Feb 15 – Geneva, Switzerland
My last day with the group. It will be hard to leave them a day early, but I want to be home and with you for Ash Wednesday. Another full day, and today I found out, “in Geneva, one WALKS.” So, a brisk 40 minute walk to the Ecumenical center from the hotel got us in the building right before morning Chapel at 8:30 a.m. From there we received a tour of the Ecumenical Center which is the home of the office of the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational churches.)
Our first meeting was with the new General Secretary (head staff person) of the World Council of Church, the Rev. Dr. Olav Gykse Tveit (he’s Norwegian) who greeted us and outlined his vision for the next few years of the World Council, which includes working for peace. For him, peace will be a sign of our work to BE one as Jesus desired “That they might be one as the Father and I are one.” (John’s gospel.)
Following that, we were honored to receive a report from the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko. You may remember that Pastor Roger used a quote from Dr. Noko after the actions of the Churchwide Assembly last August. Dr. Noko was widely quoted when he reminded us that, “in the Church, we are not allowed to bear our burdens alone.” We received an update on the LWF presence in Haiti and some information on the Diakonia program.
At lunch, we were joined by a number of the senior staff of LWF and WCC, as well as the gentleman who will take over for Dr. Noko when he retires this May. We then heard an update from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches by their General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi.
We then listened to a panel of ecumenical partners who are working in Geneva in the field of advocacy. This conversation is a journal entry in itself, but I’ll spare you the details until I am with you. Then, after a short break we were off to dinner.
At dinner we were hosted by Dr. Noko and his wife Gladys, along with three United Nations ambassadors and the Papal Nuncio (Pope’s advocate in Geneva.) I was assigned to sit with the Nuncio, and we had a lively conversation about Ethiopia! He served there for many years, and so it was good to have some background courtesy of Vicar Anteneh. I know a lot more now, about nuncios and Ethiopia!
It was a long day, and has been a long two weeks, and the rest of the group will go to Bossey tomorrow to visit the Ecumenical Institute. I will be boarding a plane to start my journey back to Advent, where I look forward to seeing you all on Ash Wednesday. Pray for the remainder of the Ecumenical visits, and for our safe travel. I am looking forward to being with you and sharing some of this remarkable journey with you during our 40-day journey of Lent. Blessings, Pastor Susan