Dear friends,
St Ethelburga’s was forged in the fires of sectarian conflict. Destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1993, the building was resurrected after the Good Friday Agreement to serve as a space for dialogue for those who might find themselves in similar conflicts in the future. Most geopolitical conflicts in history – and today – involve competing views about themes of identity, land, and belonging. Our iconic building stands as a warning about the dangers of sectarianism, and as a beacon of hope that such divisions can be overcome. Our work is to continue to uplift the vision of the peacemakers who founded St Ethelburga’s, inviting people to step across divides in dialogue, for the sake of our shared future peace and security.
Over the years working here, I’ve learned that ‘peace’ is a message people both long for and one that they deeply, instinctively mistrust. Recently I attended a peace conference, where I heard peacemakers from around the world share a similar observation: that their work was often misconstrued, frequently by those in their own communities, as being ‘for the other side,’ or somehow legitimising the enemy’s position. These peacemakers were working at the frontline of entrenched, frozen, sometimes active conflicts. Their extraordinary testimony reminded me that it takes enormous courage to stand along a conflict fault line and to invite those on all sides to listen. The call of the peacemaker can often sound at best naive, and at worst, subversive or disingenuous. But with conflict increasing on the world stage, we need more peacemakers to step into that subversive position, to invite people to listen across divides (rather than to simply condemn), for the sake of forging pragmatic solutions together.
As conflict heats up over the perennial themes of belonging, identity and land, there is an urgent need to listen deeply at the threshold of each one of these themes. We hear a great deal about questions of belonging and identity – and rightly so, these are of crucial importance to people everywhere. And, at the same time there is a need to uplift the third part of that equation – to consider the land itself. And even as we listen to the vital human story that concerns the interweaving of cultures, histories, and lands, perhaps we can also find a moment to extend a generous, listening ear towards the land itself. To hear the land speak in its own voice.
As our world grows louder with conflict, many of us feel a pull to do as Wendell Berry described in his famous poem, and ‘come into the peace of wild things.’
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
There’s so much in this simple poem. It speaks to the very human desire to run away from the complexities of the world, to escape grief, fear, and anguish. But it also points to the deep mystery of our bond with creation. As Berry describes his inner state moving from panic, through presence, and into grace and freedom – this poem reminds us how nature’s majesty calls to what’s highest in our own inner selves. It’s as though Creation gently holds for us the purest qualities of our own souls, ready to reflect them back to us when we are most in need of the reminder.
How faith, peacemaking and deep ecology interweave is a core question in all of our work. I hope you’ll join us to explore these themes on 27th October for Deep Ecology in Practice, with Eleanor O’Hanlon. Eleanor is an award-winning writer and conservationist whose work integrates insights from science and deep ecology. She’s also an eloquent writer, someone who, like Wendell Berry, has devoted her life to listening deeply to the more-than-human world. Her writing has a shining eloquence that conveys the distinctive charisma of those places in the world that she has visited. This evening is a rare opportunity to see her in person.
Don’t miss our newly launched workshop Depolarising Through Dialogue on 7 November, which offers practical tools for bridging divides and nurturing connection in polarised times. Participants will explore dialogue skills, conflict mapping, embodied exercises, and practices of belonging – leaving with tools to apply in families and friendships, faith communities, workplaces, and social groups.
Alongside this, deepen your peacebuilding skills with our Facilitation Training on 6 November, and Conflict Coaching training on 24 November.
On 14 October, our monthly Contemplative Practice invites you into stillness as we celebrate St Ethelburga’s Feast Day in the Bedouin Tent. During Interfaith Week on 11 November, join us for Honouring the Sacred, an open invitation to people of all faiths, traditions, spiritual expressions – and none – to come together in silence for contemplative practice, followed by a shared meal.
Listen to the World presents Germa Adan on 7 October, her Haitian roots infusing the evening with warmth and storytelling. On 2 December, Alkanna Greaca bring their bold vocal harmonies, blending raw folk traditions from the Balkans, Mediterranean, and Black Sea with free improvisation and expansive soundscapes.
With warmest wishes,
Clare Martin and the St Ethelburga's team