Author: gws

The table of countercultural mission

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 1

Eichenberg's Lord's Supper (small)by Daniel P. Schrock
Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship
Goshen, Indiana, April 27, 2008

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this. (Luke 22:19-23, NRSV)

If you want to learn countercultural mission, then eat bread and drink wine at the table of God.

When Jesus sat down at a table with his disciples on that Passover night long ago, he knew what was going on in the mind of Judas Iscariot. Somehow Jesus knew that Judas was plotting to hand him over to the temple leaders. Indeed, a few days before this last supper with the twelve, Judas had quietly visited the chief priests and officers of the temple police in Jerusalem to offer them a deal. In exchange for a fee, Judas offered to help them find Jesus after dusk, when most people in the city were tucked away in their houses for the night. Reward me, said Judas, and I’ll tell you where Jesus is, so you can arrest him under the cover of darkness (Luke 22:3-6).

Jesus knew that Judas was in the process of betraying him (see 22:21). Ponder that for a moment. Continue reading “The table of countercultural mission” →

Pope Francis reaches out to Pentecostals, says all share blame for church divisions

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an unusual video message, recorded on an iPhone by a Pentecostal pastor Pope Francis knew in Argentina, the pope says all Christians share blame for their divisions, speaks of his “longing” for their unity and insists that God will bring the miracle of Christian unity to completion.

“Pray to the Lord that he will unite us all,” the pope tells a group of Pentecostals meeting in the United States. “Let’s move forward, we are brothers; let us give each other that spiritual embrace and allow the Lord to complete the work he has begun. Because this is a miracle; the miracle of unity has begun.”

In the video, posted on YouTube and never released by the Vatican, the pope quotes a character from a novel by Alessandro Manzoni; the character says, “‘I have never found that the Lord began a miracle without finishing it well.’ He will finish well this miracle of unity,” the pope added. Continue reading “Pope Francis reaches out to Pentecostals, says all share blame for church divisions” →

New book recounts historic 1964 peacemaking retreat at Gethsemani Abbey

CASCADE_TemplateA new book by Gordon Oyer recounts the history of a little known yet foundational event in the development of Mennonite-Catholic collaboration in peacemaking and ecumenical dialogue.  The book is Pursuing the Spiritual Roots of Protest: Merton, Berrigan, Yoder, and Muste at the Gethsemani Abbey Peacemakers Retreat.  Here is the publisher’s summary of the event and the book:

In the fall of 1964, Trappist monk Thomas Merton prepared to host an unprecedented gathering of peace activists. “About all we have is a great need for roots,” he observed, “but to know this is already something.” His remark anticipated their agenda—a search for spiritual roots to nurture sound motives for “protest.”

This event’s originality lay in the varied religious commitments present. Convened in an era of well-kept faith boundaries, members of Catholic (lay and clergy), mainline Protestant, historic peace church, and Unitarian traditions participated. Continue reading “New book recounts historic 1964 peacemaking retreat at Gethsemani Abbey” →

New Vatican document says violence in God’s name is “the greatest corruption of religion”

VATICAN CITY, January 17, 2014 (Zenit.org) – The International Theological Commission has published a new document clarifying that Christian belief is not only inherently incompatible with the incitement to violence, but that calls for violence are the religion’s greatest corruption.

The new document, published so far only in Italian on Jan. 16, will soon be made available in other languages. The title is “God, the Trinity, and the Unity of Humanity: Christian Monotheism and its Opposition to Violence”. It is the fruit of a five year study by the commission.

“Our reflection takes the form of a reasoned testimony, not an apologetic argument,” says a summary of the text, published Jan. 16 by the Vatican. “The Christian faith, in fact, sees the incitement of violence in the name of God as the greatest corruption of religion.”  Continue reading “New Vatican document says violence in God’s name is “the greatest corruption of religion”” →

Susan Kennel Harrison: True dialogue doesn’t allow you to give up your distinct beliefs

Susan Kennel Harrison, former Bridgefolk Board member, recently offered the following reflection on the nature of interfaith dialogue on the blog site State of Formation. 

To be “good” at Interfaith dialogue you need to first know the beliefs of your religious tradition, more precisely than your average practitioner, “the faithful.” You not only need to know the beliefs of your religious tradition but why it holds those specific beliefs. You also need to know how those of other denominations of your religious tradition might believe differently, and why; the nuances of where/why your part of the same tradition might not agree with them doctrinally or where you vary in practice.  Continue reading “Susan Kennel Harrison: True dialogue doesn’t allow you to give up your distinct beliefs” →

C.J. Dyck, Mennonite observer at Vatican II, dies Jan. 10

News Release
Mary E. Klassen
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
January 13, 2014

CJDyck1998

Cornelius J. (C.J.) Dyck not only researched and taught Mennonite history, he lived it, and he will be remembered for the wisdom, wit and commitment with which he did all three.

Dyck (92) died Friday, Jan. 10, in Normal, Ill., where he and Wilma, his wife, had been living for several years. For 35 years he worked in administration at Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Chicago, Ill., and taught at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Ind. In addition, he made significant contributions in the General Conference Mennonite Church, through Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) assignments in Europe and South America, in Mennonite World Conference (MWC), and as an ordained pastor.

Dyck was executive secretary of Mennonite World Conference in the early 1960s at the time of the Second Vatican Council. The MWC did not seek official observer status at Vatican II, but approved Dyck’s request to attend as a journalist. His reports were published in various Mennonite periodicals and are available here. Continue reading “C.J. Dyck, Mennonite observer at Vatican II, dies Jan. 10” →

Pope Francis affirms priority of Christian unity, cites “ecumenism of blood”

In a mid-December interview with the Italian periodical La Stampa, Pope Francis affirmed continuing work for Christian unity. But Christians should also recognize that they already are united through the “ecumenism of blood”:

Is Christian unity a priority for you?

“Yes, for me ecumenism is a priority. Today there is an ecumenism of blood. In some countries they kill Christians for wearing a cross or having a Bible and before they kill them they do not ask them whether they are Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox. Their blood is mixed. To those who kill we are Christians. We are united in blood, even though we have not yet managed to take necessary steps towards unity between us and perhaps the time has not yet come. Unity is a gift that we need to ask for. I knew a parish priest in Hamburg who was dealing with the beatification cause of a Catholic priest guillotined by the Nazis for teaching children the catechism. After him, in the list of condemned individuals, was a Lutheran pastor who was killed for the same reason. Their blood was mixed. The parish priest told me he had gone to the bishop and said to him: “I will continue to deal with the cause, but both of their causes, not just the Catholic priest’s.” This is what ecumenism of blood is. It still exists today; you just need to read the newspapers. Those who kill Christians don’t ask for your identity card to see which Church you were baptised in. We need to take these facts into consideration.”

Click here to read entire interview by Andrea Tornielli, “Never be afraid of tenderness.”

New resource: Just Peace: Ecumenical, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Just Peace book coverChristian theology and ethics have wrestled with the challenge to apply Jesus’s central message of nonviolence to the injustices of this world. Is it not right to defend the persecuted by using violence? Is it unjust if the oppressed defend themselves—if necessary by the use of violence—in order to liberate themselves and to create a more just society? Can we leave the doctrine of the just war behind and shift all our attention toward the way of a just peace?

In 2011 the World Council of Churches brought to a close the Decade to Overcome Violence, to which the churches committed themselves at the beginning of the century. Just peace has evolved as the new ecumenical paradigm for contemporary Christian ethics. Just peace signals a realistic vision of holistic peace, with justice, which in the concept of shalom is central in the Hebrew Bible as well as in the gospel message of the New Testament.  Continue reading “New resource: Just Peace: Ecumenical, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives“ →

Catholic News Service on the life and work of Bro. Jeffrey Gros

By Carol Zimmermann, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Christian Brother Jeffrey Gros, a leader in the ecumenical movement and former official with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died Aug. 12 at age 75. For more than a year, he struggled with pancreatic cancer.

For decades, Brother Gros participated in an untold number of dialogues with religious groups, delivered keynote addresses around the world, edited numerous books and wrote hundreds of book reviews. He has been remembered by colleagues for his zealous work in broadening the scope of ecumenism.

An online posting described him as “a public thinker” in theology, ecumenism and catechesis. Continue reading “Catholic News Service on the life and work of Bro. Jeffrey Gros” →