What does "Christian" mean? - Taizé

In our city and our region, there are people who also love Christ, but in a different way than we do. Calling ourselves “Christians” means bearing the name of Christ. We receive our identity as Christians through baptism, which unites us to Christ. Let us try to give more visibility to this common identity, instead of emphasizing our denominational identities.

Source: Taizé - As quoted on FB by John 17 Movement, 2 Dec 2016

From the Paulists

Do we need energizing reminders in these turbulent times that this call to unity, this vocation, is more real and needed than ever? Yes, we do. And the signs are there that the Holy Spirit is alive and active, lighting the fire in our hearts for more visible communion with one another as followers of Jesus.

Such signs were manifest in Boston during the January 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There was a prayer gathering in a different denominational church each night of the week. On the opening evening, Wednesday, Christians from around the city gathered in an Evangelical church. On Thursday evening, people came together in an Eastern Orthodox church. And on Friday evening there was an energizing service of song and prayer in a Pentecostal church.

Source: Thomas Ryan, CSP - "Keep the Fire Burning", Paulist Fathers blog post, 6 February 2017, http://www.paulist.org/the-conversation/keep-the-fire-burning/

From the NFL

Meanwhile, Qadree, a fifth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons out of Pittsburgh, figured he couldn't proceed in life or football without getting some closure after his brother's 2017 murder. The native of Niagara Falls, New York, also realized, because of his faith in God, there was no reason to be spiteful toward [the murderer, Denzel] Lewis, whom he attended middle school with and once considered a friend.

“I believe you can’t live with hate in your heart,” Qadree said. “You can’t move on from something with hate in your heart.”

Qadree could have expressed outrage over a senseless act of violence. Instead, his words showed compassion toward Lewis, who shot Harris to death in broad daylight. Qadree’s strength in a time of grieving helped bring an already tight-knit family closer.

Source: Vaughn McClure - ESPN, 8 May 2019
http://www.espn.com/blog/atlanta-falcons/post/_/id/34204/falcons-rookie-qadree-ollison-keeps-the-faith-through-brothers-murder

Zacchaeus

Luke 19:8-9 and Acts 19:18-19 both show the distinct Old Testament pattern of open, public confession and repentance:
Lk. 19:8-9--"But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.' Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."

Source: Dr. Gary S. Greig - The Biblical Foundations of Identificational Repentance as One Prayer Pattern Useful to Advance God's Kingdom and Evangelism, April 2001

Fr. Peter on Abbe Couturier

…"spiritual ecumenism" was first used by the Abbe Paul Couturier from Lyon, France, in the mid-1930s, to describe an approach to ecumenism that was grounded in deeper conversion of all to Christ, was rooted in and nourished by prayer on the model of the prayer of Jesus in John 17, and was deeply penitent for the sins of all parties against the unity of the one body. Couturier's vision for ecumenism was adopted by the Catholic bishops at Vatican Two, and found clear expression in the decree on ecumenism. John Paul II strongly endorsed the teaching of the council on spiritual ecumenism in his encyclical letter Ut Unum Sint in 1995.

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken - Pentecost and Parousia, Peter Hocken - p. 91 / UR 6-8 / UUS 15-17, 21-27.

God's Anointing Spans Our Traditions

63 – Abraham. Moses. Ruth. David. Elijah. Mary. John. Polycarp. Anthony. Patrick. Teresa of Avila. John Wesley. William Carey. Billy Graham.
64 – God’s anointing—his hand upon individuals—permeates 4,000 years of Judeo-Christian history, reaching across the Christian traditions.

Source: George Miley - Maturing Toward Wholeness in the Inner Life, Chapter 1, "Restore the Ancient Anointings", https://www.amazon.com/Maturing-toward-Wholeness-Inner-Life/dp/0578613719/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=maturing+toward+wholeness&qid=1579303032&sr=8-2

Evangelical is Not Enough Is Not Enough

[Thomas Howard] publisher titled his last Protestant book Evangelical is Not Enough. He told me he’d protested the title, because he did not want to speak negativity of his childhood home. The publisher knew a title that would bring in the buyers, because there were many in that world looking for a way out.

Source: David Mills - "RIP Thomas Howard: 1935-2020", Catholic Herald, 15 October 2020
https://catholicherald.co.uk/ch/rip-thomas-howard-1935-2020/

"I was supposed to be in Rome ..."

For a decade or more, Giovanni and Matteo have been leading Catholic/Evangelical reconciliation meetings around the globe, perhaps most notably in Latin America, where Giovanni became personal friends with Cardinal Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis. Early in 2014, these two Italian brothers, at Joe Tosini’s invitation, visited Phoenix, where we held several small reconciliation meetings and launched our John 17 Movement (www.john17movement.com). Pope Francis sent us a personal letter encouraging our unity efforts, and both Bishops Olmstead and Nevares participated in all those meetings. When I expressed my deep gratitude to Bishop O, he replied, “It’s providential I’m here. I was supposed to be Rome this week, but those meetings were cancelled!”

Subsequently, we’ve held multiple John 17 worship and prayer events, as well as leadership luncheons. Most notably, we had a grand event a year ago May on Pentecost Sunday at the Phoenix Convention Center. Again, both Bishops spoke, over 2000 attended, and Pope Francis sent us a personal video greeting.

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.

"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

Danville, PA - again!

Once a month I also meet with 4 ministers from 4 different denominations. Mark Giesen is a Lutheran and ministers as a “pulpit supply person” from Trinity Lutheran Church in Danville, PA. David Mansfield is a Disciple of Christ and the Pastor at the Benton, PA, Christian Church. Betsy McCormack is a Presbyterian Pastor ministering at the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomsburg, PA. And Nancy Hardy is from the United Church of Christ and is Pastor at the First Reformed UCC Church in Berwick, PA. Each month one of these ministers prepares a “focused theme” for our “day apart” which includes a “check in” to see how everyone is currently doing, followed by a time for private reflection, prayer, and a discussion. We conclude our precious time together as we pray for the expressed needs of each other. We have truly become one in spirit as we accompany each other on the journey as faithful spiritual companions.

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/

Danville, Pennsylvania

Christ gave a farewell address at the last supper and expressed his wish “that all may be one” in the Trinity (John 17:22). The Congregation of the Sisters of Saints Cyril & Methodius boldly attests through its congregational mission statement that we “work and pray for the unity of all Christians.”

We promote cooperation and better understanding, and we strive to develop closer relationships with one another in order to unite people of different Church traditions. Our congregation’s Motherhouse has been located in a rural area of Pennsylvania in the town of Danville for 100 years. We have reached out to all 24 of the Danville Churches as we begin to celebrate this 2019 centennial milestone.

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/

Can we learn from Iraqis?

“Here in Iraq we Christians cannot afford to throw out words carelessly as the media in the West can do,” he added. “I would ask those in the media who use every issue to stir up division to think about this.”

Source: Archbishop Bashar Warda - Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, Iraq, as quoted in Archbishop to Anti-Trump Protesters: "Where Were You When Muslim Terrorists Were Slaughtering And Persecuting Christians?", Freedom Outpost, http://freedomoutpost.com/archbishop-to-anti-trump-protesters-where-were-you-when-muslim-terrorists-were-slaughtering-and-persecuting-christians/

An Evangelical Megachurch in Colorado Springs

I grew up in Colorado Springs, Colo., a Catholic girl in the evangelical New Jerusalem. In addition to Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs is home to more than 100 evangelical ministries. I spent my adolescence defending myself against evangelicals who did not believe I was saved or who argued that liturgy and ritual were dead because they were formulaic or routine.

So I was surprised to learn that New Life Church, a nondenominational, charismatic evangelical megachurch in Colorado Springs, with more than 10,000 members, recently embraced more traditional liturgies as well as social justice work without evangelization. New Life now recites the Nicene Creed, which it uses as its statement of faith, offers Communion at most of its locations on Sunday mornings, teaches its members about the liturgical calendar and has a home for unwed mothers experiencing homelessness called Mary’s House—as in Mary, the Mother of God.

Source: Anna Keating - Online article in America - The Jesuit Review, 2 May 2019
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/05/02/why-evangelical-megachurches-are-embracing-some-catholic-traditions

Kim Kollins

In the late 1990s discussions began to take place about a possible initiative involving new church charismatic leaders with leaders from CCR. A prime mover was Kim Kollins, an American convert to Catholicism from an independent charismatic background, who had come to Europe as a missionary, and rather quickly became a Catholic. The fruit has been a series of meeting entitled Gatherings in the Holy Spirit, gathering leaders from both sides and meeting every two years—always in Rome at the request of the "nondenominationals." From these meetings came provisional discussions between the "nondenom" leaders and officials of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the Unity of Christians, which have led in 2012 to the decision to begin a three-year round of conversations in 2014 on the theme, "Authority, Revelation, and the Word of God."

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken - Pentecost and Parousia, Peter Hocken - p. 62 [It's Only, by Kim Kollins - the story of her conversion]

German Lutheran Identificational Repentance after WWII

Another example of mainline denominational corporate confession comes from the German Lutheran Church. At the end of World War II, in October 1945, the newly formed United Evangelical Lutheran Church, under the influence of one of its leaders, the prominent anti-Nazi theologian and pastor, Rev. Dr. Martin Niemöller, who had resisted the Nazis alongside the famous Christian martyr, Rev. Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, issued the Stuttgart Confession of Guilt (Stuttgarter Schulderklärung). In the Stuttgart Confession, the German Lutheran church identified with and confessed the corporate guilt of the German people for the widespread suffering perpetrated by the former Nazi government with words like the following:

With great pain we say: Through us unending suffering has been brought upon many nations and countries. . . . Now a new beginning should be made in our churches.

Apparently the Lutheran denominational leadership felt such identificational repentance was in keeping with their theological understanding of Christian confession. This kind of corporate confession of national guilt has been articulated and discussed over the past decades by German theologians like Dr. Martin Honecker and Dr. Gerhard Besier, as well as by German New Testament scholars like Dr. Bertold Klappert of the University of Göttingen.

Source: Dr. Gary S. Greig - The Biblical Foundations of Identificational Repentance as One Prayer Pattern Useful to Advance God's Kingdom and Evangelism, April 2001

Lutheran & Catholic Charities Working Together

In addition to the ecumenical prayer service Oct. 31 in Lund — the city where the Lutheran World Federation was founded in 1947 — Pope Francis and leaders of the Lutheran World Federation will witness the signing of a cooperation agreement between the federation’s World Service and Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based umbrella organization of national Catholic charities.

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

We Ordinary Catholics Must ...

"It cannot just be Pope Francis who puts action behind the words that Catholics and Lutherans must get closer to each other," said Ewa Siekierski, a Danish Catholic who crossed over from Copenhagen into Sweden to see the pope. "We — ordinary Catholics — must also do (our part) for it to become a reality."

Source: Ewa Siekierski - As quoted by Andrew Medichini, Jan M. Olsen & Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press, "Pope on Reformation: Forgive 'errors' of past, forge unity", 31 Oct 2016, https://www.yahoo.com/news/reformer-pope-heads-sweden-mark-luthers-reforms-050227744.html

Why am I an Anglican?

Why am I an Anglican?

Not so much because of beauty or the stability of the liturgy, but because it puts me in touch or rather opens a window into the historic practices of the saints east and west who like each of us lived into the call to pursue a fully devoted Christian life. Their examples, understandings, and patterns of life past down have strengthened and grounded my own Christian walk.

Source: Alexei N. Laushkin - Posted on FB 24 Sept 2020

Ballymena, Northern Ireland

As well as enjoying good relations with the Church of Ireland (Anglican), Methodist and Presbyterian ministers in Ballymena, Father Symonds has worked closely with Protestants found guilty of sectarian attacks. ... "If you had told me when I was being ordained that I would be working with former loyalist prisoners, I would have thought that would have been disastrous," he said.

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