Exploring Ecumenism

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

The idea is that today, Thursday 15 October 2009, over 7000 blogs around the world will cover the topic of climate change.  Each blog will approach the topic from the perspective of its specialism and so mine will be from an ecumenical perspective.  In addition it is anticipated over 10 million readers will participate in Blog Action Day 2009 .

Last week I helped lead a consultation for Methodist and Anglican Ecumenical Officers from across Britain.  We were looking at the Edinburgh 2010 mission conference , which is to be held to commemorate the Edinburgh 1910 mission conference , usually recognised as the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement.

Elements of Mission 3: Morality

I illustrated a recent post  with Dore's engraving of Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost.  Why?  Because Satan was at the time of Jesus known as the angel of Rome.  His speciality was as upholder of the law.  He insisted upon total obedience.  I'm not at all sure how he mutated into the Hammer Horror monster of popular mythology.  The point is when we think about doctrine and morality we usually think in Satanic terms.  Once I know the truth, everyone else is by definition wrong.  We saw the consequences of this in the totalitarian regimes of the last century.  Christianity offers a radical alternative to these absolutes and this is what Radcliffe  was talking about at the CTE Forum  a few weeks ago.

He went on to describe how the media pressure church leaders to make statements on ethical issues and then take furious issue once they do.  For them morality is even worse than doctrine.  They expect churches to take moral stances.

Ecumenical Ethics

It is odd that Christianity has a moralistic public image.  One of the problems St Paul faced in his letters was to explain the impossibility of adherence to every detail of the law.  Indeed, the law does not save people, it shows us what is right and wrong but it is not possible for anyone to practice it in full.  The Christian faith replaces law with spirit.  Non-Christians are prisoners of the law; Christians are freed by the spirit.  We would therefore expect Christians to be, whilst not uninterested in morals, at least distinguishable from those whose faiths prescribe precise moral positions.

The Catholic Spirit

John Wesley in his sermon On A Catholic Spirit suggested that Christians when they relate to one another must get away from a focus upon differences in belief.  He starts with a verse from the Old Testament where one warrior, in a chariot, says to another, on foot, 'if you heart is right with my heart, climb up beside me'.

Inerrancy

I really don't want to spend a lot of time on this topic.  Is scripture inerrant?  Of course not.  Is it the word of God?  Of course it is.

The paradox is that to make Scripture inerrant is to take God out of it.  The canon is fixed, nothing can be added or taken away.  It is complete.  The big advantage of this is that it allows us to interpret it for every age and every place.  Whatever interpretation we make, the original is always there to return to. 

Political Correctness

It's a funny thing how do-gooders get such a bad press.  You would expect people who do good to meet with some approbation.  Considering the various terrorist, thugs, vandals, young people, criminals, hooligans, etc who populate the popular media, you would expect people setting out to do good would be a welcome change.

Hypocrisy and Humility

I want to develop something I mentioned yesterday.  Why is it Christians need to repent?  It is a question asked from the earliest days of the Christian faith.  Surely those who are saved do not need to repent? 

Indeed the temptation is for those who are saved to cover up their sins.  So often the cover-up is worse than the original sin.  We can all think of times when a politician has lied to cover up some mistake.  The gradual uncovering of the truth by the media is often far worse than the original action.

Hope in God's Future

It is easy to get frustrated at the churches' lack of urgency about climate change.  I have raised the issue a few times in ecumenical meetings and the sense I get is that many do not see the relevance of climate change to ecumenism or indeed church life in general.

It is most encouraging to find the Joint Public Issues Team of the Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed Churches have produced a report Hope in God’s Future: Christian Discipleship in the Context of Climate Change.

A Question of Christian Ethical Priorities

We're straining at gnats and swallowing camels.  As I've explored ethics over recent posts, it seems as if the churches will focus time and energy on any ethical issue so long as it is not about the use of wealth to exploit other people and the environment.  (The Eleventh Earl of Mar's photo says it all.)  Indeed, the appetite amongst some Christians for these peripheral ethics is to the extent that it sometimes feels as if issues are being invented as further distractions.  Whilst a few verses in the Bible about sexuality are blown up into a major issue that threatens the integrity of the churches, exploitation, an issue present on almost every page, can go unacknowledged in a month of sermons.

Hard Issues 6: Climate Change

Of course, this issue is well known and so I will not go into a lot of detail about the science.  In three posts I will attempt first to scope the issue, then reflect upon its theology and finally to look at what the churches might do to address it.  Many organisations and websites provide more detail; this is as always broad brush strokes.

This issue is born entirely out of affluence.  This affluence has been a great achievement.  For the first time in human history, millions of people can live in a degree of wealth undreamed of in the past.