March 10, 2010

CHICAGO – Senegal is a place where Christians and Muslims coexist. To learn more about life there, 10 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) journeyed through the western African country to learn about peace-building at the intersection of faith and life.

"Senegal is a unique place for engaging across religious lines," said Valora Starr, director for discipleship, Women of the ELCA. "No matter where you go there, folks will say Christians and Muslims get along just fine. They work and live side-by-side."

Starr is a member of the ELCA Task Force for the Decade of Peace and Nonviolence, which hosted the trip. The "Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence" originated from the work of 20 Nobel Peace Laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and others. In 1999 the ELCA committed to building a culture of peace and nonviolence in the decade 2001-2010.

"As the decade comes to a close, the task force wants to leave ELCA congregations with the ability to make for peace," said Starr. She said the task force strives to equip leaders and lay members of the church of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, to continue the work of peacemaking among individuals and congregations.

The immersion experience in Senegal helped participants to explore how "Christians and Muslims engage one another in peace work," said Starr.

According to the Rev. Stephen S. Talmage, what is critical to peace-making is the "act of hospitality, sharing meals and listening to people." In Senegal "we spent a lot of time listening, raising questions and getting an introduction on (the way) people of different faiths live together and trust one another."

Talmage is bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, Phoenix. The synod shares a "companion synod" relationship with the l'Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne du Senegal (the Lutheran Church in Senegal) (LCS), organized through ELCA Global Mission. The ELCA and LCS are members of the Lutheran World Federation.

Although Senegal is 95 percent Muslim, religious freedom was built into the identity of the country when it became independent, said Talmage. Christianity and Islam were imported into Senegal, and there has been potential for great conflict there, he said.

"But there is a peaceful coexistence among the people of Senegal despite their differences," Talmage said. "There is an intentional effort to work together for the common good versus special interests."

Another observation Talmage made from his journey in Senegal is that there is an emphasis on the "respect for the other." The ancestral tradition is that we're all cousins, although one may be Christian and the other Muslim. The people of Senegal have a sense of history, and they are willing to be patient, which is a contrast to what we experience here in the United States.

To understand Senegal's unique context, trip participants first met with Senegal's past. Participants embraced the concept of "Sankofa," a Ghanaian word meaning "looking back to move forward" or "taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present" to make for positive change.

Participants visited Gorée Island, which served as a stopping point for "enslaved human beings" bound for labor across the Atlantic. Gorée is home to the "House of Slaves," a museum made from the home of a former slave trader.

"I felt a tightening in my chest as we walked around (Gorée) listening to our guide," the Rev. Darryl Thompson Powell wrote in a travel blog. "We got to the passageway that led to ‘la porte du voyage sans retour,' (which is) the ‘door of no return.' This is where, according to our tour guide, over 15 million Africans last saw their homeland as they were placed onto slave ships, never to return." Powell is pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, Chicago.

Powell said it was difficult to see a place with so much emotional history for African Americans turned into a tourist trap. "I realized (an) important thing," he wrote. "It's important to look back and understand where we come from, as hard as it may be, but we must be persistent … remember our past but move toward the future."

On Gorée Island, participants also learned about the unique role of women in the Goréen society and visited the Women's Museum there.

To learn more about interfaith dialogue and peace work in Senegal, the group met with Islamic and Christian religious leaders. Meeting with people face-to-face is important for peace-making, according to trip participant the Rev. Bonita R. Bock, an ELCA pastor.

"Drinking from the same cup at worship with Christians, dipping my hand in the same bowl over meals with Muslims, having conversations together about life and death, finding common understandings while recognizing the obstacles, is best done face-to-face," Bock wrote in the Senegal travel blog.

"There are many ways that people are brought face-to-face, but doing so in the manner in which we have come, equips us for peace in the long haul," said Bock. "We keep learning new ways of respecting each other, honoring each other, guiding each other through old methods of meeting face-to-face. Such meetings have always been important." Bock is co-director for Wartburg College's urban studies in Denver. Wartburg, Waverly, Iowa, is one of 27 ELCA colleges and universities.

"Our trip to Senegal was never intended to be a short-term mission trip to do for the people we meet," said the Rev. Robert O. Smith, director, Europe and Middle East Continental Desk, ELCA Global Mission. "We were focused on receiving the gifts of our companions rather than focusing on what we may perceive they lack." With Starr, Smith is a member of the ELCA Task Force for the Decade of Peace and Nonviolence.

"The value of personal relationships in building community has been repeated in different ways during this immersion in Senegal," wrote Bock. She said the meetings with various people in Senegal "were made all the more meaningful, since it was members of God's family meeting each other from across the miles."

Information about the ELCA Task Force for the Decade of Peace and Nonviolence is at http://www.ELCA.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Decade-for-Nonviolence.aspx, and information about Lutherans in Senegal is at http://www.ELCA.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Global-Mission/Where-We-Work/Africa/Senegal.aspx, on the ELCA Web site.

ELCA News Service