Destroyed Russian armour and war debris in display in central Kyiv, May 2023. Photo: WCC
THE Center for Peace Theology at University of Hamburg, Germany, together with the Mennonite Congregation in Hamburg-Altona, has given the international Menno Simons Preaching Award to Riki Neufeld, pastor at the Evangelical Mennonite Congregation Schänzli in Muttenz (Switzerland).
The awarded sermon was originally delivered on 26 February 2023, one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the Mennonite Congregation Schänzli. The basis of the sermon is the ‘Victory Song’ of a woman from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament): The Song of Deborah (Judges 5).
One of the oldest texts in the Bible, it is rarely preached upon. The sermon relates a biblical scenario to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, asking the question: Does God also need the help of courageous warriors and weapons here to bring about justice? “It is one of those texts that one prefers not to read in a peace church,” said Neufeld.
The sermon carries complex ideas about war, justice, and peace. “It addresses this element of feeling the satisfaction for the evildoer who is being held accountable”, said Neufeld. “At the same time, we realise that this is so much in conflict with the essence of pacifist faith in general – a faith based on Jesus’s character and way of life.”
The sermon addresses the question of how one brings those thoughts together. “I did not want to diminish that yearning for consequences, that yearning for deliverance”, explained Neufeld.
Unexpected gifts
Neufeld, born in 1984 in Asunción/Paraguay, has been a pastor for two years – with a focus on young adults – in the Evangelical Mennonite Congregation Schänzli in Muttenz/Switzerland. Gifted in multiple languages, he has taken on various educational tasks with the Mennonites in Switzerland since 2011 in addition to his voluntary activities for Mennonite World Conference.
The public award ceremony took place on 1 September following a service during which the award-winning sermon was heard.
Just before the ceremony, a sense of ecumenism worked behind the scenes in an unexpected way. The service was originally scheduled in the Mennonite Church Hamburg-Altona, but due to a scheduling miscommunication, an Ethiopian Orthodox congregation was having a service at the same time. Not wanting to interrupt that service, the organizers of the award went to a Lutheran church just across the street.
“There was no microphone so I just had to speak louder”, said Neufeld, who added: “There was definitely an ecumenical component at work there. Everyone took their hymnal over to the Lutheran church, and we had to start only about 10 minutes later than scheduled!”
A second surprise happened before the ceremony: two weeks before the service, Neufeld’s 68-year-old mother surprised him by traveling all the way from Paraguay to visit and then to see the award presentation.
Professor Dr Fernando Enns introduced the sermon during the awards ceremony. “It is a sermon that aims precisely at these ambivalences and thus touches our hearts, reaching out to us without giving us cheap comfort or distracting us from the horrors of war”, he said. “No, it is steering us straight towards a war in Ukraine, which has unsettled us all for more than two years and has left us more questioning than answering, especially us as a ‘peace church.’ ”
As Neufeld delivered the sermon during the awards ceremony, he acknowledged how much time had passed. “Tragically, the war continues and these biblical words continue to bring to light striking parallels,” he said. “When reading these verses, I can’t help but think of the questions that have particularly plagued and preoccupied politics and society in these last few years.”
A central part of Neufeld’s sermon is the unjustified war of aggression by Russia on Ukraine. “We hear requests from Ukraine for support, especially in the form of arms deliveries,” he said. “If we needed a Bible text that could legitimise and even compel us to support Ukraine with all forms of military force, then we would find it in these verses from the Song of Deborah.”
Yet the main point of the sermon hinges around “a second look at the enemy”, explained Neufeld, or “a second seeing”, as scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann describes.
Deeply inspired by Bruegemann, Neufeld’s sermon describes how the church is called to acknowledge the first seeing of the enemy as a natural and maybe also Important part – but the deeper calling is to foster a “second seeing in this world” which makes the effort of humanising the enemy.
“It’s about seeing every person who is frustrating in our lives – even every enemy – as the son and daughter of a mother who is waiting for their safe return”, said Neufeld.
* The international Menno Simons Preaching Award aims to encourage and honour sermons that express the biblical testimony in the light of the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The sermons also encourage engagement with current public issues – beyond denominational boundaries.
* Source: World Council of Churches