Posts Tagged ‘Dag Hammarskjöld’
Adamant in His Commitment – Br. Lain Wilson
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Br. Lain Wilson
Dag Hammarskjöld
“In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.”[1]
So wrote the Swedish economist and diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld, whom we commemorate today. His tenure as the second secretary-general of the United Nations was cut tragically short amid the complex Congo Crisis, when he perished in a plane crash in 1961 on his way to a ceasefire negotiation.
Hammarskjöld’s public life was an active one; there’s no doubt about that. And his journal, Markings, reveals a correspondingly rich spiritual life, drawing deeply on the Christian mystical tradition. Read More
Negotiations with Myself and with God – Br. Curtis Almquist
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Commemorating Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961)
Br. Curtis Almquist
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? … He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
We commemorate today Dag Hammarskjöld, the much beloved Swedish diplomat and Secretary General of the United Nations. In the church calendar he is called “Servant of Peace,” having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961. Hammarskjöld led the United Nations in negotiating the release of U.S. soldiers captured by the Chinese in the Korean War; in addressing tensions in the Middle East, particularly on behalf of Palestinians; in disarming the conflict around the custody of the Suez Canal; in establishing the first U.N. Observation Group in Lebanon; and in negotiating the horrific wars in Southeast Asia which began looming large in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Much of his work he called “preventive diplomacy.” He died in September1961 in a plane crash in central Africa while negotiating a peace accord in the warring Congo. Read More
For all that has been, THANKS, for all that is to be, YES! – Br. Jonathan Maury
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In 1961, Swedish diplomat and second Secretary General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld died at the age of 56 in an airplane crash as he travelled to a warring region of Africa. A lifelong student of languages, Christian mysticism, history and literature, Hammarskjöld had brought his deep faith to the work which he called ‘preventive diplomacy’, the negotiation of agreements and understandings in the spirit of the UN’s mandated mission of peace-making.
After his death, Hammarskjöld’s daily journal was published under the English title Markings. Hammarskjöld saw these jottings as his own ‘negotiations’ with himself and with God. His first entry when elected to his post in 1953 expresses the faith and conviction which were to uphold him in the years ahead. He wrote, ‘For all that has been, THANKS, for all that is to be, YES!’
In this prayer of affirmation and hope, Hammarskjöld points to the essence of our common life in Christ: the offering of gratitude and thanks. As we read in the Letter to the Colossians, ‘And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’ Apostle Paul writes in the First Letter to the Thessalonians, ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’ Read More