God, in your grace, transform the world.
It is a simple prayer, yet one that has implications for every facet of life. It is a prayer that acknowledges our need for divine grace, yet invites us to dream about how we might participate in the transformation of the world. This prayer, which served as the theme for the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February, articulates the dreams of Christians everywhere.
There were many highlights of the assembly. Speeches from Bishop Desmond Tutu, from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from the president of Brazil brought encouragement and challenge to the member churches. Moving presentations were offered by Christian young people, by Christians from indigenous cultures, by Vatican representatives and by the program officers of the WCC.
One of the greatest blessings of the assembly, however, had nothing to do with the substance of the speeches and presentations. Rather, the opportunity to catch a vision of the Body of Christ in such diversity and beauty — from so many denominational, linguistic and cultural backgrounds — was a rare privilege. And the opportunity to reflect upon our interconnectedness with the other members of that one Body was, in itself, transforming.
This deep interconnection became particularly apparent in a little Presbyterian congregation in Porto Alegre. A group of delegates and representatives, mostly from the reformed traditions, made our way to a local church for the Sunday worship service. We were warmly welcomed and were invited to introduce ourselves. Through the translator, I brought greetings from The Presbyterian Church in Canada, and mentioned that, in my presbytery, in West Toronto, there is a Portuguese-speaking church served by a Brazilian-born minister named Lincoln Resende. I finished my comments, and sat down.
There were a few more speakers and then a Presbyterian minister from Angola mentioned that his children had immigrated to Toronto — and were members at the very church that I had just mentioned. The Brazilian minister of the church in which we were worshipping said he also knew Lincoln Resende, through the Presbyterian Church in Brazil!
This unexpected reminder of the link between three Christians from three different countries on three different continents was an experience that offered a moving reminder of how interconnected we are in the church.
While that moment offered an opportunity for joyful celebration, the assembly offered a telling reminder that there are other dimensions to this interconnectedness. The New Testament clearly suggests that our life together is not only connected in times of joy, but also in times of struggle. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that God has arranged the Body so that “the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the Body of Christ and individually members of it.”
This means, of course, that when other members of the Body suffer, as so many of them do, it is our calling to share with them in their struggles. I saw a sign at the assembly that, at first, seemed a jarring idea but which conveyed a powerful message. The sign read, The Body of Christ has AIDS. It is true — in Africa, in Asia, in Eastern Europe, in Canada and in every part of the world, the scourge of HIV/AIDS is a reality that is affecting the Body of Christ in a profound way. And the same can be said of crippling poverty, of the devastation of war, of the struggle for human dignity, of the damage that we are doing to the environment and of every other challenge facing this world. As part of the one Body, we are called to remember our interconnectedness — in joy and in struggle.
This interconnectedness reminds us that Christian compassion should not have geographical limitations. To put it another way, would we view these challenges differently if those who were suffering were friends sitting in our pews rather than strangers living on the other side of the world? And should that geographical distance make a difference in our care for them?
The prayer of the assembly — that God would transform the world through grace — is a prayer that requires each one of us to ponder how we might become engaged in these issues, both as individuals and as part of the one Body. After all, our interconnectedness in this increasingly globalized community should invite us to realize that we are, as members of the Church, a part of the single greatest force for goodness, compassion, holiness and justice that this world has ever known. Whether we always live up to that vision — as individuals, as local congregations, as a denomination, or as a world religion — is not the issue, nor does it detract from the potential that continues to exist.
There are challenges that lie before us. But they are challenges that are worth confronting for we know that our common faith calls us, beyond our differences, to a reality so powerful that the gates of death and hell cannot stand against it. We are that community, in this world, that bears witness to the triumph of Christ over the powers of sin, suffering and death.
And so, as we continue our engagement with these issues with Christians from around the world, we are invited to do so in the knowledge that the seemingly overwhelming challenges of this world — the violence, the terrorism, the scourge of AIDS, the demoralizing power of despair and hopelessness, the dehumanizing disparity between rich and poor — do not have the power to change the fact that God's reign has begun. God is already transforming this world — and we are simply invited to participate in that transformation.
As we do, we pray, with Christians from all over the world, God, in your grace, transform the world.
God, in your grace, transform us.
