Friday, May 27, 2011
A Robust Ecumenism
I must say I would be amiss if I went this entire quarter and never posted on the beloved works of John Wesley. So for all you Wesleyans, in commitment or matter of heart, here is something we can all appreciate!
John Wesley, in his sermon Catholic Spirit (1750), writes concerning our great need for a more robust ecumenical love and fellowship. Using the text of 2 Kings 10:15 as his foundation, Wesley considers the context under which we are to extend the hand of friendship and support to our fellow church leaders who may be on opposite ends of the denominational or doctrinal spectrum. Ultimately, once the hand of friendship is offered, Wesley’s understand of truly beneficial and Biblical ecumenism is much more vivid and dare I say “Christ-like” than many of our current attempts to be ecumenical through clergy gatherings or community worship services.
Wesley writes, “If thine heart be right, as mine with thy heart, then love me with a very tender affection, as a friend that is closer than a brother; as a brother in Christ, a fellow-citizen of the new Jerusalem, a fellow-soldier engaged in the same warfare, under the same Captain of our salvation. Love me as a companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, and a joint-heir of his glory.”
Too often we make the pastor of the church down the road the villain to our own personal desires of ministry and church growth. If we could only program more effectively, offer more enticing incentives, or advertise ourselves more provocatively…then we could be supreme in the small markets of our communities dominated by handfuls of churches.
Wesley offers a very different understanding of the pastor down the street than we typically are comfortable with. A fellow soldier, a companion, a brother. Would we be more effective for Christ if we could lay down our petty schemes for out-doing the other churches in our community and become one in Christ, working together (intimately together!) for the advancement of the Kingdom. Perhaps we need to partake in a more robust ecumenism as Wesley advocates.
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ReplyDeleteLove this. I grew up in a church that cultivated a culture of fear. This manifested in many way but most pertinent here are: fear of the unknown and suspicion of other believers. We all “knew” the Catholics weren’t Christians (old opinions, friends), but we weren’t even sure about the Methodists around the corner. I mean, “they baptize infants!” The Pentecostals down the street spoke in tongues… sometimes without translation. How could that be right? It often seemed like my well-intentioned pastor’s job at the pulpit was to warn his congregation against all of the false prophets, especially if they occupied the church building around the corner. Once I left my hometown to attend a college where Christians were few and far between, I realized that if I didn’t want to do this Jesus thing alone, I didn’t have the luxury of considering everyone who did things differently destined for the fiery furnace. I encountered Anglican Christians from Ghana who saw fire when they prayed, Presbyterians who followed Jesus even though they were baptized when they were two months old, and Mennonites who wouldn’t go to war (now that’s just blasphemy from a church with the American flag on the altar) but would lay themselves down for nearly anyone in a second. The thing is, these people, most of whom I had previously considered unsaved… well, they introduced me to Jesus.
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