Civil Peace Service Partner Conference

Civil Peace Service Partner Conference
Berlin Spandau, Germany, 26 – 30 January 2015
Welcome Address by Prelate Dr. Martin Dutzmann

Dear colleagues and friends from abroad and near,
Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Welcome to Germany, welcome to Berlin!
Welcome to our Civil Peace Service Conference on peace and justice!

"Righteousness and peace will kiss each other", with these word from Psalm 85 verse 10 I greet you all. I feel honored and privileged to welcome you this morning. Your work and your witness to Peace and Justice are at the very core of our Christian faith. Some of you might even have to pay a high price for this witness: with harassments, oppression and even personal threats in many forms.

My name is Martin Dutzmann. I serve as the plenipotentiary, one could say as the representative of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) to the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union.

We are currently witnessing brutal violence and terrible crimes throughout the world. I am thinking of northern Iraq and Syria. I think of the dramatic situation in northeast Nigeria, northern Cameroon and in many other spots in Africa, Asia and Latin America. And I recall the recent killings in the heart of Europe, in Paris. We are horrified by the pictures of mass murders and brutal abuses of civilians on a huge scale. And in many cases, the perpetrators justify their crimes with their religious belief. Thus, we witness the constant exploitation and abuse of religion for the most brutal crimes.

All of you are and have been active for many years in field of civil peace service. You are coming from many war and violence torn countries. You all have different religious backgrounds. I should also mention that a Muslim form Mindanao in the Philippines is among us. Some of you also work in secular organizations. What unites us all is our common commitment to nonviolence, justice and peace. I am very happy you have followed our invitation to network and to deliberate on the relation of peace and justice.

I am strongly convinced that justice and peace cannot be separated. Lasting and sustainable peace must be based on justice. But in the nonviolent struggle to address injustice, Human Rights activists become victims of violence. Many of you have experienced this.

In its Peace Memorandum of 2007, “Living from God's peace, caring for just peace”, EKD formulated the peace-ethical ideal of "just peace". Likewise the roman-catholic church speaks of “just peace”. Indeed, the central insight for the Christian message of peace is "no peace without justice". In the biblical tradition, the unity of peace and justice is part of the promises of God. "Righteousness and peace will kiss each other", I started my greetings with this promise of Psalm 85. Under the Messiah's reign, the mountains will bring peace and the hills righteousness, the oppressed will see justice and the poor will receive help. The EKD Peace Memorandum emphasizes, that this prophetic tradition “gave Christianity its vision of a mandate from God to make peace and settle conflicts - a mandate that consigns weapons to redundancy and reveals new ways for the peoples of the world to live together”.

In the New Testament, too, Romans 14 verse 17 tells us that the kingdom of God is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit". However, according to the biblical witness, only in the kingdom of God and not through any political order the world will be perfected in righteousness and peace. We struggle for justice and peace. But we will never achieve a comprehensive and just peace, where “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw” (Isiah 65 verse 25). What does his mean for your day to day work in your various countries? What does this mean for the work of churches and church agencies in Germany? You will dispute these questions during the coming days.

The churches’ witness to justice and peace is an ecumenical witness. In Germany we have founded the Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE) in 1973 as a joint initiative of EKD, the German’s Bishops’ Conference, the Church Development Service and the German Commission Justice and Peace. Under the umbrella of GKKE we enter into dialogue with political and social institutions about justice, peace and development. As GKKE we are also quite active and well known in Germany as advocates for a reduction and for transparency and strong parliamentarian control of German arms exports.

I happen to be the protestant chairperson of GKKE. On Wednesday GKKE will host a reception at the German “Bundestag” with Members of Parliament. Prelate Dr. Karl Jüsten, the catholic chairperson GKKE, will address you on that occasion. This reception will give our Parliamentarians a chance to meet and exchange with you and vice versa. And it will illustrate our cooperation with Parliament and Government

The Civil Peace Service was set up in the 90ies on the initiative of Churches, the peace movement and development organizations. The Civil Peace Service Consortium also includes a governmental agency. This is imperative. All forces have to join hands to struggle for the prevention of conflicts, for peaceful conflict resolution and for lasting, just peace. Churches, NGOs and governmental bodies even have to dramatically increase their efforts. Today, our common quest to overcome violence and to strive for peace and justice is needed more than ever.

Let me close with the famous Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make us instruments of Your peace:
Where there is hatred, let us sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is discord, unity,
Where there is error, truth,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
And where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal live.
Amen

Optional Abschluss mit

Tuma Mina 245, Lass uns den Weg der Gerechtigkeit gehen….
(deutsch, englisch, französisch, spanisch)