Paul here was writing to those who had already put their faith in Christ, yet were now estranged from him and his companions who were carrying the message of the Gospel. This fragmented relationship gave way to a disconnect from God's purposes towards them. To be estranged from God's ambassadors and community was to be estranged from God himself. Alternatively, to be reconciled to them was to be reconciled in Christ to God.
There is an urgency in Paul which invites his pleading with this fragmented community. Reconciliation and unity are not subsidiary realities to the Gospel, but at the core of salvation and what it means to be the church. If God was in Christ to reconcile the world to himself, and he is now in the church, then he must be at work within the church to reconcile men one to another.
God continues to work to reconcile the community of the redeemed and the church is still his chosen method in revealing himself. The message of salvation is incapable of being disconnected from its incarnation in the community of Christ. As Christ works through to us to plead to the world, he is also at work among us in a similar way with the plea, 'be reconciled to God,' and with it, 'be reconciled with each other.’
Source: A2J Community - Apprenticeship to Jesus Community, Phoenix, Blog Post "Unity Week Devotion - Day 5", 22 Jan 2016, http://www.a2jphoenix.org/blog/unity-week-devotion-day-5
Madeleine L’Engle
How often we children have been unwilling: unwilling to listen to each other, unwilling to hear words we do not expect. But on that first Pentecost the Holy Spirit truly called the people together in understanding and forgiveness and utter, wondrous joy. The early Christians, then, were known by how they loved one another. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people could say that of us again? Not an exclusive love, shutting out the rest of the world, but love so powerful, so brilliant, so aflame that it lights the entire planet – nay, the entire universe!
Source: Madeleine L’Engle - As quoted by John Armstrong on the Costly Love FB page, 24 May 2017
The Will Of God Is Clear
The church in its 2000 year history has done much to make vain the grace of God within it by its splintered fellowship and the discord found between those who confess the reconciling truth of the Gospel in Christ. It has forgotten that its working together is a working with the one who expresses his love in service, humility and sacrifice. This appeal to remember God's favor and working is now an appeal through the Spirit to us, reminding us that God is once more a deliverer and is capable of bringing his saving power to our disunity and divisions.
Much time is spent speculating on the circumstantial will of God and how we are to use our time. We can become mired in our inability to know how and in what way the Lord is leading us. In situations like this though the will of God is clear. Now is the time of God's favor, the time of healing and reconciliation, where once more his grace finds its fullness in us, those who are working together with him in his salvation.
Source: A2J Community - Apprenticeship to Jesus Community, Phoenix, Blog Post "Unity Week Devotion - Day7", 23 Jan 2016, http://www.a2jphoenix.org/blog/unity-week-devotion-day-7
Taizé
In our city and our region, there are people who also love Christ, but in a different way than we do. Calling ourselves “Christians” means bearing the name of Christ. We receive our identity as Christians through baptism, which unites us to Christ. Let us try to give more visibility to this common identity, instead of emphasizing our denominational identities.
Source: Taizé - As quoted on FB by John 17 Movement, 2 Dec 2016
The Last Human Freedom
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude.”
So wrote Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, living through the deprivation and horrors of both Auschwitz and Dachau.
Prisoner of the Nazi concentration camp
Consider the background for his writing about freedom.
His wife, parents and brother were killed by the Nazis. His captors imprisoned him with barbed wire. They assigned him his lice-infected bed. They gave him one set of striped prison clothes. They allowed him no menu options, just a crust of bread and watered-down soup.
They told him when to wake up, when to work and when to sleep. They controlled all his relationships and restricted his speech, severely punishing the slightest disrespect or opposition.
They took away every freedom a person can have … except for one. They could not force their way into his mind and take away his freedom to choose his attitude toward his circumstances and his life. That was his and his alone to control.
Source: Viktor Frankl - Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (Dachau & Auschwitz), as quoted by Ken Sande, Relational Wisdom 360 blog, 12 Feb 2017, https://rw360.org/2017/02/12/last-human-freedom/
Clinton Scroggins
Love washed the feet of His betrayer just before he was to do his deed of betrayal, with the full knowledge that His betrayer was amongst His closest friends (John 13).
Source: Clinton L. Scroggins - Posted on FB 12 May 2017
Justin Martyr
We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live familiarly with such people and pray for our enemies.
Source: St. Justin Martyr - In his letter to the emperor defending the validity of Christianity, as quoted by Lee McLeod and re-posted by Costly Love on Facebook, 17 August 2017
"I saw a blindness"
Seeing racial division at conferences and churches really broke my heart and gave me a holy discontent. As I came to the predominantly white church, I saw a blindness. [Most people] thought the issue was diversity—“If I have someone on staff who doesn’t look like me, then there is my racial reconciliation.”
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
Dr. Gary S. Greig
The Church needs to learn to confess sin the Bible's way, which is also the Lord's way. We need to learn to confess not only personal sin but also parental, ancestral and national sin. We need to confess parental, ancestral and national sin that the Holy Spirit shows us, so that we do not unwittingly walk in those sins. As the examples of Moses (Exo. 34:9; Num. 14:17-19), Jeremiah (Jer. 14:20), Daniel (Dan. 9:8, 20), and Nehemiah (Neh. 1:6) show us, we can always identify with the roots of any given sin even if we ourselves have not committed it. I may not have committed hate crimes against African Americans, but I can identify with the sinful attitudes at the root of racism--pride, intolerance, fear, control, divisiveness, isolationism, and self-preservation. Moses and Jeremiah were not idolaters, but they confessed the sin of idolatry on behalf of God's people, asking the Lord to forgive their sin (Exo. 34:9; Num. 14:17-19; Jer. 14:20).
Source: Dr. Gary S. Greig - The Biblical Foundations of Identificational Repentance as One Prayer Pattern Useful to Advance God's Kingdom and Evangelism, April 2001
JPII
John Paul II then asked leaders and theologians of other churches to join him in seeking out a new way of exercising the papal ministry that would truly serve the cause of unity while remaining faithful to its essential mission.
Source: Fr. Peter Hocken
Smith Wigglesworth - "But, Lord, they are my enemies"
"The time for the fulfillment of the prophecy Smith Wigglesworth gave you has arrived. It is time to begin. I want you to go to the leaders of the churches."
I argued back. "Lord, what can I say to those dead churches?"
"I can raise the dead." As simple as that.
"But, Lord, they are enemies." I almost whined.
"Yes, but I have told you to love your enemy."
Ignoring the truth of Scripture in my frustration, I continued to argue. "How can I love people like this? I can agree with neither their doctrines nor their practices."
"Well," the Lord said firmly deep inside me, "you will have to forgive them!"
"Dear, Lord" - it really was a whine by then - "how can I forgive them if I can't justify them?"
"I never gave you authority to justify anybody. I only gave you authority to forgive. And if you forgive, you will love them. And if you love, you will want to forgive. Now you can choose."
The conversation was over. But the battle had only begun. A small light had gone on, enough to show me that I knew very little about forgiveness in the eyes of the Lord. In the days ahead, I had to wrestle with the Lord, to learn, to go through the internal pain of a genuine revolution. A new king had to be put in power over that part of my life.
Source: David du Plessis - From "A Man Called Mr. Pentecost", as told to Bob Slosser, Ch. 18, pp 158-159
"the same Spirit creates diversity and unity"
A new people. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came down from heaven, in the form of “divided tongues, as of fire… [that] rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages” (Acts 2:3-4). This is how the word of God describes the working of the Spirit: first he rests on each and then brings all of them together in fellowship. To each he gives a gift, and then gathers them all into unity. In other words, the same Spirit creates diversity and unity, and in this way forms a new, diverse and unified people: the universal Church. First, in a way both creative and unexpected, he generates diversity, for in every age he causes new and varied charisms to blossom. Then he brings about unity: he joins together, gathers and restores harmony: “By his presence and his activity, the Spirit draws into unity spirits that are distinct and separate among themselves” (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, XI, 11). He does so in a way that effects true union, according to God’s will, a union that is not uniformity, but unity in difference.
Source: Pope Francis - "Santa Messa nella Solennità di Pentecoste, 04.06.2017", Vatican website, 6 April 2017, http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2017/06/04/0387/00862.html#INGL
Benjamin Berger
September 5: Repentance service at Christ Church
It is not very well known that UK and Germany shared the first protestant bishopric in Ottoman Jerusalem. Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem is the best known and most visible of this blessed period, which came to an abrupt and painful end in the 1880s. In a service, conducted by Canon Andrew White and witnessed by Messianic leader Benjamin Berger, this sin was brought before the Lord. In a letter to British intercessors GPC reported this memorable event to our friends in the UK.
Source: Global Prayer Call - Posted on their FB page 28 Sept 2016
Daniel's Identificational Repentance Led To ...
The result of Daniel's prayer, fasting, and identificational repentance was that the angel sent to him on the second occasion broke through the opposition of the demonic principalities of Persia and Greece (Dan. 10:13, 20). Because there was spiritual breakthrough, God's desire was fulfilled to open the way for Daniel’s people to return to Jerusalem and to reveal to Daniel by the angel of God what God's redemptive plan was for Israel in world history--that the anointed Messiah of Israel would establish God's Kingdom over Israel and all nations (Dan. 7:13-14, 26-27; 9:2ff., 25ff.; 12:1-3). In fact, Daniel’s intercession seems to have been answered by the Lord releasing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem from Babylonia, since Ezra 1, describing the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, and Daniel 9, describing Daniel’s prayer and repentance, are both dated to the first year of Cyrus’s rule, 539/38 B.C.
Source: Dr. Gary S. Greig - The Biblical Foundations of Identificational Repentance as One Prayer Pattern Useful to Advance God's Kingdom and Evangelism, April 2001
Baptists & Catholic Churches ... Sharing a Building?
A warm and friendly relationship between the two faith communities has developed. All agree that respect has been key. The Baptist and Catholic communities work hard to share the building and to be good neighbors. The Catholic congregation keeps the necessary items for Mass on carts at the back of the church. They set up for Mass and then meticulously return the space to its original configuration so that it’s ready for Baptist Sunday School and worship.
The Catholic and Baptist communities share more than just a church building. Friendships have been formed and strengthened. They pray for each other regularly and assist each other when needed. In January, the Catholic community treated their Baptist hosts to an afternoon meal and social time in appreciation for their hospitality.
“It’s [the fire] bringing the (larger) community closer together,” remarked Pastor Buck. “It has really been a blessing.”
Source: Frank Lesko - "After the Fire", Posted 3 Jan 2017 on Glenmary Home Missioners, http://www.glenmary.org/after-the-fire/
K. Albert Little
Until I, as an evangelical Protestant, met some halfway decent Catholics I had no idea what they believed. Likewise, if it wasn’t for my Anglican friend I’d have no ideas how gosh darn similar we actually are.
It’s not until we actively begin to reach out and meet each other where we are that we can begin to take down these walls, brick by brick.
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/
"Satanic Pentecostalism"
c) “Satanic” Pentecostalism in Germany
Equally, Evangelicals’ former exclusion of Pentecostals from the camp of the faithful is yet another example of over-extended essentials. In the highly influential 1909 statement adopted by a large section of German Evangelicals in the so-called “Berlin Declaration,” the Pentecostals were judged to have so compromised the essentials of the Christian faith by their beliefs and practices that they were actually dismissed in print as demonic, the exact words being:
"The so-called Pentecostal Movement is not from above, but from below; it has many phenomena in common with spiritism. Demons are at work in it which, craftily led by Satan, mix lies and truth, in order to mislead the children of God. In many cases, the so-called ‘Spirit-gifted’ have subsequently proved to be possessed. In the conviction, that this movement is from below … [we note] the healings, tongues, prophecies, etc., by which the movement is accompanied. Such signs were ever connected with similar movements, for example with ... spiritism. "
Thankfully, a significant measure of reconciliation was reached between the so-called “charismatic” and “non-charismatic” wings of Evangelicalism in Germany with the 1996 signing in Kassel of an accord between the German Evangelical Alliance and the Union of Freechurch Pentecostal Congregations (Bund Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden) whereby they expressed mutual respect for each other in the midst of their doctrinal differences. (Anon 1996) That it took nearly ninety years to reach this accord again indicates the proclivity we Evangelicals have of hardening our denominational distinctives into wider tests of true Christianity.
Source: Paul Miller - "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller
One In Heart & Mind
On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’
... Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind.
Source: Bible - Acts 4:24-30
Evangelicals & Catholics
While this way of putting it might make some evangelicals uncomfortable, others have already started using the resources this Pope has made accessible and attractive to the world. It is obvious that Charles Colson and Billy Graham pay more attention to the writings of the Holy Father and take them to heart more readily than do some dissenting Catholic priests and theologians. Pat Robertson for a time was sending copies of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a gift to friends, while some Catholics view the Catechism as oppressive and authoritarian. It could even be argued that Campus Crusade and Prison Fellowship have done more to advance the Church of Mary than entire theology departments of some Catholic universities. These evangelical leaders recognize that Catholics and evangelicals share the same gospel, the same deposit of faith, and especially in recent decades, the same evangelical and apostolic imperative.
Source: Daniel P. Moloney - "Evangelicals in the Church of Mary", First Things, December 2000, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2000/12/evangelicals-in-the-church-of-mary
See How He Loved Him
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Source: Bible - John 11:33