Memorial Service for the victims of the bomb attack on the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad.
The Cathedral of Oslo, August 28th 2003

SERMON

Dear mourners, dear friends and servants of the United Nations,

Peace be with you!

We have heard the names of the victims. We have heard the names of the brave. To some of us they were friends and colleagues. To all of us they were champions in the cause of peace and justice. Peacemakers of extraordinary dedication. Carriers of hope to a people caught in the maelstrom of history, caught between error and terror. We are here to honour their memory and their mission.

At this moment of destiny for peace and world order, I share with you the words of the prophet as quoted by Jesus:

The people who live in darkness
will see a great light.
On those who live in the dark land of death
the light will shine. (Matthew 4.16 )

In every place where humans dwell there is a house for worship.
In every heart there is a room for God.
In every mind there is a need for meaning.
In times of darkness we seek light in words of eternal truth
and in the laws of nature.
Many would join Dag Hamarskjöld's words:
"I pray to the One I do not know but to Whom I belong."

So we have come here to remember, to pray and to dedicate ourselves to the greater cause. We have gathered here with a deep sense of mourning, joining our hearts to mothers and fathers, children and loved ones whose loss is unbearable in these hours. We hear the words of Kofi Annan: "The ache in our souls is almost too much to bear." Therefore, no one should bear it alone.

There is a rhythm to life we all have come to expect and depend upon;
Inhaling and exhaling, sunrise and sunset, waking and sleeping, life and death.
It is these rhythms that help us maintain our equilibrium and give us a sense of security.

Into these rhythms there come events that awaken our souls to the complexity of living and the uncertainty of life. Hurricanes, earthquakes, heat waves and epidemics are part of the disorder of our global village. They cause us to wonder about the future of our planet, as we pause to remember and honour people who were caught in the web of the destruction caused by such phenomena.

But also, there are events and moments that, with cruelty and disregard for the very village we call home, would seek to destroy the fabric that makes us all one under the heavens. Events like those that occurred on September 11, the war on Iraq, the ongoing destruction of Israel and Palestine, such events shake the foundations on which people have built their houses of hope. As the wave of violent death continues, a sense of despair sets its cold grip on the heart of humanity.

We are here to say to each other and to the world that this barbaric act in Baghdad is an act of violence against the divine and the humane. The attack on the UN headquarters in Iraq is seared into our consciousness as an attack against the only institution that is capable of bringing peace to a troubled world -- if only it is allowed to do so.

In reflecting on the tragedy on August 19, I think again and again of the indelible image of Sergio Vieira de Mello, still alive, trapped by tons of concrete, finding it within himself to ask after the fate of his staff and others caught in the carnage of the Canal Hotel. Even at this terrible moment, he thought of those in his charge - his co-workers and friends and those he had come to serve, the Iraqi people.

Such shining moments in the lives of those who perished in Baghdad, may be of small consolation to the loved ones of the victims as they struggle to come to terms with their loss. But the contributions to humanity by these servants of our United Nations in the end will far outweigh the evil that was visited upon them. They will not be forgotten, as the world has not forgotten another great leader of the United Nations, Dag Hamarskjöld. The decency and love that their work exemplified will outlast the brutality of the truck bomber.

We honour the victims today because no matter how difficult the situation was, these people -- our representatives -- were attempting to engage in constructive action, striving to enhance the participation and the dignity of the Iraqi people as they struggled to rebuild their shattered nation. Therefore Sergio's last words are a call to us all: "Don't let them pull the mission out!" Surely the United Nations' role in Iraq must not be abandoned. How shall the world honour the martyrs of peace if not by resolving to stay with the vision of a more peaceful and just world?

Today we grieve over the loss of life, the attack on hope, because of the planned and premeditated acts of a few on the representatives of our global village, the United Nations. In the context of Iraq this is a reminder that the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter should not be treated as a matter of convenience, to be exalted or abandoned according to prevailing political moods. Just as the moral and ethical principles of religion should not be bent to the expediency of the moment, or invoked when all else has failed, so it is the case with the principles of the United Nations.

In this city of Oslo, The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan said in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize: "We have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire… New threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions. A new insecurity has entered every mind, regardless of wealth or status. A deeper awareness of the bonds that bind us all - in pain as in prosperity - has gripped young and old."

And he added: "In the 21st Century I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound, awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life regardless of race or religion." …"The idea that there is one people in possession of the truth, one answer to the world's ills, or one solution to humanity's needs, has done untold harm throughout history - especially in the last century."

Indeed we have again been reminded that the dream of the Empire and the hallucination of eternal dominance is the same womb out of which fundamentalism of every breed is born.

The principles of universality, inclusiveness and multilateralism, must prevail, not the dictates of the strong. We the people must insist on wise policies based on truth. We must insist that in a world built on the moral standards of the United Nations, military force should only be a last resort. Force must never be a by-product of impatience or a substitute for the kind of dialogue and justice that is the underpinning of lasting peace.

Another Nobel laureate, Itshak Rabin, a general and statesman turned a champion of reconciliation, spoke of the "hundreds of cemeteries in our part of the Middle East - in our home in Israel - but also in Egypt, in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq - (and today we would add in Palestine). From the plane's window, from thousands of feet above them, the countless tombstones are silent. But the sound of their outcry has carried from the Middle East throughout the world for decades." This is the darkness that makes a land and a region a dark land of death longing for light.

It is high time that all parties to the Middle East conflict recognize that human dignity will not yield to force. Once again we must lift our voice in an absolute rejection of terrorism, wherever it may occur, whether in Baghdad, Jerusalem, Gaza, Jakarta or New York. Terrorist acts can not be legitimised as a way to address the issues of our time. War begets violence. Deceit begets mistrust. The law of nature is that we harvest what we sow. This is our tragedy today as turbulence continues where peace was promised.

Each and every one in the UN family mourns even as families and loved ones grieve all the more. They will carry the enduring burden of bereavement. They should find solace in the fact that the legacy their beloved ones left behind will continue as a light in the land of death.

The great man of peace Mahatma Ghandi once said: "We must be the change we wish to see." We must continue to use our reason and insights from history, our creativeness and courage. We must abide by the moral principles enshrined in humanity by its Creator, and in the dedication to love and mercy embodied in Christ. Thus shall their vision survive. Then can we dare to say that hope is possible beyond despair. The man-made inferno is not the last station, man-made suffering is not the final destiny. Darkness shall not prevail. The people who live in darkness will see a great light.

We must never let despair become the final response to the ambiguities of history.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are founded on the promise of peace. This is a promise greatly betrayed today by us the followers. It is for us to make it become true: On those who live in the dark land of death, the light will shine. Their death shall not have been in vain. The great cause of their mission shall not fail. We make this our sacred covenant: The light of peace and justice will shine.

Therefore:

It is now for us, the living, peacemakers one and all, to both rally the forlorn while we endeavour to comfort the wounded.

It is now for us, the living, peacemakers one and all, to resolve again to announce that the hope of peace is more durable than the promise of violence.

It is now for us, the living, peacemakers, one and all, to replace the diabolical rhythm of hatred and murder, with the god-given rhythm of love and justice that provides villagers respite and security.

It is now for us, the living, peacemakers one and all, out of our various faith communities, to resolve again to proclaim that there is no God who desires death and there is no God who blesses destruction. There only is a God who desires for us "to do justice, seek mercy, and walk humbly" with our God.