Two Years a Country: Celebrating Independence Day in South Sudan

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Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, Bishop Paride Taban, Faith J. H. McDonnell, freedom, National Prayer for Reconciliation, reconciliation, Referendum on Secession, South Sudan, South Sudan Independence, South Sudan Oyee

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– Southern Sudanese from the United States Diaspora vote for freedom, January 2011. (Photo credit: Faith J. H. McDonnell)

By Faith J. H. McDonnell  (@Cuchulain09)

It is the eve of Independence Day in the Republic of South Sudan. Tomorrow, July 9, will mark the nation’s second birthday. To prepare for this solemn and joyful occasion, the Most Reverend Daniel Deng Bul, Archbishop of Sudan and South Sudan (Episcopal Church of Sudan) has called the whole country to prayer. All over South Sudan there will be city and community-wide prayer services, including in Juba Stadium in South Sudan’s capital city.

The archbishop is chairman of the committee, with Catholic Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban as Vice-chairman. The Committee for National Reconciliation includes a number of other Christian and Muslim religious leaders, a representative of each state, and members of civil society representing women and youth.

Prayer concerns include:

• Justice that leads to peace for all the people of Sudan
• An end to violence
• The transformation of hearts
• The safety of Reverend Idris, Joshua Idris Nalos, Pastor Trainee David Gayin, and all who have been detained
• Jonglei state and other places that have known inter-tribal violence
• Good leadership and governance for the young nation

In January of 2011, Southern Sudanese from every people group came together to participate in the Referendum on Secession from the nation of Sudan. The photos included with this blog post are of some of the many Southern Sudanese living in America that participated in the referendum in Alexandria, VA in the Washington, DC area. Voting took place from January 9-15, 2011, and the results were announced on February 7. It was an overwhelming 98.83% in favor of separation from Sudan.  On July 9, 2011, the two countries separated officially, and the nation we now call the Republic of South Sudan was born.

South Sudan’s national anthem, written by the students and teachers of Juba University just in time for South Sudan’s Independence, included the prayer that is on the hearts of most of the people of South Sudan today:

Oh God
We praise and glorify You
For Your grace on South Sudan,
Land of great abundance
Uphold us united in peace and harmony.

(From “South Sudan Oyee!” National Hymn of South Sudan)

National Day of Prayer for South Sudan: Prayer in the Churches

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South Sudanese Christians celebrate South Sudan’s freedom.
(Photo credit: Urban Christian News)

By Faith J. H. McDonnell (@Cuchulain09)

Christians have a special responsibility to work for reconciliation and healing. As Christians, we are called to be reconcilers — reconciling others to themselves, each other, and to God. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5: 18)

Today the Christians of South Sudan have been called to pray for healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation amongst all of the people of the new nation. As the Christians have prayed in their churches, across South Sudan, from every tribe, language, and denomination, please remember to pray for them today.

Here are some of the Bible verses that the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, the Archbishop of Sudan and South Sudan (Episcopal Church of Sudan) has asked the Christians to focus on:

Behold how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Psalm 133:1)

If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we can have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7)

I will restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts (Isaiah 57:14-15)

And of course, there is the great promise from 2 Chronicles 7: 14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

By their faithfulness to God during persecution and oppression by Khartoum, the Christians of South Sudan have greatly honored the Lord. And as God said in 1 Samuel 2: 30, Those who honor me I will honor. God has honored the faithfulness of South Sudanese Christians by bringing forth a new nation. Now they, and we who care about the Body of Christ in South Sudan, have faith that God will also heal their land’s wounds of strife and division and bring about reconciliation.

Values that Promote Reconciliation II: Prayer for South Sudan, Day 5

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Faith J. H. McDonnell, forgiveness, healing, Independence Day, National Day of Prayer, reconciliation, South Sudan, South Sudan Independence

Healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation bring joy and peace
(Photo Credit: Flame International)

By Faith J. H. McDonnell (@Cuchulain09)

Today, prayer for national forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation is taking place in the mosques of South Sudan. It would also seem to be a good time to be thankful for South Sudan’s religious freedom. With all the faults and errors that South Sudan is experiencing in its infancy as a nation (and about which some global observers are eager to highlight), it takes tremendous grace not to reciprocate for the oppression and religious persecution that South Sudanese experienced when under the thumb of Omar al Bashir. But that has never been the intention of either South Sudan’s “Moses” Dr. John Garang, nor of his successor, President Salva Kiir.

South Sudan embraces religious freedom for all, but there are still old wounds from the past that need healing, injuries that need forgiveness. South Sudan’s Committee for National Healing, Peace, and Reconciliation, led by the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, Archbishop of Sudan and South Sudan (Episcopal Church of Sudan) highlights the importance of forgiveness, healing, atonement, and sovereignty for the health of the nation.

• Forgiveness – “is the cornerstone to healing relationships between individuals and communities,” says the Committee’s working paper “The Way Forward.” The definition goes on to say that forgiveness is a “volitional act of giving up anger and resentment and extending pardon to an offending party.” A very important characteristic of forgiveness, often ignored or not comprehended in any secular concept, is that “forgiveness cannot be earned and is not deserved by the offending party.”When it takes place, “forgiveness sets an individual, community or nation free from the burden of anger, pain, hatred, resentment and the desire for revenge.” Forgiveness has the power to change lives. It “transforms societies by releasing them from the wounds of the past.”
• Healing – Once there has been forgiveness, healing can begin. “Healing wounded communities and nation is a spiritual and socio-political process that addresses painful historical memories with an eye toward acknowledgement, grieving, repentance, justice and forgiveness,” according to “The Way Forward.” Healing the wounds of history, it continues, comes when we acknowledge the suffering and injustice of the past.
• Atonement – “The Way Forward” defines atonement as turning from alienation from God, self, and others and finding peace with God that leads to personal transformation. “Atonement means that, ultimately reconciliation is the process of finding peace with God,” the paper continues.
• Sovereignty – Acknowledging the sovereignty of God makes national unity possible, the paper explains, because God is the supreme authority over peoples, communities, and nations.

Psalm 33:12 says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” If the people of South Sudan heed the exhortations and advice of the Committe for National Reconciliation and desire to be a nation whose God is the Lord, they will be blessed. With spiritual leaders such as Archbishop Deng, and the encouragement of others from around the world, these values can be built into the DNA of South Sudan.

Values That Promote Reconciliation: Prayer for South Sudan, Day 4

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Working for peace, forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation in South Sudan (Photo credit: Catholic Relief Services)

By Faith J. H. McDonnell (@Cuchulain09)

It is the morning of July 4 in Virginia as I write, America’s Independence Day. But in South Sudan the fourth day of the National Prayer for Reconciliation is coming to a close. South Sudan will celebrate its own independence on Tuesday, July 9. The National Prayer for Reconciliation is an effort to ensure that the baby nation grows well and strong and prosperous.

In the working paper of the Committee for National Healing, Peace, and Reconciliation, the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, the Archbishop of Sudan and South Sudan (Episcopal Church of Sudan) outlines the values that will guide the way to reconciliation of the various people groups in South Sudan. The core values that foster healing, peace, and reconciliation are pluralism, inclusivity, peacemaking, social justice, forgiveness, healing, atonement, and sovereignty. Here is a closer look at the first four, and during Day 5 the last four will be explored:

• Pluralism – the working paper explains that “pluralism means that we seek unity in the midst of diversity.” South Sudan has learned the value of pluralism the hard way, by being under the oppression of the Islamist regime in Sudan which respects neither religious, ethnic, nor racial diversity. “Ethnic and cultural diversity should be seen as a gift from God: to be a blessing, to be part of the richness of human experience, and to be celebrated,” explains the working paper. It warns, however, that “we must be honest in saying that diversity has its limits, which must be defined by every society in terms of the range of tolerable deviation from the norm.”
• Inclusivity – with wisdom derived from a Biblical understanding of justice and compassion, the Archbishop’s working paper explains, “Compassionate inclusion means that we seek to overcome hostility by the practice of  unconditional love toward others, including one’s enemies.” It adds that “compassionate inclusion requires a willingness on our part to confront our own hostility toward “the other.””
• Peacemaking – The paper says that “communities and nations are made-up of weak, fallible, broken human beings, who have an inherent tendency toward conflict.” This is part of our human nature and therefore it is assumed that conflict is “an ever-present reality.” Rather than ask how to avoid conflict, we should ask how to resolve conflict without violence.
• Social Justice – The working paper defines faith-based social justice as seeking “the common good through transformation of the soul of a community.” It continues to explain that social justice is inherently tied to issues of privilege, land, and economics. “Faith-based social justice means that there is a moral grain to the universe established by God which governs human relationships and structures,” the paper says.

Please pray that as the many people groups of South Sudan wrestle with this critical issue of nation-wide healing and reconciliation that they will embrace these values and make South Sudan a shining example of reconciliation to the whole world.

The Roots of Conflict and the Context of Reconciliation in South Sudan: Day 3

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Rwandan Genocide survivor Celestin Musekura speaks to South Sudan military and police chaplains about forgiveness. (Photo credit: Micah Mandate, Trevecca Nazarene University)

By Faith J. H. McDonnell (@Cuchulain09)

Throughout the years of war waged by Sudan’s National Islamic Front regime against the people of South Sudan, Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile, certain catch phrases were frequently heard — particularly by the media and by humanitarian aid groups. “Human rights violations by both sides” and “South on South violence” were among the phrases used not merely to portray the war scene accurately and with no bias, but also at times to depict the two sides as morally equivalent.

In the working paper by South Sudan’s Committee on National Reconciliation, the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, Sudan’s Anglican Archbishop (Episcopal Church of Sudan) writes with dismay about how not long after the great celebration of South Sudan’s independence, outbreaks of violence took place. “Before we could finish celebration, we hit the headlines again,” he recollects. “But all for the wrong reasons! Hundreds were reported killed, many wounded, children and women abducted and much property, including health centres and schools damaged.”

Deng informs that the current violence taking place in South Sudan “can trace its roots to the decades of war.” He explains that not only was South Sudan attacked directly by the Islamist regime in Khartoum, but the war was pursued in the South by Southerners and between Southerners. “The enemies of South Sudan used divide and rule tactics, setting tribe against tribe, brother against brother, and sister against sister,” says Deng. He refers to the “tragic split” in the liberation movement in 1991 that pitted Southern resistance movements against each other, and declares, “The time has now come to rediscover our nationalism, putting aside these artificially created divisions.”

“We cannot have fellowship without forgiveness, reconciliation and healing,” Deng states. He says that the people of South Sudan need to “exercise mercy towards each other.” There is a precedent for this kind of reconciliation. In 1999, in Wunlit, the New Sudan Council of Churches facilitated a “People to People Peace Process” conference between Dinka and Nuer people groups. The reconciliation that took place after this conference led to the reunification of the SPLA. “Now is the time to stand together as a nation, as we have done before when the need is great,” Deng declares.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has also spoken to the people of South Sudan to say that “the time for war is over and never again should the brothers and sisters of South Sudan go to war against each other.” In a speech to the National Legislative Assembly in April 2013, Kiir said, “We must work to heal the wounds created during our long struggle for independence and equality. We must work together to build a nation worthy of the sacrifice of our many martyrs and innocent victims.”

Archbishop Deng says that “forgiveness is painful but it is the bitter pill we need.” The Church can help people to understand that in granting forgiveness, they do not have to deny that wrong has been done. Often people are afraid to forgive because they believe that it somehow diminishes the pain that they or their people have endured. But the Church can teach that true forgiveness is modeled by Christ, in His undeniably agonizing crucifixion who prayed, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Deng also explains that the people of South Sudan “have to swallow our pride for the sake of the survival of our young nation.” He says that “the pride of tribe, of clan, of class, of creed, of political party, and of personal ambition must not obscure the focus on the future of our nation.” Pride can often stand in the way of receiving forgiveness, too. It is actually quite a humbling experience to be forgiven, because we have to be willing to admit that we have done something offensive or injurious, something wrong. In fact, in today’s modern Western culture, offering forgiveness is often perceived as a self-righteous, morally-passé action and is often resented!

It would seem that the exhortation of Archbishop Deng to the people of South Sudan is good advice for all of us.