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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 4: 19 - 21
The message here is clear. We can't love God and fail to love our brothers and sisters. Our ability to love one another across Christian traditions is the glory of God.
Defense of our own particular take on the Christian faith is not a priority. Our priority is to love one another and to do that we must learn to love Christians traditions other than our own.
Failure to do so locks us into little redoubts, from which we issue defensive proclamations. We must not use our peculiar take on the Christian faith as a bludgeon. To say, 'believe as I do or else you are damned' is a blasphemy. It is a misrepresentation of God. If there is a single true version of the faith, we don't know whose it is. More likely, our differences are a challenge from God.
Some argue our differences are a gift to each other. This is perhaps not quite right. I don't need a Pope any more than Roman Catholics need a Conference. The gift is in the dialogue and exchanges between traditions, which might lead us together into discovering something entirely new.
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