A Pastor Publicly Repents

But what made their situation truly remarkable is what Andrew did the Sunday after Susan and Elaine came to talk with him.

With Susan’s permission, he described their conversation to the entire congregation, commending Susan for her graciousness and courage as well as Elaine for her wisdom and advice.

And then he said this:

“As I’ve reflected on what Susan told me about my behavior toward her, I realized I’ve probably treated other people in our church with the same kind of pride, thoughtlessness and impatience. So I’m asking for your forgiveness today as well. If you need to talk with me about how I’ve treated you, my door is open. Please pray that God would help me to become more sensitive to how I’m treating others, and if you see me stumble, please do me the favor of pointing it out so I can continue to grow.”

Source: Ken Sande  -  "Public Confession is Counterintuitive", Relational Wisdom 360 eNewsletter, 7 August 2016
https://rw360.org/2016/08/07/public-confession-counterintuitive/

The Humility of Fr. Magill (part 2)

Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing: Rosemary Presbyterian Church
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When I used to live in North Belfast, over 15 years ago, I was a regular visitor to events at Rosemary Presbyterian church.  I returned there, this time to the church halls, for evening worship. I spoke to a number of people I remembered from that time.
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As I reflect on the whole experience, I recognise how good it was to worship with people I had known over 15 years ago.  I had a number of conversations reflecting on the area and the challenge for the churches in North Belfast  I detected a keenness for the churches to work together.  I heard about a prayer course based on the ideas of the 24/7 prayer initiative which was open to all the Christian denominations in the area.  I also found it helpful to hear about discipleship because the gospel passage which I will preach on from the Common Lectionary comes from Matthew 28 and the command of Jesus to make disciples.

Source: Fr. Martin Magill  -  As quoted by Gladys Ganiel on her blog Building a Church Without Walls, 2014, http://www.gladysganiel.com/irish-catholic-church/fr-martin-magills-ecumenical-tithing-rosemary-presbyterian/

The Love of Christ Compels Us to Reconcile

Some of us are old enough to remember when we Catholics were regularly instructed not to attend the funerals or weddings of our Protestant neighbors, relatives or friends. It was an awkward time to be sure because the human heart seeks to be united to loved ones in such moments of great sorrow and deep joy. I believe that it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that urges us to seek some expression of ecclesial union at those moments.

Source: Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory  -  The Georgia Bulletin, "The love of Christ compels us to reconcile", 26 Jan 2017, https://georgiabulletin.org/commentary/2017/01/love-christ-compels-us-reconcile/ (ALSO IN SPANISH at https://georgiabulletin.org/commentary/2017/01/el-amor-de-cristo-nos-apremia-reconciliarnos/?lang=es)

Resourcing From The Tradition

Pastor Packiam’s desire for something deeper came from a painful period in New Life’s history. After Pastor Haggard’s fall from grace in 2006, Pastor Packiam says, “I became concerned about the way evangelical worship highlighted an individual at the center of it all”—the celebrity pastor. He began reading books by authors like Henri Nouwen and Eugene Peterson, “I realized that something was missing in our worship; and that something was Eucharist, was sacramentality.” He looked at Anglican, Orthodox and Presbyterian churches but decided to stay and help his congregation “resource from the tradition.” For him, “This is a move of the Spirit toward theological depth and historicity.”

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

The Humility of Fr. Magill (part 1)

Fr Magill’s determination to push the boundaries in terms of ecumenical outreach is evident from his practice of what the late Michael Hurley SJ called “ecumenical tithing”.

This means that part of his time each week, usually on a Sunday afternoon or evening is devoted to worshipping in another Christian denomination, sometimes St George’s Church of Ireland in Belfast “a very beautiful very high church”.

He believes this commitment comes from “the imperative I get from Jesus Christ in John 17”.

Fr Magill reveals that it is “only a matter of time before I will worship in a Free Presbyterian church as part of ecumenical tithing”.

He is also working on a list of ten things that Catholics can learn  from other denominations and “top of the list is welcoming because 90% of churches do welcoming better then we Catholics”, followed by singing.

Source: Martin O'Brien  -  "A Quiet Peacemaker", The Irish Catholic, 11 Dec 2014, http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/quiet-peacemaker

Richard Harvey on Luther

My encounter with Martin Luther brought into sharp focus the place of Luther in the tradition of Christian anti-Judaism and popular anti-semitism in a way that has challenged my own faith perspective, my ability to forgive Luther and Lutherans for the sufferings brought about by him on my people, and a strong desire to see reconciliation between Lutherans, Jews and Jewish Christians today.

Source: Richard Harvey  -  "A Messianic Jew Looks at Luther", https://lutherandthejews.com/2017/02/09/a-messianic-jew-looks-at-luther/

If Repentance Is Not Part Of Your Life ...

You may call yourself a committed Christian, but if repentance is not part of your life, you are in a dangerous place.  Remember Jesus' verdict on the church at Sardis:  "You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead" (Rev 3:1).  To be spiritually alive is to walk in repentance.  Dead are those Christians who are never sorry for their sins.  Dead - in God's eyes - are those Christians who have lost the capacity for the overflowing joy of forgiveness.  If this is missing, something is wrong with our lives, no matter how committed we seem.  Being human, we are all prone to sin and stand in constant need of forgiveness.  We need repentance like the air we breathe.

Source: M. Basilea Schlink  -  Repentance: The Joy-Filled Life, pp. 20-21

Pope: "Luther took a great step by ..."

Asked what Catholics can learn from Lutherans and what they should value of the Lutheran tradition, Pope Francis responded, “Two words come to my mind: reform and Scripture.”

At a “difficult time for the church,” Martin Luther tried “to remedy a complex situation,” the pope said, but for a variety of reasons, including political pressure, his reform movement triggered the division of the church. But Luther’s intuition was not altogether wrong, the pope said, because the church is called to be “‘semper reformanda’ (always reforming).”

In addition, he said, “Luther took a great step by putting the Word of God into the hands of the people” and giving them the Bible in their language, rather than in Latin.

Source: Pope Francis  -  Quoted by Catholic News Service in "Pope on why he’s going to Sweden: ‘Closeness does all of us good’", 28 Oct 2016, https://cnstopstories.com/2016/10/28/pope-on-why-hes-going-to-sweden-closeness-does-all-of-us-good/

Callaway's Lynching

Callaway's lynching lived in whispers among African-Americans of that era. As they passed on, in the absence of official records, media accounts or a gravestone, Callaway faded from the town's collective memory.

Almost no one in LaGrange today knew Austin Callaway's name until recently -- not his descendants, not the local NAACP president, not the mayor, not even Police Chief Louis Dekmar.

As the chief learned more about the lynching, he came to understand how it strained relations between his force and the African-American community. He decided it was time to apologize for law enforcement's role and acknowledge its impact on community relations.

"The past shapes the present," he said in an interview before the event.


Source: Emanuella Grinberg, CNN  -  "'Justice failed Austin Callaway': Town attempts to atone for 1940 lynching", Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, 28 Jan 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/us/lagrange-georgia-callaway-1940-lynching/index.html

1st Time Since Reformation

For the first time since the Reformation, the Evangelical Church in Germany, which represents the vast majority of Protestants in that country, has invited the pope to visit their homeland, the nation where the Reformation began. An ecumenical delegation from Germany visited Pope Francis in the Vatican on Feb. 6 as part of the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of that event.

Source: Gerard O'Connell  -  "German Evangelical Church issues historic invite to Pope Francis", America : The Jesuit Review, 6 Feb 2017, http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/02/06/german-evangelical-church-issues-historic-invite-pope-francis

A Catholic Cardinal Honors Protestant Anabaptists

The Bruderhof is an international Christian community of almost 3,000 people in 23 settlements on four continents. Their goal is radical discipleship in the spirit of the first days of the Church in Jerusalem.

From eight years of friendship with Pastor Arnold, his wonderful wife, Verena, and the hundreds of members centered at Woodcrest in Rifton, I can tell you they are “a light to the world.” I love them, and have learned much from them, and my predecessors claimed the same. As the late Father Benedict Groeschel whispered to me, “They’re better Catholics than I am!”

Source: Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan  -  "Radical Discipleship Lived in Our Midst", Catholic New York, 27 April 2017, http://www.cny.org/stories/radical-discipleship-lived-in-our-midst,15453

Reformed Churches Join *The Joint Doctrine on Justification by Faith*

“A new phase of friendship and cooperation, said Pope Francis, on welcoming the adherence of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) to the ecumenical consensus on the Doctrine of Justification, on July 5, 2017 at Wittenberg in Germany, where Luther’s Reformation began in 1517.
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Monsignor Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, represented the Catholic Church at the signing. He read a message of Pope Francis who welcomed it as “an eloquent sign of our commitment to continue together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, on the path from conflict to communion, from division to reconciliation.”

Source: Anne Kurian  -  "Pope Welcomes Adherence of the Reformed Churches to the Declaration on Justification", Zenit, 14 July 2017, https://zenit.org/articles/pope-welcomes-adherence-of-the-reformed-churches-to-the-declaration-on-justification/

1995

For Catholics it is easy to recognize 1995 as a key moment, being the year of the issue of John Paul II's encyclical letter on ecumenism, Ut Unum Sint. This may be the only papal encyclical that begins with a personal declaration: "I carry out this duty with the profound conviction that I am obeying the Lord, and with a clear sense of my own human frailty."

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken  -  Pentecost and Parousia, Peter Hocken - p. 63 [Ut Unum Sint 4]

"Enormous Avalanche of Wrongs"

As for the freedom that comes from owning up to one's faults, Steve, an old friend of mine, says:

… The pivotal experience came inexplicably and unexpectedly: I was suddenly aware what an enormous avalanche of wrongs I had left behind me.  Before, this reality had been masked by pride adn by my wanting to look good in front of others.  But now, memories of everything I had ever done wrong poured out of me like a river of bile.  All I wanted was to be free, to have nothing dark and ugly and hidden within me; I wanted to make good, wherever I could, the wrongs I had done.  I had no excuses for myself - youth, circumstances or bad peers.  I was responsibile for what I had done.  On one page after another I poured it all out in clear detail. I felt as though an angel of repentance was slashing at my heart with his sword, such was the pain.  I wrote dozens of letters to people and organizations I had cheated, stolen from, and lied to.  Finally I felt truly free.


Source: Johann Christoph Arnold  -  Why Forgive?, pp.168-169

Chip & Johanna

The Gaines shared, “Our family has made a commitment to put Christ first, a lifestyle our parents modeled for us very well. They showed us how to keep our marriage and family centered around God.

As for ‘Fixer Upper,’ we have been surprised at the impact of our faith through the show. We haven’t been overtly evangelical, but the rich feedback we have received on family and love all source from our faith. Jesus said the world would know His disciples by their love for one another, and we’ve glimpsed this in practice and strive for it every day.”

Source: Chip & Joanna Gaines  -  On CBS Sunday Morning, http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-couple-behind-fixer-upper/ , as quoted on http://qpolitical.com/1-chip-joanna-gaines-changing-america-easy-see/

Benjamin Berger

September 5: Repentance service at Christ Church

It is not very well known that UK and Germany shared the first protestant bishopric in Ottoman Jerusalem. Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem is the best known and most visible of this blessed period, which came to an abrupt and painful end in the 1880s. In a service, conducted by Canon Andrew White and witnessed by Messianic leader Benjamin Berger, this sin was brought before the Lord. In a letter to British intercessors GPC reported this memorable event to our friends in the UK.


Source: Global Prayer Call  -  Posted on their FB page 28 Sept 2016

Amy Cogdell

I believe we are living in remarkable days.  God is sharing his pain over division in the Church with many, both the great and the small.  Already I can see fruit.  Christians join together for prayer, dialogue and works of mercy in many places.  Still, I believe there is a greater glory to be revealed, the glory which Jesus prayed for His last night on earth.  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. (John 17:22)

I want to share a memorable chapter in my story.  It began on a remarkable day, a day still vivid in my memory.

It was 2:00 am and I was pacing my dining room floor.  I had spent the entire day in a state of shock, though I could not understand why the events of the day had shaken me so.  In the morning I had felt impressed to call an old college friend, my freshman roommate.  I had planned to convey a simple message, but as we talked, God began opening me up and I found myself telling Margaret about some dreams I had been having.  One specific dream was set in my hometown Church of Christ, only worship in the church was nothing like I remembered. In my dream women played guitars  (which was forbidden in my conservative church), the pastor had long hair, and most shocking of all, he had invited a young Catholic woman to preach!  In the church of my youth, women were never allowed to preach and Catholics were not even considered Christian.

Another dream I had was set in a church that felt entirely foreign.  I saw men in black robes with long beards, speaking a language I did not recognize until I heard them chant “Kyrie Eleison.” While I did not understand these dreams fully, I knew they were a vision of increased unity in the worldwide Body of Christ.
After I had told Margaret my dreams, she turned the tables. “Amy,” she ventured tentatively. “I’ve been having dreams too, dreams about you.  I’ve been dreaming that we are sharing the Eucharist.  All these years I have been aching to ask you, why aren’t you Catholic?”

I was stunned. Margaret’s tenderness touched me deeply.  Something about her words stirred an ache in my gut, a longing for something unknown.  Yet part of me felt offended.  After all, I was the elder sister in the faith!  I had been a Christian for years before she had her conversion in college.  Such thoughts had to be nipped in the bud.  “Margaret,” I answered. “Your dream is beautiful. I know we are sisters in Christ, but I could never be Catholic because I don’t believe many teachings of the Catholic Church.”  She apologized for saying anything, and we hung up, both shaken.

I spent the rest of the day in a fog, recalling our conversation.  When my children finally went to bed, I took my Bible and read these words from Ezekiel, “Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, and I will put them with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’  I wondered if this Old Testament promise to Israel and Judah was also God’s heart for Protestants and Catholics.  I prayed for God to bind Protestants and Catholics together again, but still I felt no peace.  Because I could not sleep, I paced the floor.
About 2:00 am, a sudden, overwhelming physical pain hit my chest.  I fell to the floor with my hands over my heart groaning, “Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you, Jesus!”  I knew that my Lord was sharing something precious with me, an intimacy deeper than I had ever known.  He was allowing me to experience His pain over division in the Church – a pain like the pain of divorce, but deeper and broader, as only Christ’s heart could bear.

Until that night I had no idea that Christian division caused our Lord such pain.  I had always assumed that our differences were a small matter in God’s eyes.  Though I had little hope that we Christians could come to unity on earth, I was blissfully certain that God would work everything out in heaven.   Now God had called me out of complacency.  I knew He wanted me to pray with Him for His followers to be one as Jesus and the Father and the Spirit were one.

I took up this call only to discover God’s interruption of my life was not finished.  Quite unexpectedly, I found myself drawn to the Catholic Church just down the street in my neighborhood.  It was not a matter of dissatisfaction with my own church.  I loved our charismatic, evangelical church!  Even so, the pull I felt towards the Catholic parish down the street was strong and mysterious. 

One day, when I could resist no longer, I showed up for morning mass planning to hide in the back as an observer.  As it happened, there was no place for a blonde woman in her early 30’s to hide.  Daily mass was held in a small side chapel that held no more than twenty people. The average parishioner’s age was about 65.  Everyone was Hispanic except for me.  The mass was in Spanish, and I spoke no Spanish.  Nor was I the least bit familiar with the liturgy.  I didn’t know when to stand, when to kneel, how to make the gestures everyone else was making.  When mass was over, I ran home and cried.  Then I got up the next week and did it again, and again, and again.
After a few weeks of sporadic attendance, I thought I should meet the parish priest and explain my presence.  I planned to ask if I could offer some service to the parish – rides for the elderly, meals for the sick, or some other quiet, practical help. When I left the priest’s office, I found myself on the leadership team of the parish youth group despite my protestations that I was a Protestant and probably should not be teaching young Catholics.

During the next few months, I fell in love with my new Catholic family.  I met some of the kindest, most holy, most sacrificial people I had ever known.  I read Catholic theology voraciously.  I peppered my friend Margaret with all sorts of doctrinal questions.  And I repented for the arrogance and ignorance that had shaped my attitude toward the Catholic Church.

One day as I was reflecting on some passage by a Catholic author, my husband asked, “You aren’t seriously considering becoming Catholic, are you?”  Needing wisdom quickly, I prayed.  It was true that my heart was drawn to the Catholic Church, but I also loved my Protestant family.  More important than any personal desire was the unity of our family, and the honor I both owed and felt toward my husband.  “Thomas,” I answered. “I am not seriously considering doing anything you could not bless with your whole heart.”

Several months later, hidden away in a thousand-year-old church in Switzerland, Thomas gave me his full blessing.   During an afternoon of silent prayer, we both felt released to walk together as a Protestant/Catholic couple, living in the tension of a union which is true and deep and beautiful already, but incomplete.  We long for the day when we can share communion again.  Even more, we long for the return of our Lord who will “make all things new.”  Until then, we pray with Jesus that all Christians “may be perfected in unity so that the world may know Him.”

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

Latin America

In Latin American, Africa, and Asia, where united prayer among churches and identificational repentance have been employed to advance God's Kingdom, whole communities, cities, and people-groups have been opened up to the gospel. The Holy Spirit's power is being poured out, bringing many to saving faith in Christ and multiplying healing, signs, and wonders, which show the grace and power of Jesus as Lord.

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

MLK - Forgiveness is a Permanent Attitude

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

When I was a very young kid, Dr. King came to my town in New York.  My mother went to hear him speak, and she was very impressed by what she heard.  I hope you can be inspired by his words too.  Dr. King said that there's some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us, and that when we learn this, we'll be more loving and forgiving.  He also said, "Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it's a permanent attitude."  In other words, it is something you have to work for.  Just like you have to work to keep your body fit and your mind alert, you've got to work on your heart too.  Forgiving is not just a one-time decision.  You've got to live forgiveness, every day.


Source: Johann Christoph Arnold  -  Why Forgive?, pp.181