Canadian Mennonite
Volume 5, number 19
October 8, 2001

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The following is from a message to Mennonites in the United States by Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas, leader of peace and justice ministries for the Mennonite Church of Colombia. It was translated by Janna Bowman.

Confronted with the terrible happenings in New York and Washington, I have two strong feelings as I write to you. One is gratitude and the other is condolence, and the two meet in a great yearning for faith and hope.

My gratitude arises in response to the tremendous love and solidarity you have shown for the pain, destruction, death and hopelessness that we, the people of Colombia, have suffered as a result of injustice and terrorism by armed groups in our territory.

I also feel grateful for the resolution of solidarity approved at the Mennonite Church assembly supporting efforts for peace and justice for the Colombian people, and in bravely rejecting the economic support representing millions of dollars in arms and war planes that the government of the United States gave to the Colombian government to help in its struggle against guerrillas and drug-trafficking. You saw that this attitude is nonsensical, like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. It is clear that violence only produces more violence.

I think that this [terrorist] act brings us closer together. Now that you, too, have experienced pain and fear, it´s not necessary for you to imagine what it's like to live with insecurity. Now you know that no government, no matter how strong, can protect us from the effects of evil and hate.

We feel your pain because it is also ours. May God comfort you and give you strength to transform these acts for good, and not be tempted by hatred and revenge.

Through the apostle Paul we know that in these end times, faced with violence and injustice, creation is crying out with birthing pain, and we, the global family of faith, groan with it, waiting for redemption. Every birth is painful. Through these acts that we suffer God is inviting us to be birth parents of the new history where evil is overcome by good, where the enemy is loved, where we can all live without fear, and where nations respect the human dignity of all.

The solidarity that you have always showed for the pain of other peoples must not be lost with these recent acts that affect you directly. Rather, may your compassion increase with your own suffering and permit you to understand that it is in your country that the birthing process must begin. At this time the United States is the centre of the world and what is done there has repercussions in the other countries of the world.

It seems very symbolic that this passage on birthing new life is in Paul's letter to the Romans, given that Rome was the centre of the world in those times. I believe this is a message to the church that finds itself in the centre of world political power. What a great challenge and responsibility has come upon you today!

Having known your solidarity, your commitment to the message of Jesus, your generosity and capacity for biblical interpretation, the global family of faith looks to you, filled with hope that you, from the centre of the world, will begin a great campaign to keep the effects of evil, hate and revenge from nesting in the souls of western leaders. May you impede them from using their economic and military might against the people of the East and the Third World that are as innocent as the inhabitants of New York and Washington.

Let us unite in a great campaign of fasting, prayer, preaching and song, taking to the governments of the West and East the message that violence only brings more violence, that "hate is like salt water, the more one drinks, the thirstier one gets."

It is time for the peoples of the earth to treat one another with respect. Only then can they calm the thirst of hate and vengeance felt by people that have been historically mistreated. It is time to birth a new world order, and the people of the United States have the opportunity to show the rest of the world how to really live civilly and with justice, to return evil with good and take away from the terrorists the excuse for a holy war of hate and death. Your brother in Christ and humanity.

-Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas.

Manhattan congregation responds to tragedy

We at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship wish to thank you for your sustaining prayers for our community and our city. We are particularly grateful for the presence of the Mennonite Disaster Service grief crisis counsellors at this time.

As residents of New York City, we continue to witness the horrors of September 11. Bearing the burden of such violence heightens our awareness that violence of any kind violates our relationships with one another in fundamental ways. It brings the horror of war to our doorstep. We struggle to understand what it means to live our lives as witnesses to God's peace.

Some of us stood paralyzed on the street, witnessing the blazing fires on the top floors of the towers. Others were evacuated from their workplaces and ran ahead of the tide of dust from the collapsing buildings. One person from our church spent hours at his work as a counsellor to the homeless. Another has been serving with the fire department, surviving the loss of many of his colleagues. Someone else helped reconstruct the computer systems of three hospitals.

In our fellowship, we feel the full range of emotion. We are glad that members of our congregation are safe. But we also weep over those whose remains must be sifted from rubble. The wisdom of a seven-year-old child in our congregation rings with truth: because the terror only lasts a little while, she called the perpetrators "sorrowists." Sorrow is what remains; sorrow is our lingering burden.

But God's grace is still at work in our lives as we struggle to choose peace over hate, love over fear. Union Square (the park nearest our church) has been the site of a nearly continuous peace vigil. We have discovered that many friends and colleagues agree that only a nonviolent response will bring a just result. Such a response would include a new U.S. foreign policy. Our churches, mosques and synagogues are beacons of hope, comfort and peace to millions of New Yorkers.

We are daily given the opportunity to live our convictions as described in our Confession of Faith: "We witness by being ambassadors for Christ, calling the nations (and all persons and institutions) to move toward justice, peace, and compassion for all people. In so doing, we seek the welfare of the city to which God has sent us."

-Kristen Mathies for Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship

Litany's indictment of U.S. totally inappropriate

When I read the "Litany for September 11" (Sept. 24, page 8), my first reaction to the "weeping for America" part was to add "weeping for the author" for his insensitivity reflected in his words: "I weep for America who oppresses the innocent, hides behind democracy, and reaps what it sows."

Upon reflection I concluded that "weeping for him" would cheapen the sentiment. I was chagrined, and I believe many Mennonites would agree, not only with him but that Canadian Mennonite would publish this litany without excising that part. As for the rest, I consider it quite appropriate.

It appears there is a strong element of ultra-liberal fuzzy thinking in some of our schools and conference offices which takes pleasure in this kind of knee-jerk, shock-intended outburst. While few people (me included) would identify with the philosophy of "My country, right or wrong," this is not the time or place to make sweeping indictments under the mantle of litany (prayer). Is there no one who would vet such public utterance before it goes to print?

I certainly want to dissociate myself from this immediate culpability/guilt trip which the writer wants to lay on our neighbour. In due course, after introspection, there may be reason to engage in some "sackcloth and ashes" exercise by the U.S., related to the history of this horrendous event. But to hurl this now in the face of a severely-injured nation does not further goodwill or understanding.

Please, editors and conference staff, be a little more discerning of common decency, let alone Christian charity, in the treatment of such injurious accusations in such a time. The analogy in our history would be if, days after the mass murder of Mennonites in Eichenfeld, Ukraine, during the Russian revolution, Mennonite leaders had stated that the victims were the authors of their own massacre.

Please ask for retraction and re-working of this litany so we can all say "amen" to this prayer.

-John B. Giesbrecht, Vineland, Ont.

Problem with prayer

I find it ironic that in the United States and Canada we have a general call for prayer in a time of crisis. This call is supported by the media and politicians, and yet prayer is forbidden in schools by our politicians. Do we have a problem or does it just seem that way?

-Eldon Unger, Chilliwack, B.C.

Letters in this section express the opinion of the writer, not necessarily those of Canadian Mennonite or the church. We publish as many as space permits, unless they attack individuals or become unnecessarily repetitious. Letters are edited for length and style. InConversation is meant to provide opportunity for discussion and discernment.