Peace

I was asked to talk at Camberwell Corp tonight – just a bit about what I’ve been doing – but connected to the theme of Peace...I was a little confused at first and I think the words I used was “what the hell do I know about peace!? Is the Peace Vigil about Iraq or something??”…cause I’m clueless. But I think God has actually been teaching me a lot about peace lately so I thought I would just share some of those rambling thoughts around what I’ve been doing...

For the past couple of years I have be working for the Asia Pacific Regional Facilitation team, and one of the places we have been most involved with is Sri Lanka. For those unaware, Sri Lanka is the tiny island next to India and has been in Civil War for the last 25 years. The Tamil Tigers in the North are fighting for independence from the Sinhalese population which represents the majority. But there is a strong resentment from the Tamil people of all ages, of the Sinhala majority.

When I first went there 2 years ago, the “peace” agreement was fragile but holding. We were actually able to go up to the North and hold a Tsunami Trauma Counselling Workshop – where we were trying to establish groups of volunteers to go and be community counselors, allowing people the opportunity to share their grief and deal with the psychological impact of the tsunami. Very quickly we established, the tsunami was just one part of a lifetime of war trauma. When the Tsunami came, people actually just assumed that it was the sound of fighting starting again. It was very much a superficial belief in ‘peace’ – they didn’t trust it. I can tell you some great stories about our translator for the week that ended up being a Tamil Tiger spy – just keeping tabs on what we were up to.

But one home visit we did, this tiny little lady sat in her temporary shelter and showed me the last picture she had of her 8 sons…Pointing to each one…war, war, tsunami, war …of her 8 sons, 5 were killed in the war, 2 in the Tsunami, and one had managed to escape to London. After a very emotional encounter, I came away from Jaffna asking a lot of questions about peace….

I have a good friend in Sri Lanka who is a young single officer and from the North and I once asked her the all important question of why did she decide to become an Officer? her response… “Because Tamil and Sinhala marry each other”…Not the response I was expecting but one that I’ve thought a lot about since. For her, The Salvation Army was modeling what society could be like, where Sinhala and Tamil lived together. What a powerful testimony to what we as the Salvation Army can be.

As limited as my understanding is, the peace agreement that was brokered by the UN did nothing to change the attitudes of people in everyday life towards each other, and so the grief and hurt still fuels the division hatred and fighting.

However God has really been challenging me a lot lately about how easy it is to look at places like Sri Lanka, say they should all live in peace without looking at what is underneath, and what’s more, without looking in the mirror on ourselves and in particular the Indigenous situation here in Australia. I won’t even begin on the Government’s intervention but the image of how the Salvation Army are modeling reconciliation in Sri Lanka (whilst not perfect), is a powerful statement. And my questions is…does our church model that same image of Australia reconciled with its Indigenous people??

Daryl Crowden has written a piece on Reconciliation (which I recommend, see his blog link on the right) and I particularly love a part under a section “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE ARMY?”

“This means taking time to understand the Aboriginal culture, not just to observe and judge the forms, but take time to reflect on the function and meaning behind the often-misunderstood observable behaviours.

Allowing the culture to influence our own. Acknowledging that the culture has impacted our own. Our values are, in part, formed by our common history. We need to face this history truthfully and honestly – acknowledge the part we have played in the current economic, physical and spiritual context of the Aboriginal person and seek to find ways in which this wrong can be redressed. Forgive and be forgiven by hearing and telling the stories.”

But for me that means we need to make the first step to put ourselves in a position that we can actually hear those stories, we have to be in relationship.

Tuesday 18th is National Close the Gap Day – and Oxfam are holding a rally at Federation Sq 12pm – 2pm.

If anyone is interested in joining a group of us going as TSA, you’re most welcome. For me it is about starting to step out into spaces where I can learn about the Aboriginal people, their culture, doing something very small but symbolic to say that I care about the situation and that I want to learn and be changed by it.

I have fallen in love with a quote underneath a painting at THQ that reads:

"The promise of reconciliation begins with the journey of indigenous and non-indigenous people approaching the cross of Christ where we sit and share stories, honoring one another as those made in the image of God. United in purpose, we walk away as partners – reconciled people – committed to being agents of reconciliation"

So that is my small ramble about some thoughts around “Peace”…