Archbishop Suheil Dawani, primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, at the opening session of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) in Jerusalem. Photo: Diocese of Jerusalem
The Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, has stressed the need for reconciliation amongst Anglicans.
Speaking to delegates at the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) event being held in the city, Dasani spoke of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem’s work of reconciliation in the Holy Land, and emphazised the importance of the Church being one. This message featured in a homily delivered at an evensong in St George’s Cathedral on Sunday attended by some 200 of the Gafcon participants, including more than 70 bishops; and repeated in a welcome message to the Gafcon event being held in Jerusalem’s International Convention Centre.
Dawani invited the Gafcon delegates to consider the three steps that are needed for unity and reconciliation. In a summary published by the Diocese in Jerusalem, he said: “First, in order to face the enormous challenges of our time, and to work towards unity and reconciliation we need to be able to meet in dialogue and mutual respect. Second, the community needs to be able to celebrate the differences that it has, and accept each other through seeing Christ in each other, and not by imposing our own image of Christ on each other. The final step towards unity and reconciliation . . . is hospitality, since it is through hospitality that we can transform the exclusion of others to an embrace.”
The theme of the pre-Gafcon evensong was “Friendship and Reconciliation” which was, Dawani said, “at the heart of our Christian faith.” He said that gatherings and meetings of Christians – like Gafcon – were “part and parcel to our ministry. Not only are we to have good relationships; but we strive to have excellent companionship and fellowship with Christians from around the world. We look for opportunities for collaborative ministries.
“In this land, our existence as Christians depends on these relationships. These are relationships that spiritually nourish us. I am told by pilgrims who pass through here that when they meet a Christian in the Holy land, and ask their denomination, the first response is ‘I am a Christian’. Our primary identity is in Christ.
“And it is this identity that enables us to reconcile with one another, even with those who we perceive to be different to us. As Christians we are reminded this evening of what it is Jesus calls us to be. Our Scripture readings remind us that Christ is our sign of unity. Christ has called us to the ministry of unity in friendship and reconciliation. Jesus said: ‘I ask . . . also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one’ (John 17: 20-21).”
In a message of welcome to the Gafcon delegates on Monday morning, Dawani said: “We have a duty to recognise that Christ is revealed afresh and anew in every encounter, everyday. That we have a duty not to try and impose our impressions of Christ or God on another, rather to see this afresh – to contemplate what God is revealing to us.
“Only through being open to the other, that we can begin to understand how the Kingdom is revealed – and for the Christians this must be ‘the longing is for a home from which no one is excluded’.
“Whatever we hear in the coming year, we must realise how precious our unity is and seek to keep our fellowship alive between each other, and remember that we are called to exclude no one from the love of God.”
He concluded his homily on Sunday evening by saying that friendship and reconciliation “begins with the understanding that the person who has caused hurt is equally loved by God just as we are.”