By the WCC news service
A Peace Train recently started its
journey from Berlin, Germany, through Russia and China, to northeast
Asia and the World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th assembly in Busan,
Republic of Korea (South Korea).
The train, which aims to raise awareness about the 60-year division
of the Korean Peninsula, will travel through Moscow, Irkutsk, Beijing,
Pyongyang and Seoul, and will finally arrive in Busan around the
beginning of the assembly. The Peace Train is a project of the National
Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korean Host Committee for
the WCC assembly.
Some 130 people from around the world are travelling on the Peace
Train and include church and civil society representatives. They will
arrive in Busan on Oct. 28 and share their experiences at the WCC
assembly. The train will highlight the importance of achieving peace on
the Korean peninsula, cooperating with the churches of those countries
which participated in the division of the Korean peninsula in 1953.
As part of this project, a seminar on “Religious Communities for
Justice and Peace” has been organized in Moscow, the second stop of the
Peace Train. The event was held in collaboration with the Russian
Orthodox Church on Oct. 11.
WCC staff including Guillermo Kerber, program executive for Care for
Creation and Climate Justice, and Mathews George Chunakara, director of
the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, addressed the
seminar. Kerber expressed “heartfelt appreciation” on behalf of the WCC
for the efforts of the NCCK and the Korean Host Committee in
coordinating the Peace Train project. He said, “Being confronted by
overwhelming crises, churches and religious communities must overcome
their divisions, speak out, and react as an expression of their
commitment to life, peace, justice, and love.”
“A pilgrimage is always a transformative experience. May the Peace
Train transform your lives, our lives, the lives of all of those going
to the assembly,” Kerber added.
Catherine Christie from the NCCK and the Presbyterian Church in the
Republic of Korea, herself a traveller on the Peace Train, shared how
Bible studies and discussions during the journey are a transformative
experience. She said that many people in our world “suffer because of
the corporate sin in our world--suffer from militarism, national
hostilities.
“This group, made up of people from some African nations, India,
Korea, European nations, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and
Brazil,” creates “a variety of perspectives and wisdom,” added Christie.
In Berlin, where the Peace Train commenced its journey, several
programs were organized by the German churches. One of these was a Peace
Candlelight Prayer Vigil which took place in front of the Brandenburg
Gate on Oct. 7. Among the speakers were Konrad Raiser and Kim Young Ju.
Around 120 people from 15 countries participated in the event.
Find out more at the Peace Train website www.peacetrain2013.org. The website of the WCC 10th Assembly is http://wcc2013.info/en.
Source: 10/25/2013 Newsline
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