother and grandfather decided to initiate their son—my uncle—in a new Christian-based initiation and not the traditional one. This action prompted community elders composing songs to describe my grandparents’ action and so there are songs about this by the local community. However, I dare say that with migration and younger generations the songs are slowly dying. My parents and grandparents believed in education as a liberating force. As a small girl I went to Sunday school and after confirmation and upper primary, I was a committed Christian who joined others for evangelism. I look back to my early years of exposure to Christian faith with gratitude as who I am is largely formed by this faith. What is your greatest hope for the future? Dr Abuom: World history has shown us that there will always be crises—but that there will also be room for doing many good things and doing Christ's work in the world as well. The question is how we navigate the challenging contexts, how we face the crises together, individually, and knowing as well as acknowledging the basis of our encounter with crises. The Christian faith provides us with key principles of how to relate, to act, and to live out our faith and related values during the good and the bad times. I recently quoted to the WCC executive committee the letter of James, the text where James says to take trials and temptations as a mechanism to grow. They should not swallow us; rather we should face them without fear, because we are not alone, rather God is with us. We will slowly keep unfolding what God desires for us in future. I think we need to look back to our forefathers and foremothers, i.e. how they managed through some of the worst crises of their time and to learn from them, and to draw lessons that must be adapted to our historical moments. What do you think will be the most important function of the WCC 11th Assembly? Dr Abuom: To begin with, we gather after such challenging times largely due to the impact of COVID-19, to celebrate and thank God for how far the fellowship and movement has come. Due to the pandemic, many individuals have not met for almost three years. So worship and celebration in form of thanksgiving! The whole question of unity—unity of the church may not be a heated, mobilizing theme, but it is very much an indicator of how and where we are at in responding to the cry and the prayer of the people. Why is unity so important? When the German churches invited us, one of the things that the president of the Protestant Church in Germany raised was the issue of migrants and refugees and their integration in the new countries/communities. It is not only a European issue—it happens to be a very hot European issue—but it is increasingly a concern in every many countries/society: how can we as human beings live together in harmony? The unity question is not just the unity of the church—also begs answers from us on how we seek to have a common mind on saving the planet? We are still making the same mistakes destroying the earth, so we should be united in addressing ecological injustices in saving and restoring the wholesomeness of the earth and thus the wholesomeness of humanity. It is an urgent issue, but economic powers, political powers are playing with it, and if we do not unite in Karlsruhe on this question, we leave a legacy of destruction and a dark future for next generations. Yes, God said to Noah, “I will not destroy the earth again,” but humanity is about to destroy the earth, so it is an urgent call for a united action. When I talk about unity as a critical issue, it is the unity by all humanity in discerning those paramount areas of common concern that require our united action climate justice is a major one that we must agree to face together? United, we must address the issues of poverty, dehumanization, discrimination. Let me urge us to be strategic. Yes, some agendas are important and yet if we sink the boat, those issues evaporate!
Even issues of human sexuality, which will be on the agenda—what is our united position? Even the Russian and Ukraine war, we don't have a united voice that can bring just peace. We all have different and scattered interests, some very destructive some very constructive. How many years have you been involved with the World Council of Churches? Dr Abuom: When I joined the ecumenical movement, I was a steward distributing the assembly newspaper in 1975 in Nairobi. I have since that time believed in the vision of the fellowship and in the importance of the movement. You have lost a dear friend and colleague with the passing of Metropolitan Gennadios. Have you been able to grieve together with your colleagues? Dr Abuom: Yes, I attended his funeral in Thessaloniki, Greece on 3 June, where I shared a tribute on behalf of the WCC. He was a profound and creative theologian, a sensitive pastor, a professor, a leader in the ecumenical movement—he was so many things! Most of all he was a devoted friend and colleague who I trusted and respected. At truly difficult moments in the WCC, he remained kind, open, and creative as he offered solution after solution. I will miss his authority and his warmth, his determination and humour. I still can’t imagine the WCC 11th Assembly without him. But that is the reality! Would you like to comment on the humanitarian needs associated with the war in Ukraine? Dr Abuom: Of course, war and conflict divide people. This has created unnecessarily high demand for humanitarian work. Our team has just been out to see the situation, and one of their observations is that there is such need.to work together with churches to address the plight of internally displaced people. Humanitarian issues are perhaps the one big agenda for churches in a context of declining resources and increased needs. The second big agenda, of course, is reconciliation of its people, the healing of wounds and transforming lives of people. People have lost loved ones, there is so much grieving, many maimed loved ones; people are hurting spiritually and physically, so care and healing becomes critical as an agenda for the church. An aspect of this task is undoubtedly reconciling and uniting divided families, addressing the pain of loss and the wounds. Conflict/war creates trauma, a lot of wounds and addressing these effects is a mammoth job. In fact, I'm reminded of post-Second World War Europe. And exactly what the World Council of Churches did in Europe at the time together with churches, the Russian churches will be doing, the Ukrainian churches will be doing similar work. We also cannot overlook the food insecurity across the world that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. How will the war in Ukraine affect ecumenical work? Dr Abuom: The war will affect in many ways. The Russian Orthodox Church is a major member of the World Council of Churches, and has been an important actor over decades. The current situation is painful. It's tragic, because it interferes with the contribution of this church to the work of the fellowship. You will note that particularly after the post-Communist era, it had become a key actor both within the pan-Orthodox family, and also within the ecumenical family. It had become a critical actor and was becoming an actor in Africa—in my own region. For instance, the Russian Orthodox Church was beginning to develop local churches, together with the Greek Orthodox Church. At this juncture, in the ecumenical pilgrimage, this political, military conflict affects the ecclesiastical engagement, and it affects our relationships. Having said that, it is also an opportunity for us, as the ecumenical movement, to revisit discussions of “just war, just peace.” There has been a debate whether the Russian Orthodox Church should be still be a member of the WCC or not. What is your opinion on this matter? Dr Abuom: I have seen write-ups and I have heard voices, some from key church leaders, calling for suspension of the Russian Orthodox Church. That would make the key function of the WCC obsolete because WCC provides a global space for dialogue. And we do believe, as long as people have safe space to dialogue, the possibility for resolution of conflict or differences is higher than when you shut people out. We have heard these voices, and we will need to discuss these concerns when we meet in Karlsruhe, but it is not the mandate of the WCC to suspend a member church; rather it is our task to call ourselves to order to listen to one another, to pray, and to seek God's guidance as we discern God's word. So, as an organization that believes in just peace, in dialogue, and in justice, we must, whatever the circumstances, offer safe space for discussion Information and Inspiration WCC presents the 11th Assembly Resource Book About the WCC Organizational Structure WCC Central Committee Leadership meets for final Assembly preparations | 
No comments:
Post a Comment