Mennonite Weekly Review

ELKHART, Ind. — Jamal, a Muslim refugee from Zanzibar, and Matthew, a Jew, got acquainted as their children played in a neighborhood park in Toronto.

Paul Alexander, left, co-founder of Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice, speaks while Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity, and moderator Joanna Shenk of Mennonite Church USA listen. — Photo provided by AMBS

Learning of Jamal’s computer skills, Matthew found him a job. Later, as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, unfolded, Jamal came to Matthew’s house, shaken. “I’m so sorry, but I don’t know who to say sorry to,” Jamal said. Matthew invited Jamal’s family to share dinner with them.

The relationship of these neighbors represents “a testimony to the possibility of peace among peoples,” said Mary Jo Leddy, addressing the opening worship of an ecumenical peace conference, “Peace Among the Peoples,” July 28-31.

At the same time, the U.S. government’s response to Sept. 11 illustrates “the near impossibility of such peace in an age of empire violence,” Leddy said. A Catholic writer, speaker, theologian and social activist, Leddy has lived with and directed the Romero House Community for Refugees in Toronto for almost 20 years.

The conference, hosted by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, had more than 20 co-sponsors and just over 200 registrants, mostly from the U.S., but also Canada, Europe and Australia, representing Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Free Church faith traditions.

Christians have difficulty building peace because they are reluctant to stand with the peoples of the world who are oppressed and impoverished by empire, Leddy said, including her own country, “a colony of empire.”

As an empire declines it defines itself increasingly by what it is against, rather than what it is for, creating a great need for enemies, Leddy said.

Christians are summoned “to preach with our lives the good news that we can, should, must love our enemies,” Leddy said. “If we simply hate our enemies, we become like them.”

“Peace Among the Peoples” has been part of a decade-long initiative of the World Council of Churches to help people overcome violence. In May the WCC will convene a worldwide gathering, the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, in Kingston, Jamaica, to celebrate the achievements of the Decade to Overcome Violence, which began in 2001.

The Elkhart gathering drew together academics and grassroots people to focus on how their churches’ theologies reflect and promote peace and justice. The conference was planned by the Institute of Mennonite Studies, the research arm of AMBS.