Church Leaders Ask Everyone To Work "Together For Good"

Having been employed in peace and reconciliation/community relations work over the last nearly 3 years has been a real education for me and whilst I still have a lot to learn, there have been some significant learning points on this journey so far. One of the things I’ve realised is that a peace agreement merely provides a platform for a journey towards reconciliation to take place. The peace process here in Northern Ireland is still very much a work-in-progress and sometimes it can be frustrating when I’ve been faced with apathy to peacebuilding or the kind of attitude that says, ‘sure, we’ve got peace now’. We’re still at the start of our journey to moving beyond conflict.

Reconciliation is also a journey that we must choose to enter into. Recently I heard a great talk by someone who has been involved in peacebilding projects here and overseas (available to download here) and one of the things he said was that peace is something which is found and people must journey together to find it. In other words peace cannot be limited to a strategy or policy or even a commitment but it takes a lot of work, a lot of energy, a lot of working together, a lot of time, a lot of invested relationships.

I’m glad this week that people have come together very quickly reacting against the violence and murders at the weekend and on Monday. I was at the Belfast vigil on Wednesday and could feel the strong sense of solidarity and also of horror at what has happened. We’ve been hurt right to the ‘quick’, the very thought of going back to the ‘bad old days’ has sent a real chill down our collective spine. Even hearing the helicopters hovering overhead was creepy. I guess during the Troubles, we got used to things, we got on with everyday life and tried to convince ourselves it was ‘normal’. But now we can look back and see that we have come a long way and that life now has been more normal than ever before. We don’t want to go back and must stay strong to a commitment to ensuring we don’t go back, we can’t afford to become apathetic to the horrors of the past.

When I started out in my current role at PCI I guess I though that peacebuilding was important but maybe something to be addressed only by those interested in it. Today as a youth worker, the bottom line for me is that youth work and youth ministry cannot take place in Northern Ireland without reference to issues around community relations, conflict, division, sectarianism. Even though many of today’s young people do not remember first-hand the conflict, I believe that they are having to carry the baggage of the past. They may not know what that baggage is, but their lives are dictated by the divisions in our society. I believe that if we don’t tackle these issues with our young people, then we’re failing them.

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again. (Isaiah 58:9-12 The Message)

It’s time to rebuild, renovate, restore…