 |
| Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford |
| Dr. James Kim, founder of the
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in N. Korea (second from
left) at a reception held in his honor at the Church of the Brethren
General Offices on Nov. 10. Also shown with a cake celebrating his visit
is (from left) Jay Wittmeyer, executive director of Global Mission and
Service for the Church of the Brethren; Howard Royer, manager of the
Global Food Crisis Fund through which the Brethren work in North Korea
was established; and Norma Nichols, staff at a sister university in
China also founded by Dr. Kim. |
The following reflection from chapel at the Church of the
Brethren General Offices, Elgin, Ill., was given by Global Mission and
Service executive director Jay Wittmeyer. He reflects on the original
meaning of Nov. 11 celebrations, and the honor due to St. Martin and
modern-day peacemakers like Dr. James Kim, founder of the Pyongyang
University of Science and Technology in North Korea, who visited with
Brethren staff on Nov. 10:
“Pay to all what is due to them--taxes to whom taxes are due,
revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to
whom honor is due” (Romans 13:7).
Friday is an unique day, as the calendar will sync as 11/11/11. The
eleventh day of the eleventh month in the eleventh year. Nov. 11 is, of
course, a special day and has been recognized as a holiday for a long
time in many countries. In the US it is Veteran’s Day. As is the
American tradition, on Friday a ceremony will be held at the Arlington
National Cemetery, commencing precisely at 11 a.m., and a wreath will be
laid at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Eleven a.m. is significant because it was exactly at this time in
1918 that the armistice was signed bringing World War I to an end. My
grandparents always referred to Nov. 11 as Armistice Day, or the day of
cessation of arms that ended the Great War, the war to end all wars.
Nov. 11 became Veteran’s Day after World War II. In the UK and
Commonwealth nations, Nov. 11 is observed as Remembrance Day. Some also
refer to it as Poppy Day because of that poem “In Flanders’s Fields.”
Bright red poppies are associated with the day, an appropriate symbol
for the blood spilled in the war.
Nov. 11 was fittingly chosen for the cessation of WWI hostilities for it was St. Martin of Tours Day (
http://stmartinoftours.org/about-us/st-martins-background).
Martin (c. 316-397), a contemporary of Constantine, was an early
pacifist of the Roman Empire. Martin Luther, born on Nov.10, was
baptized on Nov. 11 and named after St. Martin. St. Martin is the patron
saint of France.
Martin was forced to join the Roman army when he was young. One
evening while on duty, he was riding in the rain when he saw a beggar
lying cold along the side of the road. Martin tore his heavy officer’s
cape in half to give part to the beggar. Later that night he had a dream
in which he saw Jesus wearing the small cape. Jesus said, “What you do
unto the least of these, you do unto me.”
Martin was baptized into the church at age 18. Just before a battle,
Martin announced that his faith prohibited him from fighting. Charged
with cowardice, he was jailed, and his superiors planned to put him in
the front of the battle. However, the invaders sued for peace, the
battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service.
Give honor to whom honor is due. After a century of hard-fought and
brutal wars, the essence of Nov. 11 has changed for us in the US--from
pacifist to armistice to Veteran’s Day, where we honor those, and only
those who have served in the armed forces.
But the Christian community should give the same honor and respect to
those who are in an even greater service--those who dedicate their
lives in service to God. I believe we should honor all to whom honor is
due. This includes war correspondents and journalists, missionaries, and
professionals serving around the world in organizations like Doctors
Without Borders. And what about those who avert war in the first place?
What about the negotiators, the diplomats, the peacemakers? What would
it mean for someone to actively work to bring peace and avoid nuclear
war on the Korean peninsula? What honor should be due that person?
Dr. James Kim is doing that very thing and he visits us at the
General Offices tomorrow. Robert and Linda Shank have served in North
Korea for the past year with Dr. Kim at the university he began, the
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. This is Dr. Kim’s story
as told by Lord David Alton (
http://davidalton.net/2011/10/14/report-on-the-first-international-conference-to-be-held-at-pyongyang-university-of-science-and-technology-and-how-the-university-came-into-being):
The story of Dr. James Chinkyung Kim:
In 1950, at the outbreak of the Korean War, Chinkyung (James) Kim was
just 15 years old. Nevertheless, he enlisted and fought against the
north. Of the 800 men in his unit, only 17 survived.
One night on the battlefield, after reading the Gospel of St. John,
“There and then I vowed to God to work with the Chinese and the North
Koreans, then our enemies,” Dr Kim says, the very forces against whom he
had been bearing arms. “If I survived the war, I promised God that I
would devote my life to their service, to peace and to reconciliation.”
After the war, penniless, he travelled first to France, and then on
to Switzerland, where he met Francis Shaeffer who would write the highly
influential “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” In 1960, he went to
Britain where he studied at Bristol’s Clifton Theological College.
Later, he returned to Seoul, Korea, and in 1976 began a series of
business enterprises in Florida. But he never forgot his vow--a promise
he kept hidden in his heart--and, in the 1980s, he sold his businesses
and home to finance a university college in South Korea. By1992 he was
ready to export his model of education to China. Yanbian University of
Science of Technology, in Yanji, northeastern China, became the
country’s first foreign joint-venture university. It, in turn, became
the model for Pyongyang.
Before that could happen, Dr. Kim would be arrested by Kim Jong Il’s
North Korean Government, accused of being an American spy, and for 40
days he would languish in jail. He was sentenced to death.
Ordered to write a will and, in keeping with his vow to give
everything back to his country, he told his captors that once they had
executed him they could have his body parts for medical research. In his
will and testament he wrote to the US government that “I died doing
things I love at my own will. Revenge will only bring more revenge and
it will be an endless cycle of bitter hatred. Today, it will stop here
and the hate will not see a victory. I am dying for the love of my
country and my people. If you take any actions for my death then my
death would truly have been for nothing and for no reason.”
In explaining what then occurred, James Kim says that “The North
Korean government was moved and allowed me to return to my home in
China.” He made no public complaints about what had happened and two
years later “They invited me back to North Korea and asked whether I
would forget our differences and build a university for them like the
one I had established in China?”
Dr. Kim believes his own experience is evidence that the North Korean
regime “can be touched and messages can be communicated at some level.
On a much grander scale we need to deepen the experience of
reconciliation.”
We give honor and respect to Dr. James Kim for his reconciling work
in North Korea and to all who serve around the globe on Nov. 11, St.
Martin’s Day.
-- Wittmeyer closed the chapel service with a quote from the
hymn, “The Church of Christ in Every Age”: “We have no mission but to
serve in full obedience to our Lord, to care for all, without reserve,
and spread his liberating word.” For more about the Church of the
Brethren’s work in North Korea go to www.brethren.org/partners/northkorea.
For more about conscientious objectors from the Historic Peace Churches
(Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, and Quaker) who served in Civilian
Public Service instead of going to war, go to http://civilianpublicservice.org.
Source:11/16/2011 Newsline
Northeast
Nigeria has again suffered terrorist-type violence since Friday, Nov.
4, when attacks blamed on the Boko Haram sect began targeting government
facilities like police stations and a military base, along with shops,
churches, and mosques. As of last week, the Red Cross has said at least
100 people have been killed.
The
Church of the Brethren’s Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS) in 2012
will consider carbon footprints and large-scale responses to elevated
levels of carbon in the atmosphere, such as carbon labeling. The event
for high school youth and adult advisors takes place April 14-19 in New
York City and Washington, D.C.
Resources
are now available for the 2011 Church of the Brethren Advent Offering
on the theme “Prepare the Way.” The offering is designed to help
congregations connect with Church of the Brethren peace and justice
ministries through worship and reflection. The offering provides support
for the denomination’s core ministries fund.
The second annual “Powerhouse” regional youth conference
took place at Manchester College Nov. 12-13, with nearly 100 senior
high youth and advisors from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Jeff Carter,
pastor of Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren, spoke at three worship
services on the theme “Follow: If You Dare,” looking at what it really
means to follow Jesus. Worship themes were inspired by Shawn Kirchner’s
2010 National Youth Conference theme song, “More Than Meets the Eye,”
which touched on various aspects of Jesus as he carried out his
ministry. Carter looked at some of these aspects in his messages,
emphasizing the importance of all facets in fully understanding who
Jesus is and what that means for Christians. Students, staff, and others
led a variety of workshops during the weekend, which also included
opportunities for a campus tour, displays from Brethren programs,
recreation, and a game of “Mission Impossible.” The next Powerhouse is
tentatively scheduled for Nov. 10-11, 2012.
