February 2003

Dear Friends,

Perhaps like many of you in your own settings, much of my ministry over many years in Northern Ireland has consisted of two things—connecting with individuals for short periods at moments of particular need and then losing contact with them, or sowing seeds with individuals and groups with whom I am doing short-term pieces of work and then not being in a position to know whether they have taken root let alone borne fruit at a later date. Two experiences in recent weeks have been exceptions to that pattern and, as such, have been moments of grace.

In many ways his mother, his brothers, and he were serving as tough a sentence. "Life" did not literally mean until death. It meant that there was a minimum time to be served but no pre-determined maximum. Neither his father nor the family had any idea when he would be released.

In addition to missing her husband Roy's mother had to cope with raising children on her own and deal with the identity of being married to a "Loyalist" prisoner. The family came back several summers in a row and I shared many conversations with Roy's mother about her situation and her hope to somehow prevent her three sons getting caught up in "The Troubles" as their father had. What I remember most about Roy is that at age six he was a terrific disco dancer. I also remember both mother and son coming on several occasions to the late evenings prayers on a Saturday night after the disco was over.

A couple of weeks later we met again. This time it was about half a mile away in the heart of the solidly Catholic/Republican Ligoniel district. He had come there for the groundbreaking ceremony of another new Habitat building project. After we had both moaned about how cold and damp it was, Roy turned to me, shook his head and with a smile said, "I never ever thought I would be standing in the middle of Ligoniel, but it's good to be here." Although he had grown up so near, given his background, this had been a place which for all of his life he had been frightened of and with which he certainly had no desire to have contact. But now, Roy—child of a rival area and son of a man imprisoned for membership in a group that had carried out attacks on people from this area—was standing shoulder to shoulder with the homeowners selected for this site. His new involvement with Habitat had nudged him to take a giant step. Perhaps his experience at Corrymeela years before had also contributed to his confidence in doing so. As I reflected with Roy on how major a journey half a mile can be, groundbreaking took on new meaning for both of us.

The second moment of grace occurred during a recent follow-up visit to a Roman Catholic bishop. A colleague and I have been doing some training around peacebuilding as an essential part of ministry with some of the bishop's clergy, and we wanted to inform him about how the group had been going and consider together what, if anything, the next step might be. In truth, the sessions with these clergy had not uncovered much energy and we entered somewhat pessimistic about whether this particular piece of work might contribute to any new ground being broken. However, early on the bishop told us that the new Church of Ireland (Anglican) bishop in that region, with whom we had also met, had visited him and proposed that they use Pentecost this year as an occasion to bring people from their two dioceses together in a new way. The Catholic bishop continued, "Although Pentecost is when I normally hold confirmation, I decided—partly because of your challenge to me to give peacebuilding more priority—to postpone confirmation by a week this year so that we could work together on his idea." He was seeing ministry and peacebuilding in new ways. A seed taking root and beginning to blossom!

The big political picture in Northern Ireland is not particularly encouraging at the moment. But thanks to God's gifts of grace in the encounters both with Roy and the Bishop there is renewed energy to keep journeying with those caught up in "the Troubles" and keep on planting seeds for a harvest of peace that will surely come. Your prayers and support likewise help to sustain us. Thank you.

Faithfully yours,

Doug and Elaine Baker

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 85