|
On the evening of March 24, NCCK held a symposium called “Korean Churches’ Response to the Sewol Tragedy”. The aim was to find answers of the Korean churches to the pain and suffering of the families.
The evening opened with words of greeting and a prayer. It was followed by two presentations of 30 minutes and some personal comments. The programme ended with a discussion of all participants.
The first presentation was entitled “Christian value of life and the ethics of remembering ”, presented by Professor Kim Eun Hae of the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary (PTUS). The second was “The Difficult Truth of the Death of Jesus for Easter Preparation”, and given by Professor Park Chang Hun of Korea Methodist University.
Personal responses were given by Huh Hong Han, the father of a still-missing child, Huh Da Youn and other family members who spoke in witness of the missing, and by Rev. Kim Eun Ho, minister of Ansan Hope Church.
First Presentation
The first presentation was given by Professor KIM Eunhye of the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary (PTUS) on "Christian value of life and the ethics of remembering":
We are in the time of Lent, in which we as Christians remember the suffering of Christ. The (Korean) Church has always been a community of remembering. By celebrating worship, prayer and the praise of our Lord, we commemorate the deceased.
Remembering is dangerous for those who fear the truth. If we remember the death of the victims, the perpetrators of their death will be unable to escape the confrontation with accusations and complaints. I want to emphasize that the Korean church, just as the women who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, has to remain as a witness on the side of those who innocently deceased.
The pain of the bereaved families would not be released through forgetting. You need to remember in order to learn how to live with the pain. Therefore, our compassion (with them) is more important than just that we remember. No one can empathize or sympathize with what the families of the victims of the Sewol Disaster suffered when they were forced to witness the death of their beloved ones. Only by remembering do we have a chance to reveal the truth; and only then can such a disaster be prevented in the future. The opposite of history is not mythology, but oblivion. Because history that is forgotten has to repeat itself.
Religious communities are communities of memory and remembrance. We as Christians remember Jesus' suffering and thus the suffering of the world. Jesus says: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life;" his death gives us life in abundance. The resurrection of Jesus reminds us forever of the victory of life over death, because in His resurrection there is a new beginning. The path to the cross means choosing life. If we die with Him, we will also rise with Him.
Second Presentation
This first input was followed by a presentation by Professor PARK Chang-hyun of the Methodist Theological University (MTU) on "Prepare for the resurrection of Jesus, who died in Maeng-gol-sudo (the actual site of the Sewol Disaster)":
We, as church, must seek to save the souls of those who died, locked in the sinking Sewol Ferry, and raise our voice for them and in their place. If the Korean Church is experiencing no change in its theology now, it loses its claim to proclaim the Joy of Easter in the discipleship of Jesus Christ. How should the Korean church be able to share the joy of Jesus' true resurrection at Easter in this country, when the anniversary of the Sewol Disaster is so imminent ?
I was aware on April 16th, 2014 immediately after the Sewol Disaster how this accident would change our theology. I lived in Germany for 15 years, a country in which the memory and the regret of the Holocaust during World War 2 are ubiquitous. We know that the Church must weep with those that mourn and we cried with the families of the victims of the Sewol Disaster. But they are still crying. What do we do? Are we ready to cry with them until they are comforted? Or have we only shown our sympathy to the public? Our task is not only to show compassion, but rather to exercise it for the sake of comforting others.
Can we celebrate Easter at all? Can we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in the face of 304 deaths? Do we not need to rethink our theology? How should people in pain and suffering and sorrow understand resurrection? It is our job to explain it to them, because life needs hope. We need to remember and must not be silent. And even if we as churches are the last ones, we (have to) know where our place is in the fellowship of Christ.
Jesus' resurrection is a theological mystery, and the victims of the Sewol Disaster will not be resurrected physically. But they will remain alive through a societal change, as "traces of resurrection."
Witness of Family Members
In response to the presentations, comments were given by some of the parents of still missing students and Pastor Kim Eunho from the Church of Hope in Ansan, the city from which most of the victims came.
HUH Heung-hwan, father of the student HUH Dayoon says, "For us, time has ceased since the disaster. There is no way out, no escape. Our family cannot return back to happier times, for our family as it once was, no longer exists. And as if that alone were not bad enough for us, the political situation is unbearable. For example, the President does not keep her word, politicians want to dismiss the sinking of the Sewol Ferry as a simple traffic accident, members of the bereaved families sleep on the streets in order to fight for the elucidation of the disaster, the fact finding investigation has a time frame of not more than 18 months. The government had no intention from the beginning to take responsibility, everything has been passed on to our shoulders. And yet there is nothing we can do as parents. There is so much to do. Still 9 people are missing. We really miss them. We miss our daughter so much."
The mother adds a few words, bursting into tears. "My daughter did actually not want to go on this school trip," she says. "I convinced her to spend a good time with her friends. I I pray every night for forgiveness ever since. If I only had not then she would . " Her voice choked with tears. It took several minutes before she is able to continue. "I hate God for that," she sobbed, "I cannot be thankful anymore. We cannot, we must not, we will not stop until our Dayoony is found and come back home. Please, do not say, it's been a year now, let's stop. Do not say, everything was done that could be done, let's stop. Who can even think of just completing things, while there are still people missing who were not able to return into the arms of their families? There can be no closure before the ship is lifted and investigated and all available evidence is analyzed. Please help us. We who are left, we who are merely surviving, please help us to live. I beg you," she looks into the audience, "I hope that you stay at our side and fight with us. Please remain active, please remain. Thank you."
The next one who speaks is LEE Geumhee, mother of the student JO Eunhwa. She also cries. "I cannot even imagine how scared my daughter must have been, how much she suffered, the pain she must have endured. I was not with her, do not know her last thoughts and words. I want her back, I want to take her in my arms so much, embrace her, hold her tight. Every day, every minute I am longing for her. I do not know how to live like that. It hurts so much." She is shaken by crying before she can continue. "For weeks we have endured on the sidewalk in front of the President's Palace, lived there. We cannot be quiet, we will not stop to ask for our daughter, just because one year has passed. Eunhwa's little sister shall live in a better world than that in which her sister died."
The last comment came from Pastor Kim Eunho from the Church of Hope in Ansan. He says, "As a pastor, but also as a citizen of Ansan, I asked myself after the disaster, what should be done next. We tinkered with yellow ribbons and organized candlelight prayers. I am convinced that we, as churches, have a special responsibility. The pain is particularly close to us here, because it affects people of our city, our neighborhood, our church."
| 
