1st Experience of the Greek Orthodox Church

… She and I went to the first day of ecumenical prayer week for Christian Unity together. It was my first experience of a Greek Orthodox service. It was such a joy to be invited into another expression of the church. The week continues and I hope to get to one more service. ...

Source: As quoted in a ministry eNewsletter from the Middle East in 2017 (name withheld due to sensitivity)

Representing Evangelicals to the Catholic Diocese

2010. Our new Phoenix Bishop Olmstead asked me and another friend to present him with a list of a dozen or so key evangelical pastors and leaders, which the Bishop invited to a luncheon at the Diocesan Center. He told us that mainline churches have a point person, as do the Mormons. (We have three Mormon temples in Phoenix.) But no one person speaks for Evangelicals. The meeting was a first for many, maybe most of the people in room. The bishop’s purpose was to call us together around our shared concerns about religious liberty, life, and family and he shared his remarkable faith journey.

2013-Present. I’ve been told that, at the time or our lunch meeting with Bishop Olmstead, he was more interested in shared activism than in deep and personal fellowship. That changed dramatically three years ago. A dear friend and colleague, Joe Tosini, who has residences in Phoenix and Long Island, reconnected with his Italian friends Giovanni Traettino, a Pentecostal pastor, and Mateo Calisi, appointed by St. John Paul II to lead the Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church. (It’s estimated that there are 150 million Catholics who have had a deep personal experience with the Holy Spirit.)

Source: Gary Kinnaman - Presented during Movement Day NYC, representing the John 17 movement and Greater Phoenix and Arizona Catholic/Evangelical Bridges, as posted on the John 17 FB page on 1 November 2016.

They Began To Pray

10 – Hanna (and I) began to pray prayers of blessing. “Come Lord Jesus. Redeem the past. Manifest your kingdom. Bless the Eifel and its people.”

11 – A Jewish follower of the Jewish Messiah had returned, in fulfillment of God’s calling to her people Israel—to bless the Gentiles. Genesis 12:3

Source: George Miley - Maturing Toward Wholeness in the Inner Life, Chapter 1, "Restore the Ancient Anointings"

Martin's Story (written by Herr Martin)

The scene is dramatic: in 1517 young monk and professor, Dr. Martin Luther, stands barefoot in the snow, leaning against the wind to hold up a roll of parchment with one hand while driving nails into the wooden church door with the other. But today (2013) the small print on a brass plaque at the actual Schlosskirche site issues only a disclaimer, stating: “The historicity of the act is disputed.” Did the historic victory for freedom of conscience ever occur at all? Some scholars dispute it; others defend it based on near-contemporary evidence from Luther’s friends and confidants. Although it is known that Luther sent copies of his 95 complaints (or theses) to the Bishop of Mainz before October 31st, 1517, the modern debate over exactly when and where he made them public has revealed some unexpected turns.

Born to peasant parents in 1483, Luther had been an excellent and serious student of music and Latin, paving the way to his studies at the University in Erfurt. He was on track to study law and pursue a life of public service when he had the terrifying experience of being caught in a violent thunderstorm. He cried out to St. Anne for deliverance and vowed to become a monk if he survived. He did, and made good on that vow, much to the chagrin of his father and his close friends. Joining what was considered a particularly strict Augustinian monastery in 1505, nothing in his prior life would have led anyone to expect him to challenge the authority of the Pope . . . except his extraordinary piety and love of the Bible. He took the biblical injunctions against greed, acquisitiveness, and love of power to heart and was outraged by the corruption he saw in the church of his day. This outrage drove him to invite the Church’s bishops to debate him publically on ninety-five questions concerning the nature of salvation and the role of indulgences: The 95 Theses.
​
At first Luther hoped only to serve as a corrective voice, a goad to the church’s conscience that would prompt the church to inner reform. In particular, he wanted to see the church put an end to accepting money for religious services, a practice that had led to widespread corruption. What surprised him and drove him to greater and greater antipathy in his disillusionment was that many of the men entrusted with the spiritual leadership of the Church did not want to be challenged to reform. Cardinal Cajetan, who interrogated Luther in Augsburg in 1518, one year after the issue of the theses, began by showing real concern for Luther’s fidelity to the Bible, but became incensed by Luther’s refusal to submit to the Pope’s authority. Rather than reforming the suspect practices, the Pope ultimately denounced the would-be voice of conscience as “The damned heretic Martin Luther, son of Perdition.” Luther, who wrote so eloquently of grace, failed to give any grace when the Catholic Church rejected him. His view of the Pope eroded, changing from his “Blessed Father,” who Luther thought was a persuadable victim of bad counsel from corrupt courtiers, to being “The Anti-Christ in Rome.”

With this turn in his writings, Luther laid the groundwork for centuries of animosity and mistrust between the new Protestant Christians (called ‘Evangelicals’ in his day in Germany), and Catholic Christians. Several of his most important writings, the commentary On Good Works, On the Lord’s Prayer, The Freedom of the Christian, and Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation were issued during a period of intense conflict between November of 1517 and January of 1521, when he was finally excommunicated. The writings of this period show a relentless devotion to the message of salvation through the grace of God, a passionate concern for the spiritual welfare of the everyday man, and an increasingly uncompromising, almost dualistic view of the moral natures of the Reformers who were joining his cause and the Catholic authorities arrayed against them. The lasting good that came from this period is the establishment of freedom of conscience, an element in modern nation-states, while the enduring harm has been the readiness of each group to deny that very freedom to members of the other.

Lamentably Luther’s relationship with the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation followed a parallel course, so much so that Luther is now viewed by many as “the father of modern anti-Semitism.” His relationship with the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire did not begin with hostility, though. In 1523 he published a best-selling pamphlet entitled That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew, denouncing the degrading and cruel treatment of Jews by Christians in Europe. “If the Jews of the early church had treated us [pagans] the way that we treat the Jews today, no pagan would have ever become a Christian,” he wrote. He called for Christians to treat Jews with love and respect with the aim that they convert.

Encouraged by his pamphlet, Josel von Rosheim, Commander of Jewry of the Holy Roman Empire, wrote to Luther and asked him for a personal meeting. Luther refused brusquely. “It was not my intention to encourage you in your errors,” he wrote, rejecting the request for dialogue. From there, Luther’s attitude toward the Jews deteriorated over the years, reaching its nadir in his last sermon, von Schem Hamphoras und sein Geschlecht, a hate-filled tirade that paved the way for modern anti-Semitism. Again, in Luther’s character, disillusionment and bitterness took and held the upper hand over perseverance in grace, a central irony in the life of the man whose name is synonymous, to many, with the words “sola gratia” (grace alone). In both his relationship with the Catholic leadership and between the Jews of Germany and Christians, his legacy has shaped the world we live in for five centuries now.

Approaching the 500th anniversary of the act that began the Reformation, it is clear that Luther’s undeniable, world-shaping influence has been alternately beneficial and harmful to civilization. The reforms he sought in the church did come, but only later, at great cost, and with no contemporary admission that many of his criticisms had been accurate- these only came later as well. Reparation of the division in Christianity that his preaching brought about has only recently begun, through documents such as the Lutheran-Catholic Statement on the Eucharist from 1967 and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification from 1999. The work is on-going, and the sincere prayer of this author is that leaders in the Catholic Church and Protestant churches be moved by the Holy Spirit toward the fulfilment of Jesus’ High Priestly prayer of John 17 as they travel together into the next 500 years of Christian witness on earth.

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

A Buzzing Church

As we walked back to our apartment, we passed a large neo-gothic building as a couple emerged from a side door. Curiosity drew us inside. To our amazement we discovered a huge ornately-decorated church buzzing with several hundred worshippers. Was there something special happening here? we asked. ‘Oh no,’ we were told, ‘this church is filled every week with Protestant and Catholics worshipping together.’ Over 800 had recently come there for a Christmas meal, we learned.

Source: Jeff Fountain - "A Godly City?", Weekly Word eNewsletter, 5 Mar 2018, https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=14bc9e9338

Patty's Story

When I was a teenager I displayed my history and theology geekery to its fullest during Halloween. As everyone walked around in various levels of dazed sugar highs and dressed as alter egos, I would proclaim to anyone interested or listening, “Happy Reformation Day!”

It was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This simple act done by a Catholic monk and theologian was a pivotal act in history that sparked the Protestant Reformation. 2017 marks the 500-year anniversary of this event.

It was significant to me as a youth because I had undergone a reformation of my own. Against all odds as a Thai American, I grew up in a family of Christian faith. It’s estimated that there are only 300,000 Thai Catholics worldwide. Thailand is a Buddhist country and less than 5% of its population counts itself as something other than Buddhist. Thanks to French missionaries that came to Thailand in the 1700s, I count it a privilege that my family has worshipped at St. Xavier Parish in the heart of Bangkok for generations. I also need to thank my tenacious maternal grandmother who had the forethought to ensure one condition in my parents’ informal prenup - all of their children were to be raised Catholic.

I’m also a member of a living community of people who have had a sublime, metaphysical, faith experience. In some cultures, people refer to this as being “born again”. Whatever those connotations, I can at least affirm that it was a life-changing experience for me. In fact, it happened to me while I was in junior high. Since I attended a school that was grades 7-12, when I graduated, I was voted “most philosophical” as well as “most changed.” It’s a memory that is real, and deeply personal. It changed me then, and continues to shape who I am now.

​For example, I love science fiction. I often think that I find this genre appealing because the idea of an alternate reality or a portal to another world isn’t so far-fetched to me. Even though I’m an intelligent, rational person, I touched, saw, and experienced something other. Not only do I believe in a God, I believe God is good and mysteriously powerful enough to care about me personally and still manage to handle the weight of the world.

It was after this experience that my faith and worldview began to expand beyond my Catholic upbringing. After meeting God in such a visceral way, I had an unquenchable thirst to know more about the God that I’d met. My family went through a lot of grief as they watched me go through a “rebellious” stage as I began to question things at the parish I attended, at my Confirmation classes, and in my family. I went through a vitriolic apostasy phase. At age thirteen I found myself sitting in the reference section of the city library reading extremely large, bound, hard copies of the Encyclopedia of Religion. I am thankful to many friends who invited me to different churches and youth groups of various non-denominational and mainline Protestant churches. That was my first experience with non-Catholic Christians and it felt foreign. It was in that environment of welcome while feeling a sense of alienation that I had an epiphany about a fundamental aspect of my Christian faith - I could own it. What did this Thai American have in common with Latin and German speaking, white, male monks like Luther or Augustine? Same God, same faith, same family, same tradition. I could own it like I owned my family tree.

Through providential circumstances I also attended a small evangelical Christian college in the Midwest. I was culture shocked in more ways than one. As a native Southern Californian, I learned the definitions of the words “cold” and “autumn”. I learned that “15 miles from downtown” meant something completely different in the Midwest than it did in LA. I learned that evangelical Christian culture is a world of its own and also imperfect. As I entered a new phase of apostasy with evangelical Christianity, I found myself making peace with my Catholic tradition. In an evangelical environment that I wanted to disown, I found myself taking refuge in Catholic liturgy that spoke to the inexpressible mysteries of faith in my heart. After much heartache and wrestling, I eventually made peace with my faith “families” both Catholic and Protestant.

The problem with this is that I feel like the child of divorced parents. Along with my personal journey, my love of history makes me aware of centuries of bad blood between Catholics and Protestants, Protestants and Protestants, Christians and Jews . . . The list goes on. I can’t disassociate myself from these traditions because I’ve been adopted into this family, and even if it’s not my fault that there are skeletons in the closet as well as skeletons paraded around public discourse, it’s my family and so I own it and take responsibility for it. And when I examine my own life, I know that I’ve been guilty of closing the door to keep those skeletons from view.

This makes me all the more grateful to be here in this time and place. Today, I write this from a hotel in Berlin, Germany. I have the privilege and honor of serving on the Board for Wittenberg 2017, a movement dedicated to reconciliation through prayer, repentance and unity. Rather than culminating in 2017, the goal is to be a springboard for healing and unity as we gather an international and ecumenical group comprised especially of Catholics, Protestants and Messianic Jews.

While there is a vast amount of diversity within the Church community, most everything that divided us in 1517 doctrinally is no longer an issue. Yet the Church today faces a new set of issues. It is still seen as fragmented rather than diverse, scandalized rather than transforming, hurtful rather than healing.

As we approach 2017 we are truly in a kairos moment. In Greek, “kairos” refers to a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens. Growing up, preachers referred to pregnant women about to give birth as a kairos moment. Another example can be found in physics. This morning I read an article about the physics lab in Cern, Switzerland. Regarding the results of the Higgs mass measurement, there are scientists who believe that our state of the universe is at its least stable. That we are on the verge of a “phase change.” The article made the analogy to “supercooled water poised to freeze or superheated water on the point of boiling.” Like the pregnant woman analogy, one minute you’re pregnant and the next minute you’re not. That’s a kairos moment phase change.

What phase change will the Church undergo post-2017? That is a question I find myself dreaming about and imagining almost daily.

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

Fr. Martin Magill

Fr Magill’s determination to push the boundaries in terms of ecumenical outreach is evident from his practice of what the late Michael Hurley SJ called “ecumenical tithing”.

This means that part of his time each week, usually on a Sunday afternoon or evening is devoted to worshipping in another Christian denomination, sometimes St George’s Church of Ireland in Belfast “a very beautiful very high church”.

He believes this commitment comes from “the imperative I get from Jesus Christ in John 17”.

Fr Magill reveals that it is “only a matter of time before I will worship in a Free Presbyterian church as part of ecumenical tithing”.

He is also working on a list of ten things that Catholics can learn from other denominations and “top of the list is welcoming because 90% of churches do welcoming better then we Catholics”, followed by singing.

Source: Martin O'Brien - "A Quiet Peacemaker", The Irish Catholic, 11 Dec 2014, http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/quiet-peacemaker

John'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

3 Dallas Congregations

Over the past year, the New Baptist Covenant has encouraged “covenants of action” between congregations as vehicles to pursue racial reconciliation. Pastors of three pairs of congregations described their efforts at the summit, including one between Friendship-West Baptist Church and Wilshire Baptist Church, both in Dallas.

“In our journey of thermostatic two-ness we are out to transform the world,” said Frederick Haynes, senior pastor of predominantly black Friendship-West Baptist. “Jesus has sent us out two-by-two to stand up against structures of injustice.”

George Mason, senior pastor of the mainly white Wilshire Baptist, added: “This two-by-two thing is important. It’s about bringing our stories together. The American story is not one story. We want to make it one story, but in doing so, we deny the story of another. We need a two-narrative ecclesiology about the white church and the black church discovering one another.”

The two churches have engaged in pulpit swaps and choir visits and have collaborated to combat predatory lending in Dallas.

“It is clear we can be faithful to Christ’s vision of beloved community only when we walk side-by-side, have each other’s backs and go on this journey together,” Mason said.

Other “covenants of action” highlighted in Atlanta were First Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon, Ga., and First Baptist Church and Providence Baptist Church, both in Greensboro, N.C. Also reporting on their covenant were the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma and churches representing Native American tribes in the state.

Source: Robert Dilday - "Racial reconciliation tough but essential, say leaders at New Baptist Covenant summit", Baptist News Global, 19 September 2016, https://baptistnews.com/article/racial-reconciliation-tough-but-essential-say-leaders-at-new-baptist-covenant-summit/

Michael Phelps & The Purpose Driven Life

Phelps told ESPN that the 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/92191.htm

Brotherly Love Commended

(5) 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. (6) They have told the church (in Ephesus) about your love. Please send them on their journey in a way that honors God. (7) They went out from us (the church in Ephesus) for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ, taking no help from the unbelievers. (8) 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)

A Messianic Jew Looks at Luther

My encounter with Martin Luther brought into sharp focus the place of Luther in the tradition of Christian anti-Judaism and popular anti-semitism in a way that has challenged my own faith perspective, my ability to forgive Luther and Lutherans for the sufferings brought about by him on my people, and a strong desire to see reconciliation between Lutherans, Jews and Jewish Christians today.

Source: Richard Harvey - "A Messianic Jew Looks at Luther", https://lutherandthejews.com/2017/02/09/a-messianic-jew-looks-at-luther/

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

Europe - Founding & Present State

The Rome ceremony of March 25, 1957, is currently being referred to in the media as ‘the birth of the European project’; yet the official birth-date is May 9, 1950, when Robert Schuman presented his surprise proposal for the pooling of French and German coal and steel industries in a three-minute speech in Paris.

In what must surely count as ‘the defining moment of post-war Europe’, Schuman’s Declaration laid the foundation of the European house in which today 500 million Europeans from 28 (soon to be 27) nations live together in peace. This is why May 9, and not March 25, is called Europe Day. This fact remains a best-kept secret in some of the founding member nations like the Netherlands, but is widely known in newer member nations like Slovenia, which I visited last week.
...
Today, once more, Europe is at a crossroads. That is nothing new. The history of the European project is a story of many crises, each one another uncertain step towards an unknown future. Schuman himself lived through many crises, buoyed by his Christian faith and his commitment to ‘a democratic model of governance which through reconciliation develops into a community of peoples in freedom, equality, solidarity and peace and which is deeply rooted in Christian basic values’.

Source: Jeff Fountain - "That Roman Plot", Weekly Word eNewsletter, 27 March 2017, http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=0ec5e383c4&e=0b86898e11

Ballymacilhoyle

With the benefit of hindsight, Fr Magill (53), one of the region’s best known priests and a regular broadcaster and tweeter, thinks that his love for ecumenical endeavour stems from his upbringing in the religiously mixed townland of Ballymacilhoyle close to the international airport at Aldergrove.

“Where I grew up it was normal for Catholics, Presbyterians, Church of Ireland and Methodists to live side by side.”

Source: Martin O'Brien - "A Quiet Peacemaker", The Irish Catholic, 11 Dec 2014, http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/quiet-peacemaker

Thomas' Story ... on his birthday!

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

The Hidden Ones

But there were women and men who, in times when this joint commemoration was still unimaginable, already gathered together to pray for unity or to form ecumenical communities. There were theologians, women and men, who already entered in dialogue, seeking to overcome doctrinal and theological differences. There were many, who together offered themselves to serve the poor and the oppressed. There were even some who suffered martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel.

I feel deep gratitude for those bold prophets. As they lived and witnessed together they began to see one another no longer as separated branches but as branches united to Jesus Christ. Even more, they began to see Christ in their midst and to acknowledge that even in those periods of history when dialogue was broken between us, Christ continued talking to us. Jesus never forgot us, even when we seemed to have forgotten him, losing ourselves in violent and hateful actions.

Source: Rev. Dr Martin Junge - Rev. Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Sermon on the occasion of the Joint Commemoration of the Reformation, Lund Cathedral, Sweden, October 31, 2016, https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/joint_commemoration_mj_sermon_final_en.pdf

" A Small Texas City"

Jewish people in a small Texas city handed Muslim worshippers the keys to their synagogue after the town's only mosque was destroyed in a fire.

The Victoria Islamic Centre burned down on Saturday and had previously been burgled—the cause is being investigated by federal officials.
...
One of the mosque's founders, Shahid Hashmi, said: "Jewish community members walked into my home and gave me a key to the synagogue."

Source: Jon Sharman - "Jewish people give Muslims key to their synagogue after town's mosque burns down", Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/victoria-islamic-centre-mosque-fire-texas-jews-give-key-synagogue-muslims-worship-gofundme-a7556331.html?cmpid=facebook-post