"Repenting is hard, particularly when ..."

Third, as we begin to grasp our own contribution to the deep divisions that exist among believers, and the ways we have wronged in word, thought, and deed, in personal acts and unjust structures, we need to repent. Repenting is to call our own sins for what they are, to acknowledge them to God, and the wronged person as wrong, to come to terms with the real hurt and harm we have caused, and to acknowledge our intent, with God’s help to live differently and to determine what that difference will look like. Often we need to do this with the offended.

Repenting is hard, particularly when we think the other might have more to repent of than do we. Often the others think it the other way around. The question sometimes is simply, who will end the rounds of accusations and begin the process of repentance and restoration?

Source: Robert C Trube - rtrube54, "The Scandal of the Church in America: Part Two", Bob on Books, 14 Feb 2017, https://bobonbooks.com/2017/02/14/the-scandal-of-the-church-in-america-part-two/

New Mexico Prays

New Mexico Prays is a cross-denominational, multi-ethnic, Jesus-centered prayer movement. We have 39 churches in 10 cities covering New Mexico in 24/7 prayer from the Assemblies of God, Calvary Chapel Southwest, Church of God (Anderson, IN), Church of God (Cleveland, TN) Messianic Jews, Catholic, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Full Gospel Baptist, Victory Outreach, Church of Christ, Ministers Fellowship International (MFI), Southern Baptist, and non-denominational. Join the movement today: NewMexicoPrays.org.

Source: New Mexico Prays - From http://www.NewMexicoPrays.org, as posted on FB by Trey Kent, 25 Jan 2017

"... unless you forgive your fellow believers from your heart"

(23) Jesus told the people this parable (story): “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who told his servants to pay back the money they owed him. (24) As he began to settle his accounts, a servant who owed the king about 20 years’ wages was brought to him. (25) Because the servant was not able to pay, the king ordered that he and his family and all that he owned be sold to repay his debt. (26) Hearing this the servant fell on his knees, begging, ‘Please be patient with me, and I will pay you back everything I owe you.’ (27) The king showed mercy toward the servant and forgave him his entire debt and let him go. (28) But when that servant left, he found a fellow servant who owed him about one day’s wages. He grabbed him and began to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay me back all that you owe me!’ (29) His fellow servant fell to his knees, begging him, ‘Please be patient with me, and I will pay you back everything I owe you.’ (30) But he refused to forgive him his debt. Instead, he had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his entire debt. (31) When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very angry and went and told the king everything. (32) Then the king had the servant he had forgiven brought to him and he said, ‘You are a wicked servant! I forgave you of all your debt because you begged me. (33) You should have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you.’ (34) In his anger the king gave him to the jailers to be punished, until he paid back all he owed. (35) This is how my Father in heaven will treat you unless you forgive your fellow believers from your heart.”

Source: Bible (IEB) - Matthew 18:23-35

Joe Tosini, John 17 Movement

It's no secret that division in a family brings harm and pain on many levels. The church which is described as the family of God remains divided. The attitudes and harsh judgements amongst professing Christians have caused deep wounds and centuries of conflicts.

"Father I pray that those who believe in me will be one so the world will know you sent me." That prayer of Jesus in the 17th chapter of the Gospel according to John is the reason Roman Catholics and a variety of Protestant Christians met together on May 23rd, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona.

There was a declaration made that day by those in attendance to see the Church in Phoenix becoming relationally unified in a way that would make the claims of Jesus visibly seen and felt by those within and outside of the church.

My impression of our day but even more of the effort and working together of so many leading up to Saturday's meeting gives me hope that the church in all of its rich diversity can live and work as one family in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Source: Joe Tosini - Founder, John 17 Movement, http://www.john17movement.com/

Bradley Nassif

It is not just the Catholic wing of the historic churches which have elements within them insisting upon a recapture of the central kerygma – which, as Fr. Cantalamessa noted in his talk is sometimes simply called “the Gospel” – but we see this too amongst some of the Orthodox theologians. So Bradley Nassif, a Lebanese Christian who grew up in American in the Antiochan Orthodox Church – and who says, “I am deeply indebted to evangelical Christians who helped bring me into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ during my high school years,” (Gundry & Stamoolis, eds., Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), p. 27 – notes in his article, “Reclaiming the Gospel,” found at < http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/NassifGospel.php > that, “The most urgent need in the Orthodox world today is the need for an aggressive "internal mission" of (re)converting our people to Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ and our life in Him need to be reclaimed as the very centerpiece of Church life…. [T]he basic gospel message […, t]he life-changing message of the forgiveness of sins and new life in Christ must be deliberately applied to the entire sacramental life of the Church.”

Source: Bradley Nassif - “Reclaiming the Gospel,” as quoted in footnote 41 of "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/NassifGospel.php

Small Bricks, Large Wall

I often think about how our marriage might have turned out if we hadn't learned to forgive each other on a daily basis right from the start. So many couples sleep in the same bed and share the same house but remain miles apart inwardly, because they have built up a wall of resentment between themselves. The bricks in this wall may be very small - a forgotten anniversary, a misunderstanding, a business meeting that took precedence over a long-awaited family outing.

Source: Johann Christoph Arnold - Why Forgive?, pp.122

Philip Yancey

And frankly, I think the church in the United States, the more it embeds with politics… Europeans understand where that goes. When the church and the state are seen like this [joins hands], and then the state proves what it is - a flawed and sometimes corrupt system - then the church is judged by this, and rejected. There are countries in Europe where the church is set back for decades and decades, because they have been stained by how they sold their soul for power, I would say. As the United States grows more and more secular, I tell the people there: ‘We are becoming more like the fertile soil in which the early church did best’. Like the Roman Empire, this was a pagan and hostile society in which Christians stood out by being different. When you are in a place like the United States or Europe in its recent past, where the majority will claim to be Christians, but then they look like everyone else, then the people do not understand what the gospel is. But when Christians look radically different from the world around them, then the people can see the difference.

Source: Philip Yancey - "Philip Yancey: US evangelicals should learn from Europe’s history of religion and power", Evangelical Focus Newsletter, 23 September 2016, http://evangelicalfocus.com/world/1951/Philip_Yancey_US_evangelicals_should_learn_from_Europes_history_of_religion_and_power_

Sister Constance

Meet the nuns who put an end to the French Revolution. "The first to sing as she ascended was the youngest of the Carmelites, Sister Constance. Called by the executioners, she knelt before her Mother Superior, asked her blessing and permission to die, and then placed herself beneath the guillotine without any need of assistance or force. Each of the remaining nuns followed in exactly the same manner. During the executions, no sounds could be heard save the singing of the sisters, their chorus reduced one by one, and the remorseless slicing of the guillotine. The customary drum roll did not take place, and no one in the crowd cheered, laughed, or mocked the victims."

Source: Author Unknown - As posted by David Gabler on FB, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYq614xqnlI

Cliff Hunter

We don't see eye to eye but I pray one day that we'll arrive
At a place where grace and love abide, where differences are put aside.
For the sake of peace we'll murder pride, stop breeding death, start speaking life,
And maybe we could spend some time seeing the world through the other's eyes.
Forgiving more, condemning less, stop adding to this awful mess.
Praying to see the other blessed, sharing those things inside these chests.
I'm guilty but don't wanna be, this sin just comes so naturally,
But I repent, I wanna see our mutual prosperity!
----------- Chorus ---------------
So please believe that I'm sorry. I know I'm wrong, I often am.
You've got the right to be angry. If you stay mad, I'll understand.
But you should know that I feel guilty. It isn't right, those things I've done.
So please forgive me and I'll try harder to love you better, so much better from now on!
----------------------------------
Oh You're special but you never know. I hardly ever let it show,
the way I really feel inside, shrouded in my fear and pride.
And God forbid I let you see the most authentic parts of me.
The shame of my impurity or the pain and insecurity,
But never mind the reasons why, the fact is that you're God's and I have judged you as if you were mine.
This is where I draw the line.
I'm choosing now to put your needs before my own
And happily die to self and try my best to love you more and love me less.

Source: Cliff Hunter - From Now On, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxoLizX1fIk&feature=youtu.be

"On the road to full unity"

Greeting the German delegation in his private library, Francis sought to give new impetus to the effort toward Christian unity. He encouraged evangelicals and Catholics, when considering an ecumenical initiative, to ask themselves: “Can we share it with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we do another stretch of the road together?

“We have the same baptism: We must walk together, without growing tired,” Francis said. There is no going back on the road to unity he assured the delegation; Catholics and evangelicals must “continue to witness together to the Gospel and to continue on the road to full unity.”

Source: Gerard O'Connell - "German Evangelical Church issues historic invite to Pope Francis", America : The Jesuit Review, 6 Feb 2017, http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/02/06/german-evangelical-church-issues-historic-invite-pope-francis

Theopolis

What kind of churches do we at Theopolis dream of? Churches like these:
....
Cities where all the churches pray and worship and labor together, where the pastors serve the interests of the city, speaking with one voice to civic leaders. Pastoral associations that include representatives of every church—Evangelical, mainline, charismatic, Catholic, Orthodox. Local pastoral associations that discuss theological differences, and do so honestly, vigorously, charitably, striving toward a common confession of the faith.

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

Dennis Jernigan

However, this doesn't happen in the pulpit. For Jernigan and his family, ground zero of the fight against sin begins in their living room.

"Even to this day, my wife and I (host a) meeting every Wednesday night where people can come," Jernigan says. "It's just like Vegas: what happens in the living room, stays in the living room. People feel safe."

If believers genuinely want to change the culture, here's where the rubber meets the road, Jernigan says: "What if every believer in America saw their home and family as a conduit of healing? We'd change the culture overnight.

"Stop expecting church, church leadership to minister to people we're involved with. Never once did we go to barn to get the harvest, but we went to the field. ... We are all as new creations called to be ministers of reconciliation."

Source: Dennis Jernigan - Quoted by Jessilyn Justice in "Ex-Gay Songwriter Believes You May Be Born Gay, but It Doesn't Matter", Charisma Magazine, 2 Dec 2015, http://www.charismamag.com/life/culture/25004-ex-gay-songwriter-believes-you-may-be-born-gay-but-it-doesn-t-matter

Amy Cogdell

When I was younger, I used to believe that all the great Catholic Christians of history would have been Protestants if they had only had the opportunity or sound teaching. The more I read of their writing, the more I understand that they were truly Catholic with all the particular quirks of Catholic spirituality . Many of my favorite writers are from the Counter-Reformation and they spoke out strongly against the reformers. I often like to think of them in heaven, singing next to the Wesley brothers.

Source: Amy Cogdell - Personal correspondence

"The past shapes the present"

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: 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

From Conflict to Communion

“The meeting in Lund stems from a process of dialogue spanning several decades,” said the Rev. Michael Bjerkhagen, official chaplain to the king of Sweden. “A milestone in this process was the document, ‘From Conflict to Communion,’ signed in 2013. In this document Lutherans and Catholics express sorrow and regret at the pain that they have caused each other, but also gratitude for the theological insights that both parties have contributed.”

Source: Catholic News Service - "Sorrow and joy: Marking the Reformation with honesty about the past", 28 October 2016, https://cnstopstories.com/2016/10/28/sorrow-and-joy-marking-the-reformation-with-honesty-about-the-past/

Early History of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

In 1913, the Faith and Order Commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church published a leaflet promoting prayer for unity on Whitsunday and in 1915 published a Manual of Prayer for Unity. The preparatory Conference on Faith and Order at Geneva in 1920 appealed for a special week of prayer for Christian unity ending with Whitsunday. Faith and Order continued to issue “Suggestions for an Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity” until 1941 when it changed the dates for its week to that of the January Octave. In this way, Christians, who for reasons of conscience, could not join with others in prayer services could share in united prayer at the same time. These various efforts while not attaining wide observance among the churches was to pave the way for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which came to be observed widely throughout Christendom.

Source: Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A. - "BACKGROUND: Brief History of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017", by Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A., Associate Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, http://geii.org/week_of_prayer_for_christian_unity/background/brief_history.html

Pope's Message to Taizé Youth Gathering

Young Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic Christians, by these days lived in real fraternity you manifest your desire to be protagonists of history and not let others decide your future. The Pope encourages you to stand firm in hope by letting the Lord live in your hearts and your daily lives. With Jesus, the faithful friend who never disappoints, you will be able to walk along the path toward the future with joy and devote your talents and abilities for the good of all.

Source: Pope Francis - As quoted in "Pope sends message to Taizé youth gathering" by Vatican Radio, 27 Dec 2016, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/12/27/pope_sends_message_to_taize_youth_gathering/1281913

Bergoglio & Cantalamessa

Long before he became pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was practising this “ecumenical ecumenism” in Buenos Aires, giving his support to huge joint Catholic-evangelical meetings in Luna Park stadium.
Two of them were attended by Cantalamessa, who was deeply impressed by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires’s extraordinary openness to the current of Grace. “I’ve never seen a bishop in front of an interconfessional audience declare, ‘this is the Church’,” he told me during a break on Thursday.

Source: Austen Ivereigh - "Jubilee in Rome highlights charismatic fruits in Francis’s Pentecost papacy", Crux, 3 June 2017, https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/06/03/jubilee-rome-highlights-charismatic-fruits-franciss-pentecost-papacy/

The Bishop of Gozo

Why did the Bishop of Gozo make this gesture? Here are a few thoughts:

1) Jesus prayed to the Father that Christians would be one in him and the Father is answering this prayer. (John 17)

2) There is a rising tide of Christians from all traditions whose passion is to offer themselves to see this prayer of Jesus become a growing reality in our day.

3) The Holy Spirit is breaking down barriers and opening up unimaginable possibilities.

4) This Bishop is simply following the example of Pope Francis.

Source: Ryan Thurman - "Signs of Hope: A Lenten Surprise", A2J Blog post on 2 March 2017, http://www.a2jphoenix.org/blog/signs-of-hope-a-lenten-surprise