Admitting the Harm

Nancy Leschke:  Thank you for sharing this. So disturbing. As someone who has always lived in the upper Midwest, I have little familiarity with how history is presented in the south. We definitely have systemic and personal racism up here too, but this type of simultaneous celebration and omission of huge swaths of southern history is important for every US citizen to know about. How can we make progress as a nation if we don't even publicly acknowledge the harm that's part of our history?

Latasha Morrison:  Exactly... admitting the harm is part of the process of healing, solidarity and reconciliation.


Source: Nancy Leschke  -  Posted on Facebook as a comment about the "So This Is America" post, https://jemartisby.com/2017/07/05/so-this-is-america-my-visit-to-the-jefferson-davis-presidential-library/

"Only Jesus can do something like this!"

Only Jesus can do something like this! A Catholic ... who was once the drummer for a Christian punk rock band ... leading worship at a Protestant non-denominational church ... with a team composed of Catholics and Protestants, young and old ... singing a song written by his Protestant friend and co-leader ... that contains the lyrics "I believe in the holy catholic church" ... and all on the anniversary weekend of the Reformation (and of Wittenberg 2017).  What a glorious moment of living out John 17!!

Source: Thomas Cogdell  -  Posted on FB 2 Nov 2020
https://youtu.be/6ELHtJrCsQk?t=1385

The Judensau Debate

Debate has carried on for some time over whether the Judensau should remain. Some Christians and Jews feel it needs to stay there as a potent reminder and warning about anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. Other Christians and Jews argue that it has no place in a house of worship and, further, that the memorial’s extreme language about the death of God’s name does little to improve matters. A renewed petition for the Judensau’s removal has grown in anticipation of the 2017 celebrations, stating that “it is time to remove this statue and replace it with something more honoring to the God of Israel, respectful of the Jewish people, and bringing dignity to a Christian place of worship instead of retaining a sculpture that is unseemly, obscene, insulting, offensive, defamatory, libelous, blasphemous, anti-Semitic and inflammatory.”

Source: Sarah Hinlicky Wilson  -  "Is the Reformation over? Yes and no.", The Christian Century, 1 March 2017, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/reformation-over-yes-and-no

Go Global

Why not be part of something big?  Remember the wounds of the world we discussed in chapter three?  You can be part of the answer.  During the writing of this journey I took a prayer journey … [Stories from Spanish prayer journey, including the council of Elvira with the 1st anti-semitic decrees by Christian leaders] ... This prayer journey was just the beginning of the "Gates of Iberia" initiative, which in turn is part of a worldwide initiative towards healing the foundational rift between Jew and Gentile in the church, stemming from 140 A.D.  A reconciliation movement has already been launched in Spain, which, while focused on messianic Jews, is already having a profound effect on relationships between Catholic and Protestant.  There will be many more catalyst events and prayer journeys in Spain and throughout the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world.  This will undergird Christian repentance proclamations to the general Jewish communities.  You could be a part of something like this. ... Get connected, join an initiative, be a part of the answer to the prayer of Jesus:  "I in them and You in Me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved me." (John 17:23 NIV)


Source: John Dawson  -  What Every Christian Should Know About Reconciliation, pp. 52-54

Loving our Neighbor as Ourself

“I do not like to speak of Islamic violence because everyday when I look through the papers, I see violence here in Italy,” the pope told reporters. “And they are baptized Catholics. There are violent Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, I also have to speak of Catholic violence,” he added.

Source: Pope Francis  -  Catholic News Service, 31 July 2016, https://cnstopstories.com/2016/07/31/its-not-right-to-equate-islam-with-violence-pope-says/

The Prime Minister's Wife's Plea

The Dutch Reformed people, however, almost lost the prime minister as a communicant at one point, however.  He and his wife were together at the communion service, and an elder approached him.  "Mr. Prime Minister," he said, "with all due respect, sir, your wife will not be permitted to take communion with us because she is [a Pentecostal]."

The old man nearly exploded, and was ready to storm out of the church.  "This is the last time I will ever come into this place or any like it," he said loudly enough to be heard for several pews around him.  But his wife, a truly humble saint, held gently onto his arm, and quieted him.  She appealed with all the power within her for him not to turn his back on the church.  Despite his anger, he honored her plea the rest of his life.


Source: David du Plessis  -  From "A Man Called Mr. Pentecost", as told to Bob Slosser, Ch. 7, pp 46-47

The Hidden Ones

But there were women and men who, in times when this joint commemoration was still unimaginable, already gathered together to pray for unity or to form ecumenical communities. There were theologians, women and men, who already entered in dialogue, seeking to overcome doctrinal and theological differences. There were many, who together offered themselves to serve the poor and the oppressed. There were even some who suffered martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel.

I feel deep gratitude for those bold prophets. As they lived and witnessed together they began to see one another no longer as separated branches but as branches united to Jesus Christ. Even more, they began to see Christ in their midst and to acknowledge that even in those periods of history when dialogue was broken between us, Christ continued talking to us. Jesus never forgot us, even when we seemed to have forgotten him, losing ourselves in violent and hateful actions.


Source: Rev. Dr Martin Junge  -  Rev. Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Sermon on the occasion of the Joint Commemoration of the Reformation, Lund Cathedral, Sweden, October 31, 2016, https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/joint_commemoration_mj_sermon_final_en.pdf

Turning The Hearts

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord ... Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Source: Bible  -  Luke 1:13-17 

Charismatic Ecumenism

Despite the embraces of Karl Rahner and Yves Congar, theologians in the 1980s and 1990s were suspicious that charismatic ecumenism was insufficiently ecclesial and too “emotional,” a fear that only began to disappear after St. John Paul II’s 1999 Ut Unum Sint.

Now, says Hocken, Pope Francis in both word and action “is bringing to an end the lack of connection between official ecumenism and charismatic ecumenism. This is very significant.”


Source: Austen Ivereigh  -  Quoting Fr. Peter Hocken in "Jubilee in Rome highlights charismatic fruits in Francis’s Pentecost papacy", Crux, 3 June 2017, https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/06/03/jubilee-rome-highlights-charismatic-fruits-franciss-pentecost-papacy/

"To be Catholic was to be Anti-Protestant ..."

Following the Protestant Reformation, the "Catholic church had to defend itself against Protestant attacks and criticisms, particularly through the development of a Catholic apologetics that refuted the Protestant objections, and provided proof-arguments for distinctive Catholic doctrines. In consequence, Catholic identity between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries was significantly shaped by those elements in Catholic teaching and practice that were rejected by the Protestants. To be Catholic was to be anti-Protestant, especially countries with a significant Protestant population, or regions with a history of antipathy to Catholic power structures....

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken  -  Pentecost and Parousia, Peter Hocken - p. 74-5

Pope Francis in Finland

Therefore 2017, the commemorative year of the Reformation, represents for Catholics and Lutherans a privileged occasion to live the faith more authentically, in order to rediscover the Gospel together, and to seek and witness to Christ with renewed vigour. At the conclusion of the day of commemoration in Lund, and looking to the future, we drew inspiration from our common witness to faith before the world, when we committed ourselves to jointly assisting those who suffer, who are in need, and who face persecution and violence.  In doing so, as Christians we are no longer divided, but rather united on the journey towards full communion.

Source: Pope Francis  -  Address to the members of the Ecumenical Delegation from Finland, as quoted in "Pope: Luther’s intention was to renew the Church, not divide her", Vatican Radio, 19 Jan 2017, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/01/19/pope_luther%E2%80%99s_intention_was_to_renew_the_church,_not_divide/1286728

Public Reconciliation for a Lynching

The words echoed through LaGrange's Warren Temple United Methodist Church Thursday night, where more than 200 people crammed into pews and folding chairs to remember Callaway.

It was a rare public reconciliation for a lynching, attended by black and white people, police, civilians and clergy, sitting and standing side by side. Programs ran out as attendance exceeded expectations, forcing people into an overflow room in a building next door.


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

Matt Maher

We need everybody.  There was a season when we needed Billy Grahams, and we needed individual evangelists and people with platforms.  That's not what we need now.  What we need is everybody, everybody together.  … We need everyone to come together, be together, and I think that's where the beauty shines the most.

Source: Matt Maher  -  Worship Leader Q&A Panel, Catholic/Ecumentical Track, Onething 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_pesyj1nVo

2017

The year 2017 will see the first centennial commemoration of the Reformation to take place during the ecumenical age.  It will also mark fifty years of Lutheran - Roman Catholic dialogue.  As part of the ecumenical movement, praying together, worshipping together, and serving their communities together have enriched Catholics and Lutherans ... The spirituality evident in interconfessional marriages has brought forth new insights and questions.  Lutherans and Catholics have been able to reinterpret their theological traditions and practices, recognizing the influences they have had on each other.  Therefore, they long to commemorate 2017 together.

Source: Lutheran - Roman Catholic Commission on Unity  -  Conflict to Communion:  Report of the Lutheran - Roman Catholic Commission on Unity, p. 12

An Anonymous Pastor

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

Money

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Source: Bible  -  Acts 8:18-24

From Israel Chaffin

He told me about his growing up in Tennessee’s rural Appalachia—in a community of (primarily) Catholic and Southern-Baptist. Although he has always been Presbyterian, the predominant duality in the environment gave him an opportunity to develop the question, “if you are so much alike, why are you so far apart?”

Fast-forward to college graduation, and despite having his heart set to travel to Nairobi to do ministry work, he ended up in Belfast—where political divides had given birth to blood feuds, and separations of heart that manifested with physical walls in the city—keeping the Catholic and Protestant communities partitioned and separate.

He shared with me about his experience here—things thrilling, sad, fruitful, and frightening. He also shared about his current ministry—some of the challenges, as well as his hopes and desires for growth. The door was open for me to share my dream and desire to engage with the diversity of humanity, and to help them engage each other under the uniting reality of God’s Spirit.


Source: Israel Chaffin  -  FB post about a new friend he met in Memphis, 20 Dec 2020

Nate-ional Prayer Breakfast

This week (as occurred two years ago) I was graciously invited by my Republican Congressman friend from Alabama, Robert Aderholt, to attend the National Prayer Breakfast activities.  Robert and I met and became friends on a summer mission in 1985, when we were roommates in London, England. It was that summer that I felt my call to ministry. Later when I began making more frequent trips to DC for faith-based community organizing events through PICO/ Faith in Action, we renewed our friendship, which has been quite remarkable.  Though we sharply disagree on many political issues, he has consistently listened attentively to stories from our ministry, and to the prophetic implications of the plight of the poor, He has been very supportive, gracious and hospitable to countless friends who have visited DC.  We can talk civilly around the divisive issues that are rending the very fabric of our families and our nation.  Our friendship gives me hope that difference does not necessitate dehumanization.

Source: Nate Bacon  -  Recounted in a personal prayer letter, 5 Feb 2020

"If I looked into my own heart ..."

"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