Page 6 - Moravian Messenger January 2020

Speaking the Truth in Love
#LINKSLEGACY 400
Br Thompson with the Dean Rev Stephen Forde and his Assistant, Rev Mark Niblock and others attending the service
Br Livingstone Thompson was asked to preach at the Links and Legacy 400th Commemoration Service on 17th November at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast. This service was organised by the African and Caribbean Support Organisation in Northern Ireland to commemorate 400 years since the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. We are grateful to Br Thompson for allowing us to reprint it in the Moravian Messenger.
Ephesians 4:15 - Speaking the Truth in Love ...
Dean Forde, Lord Lieutenant, Pastors and leaders of the African and Caribbean Communities, brothers and sisters, we appreciate the partnership of the Cathedral in the ACSONI-led series of activities related to the Links and Legacy project. This service is a moment for pause and reflection after the first round of what we expect to be several rounds designed to raise awareness about the connections between Northern Ireland, African and the transatlantic slave trade.
Over the coming years, leading up to 2024, the end of the UN International Decade of people of African Descent, there are issues of recognition, justice and development that we in Northern Ireland in particular, and Britain and Ireland in general, must face.
Our beloved Britain today loves to boast of its place in the world and its strength, even though it is only a shadow of its relative strength when there was the reliance on African free labour. It is for this reason, Lord Lieutenant, why we are gobsmacked and at a loss to understand why the UK parliament and government say that there's no need for the government to play a leading role in marking the UN International Decade of People of African Descent.
And yet, in another sense we can see through this attitude: it is the same attitude that gave state support to the enslavement of Africans; it is the same attitude that compensated plantation owners at the time of abolition and said to the former enslaved, 'go fend for yourself'; it is the same attitude that created a hostile environment in the UK for people of African Descent.
Why are we here?
We're here today to speak the truth and the message is based on Ephesians 4:15 - 'But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ'. The writer of the epistle is focussed on unity in the body of Christ and sees speaking the truth in love as helpful to secure and nurture that unity in the body of Christ. The same is true for unity in the human community since there can be no unity in the body of Christ when there is disunity in the human community; for there is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
I recognise that speaking the truth can be difficult and uncomfortable but there are several levels at which we need to speak truth today:
(1) The Personal Level: When we speak of the truth, each of us must consider it personally. As the conviction dawned on me that speaking the truth would be the focus, I was immediately faced with the challenge of admitting that I had at times concealed the truth. This might not be so for you, but I admit that my concealment of truth has hurt people and has ruined relationships. Therefore, I dare not, in this message, and in fact at any time, give the impression that I am standing on some high truth platform from which to speak down to you. I'm at ground level with you, under the challenge of this message to speak the truth in love. If we embrace this challenge, then, we will be thinking of where individually we are now, at this very moment, found wanting. Is there a truth that you and I need now to speak in love, for healing and hope, and for building up one another in Christ?
(2) The Troubles: It would be remiss of me speaking in Northern Ireland (NI) not to recognise the Troubles for what it was and its legacy. The truth is that I do not know a lot about the Troubles and certainly not at the personal level. Those who know better need to judge if we have missed the opportunity for a Truth Commission.
This address recognises the reality of disunity in the human community, expressing itself not only in war between states but in states like NI and Britain where we find inequalities or all sorts within and between communities and the reality of racism and discrimination. The fear and hatred of migrants is something about which we are particularly concerned, as it finds its way into migration policies, institutional practices and public attitudes that reinforce division and make life unnecessarily difficult for some. It is the fear and hatred of migrants and ignorance about why people of African descent are in the UK that led to the Windrush Scandal and the forcible removal of nationals from the UK or the close door policy that prevented their return. It is an epic irony of forced removal in both directions: the forced removal of the fathers and mothers into British territory, albeit captured territory, to take advantage of their free labour and the forced removal of their descendants out of Britain. We must face the truth that the history of Britain has also been a history of rupture of other communities for the benefit of its white majority.
(3) Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans: Speaking of truth and rupture, we need to admit the truth about the transatlantic trading of enslaved Africans. Though 2019 is 400 years after the Dutch began the forced relocation of our forebears to the Americas, the truth is that 57 years before the Dutch venture,
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