Exploring Ecumenism

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

First be Reconciled to Your Brother or Sister

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.

Matthew 5: 21 - 24

This reading falls foul of a difficulty I have remarked upon several times during this series of posts. These passages are addressed to individuals, quite rightly. However, our divisions are institutional rather than individual.

Of course, individuals identify with institutions and so may be divided at a personal level from those who believe differently. Nevertheless, there is little we can do to change our institutions.

So, if I take my offering to the altar and then remember my neighbour has the fact that I'm a Methodist against me, what then? I might have tried many times to be reconciled. I might have considered changing my tradition. The problem is, of course, when do you stop? Do I change my tradition every time I meet someone who is convinced theirs is the only one that's valid?

But to treat the traditions as a series of lifestyle choices means, I will never identify with one tradition for long enough to be formed by it.

So, the problem is the remedy in this passage is not really a solution to the problems we face. By all means if I've fallen out with someone, I need to do something about it. But what more can I do about our institutional differences? It's frustrating because we're supposed to be free of the powers and principalities but are still held tight by our institutions.

Still, the least we can do is watch we don't allow our institutional differences to sour personal relationships.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Diversity, Ecclesiology, Exegesis | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Consider Others Better Than Yourselves

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Philippians 2: 5 - 11

This is the final passage in a section entitled 'Living in unity'. In considering this section, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the role of institutions. Whilst we read of the requirement to love one another, we tend to personalise it and so fail to acknowledge our divisions are largely institutional, rather than personal.

In my last post, I wrote about the passing away of all things except faith, hope and love. Lest we should think our calling is to wait for the inevitable dissolution of our institutions, this passage suggests we need to abandon them voluntarily.

Jesus 'though he was in the form of God', left all that behind. The invitation is to all of us, who believe our tradition is sufficient, to voluntarily live in relationship with others. This call is not to structural unity; it is to a unity that sees shared love of Jesus Christ as primary.

Like Jesus we are all called to let go and enter into new relationships, whatever the cost. As a Christian I am formed as a Methodist, but must find ways to relate to Christians of other traditions. Indeed, the call goes beyond that because all Christians are called into the fallen world.

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Monday, 11 April 2011

The Greatest of These is Love

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1 Corinthians 12: 31; 13: 1 - 13

What is there to say about this passage? The main point is lesser gifts such as prophecy, tongues, understanding will pass away. Only faith, hope and love will remain.

We can conclude, amongst the things which will pass away, are our various traditions. I think of traditions as stepping stones. They are something we use to move us towards a final destination. You don't stop on one stone forever. If you did, you would block the progress of people behind you.

Note this in no way denies the necessity for stepping stones. But their purpose is temporary . They are a means of communication between two sides of a river. Our churches are a means of communication between this life and a life of faith, hope and love.

The challenge then is to use them properly, so others are helped, not hindered, by our activities. We do not need more than one set of stones to cross over and any set will do.

The analogy breaks down when we consider sharing between traditions but at least we can see users of other stones as travellers on the same journey. Travellers who can share notes, tips and tricks.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Conversations, Ecclesiology, Exegesis | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, 10 April 2011

Let Us Love One Another

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1 John 4: 7 - 11

I'm a little surprised to find this passage amongst the ecumenical texts. On a superficial reading it is a 'no brainer'. Of course we're supposed to love one another. We've already seen that the unity of Christians is the glory of God.

The problem is, to state we should all love one another is to beg the question, why the lack of unity in the first place? Ecumenism is difficult because it is about the unity of people who belong to separate institutions.

Institutions have a positive role. They are the means by which the faith is passed on. To be formed as a Christian, it is beneficial if you are part of a community, under a similar discipline. So, institutions are inevitable and can be beneficial.

That is, to a degree. The problem is, when people belong to institutions they start to identify with them. Sometimes this can become irrational. From claims that women cannot be priests to the belief that my tradition is the only true church, the institution becomes an idol.

Where this happens the institution becomes demonic. But a demon is simply a sick angel and where we use our institutions wisely, share and learn to love one another's institutions, we find they become angelic.

The message is we need our institutional differences and we need to learn to love them, just as we know we must love other Christians.

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Saturday, 09 April 2011

We Love Because He First Loved Us

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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.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Exegesis, Soft Systems | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Friday, 08 April 2011

Keep On Loving with All Your Heart

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1 Peter 1:22

I will focus on 5 words in four paragraphs.

'Obedience to the truth' raises a number of issues for the modern reader. I have previously explored the meaning of the word 'obedience'. It means to listen and the opposite of obedience is not disobedience but 'acting inappropriately'. So, we must not understand it as following orders; it may be obedient to refuse to follow orders.

So understood, obedience helps us understand the meaning of truth. We see obedience to the truth as discerning the truth and then acting appropriately.

The fifth word is 'heart'. An atheist friend told me the other day, the heart is only a pump. Some argue it is the seat of emotion. Maybe it is but I don't find this particularly helpful. If we can use heart and emotions interchangeably, we are just using heart to obscure what we mean.

I prefer to think of heart as a way to stay focused on love. Our thoughts too often get in the way. When we need to act, the state of our heart determines how we act. Through prayer we can change the disposition of our hearts towards love or away from it. To be sanctified is to have a heart full of God's love all the time. Is this possible? There's only one way to find out.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Exegesis, Sanctification | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, 07 April 2011

The Greatest Must be Like the Youngest

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Luke 22: 24 - 30

This passage and the last both cover ground preachers address regulalrly. The need for humility has been addressed several times in this blog. The power of church hierarchies is an obvious target and so it is difficult to imagine what can be said that hasn't been said many times before.

There is a distinction between saying something and meaning it. This passage invites us to question the use of power in the churches.

"A dispute arose between the churches as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. They could see that kings, politicians and tyrants lord it over people and like to be thought of as benefactors. The hardest thing for them to see was that the greatest must become like the youngest churches, the leaders as ones who serve. They could see Jesus' example as the one who serves, and yet somehow the churches couldn't quite make the connection."

Does this work? Possibly not. In part, the problem is many Christians believe their version is the one true faith and all the others fall short. This is not a problem residing solely with those in authority.

What does humility mean if you are a senior person in a church hierarchy? In what practical ways can a leader serve which shows the way of Jesus Christ? Power accrues power.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Ecclesiology, Exegesis | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, 06 April 2011

You Should Wash One Another's Feet

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John 13: 3 - 15

Michael Scott was a Church of England vicar. When he was in his forties, after a substantial time as a parish priest, he had a vicarage next to the field in Knebworth that hosted a pop festival. His teenage son wanted to go but Michael objected on moral grounds. His son suggested he was being unfair and challenged him to go and meet the people himself.

And so Mick the Vic became known as the priest who visited pop festivals during the seventies and eighties. He became a hippy and washed festival go-ers feet.

Mick was one of the founder member of the Christian Praxis Group and once washed our feet. I don't know whether you have ever had each toe individually unscrewed, washed and then screwed back on, not necessarily in the right order? I swore never again as I hobbled away.

I wanted to tell Mick's story, or at least this small part of it, because it illustrates the importance of this story, found only in John's Gospel, of Jesus washing the disciples' feet.

We have lost touch with the reality of dirty feet in an age of shoes, socks and showers. Until a few decades ago, most people had dirty feet. I remember an exhibition in London a few years ago, with paintings by Raphael and Caravaggio. Raphael was the last of the artists who drew stylised devotional pictures, where angels and saints were all impossibly clean. Caravaggio normally painted only the top halves of people because then he didn't have to show their feet, which as a natural painter, he had to paint dirty.

The thing is we cannot ignore the fact that Jesus had dirty feet. It was usual for a guest to have their feet washed when they entered the home of their host. Many New Testament stories revolve around this custom, from the wedding of Cana in John, to the story of Simon the Pharisee in the Synoptics.

It is hard to imagine what the modern equivalent would be. Perhaps it is the vicar with his sleeves rolled up washing hippies' feet at a pop festival.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Exegesis | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, 05 April 2011

God's Gift of the Spirit

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Ephesians 3: 14 - 16

The author prays for the church, that according to the riches of God's glory ... you may be strengthened ...

God's glory is the means by which we know God is present. God's glory is in the united community. To overcome divisions and function as a community, despite very real differences, is a sign of God's real presence.

We sometimes expect God to be manifested in miracles, defying the laws of nature. With these expectations, we lose sight of what God is actually saying or doing. When belief in miracles or hell becomes more important than the love we have for one another, something is wrong. When I criticise someone for being literalistic about the Bible, I am forgetting the pre-eminence of love.

The challenge, and the reason we all need to be strengthened, is learning to love with integrity. It is easy to feel I need to compromise my beliefs for others. Our challenge is to love others whilst remaining faithful to the vision of God each of us has experienced.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Diversity, Exegesis, Theology | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Monday, 04 April 2011

The Gift Each One Has Received

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1 Peter 4: 8 - 11

Again this passage emphasises mutuality. 'Maintain constant love for one another'. We forget this is something understood by many traditional communities. It is essential for survival. It is natural to practice it.

But this passage goes on to suggest wherever we do love one another, we are expressing the reality of God. God is manifested in the community where people love one another. God speaks when someone speaks, God's strength is used in service.

It is easy to forget this command to love one another applies to all Christians and all people. The church is supposed to show the world how it is done. This is why the church is divided, so that our ability to love each other across the divisions can be seen.