Leonard's Story

In 1972, I became a believer at the age of 21. My story is sadly summed up in one word: ignorance.

For twenty years following my public profession of Jesus as my Redeemer, my young family actively attended church and all became Christians. We grew in the Spirit, placed our faith in God who guides our lives and decisions.

Regretfully, during all that time I was completely unaware of what the term Protestant meant and the reasons of its origin. This became particularly embarrassing and painful in the years ahead because, I was a teenager living in Wiesbaden, (just a short drive from Mainz & Worms) where my father was stationed serving in the U.S. Air Force. And, during those years I was oblivious to anti-Semitism, the history of Reformation and the deep divisions between Catholics and Protestants.

Even though I regularly attended church in the chapels provided on the military bases, I was completely unaware of the reasons there were separate "Protestant" and "Catholic" services, nor the history behind it.

It was not until around 1993 while attending a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) the "scales" fell off my eyes while studying the history of the Church (from many differing sources) leading up to the Reformation and why freedom of worship for billions became radically different since 1517.

I began observing and, now seeing, the divisions in virtually all churches – Protestant and Catholic alike. Determined not to add to those divisions, I became familiar with the many differing ways worship was lived out in all followers of Christ, and in the Tribe of Judah.

In recent years I've prayed that God would involve me in some fashion with the events this year and with all the healing restoration many are receiving. My ignorance has been replaced with a clearer understanding of our shared history and in particular the extensive anti-Semitism that remains throughout Europe.

Sharing our mutual Christian history with those in my life and church helps reconcile followers of Jesus, and helps diminish the wariness many Americans harbor toward Jewish people.

I praise God and thank Him for His Patience with me during all those years of ignorance.

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

Jesus Prayed

(1) After Jesus taught his disciples, he looked up to heaven and prayed, “Father, my time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son can glorify you. (2) For you have given him authority over all people, so that he can give eternal life to whoever you have given him. (3) Now this is eternal life: That they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent into this world. (4) I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. (5) And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the creation of the universe.”

Source: Jesus - John 17:1-5 (IEB)

Brick by Brick

Until I, as an evangelical Protestant, met some halfway decent Catholics I had no idea what they believed. Likewise, if it wasn’t for my Anglican friend I’d have no ideas how gosh darn similar we actually are.
It’s not until we actively begin to reach out and meet each other where we are that we can begin to take down these walls, brick by brick.

Source: K. Albert Little - The Cordial Catholic on Patheos, 1 May 2015, "Dear Christians: Take Our Unity Seriously, Because Everyone is Watching", http://www.patheos.com/blogs/albertlittle/dear-christians-take-our-unity-seriously-because-everyone-is-watching/

One Body

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

Protestants who recognize that they are already members of a Church where some venerate icons, some believe in transubstantiation, some slaughter peaceful Muslim neighbors, some believe in papal infallibility and Mary’s immaculate conception. 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/

Words of Praise for Luther from ...

Years ago, Francis spoke harshly of the Protestant reformers. But in the run-up to the trip, he has had only words of praise for Luther. He recently called the German theologian a reformer of his time who rightly criticized a church that was "no model to imitate."

"There was corruption in the church, worldliness, attachment to money and power," Francis told reporters this summer.

They are the same abuses Francis has criticized in the 21st-century Catholic Church he now leads.

Source: Pope Francis - 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

Learnings from an NDE (Near-Death Experience)

Omoye Agbontaen:

Do you have any recommendations for how people can experience and cultivate an atmosphere where they can experience a portion of the love that you experienced in heaven? ...


Dr. Mary Neal:

I mean, we're all broken. And you have to get to the point where you recognize that, and realize, like "OK." I mean, like a good friend, they can be jerks one day, but you're not going to stop being their friend. But it's sort of a snowball, that as you begin to walk that walk, and express that love to yourself and to others, the intensity of it does build.
One little trick, for example. (I'm not going to pretend that I like every person I meet. But, having said that ...) If I meet someone that they just bug me, and my initial reaction to them is not one of love, it's really interesting, because I can, first of all, consciously remind myself that this person in front of me is an incredibly beloved child of God, I remind myself of that.
And then I find one thing about them that I like or that I appreciate, it can be anything so silly
the color of their shirt, any little thing. It's amazing, if I can pick out that first thing, and then I start feeling love for that, it grows, and very rapidly, I'm amazed at myself, now it happens almost instantaneously, I can go from meeting someone and thinking, "Uh, I don't like this person", to feeling incredible love for them, very quickly, and it's all because you just have to practice love, you have to practice love, and then it becomes second nature.

Source: Dr. Mary Neal - Q&A during Rez Week 2020, 2 April 2020
https://youtu.be/SN-B8sN7BKc?t=7567 (2:06:12, 2:09:01ff)

Amazed that the Holy Spirit was poured out, even on ...

(44) While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon everyone who heard his message. (45) The circumcised Jewish believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on non-Jews, (46) for they heard them speaking in tongues (spiritual languages) and praising God. Then Peter said, (47) “These non-Jews have received the Holy Spirit just as we Jews have; surely no one can stop them from being baptized in water.” (48) So Peter told the Jews to baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for several days.

Source: Luke - Acts 11:44-48 (IEB)

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/