Letter from CONASPEH
Open letter from CONASPEH, the National Spiritual Council of Churches in Haiti.
Open letter from CONASPEH, the National Spiritual Council of Churches in Haiti.
National Spiritual Council of the Churches of Haiti (CONASPEH)
Port-au-Prince, 26 December 2005
Open Letter to Churches and Compatriots
Dear church assemblies and fellow citizens:
The truth has taken hold of us, men and women, and we are responsible before the Almighty and before the oppressed of Haitian society.
Furthermore, our mission of biblical exegete, preacher, prophet and philosopher once again pushes us to make our cry and suffering heard in the face of the present situation of chaos, known and read about by everyone.
It is also for us an occasion of solidarity with the voice of the excluded, in anger wanting to affirm itself in an inhuman sociopolitical context.
Knowing that what we write springs from our blood, from the blood of all the church assemblies and from your own, who in fact see what we see, feel what we feel and love what we love.
“Reflection is the fruit of a context,” says Richard Whight. Therefore, our reflection, which is that of our communities today, is inseparable from our experiences of the moment and is not unrelated to the rapport between the Gospel which we preach and the struggle of the poorest for their liberation.
The memory of the long calvary of slavery, colonization, invasions, occupations and exclusion feeds even more the theological thrust of protest by our national churches of yesterday and today.
Every pastor who does not place this question in the center of his or her work does not understand the essence of the Gospel.
We would also like you to remind you, brothers and sisters and fellow Haitians, that the Almighty never forgets his people, with whom solidarity is a priority. His will is to enter history alongside the people whose being in constantly denied. He always is found in the place where the victim is. He does not leave the oppressed to fight alone. He was with us in Pharaoh’s Egypt, in the Haiti of the colonialists, the invaders, and today he is with us in the Haiti of liars, killers, thieves, oppressors, usurpers, and rapists of every sort. He will liberate us of these chains and thereby create the hope of a new Haiti and a new Haitian individual.
The National Spiritual Council of the Churches of Haiti exhorts church assemblies and pastors to use reason to be liberated. To demonstrate honesty and loyalty to be liberated. To liberate with love, courage, and care for their being.
Furthermore not to struggle in despair but in hope. Not in doubt but in faith. Not by hate but by love for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters.
“Yon sel bagay moin konnen fok sa-a chanje, pa dekouraje toujou ret ap prye paske bagay la pap rete konsa, li pap rete konsa-a fok sa-a chanje.”¨
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
Liberty is not given, it is taken. Each nation or people or class of persons must be able to define it according to its own sociopolitical and economic interests. Apart from this, it is demagoguery, the fraud of hypocrisy, and a flagrant violation of human rights.
Brothers and Sisters, have faith in God, which means in the assurance or the confidence which you have in your word, in your choice. Shalom, Shalom, Shalom!
Rev. Patrick VILLIER
President
Translation by Rev. Dr. William Nottingham