Exploring Ecumenism

The Diversity of Spiritual Direction

In my last post I suggested mission, unity and spiritual direction belong together and most traditions have a balance of all three.  In my next post, I will return to the theme of unity but in this one I will review the diverse approaches to formation across the traditions.  I am aware this review will be nowhere near complete and so would welcome suggestions of other approaches to formation I do not cover here.

Primarily, I am interested in formation of lay people.  Ministers, priests and religious have long periods of formation, as part of their training and continuing development.  However, my intention is to highlight how formation is an important dimension to the mission of the church.  Without the formation of laity, there will be no retention of church members.  

There are of course many formal approaches to formation.  Spiritual direction is generally available to anyone who seeks it.  It is possibly more common in some traditions.  It can be available on a one to one basis, perhaps over a limited period of time.  Retreats are another popular option.  Groups can also meet for formation.  Wesley's classes and mission bands in the 18th and 19th centuries were successful approaches to formation, where dedicated ministers were scarce.  Even today, bible study groups and some fresh expressions consciously address the formation of their members.

There are other ways in which people are formed by their churches.  Regular attendance at church services is not tribalism; it is a (perhaps residual) approach to formation.  For Methodists the singing of hymns and prayerful use of the hymn book has traditionally contributed to the formation of Methodists.

In the Catholic Church regular attendance at Mass is an approach to formation, as is their sacrament of reconciliation.  I remember facilitating a mission audit of two churches in the mid-nineties.  One was the Methodist and the other was a Catholic Church (illustrated).  They were across the road from each other and we called a joint meeting to look at the mission activities of the two churches together.

The Priest was a little apologetic before the meeting, as he believed the Methodists were far more active than the Catholics.  So, we sat down and filled a side of flipchart paper with the activities of the Methodist Church.  This was a respectable result, much as everyone anticipated.  The Catholics started rather slowly and then as confidence increased easily filled a second and then a third sheet. 

The difference between the two churches was, I suppose, the Catholics did not normally discuss their mission activities.  I suspect the work of the Priest in the formation of the people led to their missionary activity.  The Priest was not terribly interested in leading mission, he focused on formation and left the rest to God.

Some ministers, like Wesley, are able to do both effectively but it is likely the minister who focuses solely on mission, will not be as effective as the minister whose sole interest is formation.  Formation equips the church for mission.  Mission on its own is likely to be activist.

Indeed, what we have here is a restatement, perhaps in ecclesiological terms, of praxis.  This is the recognition that action and reflection are both needed for effective ministry.  And this does of course lead to the question, if action and reflection are sufficient, is unity really necessary?

Related articles

• Spiritual Direction (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• The Mission and Unity Problem (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)
• On the Nature of Evangelism (chrississons.typepad.co.uk)

Using the Pastoral Cycle

I first encountered the pastoral cycle during my study year, 1981-2, at the Urban Theology Unit.  In those days theology was still seen as something studied at university and the idea of 'doing theology', as an activity available to all, was new and exciting.  Central to this was the idea of praxis, that interaction  between action and reflection at the heart of the pastoral cycle.

The First Commandment is One Commandment not Three

I want to pick up on yesterday's post, with a small diversion into a piece of exegesis we looked at during a recent meeting of the Christian Praxis Group. 

The text is Mark 12:27-34.  This is the story of the scribe who asks 'which is the first commandment of all?' (v28)  Verse 27 picks up at the end of the previous story where Jesus tells the Sadducees, 'you are quite wrong'.

Christian Praxis Group

I participated in the Urban Theology Unit study year in 1981-2.  Six of us, who between us were on the study years between 1979 and 1982, met for the first time during 1983 and have met 2 - 4 times a year ever since.  We have met for study and support for over 25 years and call ourselves the Christian Praxis Group.  At first we saw ourselves as a continuation of the study year but have long since stopped reporting to the UTU AGM.

I'm trying to remember why we used the word Praxis in out name.  It is a word that is used where both action and reflection are deployed in a mutually interdependent way.  To act without reflection is known as activism and to reflect without action, verbalism, is a sterile activity, and perhaps a mark of academic theology.

The word is Greek and seems to have been used by Marx and, through the reflection on Marxism which was a facet of Latin American Liberation Theology, the word seems to have found its way into general reflection about contextual theology.  However, the word is deployed in the New Testament, most prominently in the title of the 'Acts of the Holy Apostles', Praxeis ton Agion Apostolon.

Over 25 years the group has covered an immense amount of ground and regularly studies the New Testament in the original Greek as well as exploring community development and adult education.  The category 'Praxis' in this blog is linked to posts that are related to the work of the Christian Praxis Group.  So, unlike other categories, 'Praxis' will include posts which are not themselves about Praxis but relate to matters the group has discussed over the years.

Ecumenical theology has developed in the context of the growth of radical or contextual theology during the last few decades.  I wonder to what extent it has responded to this movement in theology.  Often ecumenical theological conversations seem to take place remote from the local practitioners of ecumenism.  Contextual theology implies the conversations which take place locally, where ecumenism is done, are at least of equal value to the conversations between church leaders.  The practical implications of this emphasis, were it taken seriously, are profound.  Maybe the insights of small groups of Christians seriously discussing their theology would be of value here.

Urban Theology Unit

In an earlier post I mentioned the difference between contextual and academic theology.  This was in the context of reflection upon the image of God embodied in the whole of humanity, rather than any single culture or faith. 

The Urban Theology Unit was founded around 1970 in inner city Sheffield, a few streets away from where I live.  The idea from the outset was to do theology from a specific context.  Students (for the first few decades they were known as the study year) could join in doing theology in inner city Sheffield, hear of other contextual theologies and learn to apply them in their own context.

This approach to 'doing theology' was contrasted with academic theology in the universities.  The idea is that all Christians do theology in their setting, whether or not they are aware of it or even equipped for it.  Inspirations came from Latin American Liberation Theology and by the time I did the study year in 1981-82, contexts such as Feminist, Black, Asian and of course Urban theologies.

Even by the early 80s this approach had become better known to the extent that as the 80s progressed contextual theologies were incorporated into the course work of other theological seminaries.  Soon, it appeared ministerial students were sitting examinations in topics such as the (renamed) pastoral cycle (I knew it as action-reflection or the hermeneutical circulation) and UTU moved on, itself becoming more academic in its approach.  At one time it boasted of being the only theological seminary in Europe with 2 outside lavatories; now this is seen as a bit of a liability. 

I do not in any way wish to criticise UTU for these changes; it has had to move with the times and what was a successful movement for a period in Britain, where radical approaches to theology had an impact on the churches, has moved on and Christians now look to movements like fresh expressions for alternative Christian lifestyles. 

I wonder to what extent mainstream ecumenism was influenced by radical or contextual theology and the extent to which churches together reflect theologically on their context?  If we are different and so able to view the same context from a range of theological perspectives, to what extent do the churches really capitalise on their differences in this way?  If we are seeking the will of God in a situation, it seems likely multiple perspectives would better equip the church as a whole.

Also, radical theology has influenced my life as a Christian.  My understanding of ecumenism must have been formed as a result of my approach to radical theology, formed (4 years after my conversion) by my study year at UTU. 

St Martin de Tours

If ecumenism were to have a patron saint (I'm sure someone will tell me it already has!) my vote (if voting is allowed in these mysterious matters) would be for St Martin de Tours.  If you follow the link to Wikipedia you will think he is an unlikely candidate, a saint favoured by men and the military.  Although he seems an odd saint for the military as refused to fight. 

My reason is the story of St Martin and the Beggar, and my account is influenced by Thom Gunn's poem of the same name which can be found in 'The Sense of Movement' (1957).

Imagine young Martin, the soldier riding his horse across marshland at night. The wind is blowing and the hail bounces off his sword.  He is stopped by the figure of a naked beggar and out of sympathy, he takes his sword and cuts his great cloak in half.  He hands half to the beggar and wraps the remainder around himself.  Later whilst eating a meal in a pub the beggar appears to him and turns out to be Christ.  (The Wikipedia account is different but makes the same point.)

'You recognised the human need/Included yours, because/you did not hesitate, my saint,/ to cut your cloak across;/ But never since that moment/ did you regret the loss.

My enemies would have turned away,/ my holy toadies would/have given all the cloak and frozen/ conscious that they were good./ but you, being a saint of man,/ gave only what you could.'

The story goes that small pieces of the cloak were placed in wayside shrines as relics of the saint.  The Italian word for cloak is 'capella' and in time these shrines became known as chapels.  (Wikipedia tells a similar story for the origins of the word 'chaplain'.)  The saint is known for this story and would be understood by those who experience mutuality as a way of life. 

The Peace Church and the Ecumenical Community

This post is a book review of by Hazel Barkham.  Hazel is, amongst other things, a peace activist and from the Reformed tradition.

The review can be found through the link below.  Look under 'Featured Books' for a link to the book.

Download ReviewofthePeaceChurch&TheecumenicalCommunity

The People of the Way

The Christian Praxis Group met this weekend and we studied this week's lectionary reading Mark 1: 1 - 8 in the Greek.

Arche means beginning and indicates in verse 1 this is about Jesus.  But there are preliminaries before we get onto Jesus.  The story of Jesus begins with Isaiah (chapter 40) vv 2,3 and then John the Baptiser vv 4-8.  John in particular goes before Jesus calling attention to him.

Idou in v2 means behold, and is a word often used by Jesus in Mark - it means look here or get focused, pay attention. 

Prepare the way of the Lord - the word for way is hodos which means a paved way.  I had a couple of thoughts about this - first is the word an example of onomatopoeia?  For a paved route the remarkable thing would be the sound of horses' hooves.  This might be an allusion to the Roman occupiers as the straightening is not done to the hodos but to the paths - tribous.  Staying with hodos - the first Christians were known as 'the people of the way'. 

The Greek word translated as straight is eutheias which is derived from eutheos which is usually translated as immediately.  See verse 10 for the first use of this word in Mark and note the King James version translates it as straightway! 

Tribous means paths and its origins are with the verb 'to rub'.  In contrast to the paved route; these are the beaten paths.  And note the plural, make straight the paths, all paths are to be prepared not just the one paved road.  There is no equivalent to this in Isaiah 40.  This implies a wide range of people not just those who travel by the established route.

So, what can we make of all this?  The Good News that is to come is for all - not just those who travel on the main roads but by many small paths will come together (we were not sure whether tribous has any connection with tributary).  Attention is drawn to this at the outset as people familiar with Isaiah 40 would note the difference.  The people of the way are invited to recognise the many small paths onto the way.