Reflection ... Action ... Prayer

Reflection
This section hits home hard for me. I find it easy to close my heart off to those who have hurt me and even more difficult to face the reality that I have hurt others and that my attitudes and actions have directly and indirectly led to division and disunity. There are conflicts in my past where I have hidden behind the letter of the law, and fallen short of the spirit of law that calls me to follow Jesus to the cross. Jesus is teaching and helping me to keep my heart open and pursue those who have brought me deep pain and to never lose hope that God can heal and restore in even the most hopeless situation.

Action
Ask God to show you a broken relationship in your life that He desires to bring healing and restoration to. Begin to pray about this asking God to show you what to do. Trust that He will speak to you and then obey what He asks you to do. Consider inviting others to pray with you. Never underestimate the rippling effects of healing and peace that can come from a restored relationship.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one, we pray to you for the unity of Christians according to your will, according to your means. May your Spirit enable us to experience the suffering caused by division, to see and confess our sin and being forgiven and restored prepare us to be bearers of reconciliation wherever you place us. Amen.

Source: A2J Community - Apprenticeship to Jesus Community, Phoenix, Blog Post "Unity Week Devotion - Day 4", 21 Jan 2016, http://www.a2jphoenix.org/blog/unity-week-devotion-day-4

Thomas & Amy Cogdell

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

Wish List

What kind of churches do we at Theopolis dream of? Churches like these …

Pastors who form friendships with, pray with, learn from, and study the Bible with local Catholic and Orthodox priests, as well as other Protestant pastors. Pastors who take the time to cross the street to befriend a pastor from another denomination. For we are one body.


Source: Peter Leithart - Theopolis Institute blog, "Reformational Catholicism, A Wish List", 20 October 2016, https://theopolisinstitute.com/reformational-catholicism-a-wish-list/

Jemar Tisby

First, I believe in the church. I will not break fellowship with her or any of her people based on politics. Jesus Christ himself prayed for the unity of believers. “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11b). Christ wants his church to be unified, so it is in the name of Christian unity that I must speak honestly.

Source: Jemar Tisby - "Trump's Election and Feeling 'Safe' in White Evangelical Churches", Reformed African American Network, 18 Nov 2016, https://www.raanetwork.org/trumps-election-feeling-safe-white-evangelical-churches/

Reformation Implications

The new religious identities and communities which emerged from these conflicts—Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, and the more radical groupings often lumped together under the name “Anabaptist”—did indeed share some beliefs and attitudes in common. They all prioritized the written Word of God in the Bible over traditional Church teaching and discipline, and they all vehemently rejected the papacy and the allegedly materialistic religious system which the papacy headed. But they were divided among themselves—often lethally—on almost everything else. Within a single generation of Luther’s protest, “Protestants” were excommunicating, fighting, and persecuting each other, as well as the common Catholic enemy, and many were calling for a reform of the Reformation.

Source: Eamon Duffy - First Things, "The End of Christendom" (Book review of Reformations by Carlos Eire), November 2016, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/11/the-end-of-christendom

Catholic Response to Alpha

While no magisterial statement has been forthcoming, Catholic officials have expressed themselves positively: Nicky Gumbel, an Anglican curate at Holy Trinity, Brompton who functions as a chief spokesman for Alpha, was presented on the strength of his Alpha involvement to the Pope in February 2004, an audience made possible by another senior churchman who is a firm advocate for Alpha – Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal Household. (See Alpha News 2004) In France, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, recorded remarks on the Alpha introductory video, saying, “For the French church, Alpha is a great opportunity for our time. It is a wonderful gift that we have received from England.” (Ibid)

Additionally, Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien wrote in a brochure for an Alpha conference in Glascow, “I see the Alpha course as an initial and very important tool for … the ‘rechristianization of Scotland.’” (Ibid) In Austria, Salzburg’s Archbishop Dr. Alois Kothgasser observed about Alpha, “I rejoice that this course now also is increasingly spreading within the Catholic Church in Austria and that through it people find a living faith in Jesus Christ.” (Alpha für Katholiken 2003, p. 1) („Ich freue mich, dass dieser Kurs nun auch in der Katholischen Kirche in Österreich immer mehr Verbreitung findet and dass durch ihn Menschen zu einem lebendigen Glauben an Jesus Christus finden.“)

Source: Cardinal Philippe Barbarin - Alpha News 2004, as quoted in footnote 45 of "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller

Jason Mandryk from Perspectives

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

New Mexico Prays

New Mexico Prays is a cross-denominational, multi-ethnic, Jesus-centered prayer movement. We have 39 churches in 10 cities covering New Mexico in 24/7 prayer from the Assemblies of God, Calvary Chapel Southwest, Church of God (Anderson, IN), Church of God (Cleveland, TN) Messianic Jews, Catholic, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Full Gospel Baptist, Victory Outreach, Church of Christ, Ministers Fellowship International (MFI), Southern Baptist, and non-denominational. Join the movement today: NewMexicoPrays.org.

Source: New Mexico Prays - From http://www.NewMexicoPrays.org, as posted on FB by Trey Kent, 25 Jan 2017
http://www.NewMexicoPrays.org

Hidden Figures

Although these women encountered constant gender and racial discrimination, they refused to embrace a victim mentality or succumb to bitterness. Instead, they modeled all of the core skills of relational wisdom.

They turned to God for strength and guidance. They mastered their emotions and exercised astonishing humility and self-control. They related to insensitive co-workers with grace, patience and forgiveness, keeping their focus on serving the astronauts whose very lives depended on the accuracy of their calculations.

Source: Ken Sande - "Hidden Figures", Relational Wisdom 360 blog post, 16 Jan 2017, https://rw360.org/2017/01/16/hidden-figures/

Why did Paul have no peace?

(12) After leaving Ephesus, I traveled to the city of Troas to proclaim the gospel (good news) of Christ. When I arrived, I discovered that the Lord had opened a wide door for my ministry, (13) but I still had no peace in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus there, as he had not yet come from Corinth. So I said goodbye to the Troas church and took a boat across the Aegean Sea to the Roman province of Macedonia (see Acts 20:1).

Source: The Apostle Paul - 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 (IEB)

"Why do you keep saying the same thing?"

With so much hatred, confusion, and despair we must keep our heart fixed on God and keep walking with Jesus and let his love pour through us to those God puts in our lives. I am strengthened by the story of the Apostle John who had lived in Ephesus into his extreme old age, and could hardly be carried to the meetings of the church by the disciples, and when in speaking, he could no longer put together many words, he would not say anything else in the meetings but this: “Little children, love one another!” When at last the disciples and brothers present got tired of hearing the same thing again and again, they said, “Master, why do you keep saying the same thing?” John replied with a saying worthy of him: “Because it is the Lord’s command, and it is enough if it is really done.”

No labor of love is ever in vain and love does indeed win because God is Love.

Source: John the Apostle - As quoted by Ryan & Noleen Thurman in their eNewsletter, 29 Nov 2016, http://us11.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2f84e6db2c8ce790e960d7e88&id=56a66dcd7d&e=41a5c4ce00

"I could not forgive that man" (if ...)

Police have said Stephens apparently chose the grandfather of 14 at random.

The daughters spoke proudly of the example their father set for them in faith and forgiveness.

"I promise you, I could not do that if I did not know God, if I didn't know him as my God and my savior, I could not forgive that man," Debbie Godwin said.

Godwin-Baines added, "It's just what our parents taught us. They didn't talk it, they lived it. Neighbors would do things to us, and we would say, 'Dad, are we going to forgive them really?' And he would say, 'Yes, we have to.' "

Source: Melissa Mahtani - "Cleveland victim's family: We forgive killer", CNN, 18 April 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/us/cleveland-victims-family-we-forgive-killer-cnntv/index.html

More Radical than Rod!

The most striking comments came from Randall Gauger, a bishop at the Bruderhof, who, with his wife, had lived for many years in a Bruderhof community in Australia. (They now live in a Pennsylvania Bruderhof community.) A bald man in his sixties wearing a tan sports coat, a black shirt, and a tan tie, Gauger described what he and his wife had done after “withdrawing.” They hung out with their neighbors at barbecues; they babysat and visited elderly shut-ins. Gauger became a police chaplain. Other Bruderhof members became firefighters or E.M.T.s. They collaborated with farmers on sustainable agriculture, partnered with charities, volunteered in “crisis situations,” and hosted thousands of guests, including politicians and Aboriginal leaders. “Would we have done as much as a solitary nuclear family?” Gauger asked. “I doubt it.” He pointed out that capitalist society caters to people with “extraordinary talents”: “Only in a communal church can the old and the very young, hurting military veterans, the disabled, the mentally ill, ex-addicts, ex-felons, or simply annoying people, like myself, find a place where they can be healed and accepted and, what’s more, contribute to life.” His criticism of “The Benedict Option” was that it did not go far enough. “Why stop at Benedict when we can go back to the original source of Christianity? Christians living in full community is how the church began . . . and the early church was far more radical than anything Rod has so far proposed.” Dreher, sitting next to him onstage, listened, enraptured, with his head on his hand.

Source: Randall Gauger - Bruderhof bishop, quoted by Joshua Rothman in "Rod Dreher's Monastic Vision", The New Yorker, 1 May 2017, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/rod-drehers-monastic-vision

Historical Background to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

In 1935, Abbé Paul Couturier, a priest of the Archdiocese of Lyons, sought a solution to the problem of non-Roman Catholics not being able to observe the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. He found the solution in the Roman Missal as the Association for Promotion of the Unity of Christians had done seventy-eight years earlier in England. Couturier promoted prayer for Christian unity on the inclusive basis that “our Lord would grant to his Church on earth that peace and unity which were in his mind and purpose, when, on the eve of His Passion, He prayed that all might be one.” This prayer would unite Christians in prayer for that perfect unity that God wills and by the means that he wills. Like Fr. Paul Wattson, Abbé Couturier exhibited a powerful passion for unity and had sent out “calls to prayer” annually until his death in 1953.

Source: Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A. - "BACKGROUND: Brief History of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017", by Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A., Associate Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, http://geii.org/week_of_prayer_for_christian_unity/background/brief_history.html

Paul & the Corinthians - Again

Paul here was writing to those who had already put their faith in Christ, yet were now estranged from him and his companions who were carrying the message of the Gospel. This fragmented relationship gave way to a disconnect from God's purposes towards them. To be estranged from God's ambassadors and community was to be estranged from God himself. Alternatively, to be reconciled to them was to be reconciled in Christ to God.

There is an urgency in Paul which invites his pleading with this fragmented community. Reconciliation and unity are not subsidiary realities to the Gospel, but at the core of salvation and what it means to be the church. If God was in Christ to reconcile the world to himself, and he is now in the church, then he must be at work within the church to reconcile men one to another.

God continues to work to reconcile the community of the redeemed and the church is still his chosen method in revealing himself. The message of salvation is incapable of being disconnected from its incarnation in the community of Christ. As Christ works through to us to plead to the world, he is also at work among us in a similar way with the plea, 'be reconciled to God,' and with it, 'be reconciled with each other.’

Source: A2J Community - Apprenticeship to Jesus Community, Phoenix, Blog Post "Unity Week Devotion - Day 5", 22 Jan 2016, http://www.a2jphoenix.org/blog/unity-week-devotion-day-5

Paul & the Corinthians

Saint Paul did not always have an easy relationship with the community at Corinth, as his letters show. There was also a painful visit to this community, with heated words exchanged in writing. But this passage shows Paul overcoming past differences. By living his ministry in the light of mercy received, he does not give up in the face of divisions, but devotes himself to reconciliation. When we, the community of baptized Christians, find ourselves confronted with disagreements and turn towards the merciful face of Christ to overcome it, it is reassuring to know that we are doing as Saint Paul did in one of the very first Christian communities.

Source: Pope Francis - Address to the Anglican Parish of All Saints in Rome, as reported by Vatican Radio, 26 Feb 2017, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/02/26/pope_catholics_and_anglicans,_brothers_and_sisters_in_chris/1295193

NYPD Officer Shot by Teen

Quoting Steven McDonald, a NYPD officer shot by a teenager and paralyzed:

I forgave Shavod because I believe the only thing worse than receiving a bullet in my spine would have been to nurture revenge in my heart. Such an attitude would have extended my injury to my soul, hurting my wife, son, and others even more. It's bad enough that the physical effects are permanent, but at least I can choose to prevent spiritual injury.

Source: Johann Christoph Arnold - Why Forgive?, pp.180