Exploring Ecumenism

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.

Switch off and Listen

How could the way we eat improve in the future?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.

By sitting around a table with people.  The thing about junk food is that it is designed not to be eaten in company.  We need to cultivate eating as a social event.  The word companion is derived from French and means to break bread together. 

Take time, switch off the TV, radio, mobile phones, Ipod, any other gadgets and focus on conversation.  The primary aim of eating should be good conversation, new insights and ideas, the sharing of problems, exploration and learning.  Good food will help this; as we relax our minds are freed to see new things.  Hard issues are best addressed in an atmosphere of friendship and the table is where friendships grow.  We should not underestimate how things would improve in the future if more of us made an effort to do this.

(For readers of Exploring Ecumenism: this post belongs in my other blog, So What? and you will find it there too.  Unfortunately, this is supposed to list as an answer to the Question of the Day but for some reason will not link to the answers from So What?  Apologies, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.)

Elements of Mission 2: Doctrine

Timothy Radcliffe's  key idea here is 'faithful questioning'.  Faithful questioners are rooted in their community and engage from that perspective in rational debate. Radcliffe does acknowledge of course that churches have not always been noted for their practice of rational debate but we would do well to try to get hold of what he's driving at.

He argues that the vigour of the churches relates to their powers of rational debate.  Churches lose vigour through silence; they fear to speak out because it might threaten their unity (the unity of their tradition even before they embark on ecumenical conversations). 

Elements of Mission 1: Community

Over the next few posts I will comment upon the three elements of mission Timothy Radcliffe suggested at the CTE Forum recently.  Here they are:

1. Community
2. Doctrine
3. Morality

Radcliffe had a great deal to say about the second two and virtually nothing to say about the first because it presents no problem for our culture.  So, that is where I will start.

Praying Together

Someone mentioned the other day that an appetite for united prayer has taken Christians by surprise.  I'm not quite sure what was meant by this but I thought it would be worth exploring the theme and to see what I could find.

The obvious place to start is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  This is an international movement and started in 1908.  It is an octave (8 days) towards the end of January in the northern hemisphere (the southern hemisphere are usually on vacation at that time and so choose other dates).  Since 1968 the World Council of Churches has produced an annual booklet for churches.  The 2010 booklet is available and covers the centenary of the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference, usually seen as the start of modern ecumenism.

On the Ecumenical Nature of Trees

Timothy Radcliffe at the CTE Forum last week likened the Christian faith to a Whitebeam, outside his window.  As always I develop the points he made and so not all that follows is Radcliffe's.

Participative Methods 5: Non-directive Consultancy

It is a long time since I added to this series.  The others can be found under the category Participation and the first in the series is here.

I thought it would be an opportunity to write about this topic whilst I was writing a recent post about the need for structural ecumenism.  The post makes the case for structural ecumenism but says little about the practicalities of supporting ecumenical work.

Non-directive consultancy was developed by George Lovell, the founder of AVEC, which for several decades trained church and community workers in the basics of non-directive community work.  In later years George was one of the founders of the course Consultancy for Mission and Ministry.  The course continues although George has recently retired.  I have placed a link to one of George's books in the sidebar, go to Amazon to find the others.

Churches Together in England Forum 2009

Yesterday I returned from Churches Together in England's Forum.  This body of about 300 people meets every three years and provides guidance to CTE about the state of the churches.  The theme this year was Changing World: Changing Church? 

I attended the last Forum in 2006 and dipped into the Forum in 2003; this time I noticed a change in mood.  I was not the only person to feel this and I will try to write a few lines about my take on what was happening.

The Case for Structural Ecumenism

I think I realised only the other day that I am a structural ecumenist.  This has crept up on me silently and I'm not sure I'm happy to find myself in this place.  But here I am.

It is easy to think of this in terms of implementing decisions made by the councils of the churches.  This is what I am paid to do.  I cannot ignore the decisions made by Conference and my role is to do my best to help local Methodist Churches participate ecumenically with other churches.

Is the Tide Going Out for Ecumenism?

Photo by Sten.  Marsh at the small island Vorsø in Denmark. Ebb-tide.

I am grateful to Ian Chisnal for his comment on my last post.  You can read my response if you visit the post.  What I want to do is start here with one of Ian's statements:

'Ecumenism is not about bringing structures together to create a reconciled structure, ecumenism is the recognition that despite our differences (structural or tradition based) that we are one church and despite these we can work together on matters of mission and bring reconciliation between man and God.'

I don't disagree with this sentence except that I wonder whether there is to some degree a false dichotomy between 'bringing structures together' and working 'together on matters of mission and bring reconciliation between man  and God'.