Thinking Anew:TOMORROW marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity. The resource material provided this year draws on the experience of Korean Christians, who live in a land where, despite many efforts to achieve reconciliation, there remain deep roots of conflict and division. The country was partitioned after the 1953 war and it is said that some 10 million families were separated as a result. This provides a very human perspective to the theme chosen from the Book of Ezekiel: "That they may be one in your hand".
The plight of the prophet Ezekiel resonates with the Korean experience, for he too lived in a divided country. Disaster came when the people of the south, including Ezekiel, were marched into exile in 587BC by Babylonian invaders. Remarkably, in this apparently hopeless situation, Ezekiel insisted that there was still hope, that God’s original intention for the renewal and unity of his people would be realised. For Ezekiel this unity was not simply about joining previously divided groups; it would be a new creation, the birth of a new people, a sign of hope for all humanity.
In his book Discipleship the late David Watson sees the church as a radical alternative society challenging the existing society. For him the church should consist of communities of “loving defiance”, not comfortable clubs of conformity with inadequate ecumenical goals:
“If the church is to become a community of God’s people in the way that Christ demonstrated with his disciples, it means much more than singing the same hymns, praying the same prayers, taking the same sacraments and joining in the same services.
“ It will involve the full commitment of our lives and of all that we have to one another.”
Ecumenical ambitions must recognise that unity is God’s will and intention – not only between churches but for humankind as a whole. The Church’s vocation is to be the model community, people reconciled to each other and to God, an example to a fractured world. That is not the case today where at times churches still cause division and bitterness. Our best ecumenical efforts will fail if we do not realise that the unity which the Spirit gives is conditional and requires conversion and renewal on the part of those who seek it. That is still not readily accepted at many levels.
Ecumenical progress can be made outside formal church structures. According to some observers, this happened in the election of Barack Obama, who will become they 44th president of the United States next Tuesday. They say that the faith community, compromising people of many backgrounds, discovered a unity of purpose when faced with the needs of their country.
One commentator wrote: “The leadership of African-American and Latino Christians, along with that of a new generation of the faithful in white America, is ending an age of narrow and divisive religion. This new faith coalition voted for a broad new moral agenda for faith in public life. Racial and economic justice, creation care, peace-making and a more consistent ethic of life will be the keystones of this growing shift.” The sanctity of life had become a much broader issue raising important questions about poverty, war, genocide, and climate change.
Another commentator claimed that “progressive Catholics and Protestants from many denominations are reaching across barriers to change the face of Christianity in this country, and also to engage with allies in other faith communities”. Crossing barriers, changing the face of Christianity where we live and becoming communities of “loving defiance” — possible answers to our prayers for unity this special week.
Are we listening?
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
– Barack Obama.
GL