THE WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY - Saturday, January 18, 2014

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Acts 10:34-44

I am excited about the posts that will appear of the next week in recognition of The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. As a child and teenager I did not have a great awareness of my Anglican tradition. I knew that it was different from Roman Catholicism - I went to a different school from my Roman Catholic friends - yet I came from a church that was clearly different from those of my evangelical friends. We weren’t terribly clappy, and had a more traditional choir instead of a praise band. 

I knew something of a funny story (that I still enjoy telling), about how when my parents married, my Roman Catholic father and Mennonite mother compromised and became Anglican. “Anglican,” conveniently, came first in the yellow pages. After several years of marriage they would recommit themselves to attending a church, and ended up at All Saints’ Anglican in Waterloo. Note that “All Saints’” also appears first in the yellow pages. (The Spirit works in mysterious and occasionally, alphabetical ways???)

While pursuing a BA in religious studies at the University of Waterloo I had a chance to learn more about the history of Anglicanism. As it turned out there was a lot more to it than the divorce of Henry VIII! I was very interested in a variety of topics: the Oxford movement, Apostolic succession, 20th century dialogue with the Orthodox and Churches of the East, Anglican monasticism, the Anglican gift for liturgy, and so on. 

At the same time my other classes brought me into contact with Christians from other denominations (and people from other or no faith traditions). This cross-pollination made for wonderful discussions. High school classes on religion tended to have students arguing for their tradition over other ones, while my university classes were more about a humble, healthy, and honest desire to learn about and appreciate the traditions of others. While studying at UW I was also able to rediscover the Anabaptist and Roman Catholic aspects of my religious DNA. I came to a deeper understanding of peace and justice and sacramentality. This didn’t make me any less Anglican. It enriched and widened my experience.

I am reminded of an oft-quoted passage from Thomas Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. 

If I affirm myself as Catholic merely by denying all that is Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., in the end I will find that there is not much left for me to affirm as a Catholic, and certainly no breath of the Spirit with which to affirm it (144).

Verse 36 in today’s reading has Peter affirming that Jesus is “Lord of all.” I think an unhealthy fixation on our superiority over others as a Christian (or a Christian of a particular disposition or tradition) can obscure this simple fact. The stress is on Jesus and not us. HE IS LORD OF ALL. Whether we are sure of our faith or feel like we are on shaky ground, he is Lord of all. In our strength and in our weakness, he is Lord of all. Whether our church meets in a beautiful, historic building or a newly-constructed, plain church, he is Lord of all. In times of agreement and in times that we disagree on matters of faith, Jesus remains Lord of all. 

In verse 39 Peter describes himself and his group as “witnesses,” and we would be wise to remember that we too are witnesses. Implicit in this assertion is that people are watching, listening, and making decisions based on their observations. The way we conduct ourselves, especially in our differences and disagreements, can say a lot more than our words. I’m again reminded of Merton, this time, writing to Etta Gullick, who was involved in the training of Anglican priests.

Where there is a sincere desire for truth and real good will and genuine love, there God Himself will take care of the differences far better than any human or political ingenuity can.  (The Hidden Ground of Love, 377)

Merton would come to know the great Anglican thinker A.M. Allchin. Those who have read Merton’s autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain will recall his harsh words for the Church of England, which he saw as more of a shallow social club for the well-off. As he matured (remember, he wrote his autobiography at a pretty early age!) his stance would soften. To Allchin he wrote:

It is, unfortunately, so easy and so usual simply to compare the dark side of someone else’s Church with the bright side of one’s own. Thank heaven we are getting over that now, I hope. (Witness to Freedom, 319)

It is my hope is that over the next week we will come to a deeper appreciation for the gifts that Christians in various traditions bring to our faith, in what one of my former professors, M. Darrol Bryant referred to as “the great conversation.”

-Matthew Kieswetter