In an essay published in 1994, titled “Why I Signed It,” he defended the statement and his continuing involvement in the project. “I am a Protestant who thanks God for the wisdom, backbone, maturity of mind and conscience, and above all, love for my Lord Jesus Christ that I often see among Catholics, and who sometimes has the joy of hearing Catholics say they see comparable fruits in Protestants.”
Source: J.I. Packer - As quoted by Timothy George in "Packer at Ninety", First Things, October 2016, https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/10/packer-at-ninety
Mark Rutte
The speaker was none other than Mark Rutte, now the premier of the Netherlands for over ten years. What did the church mean for us in these difficult days? he asked, answering with the word: ‘Togetherness’. What really counted in life? he continued. Not ‘more, more, more’, or ‘me, me, me’ but togetherness, ‘doing unto others what you would have them do to you’.
Reading Paul’s words from Romans 12, Rutte defined the good life as life in the service of the will of God – ‘his good, pleasing and perfect will’ – and not being conformed to the pattern of this world. In other words, he said, not going along with the crowd, as exemplified by Luther who stood for his convictions.
The corona crisis had confronted us with our smallness, the premier admitted, citing a fisherman’s prayer which John F. Kennedy had hung in the Oval Office: ‘O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.’ Which was why we needed each other, and the church, he stressed. For in church we were not alone, we were together. And that was something we could not hear often enough.
Source: Jeff Fountain - "Togetherness", Weekly Word eNewsletter for 2 Nov 2020
https://us9.campaign-archive.com/?e=0b86898e11&u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=cdb1197607
"They're good Germans"
The March of Life members ... sent a message to my father, asking to meet with him. They met in Caesarea for the first time a year and a half ago, on a Friday afternoon. That’s when the group members told him that they wanted to direct a play documenting his life story.
My father told them of his memories of the Holocaust and all about his adventures at sea onboard the Exodus. By his side were my mother, Jacqueline, and my eldest son Yuval. I’ll never forget the text message I got from Yuval, saying: “Mom, you don’t get what’s going on here. This isn’t just another lecture that he’s giving—they’re all descendants of Nazis. They’re descendants of war criminals who murdered Jews in cold blood.”
I have to admit, I fidgeted in my chair when I got this message.
“So what is grandpa doing there?” I replied.
“It’s not what you think mom,” he reassured me. “These young Germans are trying to atone for their grandparents’ sins. They’re good Germans.”
I started sobbing as he described the scene: “They came here with a guitar and they’re playing Hava Nagila, grandpa even said kiddush and grandma lit candles with them. There’s another kind of German, who believe in Israel and support Judaism, and they want to prove that they’re our friends.”
Source: Ynet News - "How the offspring of Nazis celebrated my father the Holocaust survivor",
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5434172,00.html
A Tutsi forgives a Hutu
Referring to Jean-Paul Samputu, a Tutsi who forgave the Hutu killer of his parents:
As Jean-Paul's story … bears out, forgiving is a deeply personal matter. Ultimately each of us must find healing within, on our own terms, and in our own time. On another level, however, forgiving is much more. Even if its power connects people one by one, the resulting "ripple effect" can be felt on a much broader scale. In fact, forgiveness can be a powerful social force, transforming and empowering whole groups of people.
Source: Johann Christoph Arnold - Why Forgive?, pp.202
Nate Bacon
Two years ago today, Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez, a beautiful young 20 year old indigenous Maya-Mam woman from near Xela, was shot in the head and killed by a Border Patrol agent in Rio Bravo, Texas. She had made the long, dangerous trek towards the US in search of hope for her future. Tragically, she never made it to her destination.
I felt led to attend her wake at the family home about an hour from us in an all Mam village. It was a life-transforming experience. Seeing her lifeless body in an all-white casket, surrounded by her family and loved ones was heart-breaking. I was the only ‘gringo’ present, and was able to express my own indignation (and that of so many others) at the cruel, criminal, and inexcusable action of another white man like me. God allowed me (it’s quite a story) to ask forgiveness on behalf of my country for its dehumanizing anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, which no doubt allowed that officer to feel justified in pulling the trigger on a petite and defenseless Guatemalan woman.
…
I am grateful for the beautiful unmerited seed of friendship with Claudia’s parents (Gil and Lidia). A situation that could have gone in an entirely different direction ended up with a sacred invitation last year to attend Claudia’s anniversary Mass in their home.
Source: Nate Bacon - Posted on FB 24 May 2020
Spirit of Fear ... NOT
(5) I remember your sincere faith—a faith that first lived in your mother Eunice and your grandmother Lois (see Acts 16:1-3) and I am convinced now lives in you. (6) Because of your faith, I encourage you to fan into flame the gift of God, which was imparted to you through the laying on of my hands. (7) For God did not give us a spirit of fear but the Holy Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.
Source: The Apostle Paul - 2 Timothy 1:5-7
K. Albert Little meets some Catholics
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/
Make Peace or Become the Next Victims
Meanwhile, two other men in the congregation had entered into a feud over a different matter, spewing bitterness and wrath over everything they came in contact with. I felt that the Lord wanted them to help minister to the devil-afflicted brother, so I went to them. "Our brother needs you and I'm going to minister to him," I said, "but I can't permit you to come to his house because your attitude towards one another opens the door for the enemy to attack you. You must make peace between yourselves or you may become the next victims."
Knowing the urgency of the situation, they agreed to do something about their problem. One came to me and said, "I want to change, but I won't go to him because he'll say that I surrendered. But he could say the same thing about coming to me. Would it be fair if we met somewhere at a neutral spot and you could come and help us? I'm willing to sak him for forgiveness and also to forgive.
The other man accepted this proposal, and I arranged for them to get together at a big, lovely old house with a garden on one side and a beautiful orchard of fruit trees. It was a warm, sunny day and we stood together under a large apricot tree. Immediately the two began to stammer things like, "Brother, forgive me; I've been wrong." I urged them not to argue about who was wrong. "Just forgive," I said, "and don't go into too many details."
Source: David du Plessis - From "A Man Called Mr. Pentecost", as told to Bob Slosser, Ch. 10, pp 83-84
A Baptist meets the Pope
Theologian Steven R. Harmon was part of a group of Baptists who met with Pope Francis I at the Vatican last month.
“When we met Pope Francis, we were impressed with his genuine joyfulness,” Harmon said in a university news release. “He greeted us by imploring, ‘Pray for me!’ and we assured him that we do and would continue to do so.”
The pope included a warning during the audience.
“He also said to us, ‘We must find a way to get together, or they will eat us raw!’ We interpreted this to mean something like, ‘If we don’t find a way to live in unity, the enemies of the gospel will eat us alive!’”
Source: Jeff Brumley - "Religion Notes: Baptists hear warning from pope during Vatican meeting"
https://baptistnews.com/article/religion-notes-baptists-hear-warning-from-pope-during-vatican-meeting/#.XD4aXM9Tnxh
Joe Tosini
Tosini wants to be there to celebrate with Pope Francis a new process of what he calls “relational reconciliation,” a process that “is not about doctrinal alignment” or theological differences among Christians. It’s about affirming that in Christ, Christians are brothers and sisters called to love one another, even when they differ like siblings in any family do.
“The scandal of division is completely opposite of what Jesus prayed for,” Tosini said.
“Our challenge is going to be the diversity, the differences that we have,” he said, but the key is to let them be “reconciled in Christ” just like members of a healthy family accept their differences as a natural part of family life.
An important step, Tosini said, is to follow Pope Francis’ example having Catholics and Pentecostals acknowledge each other as Christians and stop treating and speaking of each other as less than Christian.
Source: Cindy Wooden - Catholic News Service, "U.S. Pentecostal promotes what pope calls ‘walking ecumenism’", 17 Oct 2016, https://cnstopstories.com/2016/10/17/u-s-pentecostal-promotes-what-pope-calls-walking-ecumenism/
Appropriating from each other is ... appropriate
Catholics are already copying Protestant techniques for generating enthusiasm in their children (there’s even a growing Catholic niche within Contemporary Christian Music), and evangelicals are tinkering with the model of Catholic education in their own Christian schools. More substantively, many Catholics appreciate the straightforward earnestness of evangelical devotion, while evangelicals are beginning to appropriate the spiritual exercises and theological precision developed in the Catholic tradition. This is possible only because Catholics and evangelicals both have a rich love for Christ, and want it to get richer.
Source: Daniel P. Moloney - As quoted in a First Things letter to the editor, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2001/03/peter-and-mary-together
The US's History of Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism stretches back to the nation's colonial times, when some states barred Catholics from holding office, and continued through the mid-1800s, which saw the Know-Nothing party's campaign against Catholic politicians. Lynch mobs killed Italian immigrants and arsonists burned down Catholic churches.
Perhaps no publication captures the animus toward Catholicism at the start of the 20th century as vividly as the Menace, launched in an old opera house in Aurora in 1911, when the city's population was only a little over 4,000.
The Menace wasn't the country's first anti-Catholic newspaper, but it quickly became one of the biggest, eventually selling anti-Catholic books and launching a lecture series. Its editor, the Rev. Theodore C. Walker, claimed its target was not rank-and-file Catholics but the Catholic Church itself.
Source: Matt Pearce - "A century ago, a popular Missouri newspaper demonized a religious minority: Catholics", LA Times, 9 Dec 2015, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-catholic-scare-20151209-story.html
Division in a Family ...
It's no secret that division in a family brings harm and pain on many levels. The church which is described as the family of God remains divided. The attitudes and harsh judgements amongst professing Christians have caused deep wounds and centuries of conflicts.
"Father I pray that those who believe in me will be one so the world will know you sent me." That prayer of Jesus in the 17th chapter of the Gospel according to John is the reason Roman Catholics and a variety of Protestant Christians met together on May 23rd, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona.
There was a declaration made that day by those in attendance to see the Church in Phoenix becoming relationally unified in a way that would make the claims of Jesus visibly seen and felt by those within and outside of the church.
My impression of our day but even more of the effort and working together of so many leading up to Saturday's meeting gives me hope that the church in all of its rich diversity can live and work as one family in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Source: Joe Tosini - Founder, John 17 Movement, http://www.john17movement.com/
Verena Lang
The Austrian Way of repentance was very blessed and deep. A lot of things were new for us all, but all said it is so important to know our whole history. Because we are a counter reformation country a lot of believers had to leave the country or to endure torture and be condemned to death. When they had to leave the country most of them were forced to leave the children behind. The little ones till 7 years came to good catholic families and from 8-15 they were brought to an orphan house. The church authorities and the emperors were convinced that it is better that the "mother church" educates the children than they would be educated by their parents and have to "breath the poison of their teaching". We wept a lot and asked the Lord for forgiveness and cover all with his precious blood and to break the curse and transform it into blessing.
Source: Verena Lang - Report on the Austrian Way of Repentance pilgrimage, August 2016
Antiochan Orthodox honoring Evangelicals
… Bradley Nassif, a Lebanese Christian who grew up in American in the Antiochan Orthodox Church … says, “I am deeply indebted to evangelical Christians who helped bring me into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ during my high school years.”
Source: Bradley Nassif - “Reclaiming the Gospel,” http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/NassifGospel.php , as quoted in footnote 41 of "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/NassifGospel.php
Martin's Story
The scene is dramatic: in 1517 young monk and professor, Dr. Martin Luther, stands barefoot in the snow, leaning against the wind to hold up a roll of parchment with one hand while driving nails into the wooden church door with the other. But today (2013) the small print on a brass plaque at the actual Schlosskirche site issues only a disclaimer, stating: “The historicity of the act is disputed.” Did the historic victory for freedom of conscience ever occur at all? Some scholars dispute it; others defend it based on near-contemporary evidence from Luther’s friends and confidants. Although it is known that Luther sent copies of his 95 complaints (or theses) to the Bishop of Mainz before October 31st, 1517, the modern debate over exactly when and where he made them public has revealed some unexpected turns.
Born to peasant parents in 1483, Luther had been an excellent and serious student of music and Latin, paving the way to his studies at the University in Erfurt. He was on track to study law and pursue a life of public service when he had the terrifying experience of being caught in a violent thunderstorm. He cried out to St. Anne for deliverance and vowed to become a monk if he survived. He did, and made good on that vow, much to the chagrin of his father and his close friends. Joining what was considered a particularly strict Augustinian monastery in 1505, nothing in his prior life would have led anyone to expect him to challenge the authority of the Pope . . . except his extraordinary piety and love of the Bible. He took the biblical injunctions against greed, acquisitiveness, and love of power to heart and was outraged by the corruption he saw in the church of his day. This outrage drove him to invite the Church’s bishops to debate him publically on ninety-five questions concerning the nature of salvation and the role of indulgences: The 95 Theses.
At first Luther hoped only to serve as a corrective voice, a goad to the church’s conscience that would prompt the church to inner reform. In particular, he wanted to see the church put an end to accepting money for religious services, a practice that had led to widespread corruption. What surprised him and drove him to greater and greater antipathy in his disillusionment was that many of the men entrusted with the spiritual leadership of the Church did not want to be challenged to reform. Cardinal Cajetan, who interrogated Luther in Augsburg in 1518, one year after the issue of the theses, began by showing real concern for Luther’s fidelity to the Bible, but became incensed by Luther’s refusal to submit to the Pope’s authority. Rather than reforming the suspect practices, the Pope ultimately denounced the would-be voice of conscience as “The damned heretic Martin Luther, son of Perdition.” Luther, who wrote so eloquently of grace, failed to give any grace when the Catholic Church rejected him. His view of the Pope eroded, changing from his “Blessed Father,” who Luther thought was a persuadable victim of bad counsel from corrupt courtiers, to being “The Anti-Christ in Rome.”
With this turn in his writings, Luther laid the groundwork for centuries of animosity and mistrust between the new Protestant Christians (called ‘Evangelicals’ in his day in Germany), and Catholic Christians. Several of his most important writings, the commentary On Good Works, On the Lord’s Prayer, The Freedom of the Christian, and Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation were issued during a period of intense conflict between November of 1517 and January of 1521, when he was finally excommunicated. The writings of this period show a relentless devotion to the message of salvation through the grace of God, a passionate concern for the spiritual welfare of the everyday man, and an increasingly uncompromising, almost dualistic view of the moral natures of the Reformers who were joining his cause and the Catholic authorities arrayed against them. The lasting good that came from this period is the establishment of freedom of conscience, an element in modern nation-states, while the enduring harm has been the readiness of each group to deny that very freedom to members of the other.
Lamentably Luther’s relationship with the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation followed a parallel course, so much so that Luther is now viewed by many as “the father of modern anti-Semitism.” His relationship with the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire did not begin with hostility, though. In 1523 he published a best-selling pamphlet entitled That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew, denouncing the degrading and cruel treatment of Jews by Christians in Europe. “If the Jews of the early church had treated us [pagans] the way that we treat the Jews today, no pagan would have ever become a Christian,” he wrote. He called for Christians to treat Jews with love and respect with the aim that they convert.
Encouraged by his pamphlet, Josel von Rosheim, Commander of Jewry of the Holy Roman Empire, wrote to Luther and asked him for a personal meeting. Luther refused brusquely. “It was not my intention to encourage you in your errors,” he wrote, rejecting the request for dialogue. From there, Luther’s attitude toward the Jews deteriorated over the years, reaching its nadir in his last sermon, von Schem Hamphoras und sein Geschlecht, a hate-filled tirade that paved the way for modern anti-Semitism. Again, in Luther’s character, disillusionment and bitterness took and held the upper hand over perseverance in grace, a central irony in the life of the man whose name is synonymous, to many, with the words “sola gratia” (grace alone). In both his relationship with the Catholic leadership and between the Jews of Germany and Christians, his legacy has shaped the world we live in for five centuries now.
Approaching the 500th anniversary of the act that began the Reformation, it is clear that Luther’s undeniable, world-shaping influence has been alternately beneficial and harmful to civilization. The reforms he sought in the church did come, but only later, at great cost, and with no contemporary admission that many of his criticisms had been accurate- these only came later as well. Reparation of the division in Christianity that his preaching brought about has only recently begun, through documents such as the Lutheran-Catholic Statement on the Eucharist from 1967 and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification from 1999. The work is on-going, and the sincere prayer of this author is that leaders in the Catholic Church and Protestant churches be moved by the Holy Spirit toward the fulfilment of Jesus’ High Priestly prayer of John 17 as they travel together into the next 500 years of Christian witness on earth.
Source: Wittenberg 2017 - "Martin's Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website, written by John D. Martin
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/martins-story.html
Christ in the Center
Reflecting on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation , he said it’s an opportunity to put Christ back at the centre of their ecumenical relations. Just as the question of a merciful God was the driving force of Luther and the other Reformers, so it must be at the heart of our joint efforts to propose the radical truth of God’s limitless mercy to men and women today.
Source: Vatican Radio - "German Catholics and Lutherans take new steps towards unity", 6 Feb 2017, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/02/06/german_catholics_and_lutherans_take_new_steps_towards_unity/1290682
The Paulist Order
Ecumenism is a permanent element in the total life and work of the Paulists. Every member should be responsive to the unifying action of the Holy Spirit in other Christians and in their Christian churches, and wherever possible, they should pray and work with them in the one mission of Christ.
Source: Paulist Constitution - Paulist Constitution, C5, as quoted in the Paulist Prayer Book, pp 332-333
Mixed Marriage Children
Source: Wittenberg 2017 - "Cecily & Ludwig's Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
A Presbyterian/Anglican Church Merger
A few years ago, Bob Ogle, then-pastor of a Presbyterian church, began praying with his church’s leaders that more young people would be drawn into their flock. They occupied a beautiful new building and had a committed core of members, but so far none of their efforts to attract young families seemed to stick.
After months of prayer, Bob met the Rev. Peter Johnson, the rector of a small Anglican church plant in the neighborhood. The two became fast friends and partners in ministry, as Peter’s church began renting the Presbyterian worship space on Sunday mornings for their services. This is nothing terribly new—churches have often used the same space out of need and convenience.
But then something amazing happened. Over time, the two churches began to draw together. Over a summer, they collapsed their two separate services into one shared service. God moved the hearts of the people together and with great humility and diligent prayer, the two churches agreed to become one—Trinity Anglican Church.
Source: David Roseberry - "A Story of Faithfulness from the Bayou: A Presbyterian/Anglican Church Merger", Anglicanpastor.com, 10 January 2019
http://anglicanpastor.com/a-story-of-faithfulness-from-the-bayou-a-presbyterian-anglican-church-merger/