Walls

Last year as ordinands we visited Northern Ireland. We stayed for part of the time at Corrymeela (www.corrymeela.org) and visited some of their peace building work in Belfast.
We walked around the city walls of Derry/Londonderry saw the peace walls in Belfast itself and had a tour of the murals painted on the ends of terraces.

This year we went to north Germany, staying for part of the time in Ratzeburg at the Lutheran Seminary for the Nordkirche and part of the time in Hamburg seeing the work the church is part of in that multicultural vibrant city. It was inspiring and eye opening, the passion and commitment of the pastors and social workers we met was awesome and truly represented the missio dei we’d heard about at college.

One of the other visits we went on was to the Border Museum at Schlagsdorf, walls rebuilt again, but this time as a reminder to never return to the separation they represented. Yes there is still inequality in Germany between east and west, but the German people have modelled how to pull down walls and live peacefully with each other despite their differences.

Next year we go to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory… more walls…

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