A Catholic Priests Visits A Protestant Congregation

Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing: Shankill Gospel Hall
....
This weekend I happened to be cycling to another church in North Belfast for worship when I noticed Shankill Gospel Hall with a member of the congregation coming out the door and on the spot I decided to worship there.

Source: Fr. Martin Magill  -  As quoted by Gladys Ganiel on her blog Building a Church Without Walls, 13 April 2015, http://www.gladysganiel.com/irish-catholic-church/fr-martin-magills-ecumenical-tithing-shankill-gospel-hall/

The Cordial Catholic

For most of my Christian life I didn’t take unity seriously. Not at all.
Heck, I didn’t even think about Christian unity. It didn’t even cross my mind. And if I did, by some complete fluke, I’d shrug. Meh, someone else’s problem. Above my pay grade.
Not it!
But I was wrong.
...
I’ve come to the conclusion that we, my Christian brothers and sisters, need to take our unity seriously, right now, or face the devastating consequences. This, folks, is important.

Source: K. Albert Little  -  The Cordial Catholic on Patheos, 1 May 2015, "Dear Christians: Take Our Unity Seriously, Because Everyone is Watching", http://www.patheos.com/blogs/albertlittle/dear-christians-take-our-unity-seriously-because-everyone-is-watching/

John Armstrong's Story

My name is John Armstrong.  I live in Chicago, Illinois.  My spiritual journey took a decisive and memorable turn one Sunday morning.

It was an ordinary Sunday morning worship service.  We were reciting the words of the Apostle’s Creed, words I had said hundreds of times before. As an adjunct professor of evangelism at Wheaton College, I knew the words.  As an evangelical (Reformed) Protestant, I believed them.  But I had never been particularly moved by them.  They were just words recited in a service.

But on this Sunday things unfolded very differently.  As I said the creedal words, “I believe in the holy catholic church,” something stopped me.  At that moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart:  “Do you really believe these words?  If you believe them, then why don’t you act like it?”

The conviction was powerful and true.  I was so shaken that I had to sit down.  I wept.  Questions flooded my mind.  I knew God had spoken.  But I had no idea how it was about to change my life.  As I unpacked the insights the Holy Spirit was giving to me, I sensed two things. 

First, I realized that I couldn’t love what I didn’t know.  I knew very little about the whole Christian church, even though I had a good grasp of church history.  I knew there were three different historical Christian churches – Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox.  But I knew very little about what these three great churches believed and why.  I knew something about the intra-Protestant differences via disagreements and schisms.  But I knew much less about the core truths shared by all Christians everywhere.  So I began to read what churches had written about themselves rather than what others had written against them.  What my reading uncovered was nothing short of amazing.  It became clear that there was much to learn from the wider body of the Christian church.  Eventually, I discovered a wonderful liberty in letting go of the need to always be right!

Second, I knew that I couldn’t be satisfied with loving a concept of the church.  So I set out to find God’s people, to get to know people outside of my own tradition.  At first, this seemed like a daunting task, but I began by taking one small step at a time.  I made it a personal priority to meet with Christians who were different from me.  Before long, I was related to an ever-widening circle of new friends. 

This two-fold approach may seem obvious to those who love the church.  But it has practical consequences for those who consider themselves evangelicals.  It means I can no longer be anti-Catholic.  With deep conviction, I am compelled to regard both Catholics and the Catholic Church with love and esteem.  This personal commitment for oneness has enabled me to draw great blessings from the Catholic tradition and develop any wonderful friendships with Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ.

Your experience may be different from mine.  But wherever you are in your understanding of the church, I believe God wants to tear down walls that keep you from other Christians.  A small view of the church limits our ability to love as God loves and affects our ongoing witness to the watching world.  I pray that God will use my story to inspire you to undertake your own journey, so you will embrace a richer and fuller understanding of the church of Jesus Christ. Becoming involved in Wittenberg 2017 is a valuable way of embracing that richer and fuller understanding. 

Source: Wittenberg 2017  -  "John's Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/johns-story.html

View recent videos from John’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjylGCjuuS4rxZIQaic_7pQ

Hanna Miley

Hanna’s parents were gassed in the death camp at Chelmno, Poland, on May 3,1942. On May 3, 2015 she read from her book in the city of Bonn, Germany.

When Hanna finished Markus came to the microphone. “Hanna, my grandfather was an SS Officer at Chelmno when your parents were there.”

He continued. “I don’t know what to say. I can only stand here and ask for forgiveness.” Hanna went to him. “I forgive you.” They embraced.

With tears the grandson of a German SS Officer asked forgiveness of a Jewish Holocaust survivor. She forgave him. The ground became softer.

Source: George Miley  -  Maturing Toward Wholeness in the Inner Life, Chapter 1, "Restore the Ancient Anointings", http://eifelfellowship.com/chapter-1-restore-the-ancient-anointings/

Reflection, Action, Prayer - from A2J

Reflection
When I was in college I had several confusing and painful experiences with Christians from a particular tradition that caused me to be judgmental and closed off to this tradition.  It took some time but God has redeemed these painful experiences and I now have wonderful friends who are part of this tradition and have received the gifts and strengths of this tradition I once rejected
 
Action:
Think of an experience in your life when you had an encounter with a brother or sister from another Christian tradition that you dismissed in your heart because they were ‘different’.  Ask God for forgiveness for any critical and competitive attitudes towards other Christian traditions and other brothers and sisters.  Ask God whom He might want you to receive that until now you have kept at a distance.
 
Prayer:
O God the Father of all, you ask every one of us to spread love and reconciliation where people are divided You open this way for us, so that the wounded body of Jesus Christ, your church, may be leaven of communion for the poor of the earth and in the whole human family.  Amen
-Brother Roger (founder of Taize)

Source: A2J Community  -  Apprenticeship to Jesus Community, Phoenix, Blog Post "Unity Week Devotion - Day 1", 18 Jan 2016, http://www.a2jphoenix.org/blog/unity-week-devotion-day-1

Thomas Roberts

Thomas Roberts was closely associated with the Union de Priére, a group of Reformed ministers first touched by the Pentecostal movement in the South of France in the 1930s.  The Union de Priére focused on prayer for four intentions:  the revival of the churches by the conversion of souls; the salvation of the Jewish people; the visible unity of the body of Christ; and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead.  ... Thomas Roberts grew in his grasp of the vision of one reunited body of Christ, manifesting the glory of the Savior and the power of the Spirit to the world ... Roberts was a model of a Christian who always remained faithful to his original call - he was always characteristically Pentecostal - yet who was so grateful to the Lord for opening his eyes to see the riches of other Christian traditions, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox.

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken  -  One Lord One Spirit One Body, pp.viii - ix

Thomas' Story

Around the year 2000, my wonderful wife Amy  was drawn unexpectedly into the Catholic Church.   I remained Protestant, and together we share both worlds.  As instructed by her priest, she comes with me each Sunday to Hope Chapel, a Protestant non-denominational church.  Frequently I bundle up the kids and attend mass with her.
 
People who meet us did not immediately realize, “She is Catholic, but he is Protestant.”  Instead, they just see a married couple, Amy and Thomas, whom the Lord had mystically made one flesh through the sacrament of marriage.
 
We have the understanding that this represents, in a very faint way, the radiant beauty of the Church universal – we, the body of Christ, are one body, because He, our Lord, is one God.  He has made us one, in a mystical sense.
 
And yet, for Amy and I this oneness has to be worked out in real, practical moments.  I have to apologize for my insensitivity to her.  She has to sacrifice her desire for solitude to join me at a prayer meeting.  We have to sit down together, listen to each other, and decide together how to structure our life.  And so on …
 
In the same way, mystical oneness in the body of Christ must be worked out in a myriad of practical decisions.  Does the Catholic bishop reach out to connect to Protestant pastors in his diocese?  Does the “united” prayer gathering of mostly evangelical pastors, invite Catholic priests to participate?  How does an Anglican respond upon learning that the Roman Catholic church asks her not to receive communion during mass? How does a Messianic Jew respond when he overhears an Eastern Orthodox believer making statements he considers to reflect replacement theology? And so on …
 
Jesus set a high bar when He prayed for us, you and me, as recorded in John 17:
 
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
 
To me, these words contain an echo of Genesis 2, “a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”  It is widely recognized that there is a required “leaving” required for the unity of marriage – a death to previous identity and known way of life.  For us to enter, as Jesus prayed, into the unity of the Trinity, must we not also leave behind those aspects of our church identities that are obstacles to reconciliation?

Source: Wittenberg 2017  -  "Thomas' Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/thomas-story.html

Latasha Morrison

Ultimately the name [Be the Bridge] came from a conversation I had with God on my way to attending the IF conference in 2014. In the middle of feelings homesick for Atlanta, I remember God telling me, “I brought you to Austin to be a bridge.” I used to say that phrase “be the bridge” to my staff, back when I was in the African American church in Atlanta. We were in-between: We weren’t traditionally an African American church, but we weren’t a white church, either. We knew how to fit in both worlds and be comfortable.

Source: Latasha Morrison  -  As quoted in Christianity Today, "Latasha Morrison: The Church Is the ‘Only Place Equipped to Do Racial Reconciliation Well’", interview by Morgan Lee, January 2017, http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/january/latasha-morrison-church-is-only-place-equipped-to-do.html

J. I. Packer

Across the years, Packer has been involved in theological conversations with Orthodox believers, Roman Catholics, charismatic Christians, as well as mainline Protestants. In each of these encounters, he has promoted a vigorous biblical and spiritual theology, in keeping with the Great Tradition. Packer has been ever mindful of the maxim of Richard Baxter, on whom he wrote his Oxford doctoral dissertation:


in necessariis Unitas,
in non-necessariis Libertas,
in utrisque Caritas.


Despite his charitable spirit and his desire to foster a unitive, irenic evangelicalism, Packer has not been able to avoid controversy. Nowhere have the reactions been more volatile than in the response to Packer’s participation in Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Like his friend Charles Colson, Packer became a major target of the initial evangelical protest against ECT.

Source: Timothy George  -  "Packer at Ninety", First Things, October 2016, https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/10/packer-at-ninety

Gaius

My beloved friend Gaius, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters (possibly representatives or missionaries from the church in Ephesus), even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church (in Ephesus) about your love. Please send them on their journey in a way that honors God. They went out from us (the church in Ephesus) for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ, taking no help from the unbelievers. Therefore, we should always provide hospitality to such people, so that we may work together for the truth.

Source: John the Beloved  -  3 John 1:5-8 (IEB)

Importance of story-telling

Thesis 10) Imagination and conversion are the very heart and soul of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is about learning to live by a new imagination … That is why the work of reconciliation is sustained more through storytelling and apprenticeship than by training in techniques and how-tos.  Through friendship with God, the stories of scriptures and faithful lives, and learning the virtues and daily practices those stories communicate, reconciliation becomes an ordinary, everyday pattern of life for Christians.

Source: Emmanuel Katongole & Chris Rice  -  Reconciling All Things, p. 151

Peter Kreeft & St. John of the Cross

Then one summer, on the beach at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, I read St. John of the Cross. I did not understand much of it, but I knew, with undeniable certainty, that here was reality, something as massive and positive as a mountain range. I felt as if I had just come out of a small, comfortable cave, in which I had lived all my life, and found that there was an unsuspected world outside of incredible dimensions. Above all, the dimensions were those of holiness, goodness, purity of heart, obedience to the first and greatest commandment, willing God's will, the one absolute I had discovered, at the age of eight. I was very far from saintly, but that did not prevent me from fascinated admiration from afar; the valley dweller appreciates the height of the mountain more than the dweller on the foothills. I read other Catholic saints and mystics, and discovered the same reality there, however different the style (even St. Thérèse "The Little Flower"!) I felt sure it was the same reality I had learned to love from my parents and teachers, only a far deeper version of it. It did not seem alien and other. It was not another religion but the adult version of my own.

Source: Peter Kreeft  -  Hauled aboard the Ark, http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/hauled-aboard.htm

Protestant water flowing in Catholic aqueducts

Then I caught sight of a Catholic spy in the Protestant camp: a gold cross atop the pole of the church flag. Adoring Christ required using that symbol. The alternative was the froth. My gratitude to the Catholic Church for this one relic, this remnant, of her riches, was immense. For this good Protestant water to flow, there had to be Catholic aqueducts. To change the metaphor, I had been told that reliance on external things was a "crutch!" I now realized that I was a cripple. And I thanked the Catholic "hospital" (that's what the Church is) for responding to my needs.

Source: Peter Kreeft  -  Hauled aboard the Ark, http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/hauled-aboard.htm
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/hauled-aboard.htm

We're still friends

Now at The Stream I’m working with both Protestants and Roman Catholics here at every level of leadership and production. I still come down firmly on the Reformation side of Christian doctrine, so I think my Catholic friends have got some things wrong. But that’s okay — they think we Protestants have some things wrong, too. And we’re friends.


Above all else, we’re completely in agreement with Christianity’s historic, orthodox creeds. We all believe “in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son Our Lord….” We’re colleagues and partners in this united enterprise providing news, insight and commentary from a creedal Christian perspective.

Source: Tom Gilson  -  "Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: Catholic and Protestant Changing History Together", The Stream, 4 March 2017, https://stream.org/tolkien-cs-lewis-catholic-protestant-together/

Michael Phelps

[Michael] Phelps told ESPN that [Rick Warren’s] book "turned me into believing there is a power greater than myself and there is a purpose for me on this planet."


Warren's book also convinced Phelps to reconcile with his estranged father, Fred, who divorced his wife when Phelps was just 9 years old. When the two men saw each other for the first time after so many years of separation, they embraced in a big hug.


After he left Meadows in November 2014, Phelps resumed training for the Rio Olympics.

Source: Hazel Torres  -  As quoted in Christian Today, http://www.christiantoday.com/article/legendary.u.s.swimmer.michael.phelps.reveals.how.purpose.driven.life.by.rick.warren.saved.his.life/

Adam's Story

I had never heard of the Wittenberg 2017 movement until just yesterday, when a friend from a church we used to attend in Austin, TX asked my wife and I to share our story among a small gathering of friends. You see, Julia is a non-denominational Protestant, and I a Roman Catholic - both of us practicing Christians, happily married for four years.
 
Having read Amy Cogdell's story, I am struck to my heart; the pain felt by our Lord over the disunion of the Church on Earth is an all-too-present tension felt by the two of us. Still, we continue to thrive in faith with Christ Jesus together, by attending both Mass and church services every Sunday together. Though we have few theological disagreements and rarely let our emotions over our beliefs conquer our tongues, we continuously pray for union and peace from God for the whole Church to overcome the powers of division.

Source: Wittenberg 2017  -  "Adam's Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/adamrsquos-story.html

Catholics & Baptists

I see a Catholic monk from the hills of Kentucky standing alongside a Baptist evangelist from the streets of Los Angeles and together offering up a sacrifice of praise.

Source: Emmanuel Katongole & Chris Rice  -  Reconciling All Things, p. 275