Seeking Unity, Building Community

Ecumenical Patience

One of the most basic lessons I have learned about the ministry of church unity is that progress is measured not by years, but by decades or even centuries. This reality will test anyone's patience and toleration. The difficult ecumenical work carried out in the midst of tension and anxiety will wear out many. 

The biblical witness speaks about patience. The message is a little unsettling. In Ephesians 4:2, 3, Paul speaks words that clearly are counter culture:

“2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

Why should I be humble and gentle? Others are not. 

Why should I? 

If others play games. Why shouldn’t I? 

Be patient and bear one another. For how long? 

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. That is, given that there is unity. 

What if there is no unity? Should our efforts then increase or intensify? Or shall we just throw the towel?

For how long are we supposed to seek reconciliation between our Christian brothers and sisters? Shall we just give up on them and seek reconciliation with other religions, that would probably easier.

Is the call of Ephesians passe? I’m I misreading it?

This is not easy!

Transformational Prayer

There is power when a community gathers for prayer, in particular when the need for prayer grows out of great need, in times of crisis. 

I'm a follower of Christ because about 2,000 year ago a group of men and women listened to God’s call and gathered for prayer. The outcome of that time of prayer, but specially of their passion and faithfulness, was a fully empowered community.

I recall another follower of Christ who had the same passion for God and prayed. It was our very own Presbyterian precursor John Knox who said, "Give me Scotland or I die". There you have it. He knew what was the desire of God’s heart, Knox aligned his will with God's and cried out for the miracle.

Oh yes, there is power when we agree on something and get together to pray for it. But, there is even more power when people who don’t agree, come together for prayer. This doesn’t happen often, because we rather pray with those that think like us. When followers of Christ unite in prayer walls and barriers are destroyed. To experience this transformational power at least two things need to happen, we must be willing to join those we are at odds with and we must engage in the hard work of “soul” searching. This is the kind of prayer that penetrates deep into our soul and spirit in search of forgiveness and reconciliation. This prayer only flourishes in the honest and humble encounter of each others heart.

One of Ricky Martin’s best known song ask the key question, “do you really want it, do you really want it”. Do you really want to be reconcile with that person that makes you miserable? Do you want to forgive your offender one more time? Do we really desire the reconciliation of the Church? Do we honestly want the reconciliation of the human family?

When we seek God’s presence together, when we bare our soul in the presence of the Holy One, everything is possible.

Do we really want it? The song then says, GO, GO, GO!

Carlos M

What is Stopping us Pride or Dignity?

Reconciliation doesn’t happen from a distance we must engage each other in the struggle. God knew that in order for Jacob to be a blessing to his people, his attitude, perspectives, and his very heart had to be transformed. How could that happen? God could have strike Jacob from a distance, God had the power to do so. God could have sent a messenger to Jacob calling him to repentance. God's options are always unlimited. But God choose to enter into the sacred space of Jacob's life and confront him face to face.  In Jacob’s story God overcame without being personally hurt.

Hundreds of years after Jacob, God purposefully came back to encounter Jacob's family again, this time around God was wounded. God did not have a choice. God resist dealing with those God loves from a distance. God never fear to take risks, knowing that those risks will provide the ground that will nourish the tree that eventually will produce the much-desired fruit.  God chooses the mess, prefers the struggle. Nothing will force God to stay away or retrieve, to deal with our messiness from a distance. "Come. Sit down. Let's argue this out." (Isa. 1.18)  We are not called to be passive or self-effacing in our struggles, but we must face the struggle in the presence of the other.

Many seek unity only on their own terms. The search for unity requires that we lay down our own agendas and only seek Christ's. Trust is essential, but it us not a given. We must learn to trust those who we have been suspicious of, even those who have meant harm to us. This will never happen if we are living in the flesh, only by the power of the Spirit. Are we willing? 

In order to be willing we need to humble ourselves even as Christ. We will be mutually transformed only if we are willing to encounter the other with a stubborn and fearless desire for reconciliation. From afar we will never be able to experience the Christ in each other. From afar our self-righteousness will only intensify and positions will harden, at one point we will have to lay down our weapons and sit down at the table together. We can continue to exercise our power and our rights and perpetuate this state of alienation.

All self-righteousness must be crushed, unless we become complaisant with alienation. Unless we are willing to take such chances, to accept the fact that in interweaving our lives we leave ourselves wide open to disappointment or disaster, we cannot escape from the web of our own selfish egos. Our willingness to tolerate alienation worsens our present condition.  I do not believe we can heal our divisions and tolerate alienation at the same time. 

Our divisions will be overcome, by God's grace, if we refuse alienation to be an option. When we choose to stay away from the other, our humanity is denigrated, it is violated. We are faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of overcoming our selfish impulses to treat others as if they are just as important as we are. This can only be achieved with the power of God. We must humble ourselves before God, seek forgiveness from those we have alienated, and then commit ourselves to the messy task of reconciliation.

Carlos M

Gift Sharing

Jay reflected on the question of what does it mean to be good neighbors in our relationships with Christians beyond the Presbyterian Church (USA) and with neighbors of different faith traditions. Many Christians most commonly celebrate Epiphany as the visitation of the Magi to the infant Jesus.  Some Christians focus more on the Baptism of the adult Jesus. Both focus on the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  

I’ve been thinking about the implications that the first people to pay homage to Jesus were not of the  faith tradition of the family or community into which he was born. How are we open to receive God’s message to us from those who come to us across great geographical and theological distances?  Our dialogue, work and relationship with other Christians will often strengthen our understanding of what it means to be Presbyterian.  Our dialogue, work and relationships with persons of other faith traditions will often reveal to us what we value most as Christians. The gifts that are shared will often point to God’s movement beyond our present reality.

The theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18 – 25) is “You Are Witnesses of These Things.” It is a theme rooted in the Lucan Great Commission (Luke 24: 46 – 49). In the incomprehensible reality of the resurrection, Jesus tells the expanded community of women and men who encountered the Resurrected Christ that they will be witnesses to the proclamation of his suffering and ultimate victory over oppression and death.  As a foreshadowing of the message given to the gathered community who witnessed his Ascension, they are told that their work will be for the benefit of the world. They will witness not only to God’s liberating work in Jesus Christ through the incarnation, teaching, crucifixion and resurrection, they will also be witnesses to the work of repentance and forgiveness of sin--key components in the work of reconciliation and building the beloved community.  Resources for celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity may be found at http://geii.org/wpcu_index.htm

Next week, I will attend a Colloquium on the Accra and Belhar Confessions at Stony Point Conference Center. Both confessions seek to address fundamental issues that deny the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Belhar Confession is written in the context of apartheid South Africa and addresses theological heresies that undergird racism and divides both church and society. The Accra Confession addresses the economic and ecological injustices and devastation of the current global economy. Both confessions call us to repentance for our complicity in systems that devalue and destroy our neighbors and the world. Both confessions call us to action in proclaiming and building the beloved community of Christ. In coming days, I hope to share with you lessons that emerge from this colloquium. Until, then, a study guide for North American churches on the Accra Confession may be found at http://www.pcusa.org/trade/accra.htmand information on the Belhar Confession may be found at http://www.pcusa.org/racialjustice/belhar.htm.

May we be open to the gifts of our neighbors near and far and may we offer the best of who we are to our neighbors and to God.

Robina