"When are we willing to share the wealth that we have with others?"

Written by: Magnea Sverrisdóttir ecumenical secretary 

It surely was a pleasure and a great inspiration to take part in the rich and colorful worship, to hear speeches and testimonies from all around the world. Finally the priceless opportunity to have a personal contact with other Christians share information, listen to each other and build relationships.

Environmental issues, war in the world, empowerment of young people, the situation of marginalized groups and churches was some of the issues that stand out after this inspiring assembly.  We were also reminded that the solution on poverty in the world is not how generous we in the western world are helping our poor brothers and sisters – the answer is when are we willing to share the wealth that we have with others, it was never intended to be just ours. We in the west have to have the courage not only to hear but listen carefully when churches from less privileged countries speak out. It was a clear message that now there is a time to act, Cristian churches may not all agree on everything, but we need to focus on what unites us but not what differentiates us, and work and act together to a more just peaceful and reconciled world.

The Evangelical Lutheran church of Iceland does not have a representative in WCC central committee. We are a small church and don’t have the capacity to be fully active in all church relations. But the good Nordic online cooperation that was established in Covid has made it possible for us to take active part in preparations and discussion and we feel well represented as a region through our fellow Nordic churches. We are especially thankful to the Danish church to have to opportunity to be a part of the online preassembly preparation group of the Danish church. Online meetings have made new opportunities in the international ecumenical world and will change processes, they are, cheaper, less time consuming and of cause more nature friendly that person to person meetings specially for us who live in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Virtual work is important, but it can never totally replace person to person contact, we need to use the technology to our advantages and strengthen our work together because we surely have a common goal in the Lutheran churches in the Nordic.

We have faith that the future work of the WCC will reflect the spirit of hope and the will from the participants from the assembly that now the time to act out our visions has begun and that the Christian faith and the Cristian church can surely make a difference in the world at so many levels, to promote peace, human dignity for all  and in environmental issues we were reminded that we share this planet, we share the air like we share our God and our faith.