|
Our
Neighbors’ Faith
Full communion and common witness
By Rev. Maurice Drown
This is the beginning of an action year
of learning, sharing and taking further
steps toward full communion and common
witness for Roman Catholics, Lutherans
and Methodists as we celebrate an
historic agreement.
The
inaugurating event is June 3, Trinity
Sunday, and we want you to join the
celebration!
First
some definitions: Ecumenical accord?
That’s Lutherans, Roman Catholic and
Methodists saying, “Hey, we are all on
the same page.” Now that’s
important. It’s taken 400 years for
these saints to reconcile. What a cause
for celebration! What possibility is
opened for improving relationships with
fellow Christians.
Doctrine
of Justification
sounds heady, complex and boring; but it
means we are made right (justified by
God to be good, whole and well. We are
freed from past wrongs for future
rights. It is God who liberates, God who
justifies, God who makes us all right.
Methodists call this
“sanctification.” You can learn
about all this and read statements and
the official common affirmation at http://www.prounione.urbe.it/dia-int/m-rc/doc/e_m-rc_appendix.html
Looking
back, you wonder if Martin Luther ever
conceived the wedge his nail was driving
into the body of Christ with his theses
on the cathedral door. For centuries, we
focused on differences, nuanced and
magnified. But it has led to renewal.
Today,
following decades of reconciling talks
and God’s leading insights through the
great minds of our religious leaders, an
historic moment of reconciliation has
arrived with Catholic, Lutheran and
Methodist friends taking a big step
toward full communion and common
witness.
Am
I justified in inviting you to an
ecumenical service of celebration on
Trinity Sunday, June 3, at Trinity
United Methodist Church, 235 Lark St.,
Albany? You’ll find lots of Roman
Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist and other
sisters and brothers in Christ
celebrating and affirming our new accord
(signed last July in Seoul South Korea).
This
is the beginning of an action year of
learning, sharing and taking further
steps toward full communion and common
witness.
(The
author is pastor of Trinity Methodist
Church in Albany.)
|
