Alexei Laushkin on Bishop Harry Jackson

I do not want to go too long without recounting a memory of the late Bishop Harry Jackson.

I can remember that he had spoken out about the work I was doing at the time. The speaking out was particularly harsh.

I accompanied a colleague to confront him in person and I will say it was an unforgettable moment. He came in dressed in his jogging clothes (we were in suits).

It took some time but we were able to convince him that it was important for Christians to approach their brother and sister in private before blasting them in public.

It took all of us awhile to recognize Christ in each other, but we did. I think that lesson to go ahead and apply Christian teaching and trust that God will show up is something I'll never forget.

That I could see Christ in Bishop Jackson is a sign that bridges between Christians of very different types is very possible.

Praying for his family during these times and days.

Source: Alexei N. Laushkin  -  Posted on FB on 11 Nov 2020, shortly after the death of Bishop Jackson

Gary Kinnaman

I have a friend standing right here, he's a bishop in Phoenix in my city, and I have a feeling that he's going to remain a Catholic the rest of his life.  And I’m going to remain an Evangelical the rest of my life. But last night we had wonderful time just sitting together, just talking about our relationship with God, with Jesus, and how that's ultimately what it means to be a follower of Christ.  We belong to him, He's the center.  And as I said, all these other things are important.  The differences are important.  The differences are what make me unique.  But it's our relationship to Jesus that actually brings all of our uniqueness together. 

Source: Gary Kinnaman  -  "Unity in Diversity", YouTube video by LightBalloon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1HXZlgjSTQ

Fr. Tom Ryan

[Thomas] Ryan envisions a reunified church that expresses the best of every Christian tradition: “When God puts us back together again . . . this great Church will be marked by the dignity and repentance of the Anglicans, the order and sacraments of the Roman Catholics, the warm fellowship of the United Church, the Presbyterian desire for good preaching and the Lutheran respect for sound theology. There will be the Evangelical concern for individual salvation, the Congregational respect for the rights of the lay members, the Pentecostal reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit and the Quaker appreciation of silence. We will find there the Mennonite sense of community, the social action of the Salvation Army and the Reformed love of the Bible, all wrapped in Orthodox reverence before the mystery of God” (179). Ryan recognizes that the path to reunion is the path of penitence, so in each case we can hope for a renunciation of all that is contrary to the Lord and His gospel.

Source: Peter Leithart  -  "Christian Unity", First Things blog post reviewing Thomas Ryan's book, 14 Feb 2017, https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2017/02/christian-unity

Elder John

At this, Elder John rose up like a white candle and answered quietly: "Great sovereign! What we value most in Christianity is Christ himself -- in his person. All comes from him, for we know that in him dwells all fullness of the Godhead bodily. We are ready, sire, to accept any gift from you, if only we recognize the holy hand of Christ in your generosity. Our candid answer to your question, what can you do for us, is this: Confess now and before us the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh, rose, and who will come again -- Confess his name, and we will accept you with love as the true forerunner of his second glorious coming."

Source:  Vladimir Soloviev  -  A Short Tale of the Anti-Christ

Fr. Lee Nelson

Any service honoring Ann Cogdell is necessarily ecumenical, because her children represent several different streams of the body of Christ.

Source: Fr. Lee Nelson, SSC  -  Memorial service for Ann Cogdell, Christ Church Anglican, Waco Texas

John Armstrong

I think the Catholic/Lutheran dialogue for unity is a wonderful model for listening and growing into unity not by compromising but rather but seeking reconciled unity, which allows for the honest tension of “unity in diversity.” The U.S. government once encouraged this process but money, partisanship and power have helped to break it all down.

Source: John Armstrong  -  Response to an online comment to "America Divided: Why Christian Unity Matters More Than Ever", 28 Feb 2017, http://johnharmstrong.com/america-divided-why-christian-unity-matters-more-than-ever/

Dreaming of ...

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

....
Lutheran pastors who teach obedience (as Luther did!), Anglicans who exercise discipline, jolly Presbyterians with a reputation for levity, Pentecostals attuned to the Christian tradition, Baptists who acknowledge hierarchy, liturgical Bible churches.

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

Good Points, Lamentable Division

Beginning in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation, however, individual movements began to splinter Christians away from the Roman Catholic Church to follow new interpretations of the Bible. Many of these teachers like Martin Luther and John Calvin professed a better understanding of Scripture—an understanding which condemned some of the practices of the present Christian Church, the Catholic Church.

Many of their points were truly great, as were many of their criticisms, but the resulting division of the Christian Church was devastating and lamented, strongly, by even Martin Luther himself.

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/

God Weeps From Love

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Source: Bible  -  John 11:33

Jimmy Carter

That's what we're trying to do with the New Baptist Covenant:  We need to let the black and white churches reach out to one another, first in a tentative way - maybe exchange pastors or exchange choirs.  In Plains we've initiated a Christmas pageant where all the choirs in the area come together, black and white churches.  So taht's a wonderful experience we've had now for a few years taht came out of the context of the New Baptist Covenant.  We want people to reach across the racial divide.

Source: Jimmy Carter  -  Christianity Today, October 2016, "Jimmy Carter:  Pursuing an Arc of Reconciliation", pp. 66-69

"I loved being an Evangelical"

I love the Evangelical Church.
I loved being an Evangelical.
I cut my teeth as an Evangelical Christian and cut them deep.
I read my Bible, prayed, and worshipped alongside the most devout and wonderful Christians I have ever met. I went overseas, twice, and spent time bringing the Word of God to all kinds of places where I felt it needed to go. I’ve lead small groups, Bible studies, and campus outreaches. I’ve interned and volunteered and was even an incredibly poor worship leader at a middle school youth group.
I wouldn’t trade my Evangelical past for anything but it was in the Catholic Church, ultimately, were I finally found a solution to a broken situation.

Source: K. Albert Little  -  "The Evangelical Church is Broken (A Love Letter)", The Cordial Catholic, Patheos, 8 Feb 2017, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/albertlittle/evangelical-church-broken/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/albertlittle/evangelical-church-broken/

The Alpha Course

"…in the mid-1990s another development of major ecumenical significance arose from Evangelical and charismatic roots. The Alpha course, developed especially by Rev. Nicky Gumbel at Holy Trinity Brompton, London, began to be promoted beyond its parish of origin. The Alpha course quickly reached a wide range of local congregations, Anglican and older free church, as well as new charismatic churches, first in Britain and quickly elsewhere. Although Alpha was slow to win acceptance among Catholics in its first phase of expansion from 1994, Gumbel has devoted intensifying efforts to reach the Catholic world in the last fifteen years. The result is that in 2013, the Alpha course is growing fastest among Catholics with an amazingly strong following among Latin Americans. The Catholic welcome has intensified since Pope Benedict XVI's call for a New Evangelization, with Alpha being welcomed by several Vatican officials and many bishops.... Nicky Gumbel was received enthusiastically at the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June 2012."

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken  -  Pentecost and Parousia, Peter Hocken - p. 68

Losing My Memory Was a Very Fine Experience

The whole time he spoke, he was grinning like a happy child. His body was perfectly relaxed, at rest in his Lord. Franziskus had indeed become a living icon to us, his glory almost visible like a halo. Here was a brilliant man who had no fear of losing his mind because he knew Jesus held him in safety. His peace glorified Jesus, challenged us all, and drew us together in love. That morning we all stepped into the mystery of John 17. “I have given them the glory that You have given Me, that they may be one as we are one.”

Source: Amy Cogdell  -  Wittenberg 2017 Biographies: Franziskus, https://cogdellcreative.space/w17chs/app3

Who Won the Peace?

Too often we forget that Hitler’s demise did not automatically guarantee peace to a traumatised and broken Europe. Euphoric scenes of Allied soldiers giving out chocolates, cigarettes and kisses to flag-waving crowds quickly gave way to the daunting reality of rebuilding a devastated and divided Europe. It’s one thing to win a war. But how do you win the peace?

Chaos threatened on all sides. Hatred and bitterness towards the enemy and collaborators poisoned grass-roots attitudes among victor and defeated alike. Families had been separated, divided and destroyed. Deep wounds festered physically, psychologically and spiritually. Hunger, poverty and unemployment added to the miseries of injury and upheaval, totally eclipsing anything we are currently experiencing in Europe today. The Cold War was about to begin. Today’s generations have never known the climate of mistrust and suspicion, crisis and conflict that dominated Europe over the five years following the war.

Reconciliation
Today thoughts of such conflict among EU nations are unthinkable, thank God! Thanks in large part to the story of the stunningly rapid yet lasting Franco-German reconciliation after the Second World War. Central to that story is an unassuming, French lawyer-politician, acknowledged as the ‘Father of Europe’, Robert Schuman. Drawing inspiration from his Christian faith and Catholic social teaching, he searched for an alternative to the old order of competing nation states which had repeatedly led to war. Even while imprisoned by the Nazis early in the war and again after escaping in hiding, he wrote that ‘we French will have to learn to forgive and love the Germans to rebuild post-war Europe’. To many that sounded like treason. After the war, when appointed Foreign Minister, Schuman kept looking for a way to prevent the vicious cycle of war.

Exactly seventy years ago on this Saturday, on May 9, 1950, Schuman announced a plan in a speech lasting a mere three minutes. Surely that was the defining moment of post-war Europe! For that speech laid the foundations of the European House in which today half a billion people in twenty-seven nations live together in peace. From that moment on, there was a plan on the table with the goal, in Schuman’s thinking, of forming a ‘community of peoples deeply rooted in basic Christian values’. These values stemmed directly from the teachings of Jesus, Schuman argued. True democracy was ‘evangelical’, he wrote, rooted in the gospel …

Source: Jeff Fountain  -  "Who Won the Peace?", Weekly Word eNewsletter, 4 May 2020
https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=cd6d1b85b2

Mark Galli

If Galli had one gnawing frustration with Protestant Christianity, it was the ceaseless splintering and divisions. He tried to work toward unity.

It left him exhausted.

Still, Galli takes seriously Jesus’ desire for unity in his farewell prayer.

That left him with a choice, he said — to join the institution that claims to be the one true church.

“True unity requires not just a mental and emotional assent, but actually an agreement to live under a structure, an ethos, a way of doing things together,” he said.

To be sure, the Catholic Church is also beset with factions and theological controversies, but now retired and a layman, he’ll be a step removed from the squabbles.

Source: Religious News Service  -  "Mark Galli, former Christianity Today editor and Trump critic, to be confirmed a Catholic", Religious News Service, 10 Sept 2020
https://religionnews.com/2020/09/10/mark-galli-former-christianity-today-editor-and-trump-critic-to-be-confirmed-a-catholic/

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/