In fact, a few days before our departure, we learned that the canton of Vaud had been put on the red list by the German health authorities. The meetings, therefore, took place by means of a videoconference.
Germany seems to us to be a key to spreading the vision of JC2033. In particular, it has the ability to plan well in advance. So many initiatives have come from the Churches of this great country! Next year the great gathering of churches, the ecumenical day of churches Kirchentag will take place in Frankfurt and we desire to be there. In 2022 the World Assembly of the World Council of Churches will be held in Karlsruhe and we plan to participate there as well.
From Luther's Jubilee in 2017 to the one of the Resurrection in 2033
Our first meeting via interposed screens is with ACK Arbeitgemeinschaft christlicher Kirchen, October 6, 2020. Each region has a World Council of Churches - last year we had visited the one in Bavaria - but this time it was the Working Community of Christian Churches in Germany, the umbrella association, which received us.
Verena Hammes, its young secretary general, made herself known with a thesis on the Luther year in 2017, where she shows how it was possible to break with a confessional and conflictual commemoration of the Reformation to live an ecumenical culture of remembrance and thus open up new perspectives for collaboration between Churches.
Looking ahead to the Jubilee of the Resurrection in 2033 we were very interested in knowing the German experience of the Jubilee of the 500 years of the Reformation in 2016. V.Hammes explains to us that the Protestant and Catholic Churches in Germany have collaborated a lot for this jubilee, preceded by a decade. Internationally, the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation have published a theological reflection: From conflict to communion. Without doubt the highlight of this year was the celebration bringing together Pope Francis and the leaders of the Lutheran World Federation, in Lund, Sweden, on Reformation Day, October 31, 2016.
However, V. Hammes notes that the Free and Orthodox Churches were not really involved. It was a bilateral affair between the two big churches.
“It was a rather internal jubilee for the churches. People only noticed that there was something special when October 31, 2017 was declared a bank holiday,” she notes.
She adds that the difference with the jubilee of 2033 is, that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity and does not lead to controversy like the person of Luther.
Luther, indeed, is a controversial person, also within Protestantism. “At the beginning, the decade was centered on him, then we centered on Jesus Christ, in particular during a pilgrimage, in the Holy Land with about twenty church leaders. It is He who unites us".
What dream for 2033?
Pastor Jochen Wagner, referent for Free Churches at ACK and Protestant pastor Hanne Lamparter, referent for world ecumenism,referent at „Konfessionskundliches Institut Bensheim„ also participated in this meeting. We asked them what their dream is for 2033.
The first one notices that the Free Churches have opened up to ecumenical work in recent years. His dream is that on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Resurrection, the churches not only announce it, but together live out Jesus' teaching on righteousness and peace, especially the Sermon on the Mount.
The second one also shares her dream: for people to experience what the resurrection means in their lives and find that their lives can change. It is not enough to have information.
But the problem is the great secularization in Germany. Many people are looking elsewhere because they are not getting answers from the churches. How to meet them?
This is also the question that V. Hammes keeps asking herself. Her dream is not only to celebrate the resurrection, but also that it leads to real change in a society marked by violence and abuse of all kinds, also in the Church.
A missionary church
Pastor Peter Bregy is of Valais origin but has lived in Germany for 26 years. He is general secretary of the Alliance of Pentecostal Churches Bund Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden which has 850 communities. We meet him in the afternoon with Johannes Justus, the president of the same alliance.
How did he react when he discovered this vision? With joy he tells us: “Basically we have the same goal as you: to make Christ known. He is our life. We are 100% with you. Anything that helps move in this direction we welcome, and certainly also the dynamic that leads to 2033. I am convinced that we will be together to celebrate Easter 2033 and to bear witness to Jesus Christ”.
His enthusiasm surprises Johannes Justus who admits that he has never seen his friend so enthusiastic before! He also tells us: “My heart is a missionary one. You can conquer it right away if it is a question of winning people to Christ by proclaiming redemption in him".
His Church is a missionary church. Since 2013 it has established 130 new communities. He wonders how to practically introduce this vision of JC2033 in the Pentecostal churches. If his board says yes, he will definitely commit to it, but he will want to know what he is committing to, financially and strategically. What is the aim? What are the stages during the decade of the resurrection?
He asks us to send him concrete proposals by next spring. His concern is that we move forward shoulder to shoulder.
Peter Bregy adds that the challenge is to get those in charge to understand that the road to 2033 is a unique opportunity to make Jesus known. "We welcome anything that helps us in this goal."
To conclude this great meeting, Olivier Fleury insists on the fact that JC2033 does not want to drive anything from Switzerland. It is for Christians in each nation to decide what they want to do. “How can we dream together, pray together so that each one hears that Christ is truly risen”?
Martin Hoegger
