Gideon

The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”

Source: Samuel - Judges 8:22-23 (NIV)

Identifying With The Sins Of The Nation

In responding to the broken heart of God, we need to identify with the sins of the nation in personal and corporate repentance. Even though Nehemiah was apparently a very righteous man and innocent of the specific sins that the nation of Israel had committed, when he prayed for the restoration of Israel he prayed as a member of the guilty nation, identifying with their sins, saying "I and my father's house have sinned." (Nehemiah 1:6-7) Ezra went even further when he said, "Oh my God: I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquitiies have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens" (Ezra 9:4) Both Ezra and Nehemiah were righteous men, but they so identified with the people that they were interceding for that they considered themselves guilty with them. You may be a righteous person who is not involved in any direct way with the vices present in your nation, but there is no temptation which is not common to humanity (1 Cor. 10:13). We can all identify with the roots of any given sin, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)

Source: John Dawson - What Every Christian Should Know About Reconciliation, p. 20

Vatican II & the Elderly Methodist Woman

It is no accident that the greatest Catholic reform in centuries - Vatican II - occurred after a half-century of intense Protestant ecumenism. I wonder: To which Protestants’ prayers was Vatican II the answer? I’d like to think that Vatican II was the Lord’s answer to the prayers of an elderly Methodist woman worried about her Catholic grandchildren.

Source: Peter Leithart - "Protest into Prayer", First Things Blog, 2 May 2014, https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2014/05/prayers-for-protestants

Police Chief Louis Dekmar

Callaway's lynching lived in whispers among African-Americans of that era. As they passed on, in the absence of official records, media accounts or a gravestone, Callaway faded from the town's collective memory.
Almost no one in LaGrange today knew Austin Callaway's name until recently -- not his descendants, not the local NAACP president, not the mayor, not even Police Chief Louis Dekmar.

As the chief learned more about the lynching, he came to understand how it strained relations between his force and the African-American community. He decided it was time to apologize for law enforcement's role and acknowledge its impact on community relations.

"The past shapes the present," he said in an interview before the event.

Source: Police Chief Louis Dekmar - Louis Dekmar, Police Chief of LaGrange Georgia, as quoted in "'Justice failed Austin Callaway': Town attempts to atone for 1940 lynching", Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, 28 Jan 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/us/lagrange-georgia-callaway-1940-lynching/index.html

Belfast

After our Ecumenical Ash Wednesday service (a first for Belfast), I can't help but think of that line from the film, Field of Dreams...'If you build it, he (they) will come.' We didn't know how many people would come and nor was it a factor in our coming together, but approximately 200 people showed up with humble penitent hearts and a hunger for God. The Spirit is at work in our city. Yet another sign of the kingdom of God in our midst.

Source: Robin Waugh - As posted on Martin Magill's FB page, Ash Wednesday 2020

Max Josef Metzger

Max Josef Metzger
Priest and Martyr (1887–1944)

Max Metzger, who was born in a small German village, was ordained as a priest shortly before the outbreak of World War I. His experience at the front, serving as an army chaplain, inspired a deep revulsion for war and a determination to devote himself to the cause of peace and reconciliation.

After the war he founded the World Congress of Christ the King, a movement dedicated to Christian unity and international peace. He was also an early pioneer in the ecumenical movement, working to promote dialogue between Catholics and Protestants in a movement called Una Sancta.

With the rise of the Nazis, Metzger came into regular conflict with the state. Beginning in January 1934 he was repeatedly arrested, but in each case the Gestapo failed to charge him. Finally, in June 1943, after the interception of secret letters he had written to foreign bishops, he was charged with treason and sentenced to death. He responded with disdain: “I knew there was no shame, only honor, in being declared dishonorable by such a court.”

On April 17, 1944, after spending most of a year in jail, much of it in irons, he was told to prepare himself for death. Kneeling to pray, he said, “Now, Lord Jesus, I come quickly.” He then walked calmly to the guillotine.

“I have offered my life to God for the peace of the world and the unity of the church. If God takes it I will be happy; if He grants me a still longer life I will also be thankful. As God wills!”

Source: Author Unknown - Posted by Michael Tessman on Greg Metzger's FB page, 18 Apr 2020

Catholic/Lutheran Dialogue

Thank you Stephen. I think the Catholic/Lutheran dialogue for unity is a wonderful model for listening and growing into unity not by compromising but rather but seeking reconciled unity, which allows for the honest tension of “unity in diversity.” The U.S. government once encouraged this process but money, partisanship and power have helped to break it all down.

Source: John Armstrong - Response to an online comment to "America Divided: Why Christian Unity Matters More Than Ever", 28 Feb 2017, http://johnharmstrong.com/america-divided-why-christian-unity-matters-more-than-ever/

A Cardinal Honors Anabaptists

Reflecting upon the Acts of the Apostles during paschaltide is an examination of conscience to see if we are loyal to the characteristics of our first-generation Christian ancestors.

If we’re lucky, we have attractive models today who base their daily lives on the gospel and the paradigm of the Acts of the Apostles.

We here in the archdiocese are indeed so fortunate, as we enjoy friendship with such a remarkable community, the Bruderhof.

And, these Easter days, we are particularly united with them as they commend their Senior Elder, Pastor Johann Christoph Arnold, to eternity.

Source: Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan - "Radical Discipleship Lived in Our Midst", Catholic New York, 27 April 2017, http://www.cny.org/stories/radical-discipleship-lived-in-our-midst,15453

Harder In Practice Than Theory

Forgiveness is harder in practice than in theory.

Authentic forgiveness is a hard business, as any crime and justice reporter trying to fashion an article on the topic will confirm.

The exceptional instance of a victim truly forgiving a criminal is tough to find and then evaluate by conventional journalistic standards. And even those opportunities come along only a few times in a reporter’s career.

Source: Mark Morris - "Forgiveness is Harder in Practice than in Theory," Mark Morris, The Kansas City Star, 1 March 2015, http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/local-columnists/article11877386.html#storylink=cpy

Jemar Tisby

First, I believe in the church. I will not break fellowship with her or any of her people based on politics. Jesus Christ himself prayed for the unity of believers. “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11b). Christ wants his church to be unified, so it is in the name of Christian unity that I must speak honestly.

Source: Jemar Tisby - "Trump's Election and Feeling 'Safe' in White Evangelical Churches", Reformed African American Network, 18 Nov 2016, https://www.raanetwork.org/trumps-election-feeling-safe-white-evangelical-churches/

I Had Failed

I started asking God for a repentant heart. And God, who answers prayer, responded. Shipwrecked on the rocks of a difficult relationship, I had to face reality. I had failed. I was incapable of truly loving someone who made life hard for me. God convicted me of my sin and gave me a contrite heart.

Source: M. Basilea Schlink - Repentance: The Joy-Filled Life, p. 16

John Armstrong

I am convinced that some Christians, and a growing number of congregations, are experiencing something previously unknown in American church history: Catholics and Protestants are learning to interact with one another in gracious ways. They are forming friendships not possible before. Even within the Eastern Orthodox Church, a church that very few Americans understand, similar relationships are forming, though on a vastly smaller scale. Thus there are people in all three of the great Christian traditions who are actually learning how to love one another. They are finding out that what unites them is greater than what divides them. I believe this has to be the work of God's Spirit.

Source: John Armstrong - Your Church is Too Small, p. 23

We Are One Body

What kind of churches do we at Theopolis dream of? Churches like these:
....
Protestants who recognize that they are already members of a Church where some venerate icons, some believe in transubstantiation, some slaughter peaceful Muslim neighbors, some believe in papal infallibility and Mary’s immaculate conception. For we are one body.

Source: Peter Leithart - Theopolis Institute blog, "Reformational Catholicism, A Wish List", 20 October 2016, https://theopolisinstitute.com/reformational-catholicism-a-wish-list/

An Evangelical Honoring the Catholic & Orthodox Churches

The book is catholic in the sense that it respects the beliefs and practices of the historic churches. Truths about the Spirit are scattered throughout segments of a divided church and ought to be gathered from anywhere and everywhere. We are bound in the Spirit to believers of every continent and every century. Therefore I have dipped into the treasures of Catholic and Orthodox traditions in ways that I had not done before and have found affinities that surprised and delighted me.

Source: Clark H. Pinnock - Introduction to "Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit", p. 18

John Dawson

Go Global

Why not be part of something big? Remember the wounds of the world we discussed in chapter three? You can be part of the answer. During the writing of this journey I took a prayer journey … [Stories from Spanish prayer journey, including the council of Elvira with the 1st anti-semitic decrees by Christian leaders] ... This prayer journey was just the beginning of the "Gates of Iberia" initiative, which in turn is part of a worldwide initiative towards healing the foundational rift between Jew and Gentile in the church, stemming from 140 A.D. A reconciliation movement has already been launched in Spain, which, while focused on messianic Jews, is already having a profound effect on relationships between Catholic and Protestant. There will be many more catalyst events and prayer journeys in Spain and throughout the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world. This will undergird Christian repentance proclamations to the general Jewish communities. You could be a part of something like this. ... Get connected, join an initiative, be a part of the answer to the prayer of Jesus: "I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved me." (John 17:23 NIV)

Source: John Dawson - What Every Christian Should Know About Reconciliation, pp. 52-54

Nate Bacon

I am convinced that the deep collective wounds of Canada, the US, Guatemala, and indeed all of the Americas, cannot be healed without humbly looking into our sordid past, and seeking sincere and life-transfiguring reconciliation with the African-American community, and with the Native Peoples of our continents.

Source: Nate Bacon - Ministry newsletter on 1 Sept 2017

A Breach in the Church in Scotland

It is an interesting question discussed by historians whether the Scottish Reformation could have been avoided. The most plausible answer seems to be “no,” given the condition of the late medieval/early modern Church, and the political ambitions and avarice of the nobility. What is slowly coming to be recognized, however, is that it represented not only a ‘disruption,' as was later suffered in the 19th century within the Kirk itself, but a breach that has weakened Christianity in the country and is now leading to the death of the reformed part of it.

Source: John Haldane - A Tale of Two Cities - And of Two Churches, First Things, 23 Oct 2015, https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/10/a-tale-of-two-citiesand-of-two-churches

Austin Callaway's Descendants

Callaway's descendants, who only learned about him recently, welcomed the occasion as a chance to right wrongs and bring about healing in the community.

Deborah Tatum, whose grandfather was the brother of Callaway's father, learned his name and his story in 2014 while researching genealogy. She was surprised to learn about the terrible secret but could understand why her relatives may have kept it hidden.

Source: Emanuella Grinberg, CNN - "'Justice failed Austin Callaway': Town attempts to atone for 1940 lynching", Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, 28 Jan 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/us/lagrange-georgia-callaway-1940-lynching/index.html

Pray By Name For ...

I heard another great prayer idea by Southern Baptist Pastor Dean Anderson from Trenton, KY. He offers this advice: "Pray by name for the other churches in town." Here is an example of how he does this: "I pray that the Father will bless them, use them and grow them to build His Kingdom." This can be added to your individual and community prayer intentions.

Source: Dean Anderson - Southern Baptist Pastor from Trenton, KY, as quoted by Frank Lesko, "The Traveling Ecumenist", in his blog post "Lenten Practices for Christian Unity", 17 February 2015, http://travelingecumenist.blogspot.com/2015/02/lenten-practices-for-christian-unity.html