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.

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.

Less Ecumenism, more Oikoumene

Throughout this blog I have contrasted the words ecumenism and oikoumene.  I use the English word in the narrow sense of relations between churches, whilst the Greek I use to mean the wider reconciliation of the whole cosmos to God.

When we consider the content, the 'What?' of ecumenical conversations, it is hard for me to resist the call of this wider subject area.  Indeed, oikoumene is the topic of transformational reception, my third dimension of ecumenical conversations.

Of course, what I can't resist is easily resisted by most ecumenists.  Usually ecumenical conversations are about the churches.  How churches differ and how they might change to accommodate each other.  This accounts for many of the difficulties modern ecumenism is encountering.  Most people are voting with their feet because they no longer see the point.

We face a time in the early twentieth century something like the Edwardian era in the last century.  It was a logical continuation of the Victorian era, brought to an abrupt end in 1914.  Similarly, we have seen a growth in wealth, primarily but lately not exclusively in the West, which has continued throughout my life, effectively since the end of the second world war.  We all know it cannot go on for ever.  So far our political leadership has kept up the pretense that we can continue with business as usual.  More people learn each day that all of us are living a lie.  So, now what?

Let's face it the churches have colluded with the politicians.  The call of transformational reception is to address this wider oikoumene, to bring the inherited wealth and wisdom of our traditions to bear upon what is happening to humanity.  The contribution ecumenism can make to oikoumene is to bring more than one approach to bear.  Through ecumenical conversations, we have all learned much more of our own and others traditions, let's use that knowledge for the benefit of all.

Does this mean I'm advocating the abandonment of our formal talks?  Not exactly.  What we need to do is recognise that our traditions do not stay the same, what we see as the same tradition 100 years ago is significantly different to the tradition we know today.  Why do traditions change?  Because of their encounter with the world, the wider oikoumene.   

Now we have an opportunity to move forward together.  A complex interplay of traditions entering into a complex exchange with the wider world.  This is God's call to God's churches, to respond to his call to move onto the wider oikoumene.

Conversation between a Christian and a Secular Model

Over the last few days I have been comparing the Presence U model with the ancient hymn in Philippians chapter 2.  In this post I want to take a step back and ask to what extent this is a legitimate exercise.  I don't think I'm going to be able to come to a conclusive argument either way but I think it is important in any theological work to reflect on the methods deployed.

I have already stated several times that I do not think the U model and the hymn are the same thing.  They are images of each other and whilst I don't think it is even desirable to reduce them to a single process, it may be helpful to allow them to inform each other.

There is no copyright on the U shape.  The pattern of death and resurrection can be found in many faiths.  Indeed, Christian mission would be more difficult if this were not the case.  This congruence between faiths allows for the exploration of common ground.  Theologians and missiologists call this inculturation.

The U model was devised for use in businesses by people asking how they might meet the challenges of climate change.  It is not a religious exercise, although it has religious connotations.  This in itself is an opening for conversations about matters of faith. 

However, we should be aware that it is possible the U model might consciously or unconsciously have been influenced by Christian theology.  In places the book resonates with allusions to gospel material.  None of the authors in their biographies lay claim to a Christian faith although it is hard to imagine they have been shielded entirely from its influences growing up in the United States.  But these images are a part of our culture.  Anyone exploring matters of psychology, spirituality or philosophy is likely to encounter them.

We should also be mindful of Missio Dei, where it is understood the spirit of God goes before us into communities (similar to if not the same as Wesley's 'prevenient grace').  The issues facing us are so severe say the authors they cannot identify any power other than business able to effect the necessary changes.  In terms of how God may be working through humanity to mitigate climate change, it is not impossible that businesses have a crucial part to play in it, especially considering their role in causing it.

So, let me try to summarise the mutual advantage of an interplay between these movements.  It seems to me that Presence is a timely reminder to the churches of the power of conversations to effect change.  They offer us an opportunity to recall how the spirit transforms our values and helps us work collaboratively for the welfare of humanity and the whole cosmos.  In return, the Christian faith offers a challenge to Presence - is it likely that setting aside our assumptions and picking up new ones is enough?  Sooner or later the challenge will be to make material sacrifices.  Certainly it is apparent current global financial systems cannot last if they are to be fair and far less exploitative of the enviromment.  This implies a move towards a mutual approach to economics.  This will require a spiritual change which seems to go beyond what Presence has experienced so far.