Peace talks
For our campaign this year, we're imagining that the pages of CC are like the leaves of the tree in Revelation 22.
Canada, 2008-2015.
Also Argentina. Australia. Congo. Czech Republic. Fiji. Finland. Ireland. Liberia. Morocco. Norway. Paraguay. Peru. Poland. Philippines. Sierra Leone. South Africa. South Korea. Taiwan. The Ukraine.
What do all these countries have in common? After the coup, after apartheid, after colonialism, after civil war – they’ve each had to figure out: how can embattled citizens live peacefully alongside one another once again?
I was astonished to learn that more than 40 countries around the world have established Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) as a means of resolving conflict. Typically, this takes the form of mandating research into past injustice or corruption, and then sharing that information through public hearings. The goal is restoration, not retribution. Post-conflict peace talks.
It’s important to note that these TRCs are not set up in search of paradise – some bucolic future where everyone merrily and automatically gets along. Rather, they are born out of something closer to desperation – when the knives have been sheathed but just barely. After grief and loss; after deep harm has occurred. After Occupation ends and you come face to face with the person who betrayed you (as David Koene writes about). When your vision goes black around the edges just hearing his voice, that’s when you might wonder: how can former enemies live alongside one another?
The past is all around us
As a student of literature married to a History major, I appreciate the careful process and approach of these Truth Commissions. First they ask “What happened? What’s in our history books?” Then, “Let’s go back to the primary sources. Let’s ask people to tell their stories.”
This step can take years; it might involve hundreds or thousands of first-hand accounts. It cannot be rushed. Peace-building is slow and careful work, its pace opposite the speed of war. A full picture of the injustice will emerge from a patchwork of details, once hidden or lost. Most of this, of course, runs counter to our very human instinct. After any kind of fight we pretend “nothing happened. I didn’t do anything. Let’s just move on.” (Ask marriage counselors and divorce lawyers how well that works.)
A man emailed Christian Courier last week, out of the blue. He had been renovating his house, he said, and found a copy of Calvinist Contact inside a wall. It was 56 years old and perfectly preserved in plastic: he sent me a photo and offered to mail the real thing.
The truth is that the past is all around us, whether we realize it or not.
Our ever-faithful God
This month, we are launching Christian Courier’s annual donation campaign – with a twist. As we get ready to celebrate the 80th anniversary of CC in 2025, we’re looking ahead to an exciting future and looking behind at God’s faithfulness with the tagline EVERGREEN. The past few years we’ve focused our campaigns on hope (and hope is important!). But in these days of deep polarization, of rifts and church splits, of congregations and pastors parting ways, Christian Courier is doing what we can to listen well to all parties and bring about healing. To ask: how can disputatious Christians live alongside one another again?
Imagine that the pages of Christian Courier are, like the leaves of the tree in Revelation 22, for the healing of the nations (a metaphor I once heard applied to literature during Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Writing). It’s a lofty goal for a small, scrappy publication, but it’s better than pretending “nothing happened; I didn’t do anything; let’s just move on.” Instead, we choose to seek common ground in the wake of our very-human conflicts by asking, “What happened? Tell me a little more about your perspective” and then by listening patiently to the answers.
It’s a goal that fits our eight-decade mandate to build community, follow Christ and restore what’s broken in God’s good creation. Will you join us?
A long obedience
The May 15, 1969 paper tucked into a wall for more than 50 years belonged to W. Vander Vaart; it was issue no. 904, in CC’s 24th year of publication. (The issue this article is from is no. 3167!) Its front-page story begins with a question: “In the reality of life in Canada in the year of our Lord 1969, is Christianity relevant?”
CC writers are still exploring that question!
