Catholics should resist importing from today's Lutherans a view of Luther that Luther himself would not have recognized. Instead, I suggest that Catholics—and Lutherans—consider a perspective on Luther promoted by many insightful Catholics. In Luther’s Faith, Catholic theologian Daniel Olivier portrayed Luther as one who was enamored of Christ, with a fierce love and loyalty that drove his theology. Pope Benedict XVI echoed this sentiment in a 2011 speech:
"Luther’s thinking, his whole spirituality, was thoroughly Christocentric: “What promotes Christ’s cause” was for Luther the decisive hermeneutical criterion for the exegesis of sacred Scripture. This presupposes, however, that Christ is at the heart of our spirituality and that love for him, living in communion with him, is what guides our life."
That perspective on Luther does not well serve the polemicist, whether Catholic or Lutheran. But, it is the truth, and it is just that Christocentric spirituality, that intense love of the Lord Jesus, that I believe should be considered a hallmark of Luther’s theology, over and against “the Simul.”
Source: Christopher Jackson - "Catholics Are Adopting a Lutheran Perspective on Martin Luther - They Shouldn’t", First Things, 22 July 2016
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/07/catholics-are-adopting-a-lutheran-perspective-on-martin-luther-they-shouldn’t
White Conservative Alabaman
William Stocks, a white, Alabama-born, Republican-leaning member of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, arrived at the tiny apartment of a Syrian refugee family on a Wednesday night after work. He was wearing a green-striped golf shirt and a gentle smile, and he was eager to teach yet another improvised session of English 101.
Mr. Stocks, 23, had recently moved to Georgia from Alabama, states where the governors are, like him, Southern Baptists. They are also among the more than 30 Republican governors who have publicly resisted the federal government’s plan to resettle refugees from war-ravaged Syria, fearing that the refugees might bring terrorism to their states.
To Mr. Stocks, such questions belonged in the realm of politics — and he had not come that evening for political reasons. Rather, he said, he had come as a follower of Christ. “My job is to serve these people,” he said, “because they need to be served.”
...
“I have been here for four months,” Anwar said, “and I have seen nothing except goodness.”
...
“It’s not unusual that we have politicians timid in the face of fear,” Mr. Moore said. “But the task of the church is a different one. The church is called to see the image of God in all people and to minister Christ’s presence to all people. That’s what churches are doing.”
...
The Rev. Bryant Wright, the senior pastor of Johnson Ferry, acknowledged the possibility that there could be dangers in admitting the Syrians to the United States. “I know there’s risk,” he said. “I’m not being naïve.”
But Pastor Wright said that Jesus commanded his disciples, in the Book of Matthew, to “make disciples of all nations.”
Source: NY Times - Richard Faussett and Alan Blinder, "Evangelicals Ignore G.O.P. by Embracing Syrian Refugees", NY Times, 6 Sept 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/us/syrian-refugees-christian-conservatives.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
Jeff Fountain
Johannes Fichtenbauer, advisor to Cardinal Schönborn in Vienna, spoke of a dramatic new step in church unity made at the Pentecost 2017 gathering in Rome last June, on the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic movement. Pope Francis invited Pentecostal and Charismatic church leaders to join Catholic leaders in acknowledgement of these ‘younger brother and sister churches’ as the source of the Catholic renewal movement. The Austrian lay leader said the pope had taken a step no predecessor had done: to declare a goal of unity not based on ‘separated brethren returning to the Mother Church’, but rather a ‘unity in reconciled diversity’, unity through diversity.
This unity required a humility on all sides, the pope had stressed, a recognition that each church missed something that others could offer. Church unity could only happen, he believed, when all moved closer to Christ, not when others ‘returned to Rome’.
Source: Jeff Fountain - Weekly Word, 13 November 2017, "Time to Listen"
https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=d1f03dd3fc
Field of Dreams
After our Ecumenical Ash Wednesday service (a first for Belfast), I can't help but think of that line from the film, Field of Dreams...'If you build it, he (they) will come.' We didn't know how many people would come and nor was it a factor in our coming together, but approximately 200 people showed up with humble penitent hearts and a hunger for God. The Spirit is at work in our city. Yet another sign of the kingdom of God in our midst.
Source: Robin Waugh - As posted on Martin Magill's FB page, Ash Wednesday 2020
Mr. & Mrs. Harris, Kerygma, YWAM
Mrs. Harris was raised in Mount Pleasant, the daughter of a holiness Pentecostal pastor.
...
The next 20 years were filled with marriage, kids and ministry. The newlyweds had moved to southern California, where Harris was from and he joined a business Mrs. Harris’ family had started. Mrs. Harris home-schooled their children and the couple eventually worked in a book business and ministry.
They continued their involvement with missions, pro-life endeavors, their local church and Youth With A Mission. At the time, they also attended a nondenominational church.
But an experience after communion one day prompted Mrs. Harris to look deeper into the practice and the significance of Christ’s body and blood.
Through that, she began to look more closely into Roman Catholicism and particularly the teachings about marriage, because she said she hated her husband at the time.
Harris joined her in the study of the Catholic Church, even though he hadn’t necessarily initiated it. Harris said he always was looking for something different in a church and didn’t exactly know what he was looking for.
After a year of attending classes to convert, the couple converted to Catholicism.
“We didn’t see Catholic as (the) only thing, but for us personally, it kind of was the answer to some other things,” Harris said. “We retained all that we were before as a Christian. We just added being a Catholic.”
Some of their friends in ministry questioned their decision, but Harris didn’t mind.
“We knew it was what God called us to do,” he said.
...
Upon entering the Catholic Church though, the couple noticed a ministry opportunity of which they were previously unaware.
Youth With A Mission, more commonly known as YWAM, had a Catholic-oriented ministry called Kerygma. Kerygma is Greek for “proclamation” and, in this case, refers to the proclamation of the Gospel. It emphasizes building unity between Catholics and other Christians.
The Harrises sensed a calling to this ministry, so after an introduction to it and some additional training, they became the co-directors of Kerygma USA. Mrs. Harris had ties to YWAM from her previous training as a young adult so because the ministry new them already, it was a natural fit.
Though Kerygma existed internationally, it had not flourished nationally and the Harrises wanted to change that.
They became full-time staff members, and serve as directors of the Texas and U.S. ministry, living on the financial support of people who believe in their work.
Kerygma’s focus has been to work in evangelization and discipleship of young Catholics so they don’t leave the church. In addition, they focus on learning to walk hand-in-hand with the Protestant community.
It isn’t about being Protestant or Catholic, Mrs. Harris said. It’s about being believers and living in harmony.
...
In all of the ministry opportunities, the Harrises encourage participants to fully exercise their Catholic faith.
Harris said he wants the people who participate in their ministry to find the fullness of a relationship with Jesus that he and his wife have found.
He also wants them to know God as the ever present being that He is and be able to communicate His truth with others.
“I want them to go back to their parish and say, ‘Father, how can I help you in the church?’” he said of the youth.
Harris said he and his wife still retain the “fire of youth” in their heart and soul and want to share that with the people they work with. To Mrs. Harris, the work is fulfilling.
“The joy is watching God’s heart be blessed and having satisfaction knowing when God said (in) John 17:21, that they be one, that he didn’t mean that we all have to look alike and believe the same thing,” she said. “He meant that we have to love one another and they will know we are Christians by our love.”
Source: Source Unknown
Richard Foster
I see it happening, this great new gathering of the people of God. I see an obedient, disciplined, freely gathered people who know in our day the life and powers of the kingdom of God.
I see a people of cross and crown, of courageous action and sacrificial love.
I see a people who are combining evangelism with social action, the transcendent Lordship of Jesus with the suffering servant Messiah.
I see a people who are buoyed up by the vision of Christ's everlasting rule, not only imminent on the horizon, but already bursting forth in our midst.
I see a people ... I see a people ... even though it feels as if I am peering through a glass darkly.
Source: Richard Foster - Streams of Living Water, p. 274
Justices Scalia & Ginsburg
It is common knowledge in DC that the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the now-late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg were close personal friends. They shared a love of opera, went souvenir shopping together when they traveled, and rode an elephant in India with Scalia up front. Their families spent New Year's Eve together, and when Chief Justice Roberts announced the death of Ginsburg's husband, Marty, Scalia wept on the bench. When Scalia died in 2016, Ginsburg said, "we were best buddies."
They never spoke politics or ideology to one another because as one seasoned observer said, "there would be no point." Scalia himself would say, "if you can't disagree ardently with your colleagues about some issues of law and yet personally still be friends, get another job. for Pete's sake."
On her part, Ginsburg said of Scalia, "as annoyed as you might be about his zinging dissent, he's so utterly charming, so amusing, so sometimes outrageous, you can't help but say, "I'm glad he is my friend." She said she sometimes had to pinch herself to not laugh when he would say something audacious in the courtroom.
In an era when we are being purposefully divided over political and social differences, and friendships and families are being ripped apart in the process, Scalia and Ginsburg were The Odd Couple. They held the deepest respect for each other and kept their disagreements intellectual, not transactional. (Little known fact, it was Scalia that begged Obama to appoint Ellen Kagan to the Court. He wanted her there so he would have someone to argue with in an intelligent manner.)
When he learned of Ginsburg's passing, Scalia's son, Christopher, shared the following story from Judge Jeffrey Sutton about an encounter late in his father's life.
"During one of my last visit with Justice Scalia, I saw striking evidence of the Scalia-Ginsburg relationship. As I got up to leave his chambers, he pointed to two dozen roses on his table and noted that he needed to take them down to 'Ruth' for her birthday.
"Wow," I said, "I doubt I have given a total of twenty-four roses to my wife in almost thirty years of marriage." "You ought to try it sometime," Scalia retorted.
Unwilling to let him have the last word, I pushed back: "So what good have all those roses done for you? Name one five-four case of any significance when you have got Justice Ginsburg's vote."
Scalia replied, "some things are more important than votes."
This is what we have lost: two earnest and caring people who could place all differences aside for the sake of friendship and an abiding love for each other.
I say to everyone, be a Nino; be a Ruth. Remember what is good in every person you know even when you have to work a little harder to find it or need to let go of anger or hard feelings. God did not put us here in pre-formed harmony, He put us here with differences so we could find it on our own.
Finally, if you are being unduly influenced by anyone who through their speech and actions encourages you to hate or disregard others because they may be or believe something different from you, tune them out and turn them off. They simply do not have your best interest at heart, and are in the business of keeping you riled up for the sake of their own self-interest and profit.
Again, be a Ruth; be a Nino. Be kind to one another. Choose love over votes. It truly is 'bigger than anything in its way," especially politics.
Source: Posted on FB 19 Sept 2020
What Did Luther Want?
Initially Luther was working to reform the Catholic Church, not trying to start a new church.
Source: Richard Foster - Streams of Living Water, p. 292
Bread & Wine
A broad spectrum of Christian thinkers and mystics, both ancient and modern, echo and expand this thought in the Bread and Wine anthology, which accompanies the reader throughout Lent and Easter with seventy-two readings divided into sections entitled “Invitation,” “Temptation,” “Passion,” “Crucifixion,” “Resurrection,” and “New Life.” Each piece is chosen for its ability to help us come to a new realization of what Christ did for us, regardless of the writer’s denominational affiliation. Its ecumenical scope alone does away with some of the walls that must be demolished on the way to the cross.
Because no matter our confession, we will meet there. And no matter who we are, it can never become normal to see an image of Jesus’ suffering and walk by unaffected: We must be confronted each time we remember his pain. Our stomachs should constrict and our hearts pound when we see him suffering in the hatred, the confusion, the poverty, the violence of our world.
Source: Erna Albertz - "The Plough Diet: Bread and Wine", a Following Jesus blog post on Bruderhof.com, 14 Feb 2017, http://www.bruderhof.com/en/voices-blog/the-plough-diet-bread-and-wine
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/