[In] 1998 … then Mayor, Kirk Watson, called together a group of leaders to draft a “Commitment to Racial Reconciliation” in response to a racially charged police event in the city. That document declared the equality of the races and the evil of racism. [It] used much of what had already been worked through by a small group of Christian pastors and their wives in 1996 in writing the “Pastoral Covenant for Racial Reconciliation.”
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The team consisted of Pastor Geno Hildebrandt … Pastor Rick Randall … ; Pastor [Joseph] Parker … and Ashton Cumberbatch, a lawyer, pastor, and civic leader, both of African-American descent; and their spouses. Ashton Cumberbatch described the document: “It took a year. It acknowledged that racism is a sin and set out some scriptures that supported that. It said that we have fallen short of the glory of God in that area, and it talked about things we could do in our individual congregations, and what we could do collectively to combat that. we presented our document to a larger group that existed at the time - Austin Pastors Prayer Fellowship. They thought there was merit, so we had a signing event. I think originally 65 to 70 pastors signed the document.”
Source: Thana Rolph - "Transforming Austin: A God Story", Chapter 5 "The Deep Soil of Relationship", pp. 43-44
BIshop Harry Jackson
I do not want to go too long without recounting a memory of the late Bishop Harry Jackson.
I can remember that he had spoken out about the work I was doing at the time. The speaking out was particularly harsh. I accompanied a colleague to confront him in person and I will say it was an unforgettable moment. He came in dressed in his jogging clothes (we were in suits). It took some time but we were able to convince him that it was important for Christians to approach their brother and sister in private before blasting them in public.
It took all of us awhile to recognize Christ in each other, but we did. I think that lesson to go ahead and apply Christian teaching and trust that God will show up is something I'll never forget. That I could see Christ in Bishop Jackson is a sign that bridges between Christians of very different types is very possible.
Praying for his family during these times and days.
Source: Alexei N. Laushkin - Posted on FB on 11 Nov 2020, shortly after the death of Bishop Jackson
Betsie & Corrie Ten Boom
"Betsie, don't you feel anything about Jan Vogel? Doesn't it bother you?"
"Oh yes, Corrie! Terribly! I've felt for him ever since I knew - and pray for him whenever his name comes into my mind. How dreadfully he must be suffering!'
For a long time I lay silent in the huge shadowy barracks restless with the sighs, snores, and stirrings of hundreds of women. Once again I had the feeling that this sister with whom I had spent all of my life belonged somehow to another order of beings. Wasn't she telling me in her gentle way that I was as guilty as Jan Vogel? Didn't he and I stand together before an all-seeing God convicted of the same sin of murder? For I had murdered him with my heart and with my tongue.
"Lord Jesus," I whispered into the lumpy ticking of the bed, "I forgive Jan Vogel and I pray you will forgive me. I have done him great damage. Bless him now, and his family ..." That night for the first time since our betrayer had a name, I slept deep and dreamlessly until the whistle summoned us to roll call.
Source: Corrie Ten Boom - "The Hiding Place", Ch. 12, pp 192-193
August 13, 1527
By now everyone was sensing God was doing something new. Pastor Rothe invited the whole community to the Lord's Table on Wednesday, August 13. Zinzendorf visited each member of the community to prepare their hearts for the first time of communion since the months of discord.
Even as Pastor Rothe began the service, some started praising and weeping. God the Holy Spirit was clearly present in a deep and special way. Confession and forgiveness flowed. And when the service officially ended, clusters of communicants continued to fellowship together, savoring God's presence. 'From this day on', wrote one historian, 'Herrnhut became a living congregation of Jesus Christ.'
The new unity was expressed in a community lifestyle of worship, servanthood, love feasts, foot-washing ceremonies, and a 24-hour prayer chain began and was unbroken for over one hundred years! The Herrnhut residents began to receive in prayer a big vision of God's heart for the unreached peoples of the world.
Five years later, this small community of refugees began to send out missionaries to the Caribbean and Surinam, to Lapland and Greenland, to Morocco and South Africa, to Russia and Turkey, to Georgia and Pennsylvania. By the time [their leader] Zinzendorf died in 1760, it is said that this revived Moravian Church had done more for world missions than all the other protestant churches combined.
Source: Jeff Fountain - From "The Little Town That Blessed The World", pp. 39-40
Making the Sign of the Cross
The night before Ash Wednesday, I had a dream. I usually don’t remember my dreams, but this time I did. I was teaching a theology class on making the sign of the cross at the imposition of ashes on the forehead. I then explained to (I assume) my mostly Baptist students that it was the same sign pastors and priests make on babies as they are baptized. Just then my alarm went off, and my lecture was cut short.
Now awake, I pondered the dream. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the sign of the cross is bestowed upon the foreheads of the faithful at confirmation. And on every Sunday, after the gospel is read, worshippers make the sign of the cross on the head, lips and hearts as a reminder to follow the gospel with one’s whole self. Several traditions that anoint with oil also trace the sign of the cross on the forehead.
As I reflected on my dream in a social media post, one person suggested that to make the sign of the cross in the Roman Catholic tradition serves as a prayer to the Trinity. With the mention of ashes, another person asked if I had heard “Beautiful Things” by the Christian alternative rock group Gungor. The song includes these lyrics: “You make beautiful things / You make beautiful things out of the dust. . . You make beautiful things out of us.”
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“What would it look like for Baptists to recover and reclaim the old tradition of making the sign of the cross?”
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Perhaps Lent, the season of introspection and penance, is the perfect time – even for us Baptists – to begin making the sign of the cross.
Source: Kate Hanch - "A case for making the sign of the cross — even for us Baptists (and other Protestants)", Baptist News Global, Opinion, March 15, 2019
https://baptistnews.com/article/a-case-for-making-the-sign-of-the-cross-even-for-us-baptists-and-other-protestants/
Bishop Robert Barron
I want to share a simple story of friendship this month. One of my greatest joys in my work of ecumenism has been the deep and abiding friendships I have been afforded. One of my real friends is the well-known Catholic teacher and evangelist Bishop Robert Barron. If you do not know the ministry of Word of Fire I heartily urge you to tap into their many resources. Yes, it is Catholic. But it is a Christian ministry that exalts the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. Every Christian will benefit if you are humble and teachable.
I first heard Bishop Barron on Chicago radio about fifteen years ago. As I drove to preach at a church about twenty minutes from home each Sunday I listened to Fr. Barron. I was delighted by his Christ-exalting exposition of the Gospel text for the day. He almost always spoke directly to both my heart and mind. Later, I met Fr. Barron and a friendship developed. Fr. Barron and I have done presentations in many diverse settings, including Catholic and Protestant audiences. I have never shared a pubic meeting with him without being more determined to love Christ better. He once told me I was a Barnabas. I am not sure that is true but it gave me grace to continue in the work of teaching and encouragement.
Source: John Armstrong - November 2020 Friends Letter, 4 Nov 2020
https://mailchi.mp/f0592e0aa9ae/november-2020-friends-letter?e=4c0e810bbb
Yet Another NDE
Lindi heard a Voice [she assumed from Jesus] giving another person a life review, saying, "Let's look at all the things you've done to serve Me, to love other people well; let's look at the relationships in your life and how you've loved them well and therefore served Me through them." Lindi recalls, "What was interesting is it was all about relationships. There was nothing about accomplishments, nothing about our 'successes' - all about how you've loved other people."
Then came the part she had feared, but the Voice said, "Let's look at the missed opportunities to love Me better. Let's look at how you could have loved other people better, and the missed relationships and how you could have loved them better and therefore served Me better." Then the Voice said, "Welcome home, thank you for loving me so well throughout your life."
She realized there's truly no condemnation, and it motivated her to not miss opportunities. She's since started working to free women from sex trafficking.
Source: John Burke - "Imagine Heaven", Ch. 17, pp. 251-252
The Pope Warns The Baptists
Theologian Steven R. Harmon was part of a group of Baptists who met with Pope Francis I at the Vatican last month.
“When we met Pope Francis, we were impressed with his genuine joyfulness,” Harmon said in a university news release. “He greeted us by imploring, ‘Pray for me!’ and we assured him that we do and would continue to do so.”
The pope included a warning during the audience.
“He also said to us, ‘We must find a way to get together, or they will eat us raw!’ We interpreted this to mean something like, ‘If we don’t find a way to live in unity, the enemies of the gospel will eat us alive!’”
Source: Jeff Brumley - "Religion Notes: Baptists hear warning from pope during Vatican meeting"
https://baptistnews.com/article/religion-notes-baptists-hear-warning-from-pope-during-vatican-meeting/
"They're Good Germans"
The March of Life members ... sent a message to my father, asking to meet with him. They met in Caesarea for the first time a year and a half ago, on a Friday afternoon. That’s when the group members told him that they wanted to direct a play documenting his life story.
My father told them of his memories of the Holocaust and all about his adventures at sea onboard the Exodus. By his side were my mother, Jacqueline, and my eldest son Yuval. I’ll never forget the text message I got from Yuval, saying: “Mom, you don’t get what’s going on here. This isn’t just another lecture that he’s giving—they’re all descendants of Nazis. They’re descendants of war criminals who murdered Jews in cold blood.”
I have to admit, I fidgeted in my chair when I got this message.
“So what is grandpa doing there?” I replied.
“It’s not what you think mom,” he reassured me. “These young Germans are trying to atone for their grandparents’ sins. They’re good Germans.”
I started sobbing as he described the scene: “They came here with a guitar and they’re playing Hava Nagila, grandpa even said kiddush and grandma lit candles with them. There’s another kind of German, who believe in Israel and support Judaism, and they want to prove that they’re our friends.”
Source: Ynet News - "How the offspring of Nazis celebrated my father the Holocaust survivor",
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5434172,00.html
Much-Afraid
Much-Afraid looked at the flower's tiny glowing petals and wanted to be like it was. She knelt beneath the imprisoned flower and whispered, "Here I am. My name will be Bearing-with-Love too. No matter how I am hurt or mistreated, I will choose to forgive."
Source: Hannah Hurnard - "Hind's Feet on High Places", arranged and illustrated for children, pp. 71-72
A Non-Creedal Church ... Reads the Creeds
The Apostles’ Creed is one of the most significant compilations of Christian beliefs in the history of the church. However, Southern Baptists have avoided it throughout our lifetime, citing the Bible as their sole creed.
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We picked [reading] the Apostles’ Creed because it is concise, clear, and well known. When we detected that some members began to regard the creed with a sanctity that only belonged to scripture or as a point of ecclesiological pride, we occasionally replaced it with the Ligonier's Statement on Christology. We did this to demonstrate the vitality of new and serious corporate statements that reflected historical orthodoxy. We also did this to mitigate against ecclesiological and denominational pride (it’s a Presbyterian document being recited by Baptists!). Either statement serves the same purpose and emphasize the important things we believe both in the statements themselves and in the act of saying them.
Source: D. Jeffrey Mooney and Adrian Martinez - "How One Church Introduced Reading the Creeds", Center for Baptist Renewal blog post, 1 March 2019
http://www.centerforbaptistrenewal.com/blog/2019/3/1/how-one-church-introduced-reading-the-creeds
The 1910 Talk
The divisions of Christendom do not appeal to the Christians in these lands. Christians in India, for instance, did not have a share in creating them. They entered into this ready-made system, and it has not really taken hold of them …
We must have one Church. We want a Church of India, a Church which can be our spiritual home, a Church where the Indian religious genius can find natural expression, a living branch of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, a Church which, being visible symbol in that divided land, will draw all [persons] to our blessed Lord ...
Unity may be a theoretically desirable ideal in Europe and America, but it is vital to the life of the Church in the mission field. The divisions of Christendom may be a source of weakness in Christian countries, but in non-Christian lands they are a sin and a scandal.
Source: V.S. Azariah - Talk given in 1910 at the World Missionary Council in Edinburgh, as found in the Mission as Common Witness section of Classic Texts in Mission and World Christianity, edited and with introductions by Norman F. Thomas
Jason Mandryk
There is power in united prayer. Christians are praying for world evangelization in greater numbers and unity than ever before. Already on the annual Global Day of Prayer, hundreds of miillions unite in prayer throughout the world. The motto of Operation World is, "When man works, man works, but when man prays, God works."
We can strategize, harmonize, dialogue and worship - we can equip ourselves with the best financial resources and the most astute missiology available - but without prayer, we will not see spiritual strongholds broken down, nor the unevangelized peoples experiencing the gospel. The state of the gospel changes by prayer.
Source: Jason Mandryk - "The State of the Gospel" in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (4th Edition), Chapter 55, p. 368
Sr. Jean Marie Holup, SSCM
Sisters have served on ecumenical commissions and local ministerial councils, and hold memberships in groups dedicated to pastoral care and Christian ethics. We host annual prayer services for peace and unity, including “Prayer Outside the Walls” where we invite all to join us. “Prayer Outside the Walls” events are conducted regularly and can be joined virtually with us via Facebook. Beyond literally being prayed outdoors, these prayers are prayed outside the invisible walls of any kind of prejudices.
The Basilica of Saints Cyril and Methodius at Villa Sacred Heart has been the site of numerous ecumenical gatherings and is the center of life at St. Cyril Spiritual Center which is located at the Motherhouse of the Sisters in Danville, PA. Saint Cyril Spiritual Center is a sponsored ministry of the Congregation where we provide a place to refresh mind, body, and spirit. We warmly welcome people of various traditions and ages and host retreat groups including the Society of the Holy Trinity which is a group of Lutheran Pastors who come to St. Cyril’s Spiritual Center for an annual retreat.
Source: Sr. Jean Marie Holup, SSCM - "The Ecumenical Commitment of a Catholic Women’s Religious Community", Paulist.org
http://www.paulist.org/the-conversation/the-ecumenical-commitment-of-a-catholic-womens-religious-order/
Phillip Owens
Only Jesus can do something like this! A Catholic ... who was once the drummer for a Christian punk rock band ... leading worship at a Protestant non-denominational church ... with a team composed of Catholics and Protestants, young and old ... singing a song written by his Protestant friend and co-leader ... that contains the lyrics "I believe in the holy catholic church" ... and all on the anniversary weekend of the Reformation (and of Wittenberg 2017). What a glorious moment of living out John 17!!
Source: Thomas Cogdell - Posted on FB 2 Nov 2020
https://youtu.be/6ELHtJrCsQk?t=1385
Repentance from the Church of England
Christians are to blame for centuries of antisemitism which led to the Holocaust and prejudice in modern politics, the Church of England has said, offering its “repentance”.
In an unprecedented 100-page report, the church confesses that “Christians have been guilty of promoting and fostering negative stereotypes of Jewish people that have contributed to grave suffering and injustice”, dating to when early Christians blamed Jews for the death of Jesus.
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The report, entitled God’s Unfailing Word: Theological and Practical Perspectives on Christian-Jewish Relations, has been backed by the Most Rev Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who writes in a foreword: “Too often in history the church has been responsible for and colluded in antisemitism and the fact that antisemitic language and attacks are on the rise across the UK and Europe means we cannot be complacent.”
Source: Kaya Burgess - "Church of England offers mea culpa on antisemitism", November 21 2019, 12:01am, The Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-of-england-offers-mea-culpa-on-antisemitism-h22wtlrcl
Completed Evangelical? Or Not An Evangelical?
The administration [of his employer Gordon College] thought [Thomas Howard] couldn’t sign the school’s statement of faith. He thought he could, because he saw his movement into the Church as following to its end the trajectory Evangelicalism had set. He saw himself as a completed Evangelical, while the college saw him as not an Evangelical at all. He eventually came to see that the college had been right, though he never lost his near-reverence for the tradition that formed him and its many great Christians.
Source: David Mills - "RIP Thomas Howard: 1935-2020", Catholic Herald, 15 October 2020
https://catholicherald.co.uk/ch/rip-thomas-howard-1935-2020/
Another NDE
Imagine when your earthly life ends and you relive your whole life - every moment. Imagine the day God shows you how your faithful, loving acts of service produced a ripple effect in God's economy. Dr. Mary Neal felt Jesus' embrace as she relived her whole life while trapped underwater in her kayak.
"I was shown events in my life, not in isolation but in the context of their unseen ripple effects. It is easy for all to see the impact our words or actions have on our immediate surroundings, but to see the impact of events or words dozens of times removed was profoundly powerful. Through this experience, I was able to clearly see that every action, every decision, and every human interaction impacts the bigger world in far more significant ways than we could ever be capable of appreciating."
Source: John Burke - "Imagine Heaven", Ch. 17, p. 243
Ecumenical Church Councils
Although the early church convened local and regional church councils in an attempt to debate and formulate its theological positions, these gatherings carried no authority over the whole Christian world. However, beginning in 325, Roman emperors gathered early church leaders in seven ecumenical councils, held over 462 years, between 325 and 787.
Each of these Ecumenical Church Councils took place in the Greek-speaking East and was primarily focused on the theological issues related to the triune nature of God (the Trinity) and Jesus Christ (Christology). Most of the early church fathers lived in the East and so most early theological writings were in Greek. Even in Rome, Christians worshiped in Greek until around 380. The Roman Catholic Pope (bishop) did not attend any of the councils.
Source: Dr. Andrew Jackson - "The Ecumenical Church Councils of the Early Church (325-787)"
https://www.drandrewjackson.com/the-ecumenical-church-of-councils-of-the-early-church-325-787/
Making Amends For WWII ... On A Honeymoon
Alex Dietze, 39, grew up in a Christian home in Germany where no one mentioned the Second World War, let alone the Holocaust. Alex mainly knew of the war from history classes at school, books and films. But on his 28th birthday something changed.
“My grandfather came to me and wanted to give me as a gift the Nazi war medal he earned for his contribution to the war effort,” Dietze told Ynet. “I was in shock. Previously for me, the Holocaust was a matter of general history and not something personal. I could not believe that my grandfather was among those who took part in the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. My world turned upside down.”
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“I became interested in the Holocaust and subsequently the State of Israel, and to my astonishment I discovered that hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors live there,” he continued. “My wife Cecilia and I became curious to meet these people. As Germans, we understood that we need to make amends and go to Israel. We had our honeymoon there and we fell in love with the country.”
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Sofia, 78, is one of the survivors with whom Alex and Cecilia volunteer. She was born in Ukraine and as a baby and a little girl during the Holocaust, she survived by being smuggled from place to place. She immigrated to Israel from Latvia in 1991, and says the German volunteers make her very happy. "They give me health and beauty, when I'm told they're coming, I feel 25 years younger. It's like it's cold and suddenly it's warm, it's so good. The older the person is, the more vulnerable they are and can use a good word. Their good warms us; they are surely messengers of God. Their children see the good that they do and perhaps they will carry on this good, not towards Holocaust survivors but to other people who will need it."
Source: Ynet News - "Nazis' descendants delight in volunteering with Holocaust survivors"
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5453594,00.html