(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)
Where are the Seeds of Hatred?
"Trembling, I realized that if I looked into my own heart I could find seeds of hatred there, too. Arrogant thoughts, feelings of irritation toward others, coldness, anger, envy, indifference - these are the roots of what happened in Nazi Germany. And they are there in every human being. As I recognized - more clearly than ever before - that I myself stood in desperate need of forgiveness, I was able to forgive, and finally I felt completely free." -- Hela Erlich, Holocaust survivor
Source: Johann Christoph Arnold - Why Forgive?, pp.36
Life in the Bruderhof
Incidents like these are a chance to have contact with other people; one of our membership vows is the explicit promise to hash out our problems with people face to face. It is also true, though, that we sometimes just need to joyfully clean up a mess we did not make, or take on a task in addition to our normal work load. Last week one of the other families couldn’t manage their barn chore day and asked us to cover.
Source: Ian Barth - "Why I teach my sons about hard work", Voices blog entry on Bruderhof.com, 25 Jan 2017, http://www.bruderhof.com/en/voices-blog/2017/january/why-i-teach-my-sons-about-hard-work
The State of the Church - According to Paul
(11) For, my brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe’s household have told me that there are divisions among you, (12) because one claims, “I follow Paul”; another claims, “I follow Apollos”; another claims, “I follow Peter”; and still another, “I follow Christ.” (13) Christ can’t be divided!
Source: The Apostle Paul - 1 Corinthians 1:11-13 (IEB)
Trey Kent - Racism in Austin
AWAKENING #3 I’ve always hated racism, but more passively than actively. Recently Jesus told me that the prayer movement would be a key part in seeing racial walls come down. The last few weeks I’ve been on a crash course reading two Martin Luther King, Jr. books and one about the slave turned statesman named Fredrick Douglas. I’ve recently joined two citywide groups of leaders that are working to end racism in ATX and to bring John 17 unity to our city. All because God said, get busy working to see My church become one!
Source: Trey Kent - "A Pastor's Heart" blog post on Northwest Fellowship, 7 July 2020
https://northwestfellowship.com/blog/2020/07/07/a-pastors-heart
Azusa Now
Father Alexei, I know you are the official representative of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese on ecumenical events, so what do you see as the most significant fruits of the Catholic-Protestant interaction at Azusa Now?
“There are two things,” he answered. “First, this is very much in line with Pope Francis’ thinking. In ‘The Joy of the Gospel,’ he writes about our relationship with fellow Christians and he writes these words:
‘We must never forget that we are pilgrims journeying alongside one another. This means that we must have sincere trust in our fellow pilgrims, putting aside all suspicion or mistrust and turn our gaze to what we are seeking.’
“And, that is exactly what we did in the Coliseum on Saturday,” he said.
“The other significance is the forgivingness factor: at the end of the week for Christian unity, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the ‘un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches.’
“The mutual exchange of forgiveness between Catholic and Evangelical-Christians on Saturday wondrously reflected this forgiveness.”
Source: Jennifer Wing Atencio - "Christians pack Coliseum for revival: Catholics join thousands of believers to mark 110th anniversary of Pentecostal Azuza revival", Angelus News, 13 April 2016
https://angelusnews.com/news/christians-pack-coliseum-for-revival-catholics-join-thousands-of-believers-to-mark-110th-anniversary-of-pentecostal-azuza-revival
Matteo Calisi & Lou Engle
The music quieted while the constantly boisterous crowd fell to a noticeable hush as the “men-in-black,” collared Catholic priests and their friends, who were incidentally wearing black, took center-stage. Standing with my right foot about one inch from the stage drop, I looked out on the crowd to see trepidation on faces and looks of curiosity, and even a noticeable pause of breath.
Matteo Calisi, former president of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, was introduced and began to address the crowd in Italian with Dr. Bruno Ierullo translating:
“We are a delegation, a Catholic delegation. … I come from Italy. And, I bring you a salute from 150 million Charismatic Catholics.” As the crowd cheered, Calisi then spoke to the crowd about the influence of the Asuza Street Revival on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Following these remarks, he ceremoniously laid prostrate on the stage and kissed Lou Engle’s feet in an act of reconciliatory love. “We are just in a holy moment right here,” Engle emotionally cried out. Then he continued to call out the other church elders onto the stage while he fell to his knees reciprocally kissing Matteo’s feet.
“Jesus, I thank you!” cried out Calisi while Engle kneeled before his feet, “because you are breaking the spirit of division! You are preparing a great revival in the event of this call, like you did 100 years ago. Do it again! Do it again! Holy Spirit let your Spirit come again for a billion Catholics.”
Source: Jennifer Wing Atencio - "Christians pack Coliseum for revival: Catholics join thousands of believers to mark 110th anniversary of Pentecostal Azuza revival", Angelus News, 13 April 2016
https://angelusnews.com/news/christians-pack-coliseum-for-revival-catholics-join-thousands-of-believers-to-mark-110th-anniversary-of-pentecostal-azuza-revival
Mike Bickle: Catholics 1st to 24/7
Mike Bickle shared his testimony with The Tidings while dodging heavy raindrops by standing under the cover of an outdoor kitchen canopy by the greenroom tent.
“When I was in my 20s I was asked to pastor a church and I never officially went back to the Catholic Church, but I also don’t feel like I intentionally left it either. At the House of Prayer, I encourage people to learn the teachings of the Catholic saints, as the experts on contemplative prayer, such as Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross,” he said.
“In fact, the idea for 24-hour prayer and musical praise comes from the writings of King David; however, it was first done in the Christian church by the Catholics!” Bickle joyously expressed with his famously contagious grin.
Source: Jennifer Wing Atencio - "Christians pack Coliseum for revival: Catholics join thousands of believers to mark 110th anniversary of Pentecostal Azuza revival", Angelus News, 13 April 2016
https://angelusnews.com/news/christians-pack-coliseum-for-revival-catholics-join-thousands-of-believers-to-mark-110th-anniversary-of-pentecostal-azuza-revival
Reconciled Diversity, not Return to Rome
Johannes Fichtenbauer, advisor to Cardinal Schönborn in Vienna, spoke of a dramatic new step in church unity made at the Pentecost 2017 gathering in Rome last June, on the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic movement. Pope Francis invited Pentecostal and Charismatic church leaders to join Catholic leaders in acknowledgement of these ‘younger brother and sister churches’ as the source of the Catholic renewal movement. The Austrian lay leader said the pope had taken a step no predecessor had done: to declare a goal of unity not based on ‘separated brethren returning to the Mother Church’, but rather a ‘unity in reconciled diversity’, unity through diversity.
This unity required a humility on all sides, the pope had stressed, a recognition that each church missed something that others could offer. Church unity could only happen, he believed, when all moved closer to Christ, not when others ‘returned to Rome’.
Source: Jeff Fountain - Weekly Word, 13 November 2017, "Time to Listen"
https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=d1f03dd3fc
Together For Europe
My wife and I have just returned from such a time of dialogue and mutual listening in Vienna, a three-day gathering of 120 representatives of Christian movements, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Charismatic, from Portugal to Russia, and Ireland to Greece. This Together for Europe (TfE) umbrella began with a pact of love 18 years ago between leaders of several movements, including the YMCA, a Lutheran sisterhood, the Focolare movement and the St Egidio community. It has grown to embrace over 200 movements all professing Jesus Christ as Lord.
Source: Jeff Fountain - Weekly Word, 13 November 2017, "Time to Listen"
https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=d1f03dd3fc
Betty Pulkingham's Mother
There was a touching moment with my 104-year-old mother the day before she died, when she asked my forgiveness for something. We had found it necessary to put her in respite care over the Christmas holidays For some time she had been having brief spells of dementia, probably linked to an earlier stroke. Now she imagined me to be the enemy, since I was the one who made the decision. But the Spirit of the Lord and of the deep places of her life showed her that she was being harsh in her judgment of me. One of her final acts at the end of a loving life was this: to reach out and ask forgiveness for judging me harshly. She simply said, several times over and over, "I've been wrong; I've been wrong." Would I have had that kind of grace in a moment of such extremity? Could I turn, and ask forgiveness? I hope so. She was still learning to love - right to the end of her remarkable life.
Source: Betty Pulkingham - "This Is My Story, This Is My Song", Ch. 14, p. 131
Trusting a former enemy with your child
I am not sure I fully understood the power of forgiveness and reconciliation until I lived with Florida State Rep. William L. (Bill) Flynn, owner of Flynn's Dixie Ribs, a barbecue restaurant known also for its Key lime pie, in 1980. Flynn represented South Dade County, where my family lived. I met Flynn only a few years before the photo of the men in blackface and a Ku Klux Klan costume appeared on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's yearbook page when he was a medical student.
...
I learned from my parents that in the 1960s, Flynn didn't let blacks eat in his barbecue restaurant. Two black community leaders said Flynn had even chased them away from the property with a shotgun. But he had since renounced his segregationist ways as a result of the civil rights movement and implored my mother to entrust him with my care.
...
As a young adult, I didn't understand how people could so drastically change or evolve their views, but I knew my parents wanted to give Flynn a chance to prove himself. While my parents' decision was not supported by many in the black community, they still felt it was necessary for reconciliation.
Source: Johnita P. Due - "What a Dixie Ribs joint owner taught me about forgiveness and reconciliation", CNN.com, February 3, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/03/opinions/william-flynn-power-forgiveness-reconciliation-johnita-due/index.html
Destructive Energy Vented Through Facebook
I keep you in my prayers as well and follow you on Facebook. I've been using social media much less in the past few months, often finding it a difficult place to be. My own denomination is in the midst of a split, or so it seems. I have friends and colleagues on both sides of this divide and much of their destructive energy is vented through Facebook. It is a deeply disturbing to witness this while feeling so unable to do anything significant to change any of it. Indeed, I feel utterly powerless. A decade ago I would have waded into these waters to do something, whatever that may have been. Now I pray and lament the situation. I continue to serve my congregation, as best I can, while wondering where all of this will go. Thankfully our God is faithful, even when we are not. I hope to see some forms of renewal emerge from this fire of distrust and pain that is burning in my denomination.
Source: Anonymous Pastor - Edited version of email sent to John Armstrong, quoted in John's Friends letter, 9 Sept 2020, and used by permission
Honoring John Armstrong
John, your impact on my life has been transformative and challenging. You started me thinking in terms that have moved beyond my sense of denomination to see the terrible fragmentation (disunity) of the whole body of Christ. This has been unsettling and life-giving. I now hope the congregation I serve will partner with a another congregation to do ministry. The other church is in need of a building and we are in need of partners to do the kingdom work God has given to us. We are a very old urban church but we are not too old to still dream. This is a slow process and the road ahead is not one I would have been able to walk 20 years ago. But when your eyes are opened to a bigger vision of the Kingdom, joined with a richer understanding of the church and the centrality of love for our neighbors, then you know you must be on the right track. For me, much of this started in my classes at a little seminary years ago where you taught me. That experience has produced some amazing and unexpected fruit. I still don't have a real clear sense of where this journey is going even though it will be hard to walk. Thank you brother for speaking into my life when you did. And thank you for your enduring friendship.
Source: Anonymous Pastor - Edited version of email sent to John Armstrong, quoted in John's Friends letter, 9 Sept 2020, and used by permission
Formal Apology from Canada to the Jews
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized on Wednesday for the country’s 1939 refusal to take in a ship carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees, adding that the country would do more to protect Canadian Jews from violence.
The St. Louis left Hamburg in May 1939 in a desperate search for a safe haven from persecution by Nazi Germany. After it was rebuffed by Canada and other nations, it returned to Europe, where historians have estimated that more than 250 of the passengers were murdered in Nazi death camps.
“We apologize to the 907 German Jews aboard the St. Louis, as well as their families,” Trudeau told the House of Commons. “We are sorry for the callousness of Canada’s response. We are sorry for not apologizing sooner.”
Source: Ynet News - "Trudeau apologizes for Canada's 1939 refusal of Jewish refugee ship", 11.08.18
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5392569,00.html
"I hate lard!"
One Sunday morning in a small Texas church, the new pastor called on one of the older deacons to lead the closing prayer. The deacon came up on the podium, stood by the pastor, bowed his head and said, "Lord, I hate buttermilk!"
The pastor opened one eye and wondered just where this was going...
The deacon continued, "Lord, I hate lard!"
Now, the pastor was totally perplexed...
The deacon continued, "Lord, and I ain't too crazy about plain flour neither, but after you mix em all together and bake em in a hot oven, I just love biscuits!"
Source: Anonymous - Adopted from a joke posted by Steve McFarland on Facebook, 4 Mar 2020
"We can’t heal what we don’t acknowledge"
Lauren Brown, who leads the South Jersey Be the Bridge group, said that her faith motivated her to become involved in reconciliation. That starts with being honest about the racial divides in the country, she said.
“Tasha [LaTasha Morrison, founder of Be The Bridge] has a clear understanding that we can’t heal what we don’t acknowledge and that the only way to heart transformation and bridge building starts with truth and is delivered with grace,” she said.
Source: Nicola A. Menzie - "‘Be the Bridge’ fosters dialogue between black and white Christians", Baptist Standard, March 19, 2019
https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/faith-culture/bridge-fosters-dialogue-black-white-christians/
Austin Suggs
Something I'm incredibly passionate about is dialoguing with those I disagree with and doing my best to learn from them despite our differences. When it comes to branches of Christianity that I disagree with, my passion is even more increased. I simply love learning from Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. While we don't see eye to eye on everything, there is so much that we do agree on that can form the basis of great unity between Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox.
Source: Austin Suggs - From the "About" section of "My Experience Going to Catholic Mass as a Protestant", YouTube video on the Gospel Simplicity channel
https://youtu.be/M4nfaPm7NQE
Eberhard Arnold, Germany, 1920s
All the movements of the past decades will one day converge in a radical awakening of the masses that leads the way to social justice and to God's unity. And so we prepare ourselves to set our little community in the midst of this mighty awakening. We must be ready to sacrifice ourselves.
Source: Eberhard Arnold - As quoted by Peter Mommsen in "Homage to a Broken Man", p. 118
Yachad BeYeshua (Together in Jesus)
Yachad BeYeshua (Together in Jesus) is a newly formed international body which seeks to unite Jewish followers of Yeshua from diverse backgrounds in loving fellowship as a witness to God’s eternal faithfulness to Israel and the Church.
Yachad BeYeshua is not a synagogue or a church, nor does it seek to compete with or replace any existing institutions. We respect the genuine differences that distinguish various groups of Jewish disciples of Jesus, and view those differences as an asset rather than a liability.
Yachad BeYeshua is a fellowship—a growing network of friendships. We seek to build relationships of trust that will permit us to learn from one another, and to work together to fulfill a common call: to bear witness to God’s unfailing love for Israel, a love which has become flesh in the Messiah.
To learn more about Yachad BeYeshua, go to yachad-beyeshua.org
Source: Richard Harvey - Posted on Facebook 11 Nov 2020