A Protestant Learns About Greek Orthodoxy

Greek Orthodoxy has always been a bit of a mystery to me, and I wanted to get a clearer sense of what it's all about so I drove down to the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, Colorado and spent the morning getting answers straight from the source. Huge thanks to Father Chris Margaritis for taking the time to hang out!

Source: The Ten Minute Bible Hour (Youtube channel) - "A Protestant Learns About Greek Orthodoxy", video published on Feb 10, 2019

Expansion of Signatories to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

The five signatories of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) looked toward a future “realizing a deeper communion towards the full visible unity of the church and to make manifest the growth in communion which we have already been experiencing.”

“In a broken, violent and fearful world, it is urgent that the church bear witness to the possibility of unity and reconciliation and manifest the courage to stand together in works of proclamation, justice and compassion,” said Anna Case-Winters, a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) delegation to a consultation of the JDDJ communions, held 26-28 March 2019 on the campus of Notre Dame University (Indiana, USA).

Originally signed by leaders of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the JDDJ has since been broadened to include the World Methodist Council, the Anglican Communion and the WCRC, all of which agree on the core message of salvation in and through Christ.
...
“The JDDJ has formed the basis of a new orientation to one another. We no longer begin from the place of division, but of unity,” said Case-Winters. “We no longer look for what is lacking in one another but rather look for the distinctive gifts we each bring.”

Source: Phil Tanis - "JDDJ signatories look toward common future", World Communion of Reformed Churches, Posted on April 1, 2019
http://wcrc.ch/news/jddj-signatories-look-toward-common-future

Mark Rutte, Premier of the Netherlands

The speaker was none other than Mark Rutte, now the premier of the Netherlands for over ten years. What did the church mean for us in these difficult days? he asked, answering with the word: ‘Togetherness’. What really counted in life? he continued. Not ‘more, more, more’, or ‘me, me, me’ but togetherness, ‘doing unto others what you would have them do to you’.

Reading Paul’s words from Romans 12, Rutte defined the good life as life in the service of the will of God – ‘his good, pleasing and perfect will’ – and not being conformed to the pattern of this world. In other words, he said, not going along with the crowd, as exemplified by Luther who stood for his convictions.

The corona crisis had confronted us with our smallness, the premier admitted, citing a fisherman’s prayer which John F. Kennedy had hung in the Oval Office: ‘O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.’ Which was why we needed each other, and the church, he stressed. For in church we were not alone, we were together. And that was something we could not hear often enough.

Source: Jeff Fountain - "Togetherness", Weekly Word eNewsletter for 2 Nov 2020
https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=cdb1197607

Pelikan's Phrase

In 1959, on the eve of the Second Vatican Council, [Jaroslav Pelikan] coined another phrase of continuing relevance when he wrote of “the tragic necessity of the Reformation.”

That phrase appeared in a book titled The Riddle of Roman Catholicism, published while Pelikan was still a Lutheran. Much later in his life, in 1998, he was received into the fellowship of the Orthodox Church in America. This decision represented an Eastward tilt in Pelikan’s own spirituality that had been long in the making. But he continued to believe that the great religious upheaval in the Christian West at the dawn of the modern era had involved both the necessity of reform and a division at once scandalous and tragic.

Source: Timothy George - First Things, "The Reformation: A Tragic Necessity", 11 July 2016, https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/07/the-reformation-a-tragic-necessity

Amy's Story

I believe we are living in remarkable days. God is sharing his pain over division in the Church with many, both the great and the small. Already I can see fruit. Christians join together for prayer, dialogue and works of mercy in many places. Still, I believe there is a greater glory to be revealed, the glory which Jesus prayed for His last night on earth. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. (John 17:22)

I want to share a memorable chapter in my story. It began on a remarkable day, a day still vivid in my memory.

It was 2:00 am and I was pacing my dining room floor. I had spent the entire day in a state of shock, though I could not understand why the events of the day had shaken me so. In the morning I had felt impressed to call an old college friend, my freshman roommate. I had planned to convey a simple message, but as we talked, God began opening me up and I found myself telling Margaret about some dreams I had been having. One specific dream was set in my hometown Church of Christ, only worship in the church was nothing like I remembered. In my dream women played guitars (which was forbidden in my conservative church), the pastor had long hair, and most shocking of all, he had invited a young Catholic woman to preach! In the church of my youth, women were never allowed to preach and Catholics were not even considered Christian.

Another dream I had was set in a church that felt entirely foreign. I saw men in black robes with long beards, speaking a language I did not recognize until I heard them chant “Kyrie Eleison.” While I did not understand these dreams fully, I knew they were a vision of increased unity in the worldwide Body of Christ.
After I had told Margaret my dreams, she turned the tables. “Amy,” she ventured tentatively. “I’ve been having dreams too, dreams about you. I’ve been dreaming that we are sharing the Eucharist. All these years I have been aching to ask you, why aren’t you Catholic?”

I was stunned. Margaret’s tenderness touched me deeply. Something about her words stirred an ache in my gut, a longing for something unknown. Yet part of me felt offended. After all, I was the elder sister in the faith! I had been a Christian for years before she had her conversion in college. Such thoughts had to be nipped in the bud. “Margaret,” I answered. “Your dream is beautiful. I know we are sisters in Christ, but I could never be Catholic because I don’t believe many teachings of the Catholic Church.” She apologized for saying anything, and we hung up, both shaken.

I spent the rest of the day in a fog, recalling our conversation. When my children finally went to bed, I took my Bible and read these words from Ezekiel, “Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, and I will put them with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ I wondered if this Old Testament promise to Israel and Judah was also God’s heart for Protestants and Catholics. I prayed for God to bind Protestants and Catholics together again, but still I felt no peace. Because I could not sleep, I paced the floor.
About 2:00 am, a sudden, overwhelming physical pain hit my chest. I fell to the floor with my hands over my heart groaning, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus!” I knew that my Lord was sharing something precious with me, an intimacy deeper than I had ever known. He was allowing me to experience His pain over division in the Church – a pain like the pain of divorce, but deeper and broader, as only Christ’s heart could bear.

Until that night I had no idea that Christian division caused our Lord such pain. I had always assumed that our differences were a small matter in God’s eyes. Though I had little hope that we Christians could come to unity on earth, I was blissfully certain that God would work everything out in heaven. Now God had called me out of complacency. I knew He wanted me to pray with Him for His followers to be one as Jesus and the Father and the Spirit were one.

I took up this call only to discover God’s interruption of my life was not finished. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself drawn to the Catholic Church just down the street in my neighborhood. It was not a matter of dissatisfaction with my own church. I loved our charismatic, evangelical church! Even so, the pull I felt towards the Catholic parish down the street was strong and mysterious.

One day, when I could resist no longer, I showed up for morning mass planning to hide in the back as an observer. As it happened, there was no place for a blonde woman in her early 30’s to hide. Daily mass was held in a small side chapel that held no more than twenty people. The average parishioner’s age was about 65. Everyone was Hispanic except for me. The mass was in Spanish, and I spoke no Spanish. Nor was I the least bit familiar with the liturgy. I didn’t know when to stand, when to kneel, how to make the gestures everyone else was making. When mass was over, I ran home and cried. Then I got up the next week and did it again, and again, and again.
After a few weeks of sporadic attendance, I thought I should meet the parish priest and explain my presence. I planned to ask if I could offer some service to the parish – rides for the elderly, meals for the sick, or some other quiet, practical help. When I left the priest’s office, I found myself on the leadership team of the parish youth group despite my protestations that I was a Protestant and probably should not be teaching young Catholics.

During the next few months, I fell in love with my new Catholic family. I met some of the kindest, most holy, most sacrificial people I had ever known. I read Catholic theology voraciously. I peppered my friend Margaret with all sorts of doctrinal questions. And I repented for the arrogance and ignorance that had shaped my attitude toward the Catholic Church.

One day as I was reflecting on some passage by a Catholic author, my husband asked, “You aren’t seriously considering becoming Catholic, are you?” Needing wisdom quickly, I prayed. It was true that my heart was drawn to the Catholic Church, but I also loved my Protestant family. More important than any personal desire was the unity of our family, and the honor I both owed and felt toward my husband. “Thomas,” I answered. “I am not seriously considering doing anything you could not bless with your whole heart.”

Several months later, hidden away in a thousand-year-old church in Switzerland, Thomas gave me his full blessing. During an afternoon of silent prayer, we both felt released to walk together as a Protestant/Catholic couple, living in the tension of a union which is true and deep and beautiful already, but incomplete. We long for the day when we can share communion again. Even more, we long for the return of our Lord who will “make all things new.” Until then, we pray with Jesus that all Christians “may be perfected in unity so that the world may know Him.”

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

Honored by the Queen

An English Jesuit who left his order to become a diocesan priest in Northern Ireland has been honored by England’s Queen Elizabeth II for his services to a community wrought by sectarian violence.

Father Paul Symonds, a priest of the Belfast-based Diocese of Down and Connor, has served for four years in Ballymena, a predominantly Protestant town known for anti-Catholic sectarianism. Father Symonds is especially known for his work with Catholics and Protestants in Ballymena’s Harryville section, where Catholics have been subjected to sustained campaigns of intimidation. As recently as the summer of 2005, Masses at Our Lady the Mother of Christ Church in Harryville were canceled because of such intimidation.

Source: Catholic Review - "English priest receives awards for work in Northern Ireland", 5 Jan 2008, http://www.catholicreview.org/article/faith/vocations/english-priest-receives-award-for-work-in-northern-ireland

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

Jeff Fountain - Son of a Baptist Elder

The Charismatic movement brought renewal to mainstream Protestant churches beginning in the 1960’s. My family was involved in the very beginning of this charismatic movement in New Zealand. My father, a Baptist elder, led a prayer meeting every Friday night in our home that was packed with people from across our city from all denominations. When Catholics too began being ‘filled with the Spirit’ and calling themselves Pentecostal Catholics, our horizons were being truly stretched beyond our denominational prejudices and our wildest dreams!

Source: Jeff Fountain - "The Hope Of Pentecost", Weekly Word eNewsletter, 5 June 2017, http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=2f143ac9e0

Duane's Story

It’s hard to believe it has been three decades since that memorable church service. At the time I was a young youth minister and I remember the steady stream of phone calls flooding our church office. Caller after caller asked the same question: “Is it true that Henri Nouwen is speaking at the Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana?” “Yes, at 7:00 this coming Sunday evening,” our church receptionist Maggie kept responding.

What was striking about the surge of phone calls was that they weren’t coming from our church members or Presbyterians in Southern California. They were coming from Catholics. The callers’ first response to hearing that Father Nouwen was in fact speaking on Sunday evening was a quick, “Great!” But nearly all callers followed with the same second question: “Why is Henri Nouwen speaking at a Presbyterian church and not a Catholic church? He IS a Catholic priest after all!” Maggie graciously answered, “You’ll have to ask Father Nouwen that question.”

On the Sunday Henri Nouwen was scheduled to speak, our pastor explained in the morning worship services that seating would be limited for our special evening service as we expected a large crowd. Henri Nouwen had just returned from his extended time in Latin America and our church was one of the first churches in the United States where he would be speaking and sharing his experience. On the church patio that Sunday morning were a lot of perplexed Presbyterians wondering who this Catholic priest was and why was he speaking at our church.

I was not perplexed. Our Associate Pastor Bob had introduced me to Nouwen’s work and Bob was instrumental in bringing Nouwen to our Presbyterian church. I was excited and in awe that I would meet Father Nouwen, having read many of his books. I was deeply moved and influenced by his book Wounded Healer. The book profoundly influenced my thinking about being a servant leader. Decades later two quotes still resonate within me:

For one man needs another to live, and the deeper he is willing to enter into the painful condition which he and others know, the more likely it is that he can be a leader, leading his people out of the desert into the promise land. For we are redeemed once and for all. The Christian leader is called to help others affirm this great news, and to make visible in daily events the fact that behind the dirty curtain of our painful symptoms there is something great to be seen: the face of Him in whose image we are shaped.

I arrived early to the Sunday evening service and was glad that I did. Lots of people arrived early in order to ensure a seat. I took a seat with friends and they commented that there were a lot of “new” faces at the service. My friends remarked that they suspected the majority of the new faces were Catholics. We were delighted to see such a variety of people in church.

As I observed the people with the “new” faces I noticed two things: 1) Their faces looked unhappy; and 2) Most of them sat with their arms across their chests as if they were holding onto something internally. I happened to know lots of happy Catholics and none of them sit with their arms across their chests. It was clear to me that any unhappiness experienced that evening centered on the fact that they were displeased that Henri Nouwen had chosen to speak in a Presbyterian church rather than a Catholic church. He WAS a Catholic priest after all.

But I also observed the faces of Presbyterians seated throughout the sanctuary. They didn’t seem comfortable in their familiar pews. They had the look of perplexity, uncertainty, and diffidence, as if their faces involuntarily blurted out “What is going on here? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.”

The church was packed that Sunday evening. People who arrived late had to stand in the back. Into this odd mix of people and emotions our Pastor welcomed all, introduced Henri Nouwen, and offered a prayer. Father Nouwen then rose and in his gentle, humble, and gracious manner shared of what God had shown him in Latin America, what God had impressed upon him, and as a result, his increased sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit in his and others’ lives.

As Henri Nouwen spoke the atmosphere in the church changed. Metaphorically speaking, an awakening dawn interrupted the evening service. Into the darkness of discomfort and distrust beamed a transforming light. Into the cool air blew a warm breeze of faith. Onto the unhappy and perplexed faces of those gathered that night emerged smiles like sunrises spanning across the sanctuary. By the end of the service there were no arms across chests, but rather arms extended and hands clasped, Catholic to Protestant, brother to sister. We concluded the evening by singing, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,” and for many of us gathered that evening, it was our first experience of what that Oneness could look like and feel like. It was powerfully inviting, energizing, and unforgettable.

The memory of that service is vivid three decades later. The decades have taught me that God’s power is real and accessible. Therefore it is NOT hard for me to believe that the Spirit of God can remove barriers, heal wounds, upend history, transform hearts and communities. That night, and many others since, have convinced me that the work of Wittenberg 2017 and its call to prayer, repentance, reconciliation, and unity is a worthy pursuit and holds the promise of being a transformative experience. It prompts me to recall another quote of Henri Nouwen from Wounded Healer, when he wrote: It is exactly in common searches and shared risks that new ideas are born, that new visions reveal themselves and that new roads become visible.

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

A Pastor's Public Confession

But what made their situation truly remarkable is what Andrew did the Sunday after Susan and Elaine came to talk with him.

With Susan’s permission, he described their conversation to the entire congregation, commending Susan for her graciousness and courage as well as Elaine for her wisdom and advice.

And then he said this:

“As I’ve reflected on what Susan told me about my behavior toward her, I realized I’ve probably treated other people in our church with the same kind of pride, thoughtlessness and impatience. So I’m asking for your forgiveness today as well. If you need to talk with me about how I’ve treated you, my door is open. Please pray that God would help me to become more sensitive to how I’m treating others, and if you see me stumble, please do me the favor of pointing it out so I can continue to grow.”

Source: Ken Sande - "Public Confession is Counterintuitive", Relational Wisdom 360 eNewsletter, 7 August 2016, https://rw360.org/2016/08/07/public-confession-counterintuitive/