Exploring Ecumenism

Maintain the Unity of the Spirit

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

Ephesians 4: 2 - 6

The author emphasises unity.  There is one body, one spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

From a 21st century perspective there are two ways of understanding this. 

We could read it as saying there is one way of understanding scripture and the various takes on Christianity are in error.  Some traditions would claim they represent this one way and all the others fall short of being the one true church.  Others might think all traditions fall short.  If so, the task is to negotiate our way to agreement about the one way.

The second way of reading this is to affirm all traditions as parts of the one church.  No tradition alone is the one church but together the traditions are the one church.  Whilst this is the most attractive to me, I know I need to exercise caution.  Even where the lines I draw are intended to be inclusive, they are still lines.  The question as ever is who is not included; who is marginalised by human schemes and human structures?

On the one hand I could argue traditions that self identify as non-Christian faiths do not know the one way.  Alternatively I could argue all faiths participate to some degree.  The problem then becomes to what degree do they need to participate?  What about those we do not generally recognise as Christian but originate from Christianity, eg Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism or Unitarianism?

This passage can be read exclusively and clearly the author intends this meaning because he is building up the communities reading this letter.  Or it can be read inclusively, seeing the Christian traditions (which did not exist at the time the letter was written) as a single way.  Taking either approach to extreme can lead us into making absurd claims.

Related articles

• Let Us Love One Another (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• That They All Be One (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Consider Others Better Than Yourselves (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Put Up with the Failings of the Weak (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Called to be God's Holy People (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Let All the Peoples' Praise Him (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Not Disorder, but Peace (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• one light: one world (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• We Are His People (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

In Christ Jesus You Are All Children of God

Image by ktylerconk via Flickr

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

Galatians 3: 26 - 29

The imagery here is of Christians as children of God.  It is important to distinguish between children as an image of dependency (usually unquestioning) and inheritors, a people who carry forward the work of the parent.

Verse 28 is often quoted out of context.  Look at the verses on either side of it.  This is true for those who are baptised into, with, in and belong to Christ.  This is not a claim made for the whole of humanity but for the church.  The church is a community set up in opposition to the conventions that divide humanity.

Wherever we see no such distinctions in the church (and add your own, it's unlikely Paul meant to restrict these divisions to the three mentioned), we see the glory of God.  We know we are children of God when we no longer make these distinctions.

This is the real ecumenical task.  It is not about reconciling institutions but reconciling people.

Related articles

• He Has Broken Down the Dividing Wall (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• That They All Be One (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

In the Light We Have Fellowship with One Another

Image by Roger Lynn via Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

1 John 1: 3 - 7

Read one of my earliest posts about Dark Holy Ground and put it alongside this passage.  My question is 'what on earth does he mean by walking in the light'?

Many Christians experience walking with God in the dark.  Often faith is tested in darkness and grows in the darkest places.  Clearly, the imagery in the passage is very different; fellowship needs to be in the light.

The words 'in him there is no darkness at all' recall similar words from Psalm 139, words very much taken to heart in the Dark Holy Ground course.  'The darkness with you is no darkness at all, the night is as light as the day.'  The imagery here is of darkness illuminated but still dark.  

John believes there is no fellowship with God in the dark.  Many who testify this is not true also experience light in darkness; things get really dark and yet the way is illuminated.  We must struggle with this competing imagery of light and dark.

Where the dark is as light as the day, there is fellowship.  People who experience this turn outwards, they are able to accompany and support others, to offer fellowship despite hardship.  I'm not sure this is what John means but it is an insight we all need to carry with us. 

Agree with One Another; Live in Peace

Image by photosteve101 via Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

2 Corinthians 13: 11 - 31

These are the final lines to a letter, summarising what has gone before.  The Corinthians were a community divided primarily by wealth; they are the ones who split around various leaders.  Hence they are told 'agree with one another'.

I doubt this worked at the time.  Paul could hardly tell them to disagree!  But in reality it is very difficult for Christians to agree.  Wesley covered this in 'The Catholic Spirit' and I've written about it in a previous post.

It isn't always possible to agree with other Christians.  Various groups of Christians believe things that are mutually exclusive.  Do I believe one thing when with one group and another with a second?

We need to find some means to live together in love and peace; life lived according to the grace of God, in peace.

Indeed it is 'love and peace' that is really significant.  Most of Paul's letters begin and / or end with 'love and peace' and this was a revelation at the time.  This is what marks out the Christian community from other communities.  For the Romans, peace was through victory rather than love. 

And that's the point.  If I set out to win the argument, the best I can hope for is peace through victory.  Somehow our calling is to find peace through love.  It can't be simply agreeing with others for the sake of a quiet life.  This implies the community needs to find a consensus of some sort.  It cannot mean we all agree with the most powerful.

Related articles

• Pursue Peace with Everyone (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Not Disorder, but Peace (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

Everything in Common

Image by Ben Sutherland via Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

Acts 2: 42 - 47

The image here is community; what it means to live in community the way Jesus did.  The community becomes one body of people, who live and behave as if they are one person.

Over the centuries there have been many attempts to live in this way.  For many, it is an ideal, something other people do whilst the rest of us get on with living our lives.

Mutuality though is present in many communities, especially where there is poverty.  It is not restricted to intentional religious communities.  It is a desire to help one another because when mutuality breaks down the community is doomed.  It falls between selffishness and selflessness as self interest, understanding that by supporting others I further my own interests.

The reality is mutuality is a means of survival, a practice where people who stumble are held up because next time they will be the ones doing the holding.

The powers, political and religious, will do anything to break these networks of mutuality because they are profoundly threatening.

Related articles

• They Signalled to Their Partners to Help (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

Abide in Me as I Abide in You

Image via Wikipedia

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

John 15:1 - 16

This is the first passage in the last sequence.  These passages cover a variety of images of 'Life in Fellowship'.  I will focus on each image and its impact and on relationships between Christians, rather than institutions.

The branch is entirely dependent upon on the vine, or Jesus himself.  The branch has no purpose separate from the vine and those branches that do not bear fruit are removed.

The imagery changes from verse 12 and focuses upon friendship.  Love defines friendship and the greatest love is to be willing to give up life for friends.  Just as Jesus himself gave up his own life for his friends.

This makes the image of vine more meaningful of course.  To be a part of the vine, means Jesus' example becomes available to us.  Of course, some might feel uncomfortable about the need to lay down our lives for one another.  It can mean violent death, I am sure, but it also means a life of service.  Our call is to live for others, just as Jesus did.

Related articles

• They Signalled to Their Partners to Help (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

Delight in the Law of the Lord

Image via Wikipedia

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

Psalm 1: 1 - 3

I can only conclude this was included as a space filler.  I can't see what this has to do with ecumenism, let alone the main section heading 'Recognising that we belong together' or the subheading 'Interdependence and partnership'.  It does not seem in any way to relate to the other passages under this subheading.

I have another problem with this passage and that is it needs to be read in the context of the New Testament.  The law has been superceded by grace and peace in Jesus Christ.  Whilst this does not invalidate it, it does mean we have a different focus or should have. 

Ultimately the law on its own is divisive.  We see this in the way the Pharisees used the law to exalt their own position in Jesus' day.  We see it in the way churches have used the law to justify marginalisation of those who break it.

A few nights ago we read the story of Jesus' last week in Matthew.  It included this verse (21:32): 'For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him ...'

Leaving aside how disconcerting it might be for both tax collectors and prostitutes to be lumped together in this way, we should understand it is they who really meditate on the law!  If you know sin, you somehow also know the law.  You understand the nature of the hypocrisy Jesus inveighs at in these chapters.

It is those who inhabit the margins who know the law, value the law and desire to follow the law.  Do they prosper?  At this question the Pharisee rushes to the head of the queue and claims 'I prosper unlike the tax collectors and prostitutes'.  The latter turn away humiliated.

And yet is it not those who turn away humiliated, those who know the reality of the law and of hypocrisy, who are like trees planted by streams of water?

No Dissension Within the Body

Image via Wikipedia

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

1 Corinthians 12: 12 - 31

 The 'more excellent way' is featured earlier in this series.  Here I compared the various traditions to stepping stones.  In this current passage we are invited to compare them to parts of the body.

But let's take care here.  It's hardly credible that Paul was writing of institutions as members of the body. 

I posted a series some time ago about Yung Suk Kim's thinking about the Body of Christ.  Kim's point is, to paraphrase it, the united community of all the traditions would necessarily be exclusive of those who are on the margins. This would be a result of institutional unity.

But the image of the Body of Christ is of a body divided.  This allows space for those who would otherwise be marginalised.  The point is not that we all have something to offer but that in Christ's broken body there is room for all. 

Maybe some traditions exclude those they don't approve of.  If so, then the body is necessarily broken and it is broken because God accepts all, whether or not church leaders agree with God.

Related articles

• One Body in Union with Christ (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• For Building Up the Body of Christ (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Be United in the Same Mind and Same Purpose (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

Put Up with the Failings of the Weak

Image via Wikipedia

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

Romans 15: 1 - 2

This passage follows on from Romans 14, dealt with in an earlier post in this series.  There I drew parallels between the 'strong' and so-called liberal traditions and the 'weak' and fundamentalist Christians.  I made the point this parallel seems counter-intuitive because we tend to see certainty as strong and doubt as weak.

I suppose those who doubt are strong because they hold to faith in spite of their doubts.  For the weak, their faith is to some degree contingent because they believe it depends upon on their belief in propositions, some of which are threatened.

So, Paul is saying the strong, amongst whom he includes himself, have to put up with the failings of the weak.  We have to put up with their poor theology and intolerance, even though we find it painful.  Our aim should not be to please ourselves because the weak need to be built up.

I suppose, loss of faith can be devastating to a weak Christian.  But it is at times of crisis we all find ourselves at a crossroads between despair or moving on to a deeper understanding of God.  Therefore, a crisis always needs careful handling by other Christians, rather than mockery!

I can't say I'm thrilled by what Paul is saying here but the logic is hard to fault.

As far as Protestants are concerned there is possibly no greater division between Christians than those between fundamentalists and the rest of the churches.  Paul's message in these chapters in Romans may well be helpful but I'm not sure they resolve the issue entirely.  I have to ask myself whether some of the excesses of fundamentalist Christianity are in fact Christian.  Beliefs in the rapture, the role of Israel, the acceptance of religious violence and creationism are so far outside of mainstream Christian theology they might invalidate any desire for unity.  Whilst the advice to put up with the failings of the weak might be sound, we still face real issues about the limits of what it is to be Christian.

Related articles

• Never Put a Hindrance in the Way of Another (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• We Love Because He First Loved Us (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• The Holy Nation (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• Pursue Peace with Everyone (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

Bear One Another's Burdens

Image via Wikipedia

This is part of a series of posts based on the Churches Together in England publication one light: one world.  If you click on the link you will find the biblical texts.  This post of the same name covers the purpose of this series.

Galatians 6: 1 - 2

Paul is writing to individuals rather than churches.  When one transgresses, we are called to bear the resulting burden together.  This is not about condemnation but supporting one another in love. 

How does this apply to institutions?  Is the Methodist Church called to bear the Roman Catholic Church's burdens over child abuse?  It's difficult to work out what this might mean in practice but the principle is not difficult to grasp.

All institutions fall short of our own and God's expectations.  Indeed, it is likely God is more tolerant of our failures than we are.  We may not have any choice about bearing one another's trangressions, as many are only too willing to condemn the churches as a whole for the failings of the few.  Indeed, the Islamic fundamentalists who flew into the twin towers have fuelled new atheist anti-religion, which somehow justifies their anti-Christian as well as anti-Islamic rants.

Perhaps what this passage implies is we should treat one another gently, whatever tradition or religion, and set an example as to how we deal with transgressions.  We're not always terribly good at this type of thing but this passage is at least suggestive.

Related articles

• Let Us Love One Another (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)