"We
must once again contend for the apostolic faith of the one, holy,
universal and apostolic Church. This renewing work must be built
only upon the foundation of our unity in the truth that is made
known in Jesus Christ. It is now time for repentance, courage and
action. The renewal, reform and healing of our churches only can
come through the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit." Tom Oden
In
light of your heroic affirmations of Christian orthodoxy and
ecumenical spirit, it is a great honor to welcome you to the United
States on your historic mission "to proclaim this great truth: Jesus
Christ is hope for men and women of every language, race, culture
and social condition." On behalf of the millions of Christians in
congregations affiliated as United Methodist, Presbyterian,
Lutheran, United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada,
Anglican/Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, American Baptists, and
United Brethren in North America who remain faithful to this
proclamation of the gospel and the truth of God's Word, we express
our deep appreciation for your leadership. We are especially
grateful for your global leadership in proclaiming the sanctity of
human life, human sexuality and marriage. We praise God for your
steadfast faithfulness and witness.
In the unity we
have in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rev. David
Runnion-Bareford, President, Association for Church Renewal
Rev. James Heidinger, President, Good News Methodist
Rev. Parker Williamson, Presbyterian Layman
Rev. Mark Chavez, Wordalone Lutheran Network
Rev. Bob Thompson, Faithful & Welcoming Movement, United Church of
Christ
Rev. James Tonkowich, President, Institute on Religion and Democracy
Craig Kibler, Presbyterian Layman
Sara Anderson, President, Bristol House Ltd, Methodist
Jerold Walz, Vice-president, Institute on Religion and Democracy
Rev. Thomas
Lambrecht, Chairman of the Board, Good News
Methodist
Bishop Robert Duncan, Pittsburgh Diocese, The Episcopal Church
Faye Short,
President, RENEW, United Methodist
Dr. William Boylan, President Biblical Witness Fellowship, United
Church of Christ
Rev. Doug Harvey, Exec Director Disciples Heritage Foundation,
Disciples of Christ
Rev. Frederick J. Schumacher, Exec Director, American Lutheran
Publicity Bureau
Rev. Vernon Stoop, Exec Director, Focus Renewal Ministries, UCC
Rev. Chuck Huckaby, Reformation UCC
Rev. Rebajean Simmons, Bd. of Dir., BWF, United Church of Christ
Liz Claver, Assoc. Director, Biblical Witness Fellowship, United
Church of Christ
Rev. Ron Dafler, Bd. of Dir., BWF, United Church of
Christ,
Rev. Steve Clifford, Bd. of Dir., BWF United Church of Christ,
Apparently led
of the Holy Spirit to respond to the aspirations and prayers of
mainline renewalists in North America, Pope Benedict XVI used his
address to the ecumenical prayer gathering on April 18th,
during his historic first U.S. visit to call for authentic unity in
the truth of the gospel. His powerful words express directly the
deepest concerns of our hearts for the renewal of the church.
DISCOURSE OF POPE BENEDICT
XVI
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF OTHER CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES
SAINT JOSEPH'S CHURCH, YORKVILLE, NEW YORK
18 APRIL 2008
Dear Brothers
and Sisters in Christ,
My heart abounds with gratitude to Almighty God - "the Father of
all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph 4:6) - for
this blessed opportunity to gather with you this evening in prayer.
I thank Bishop Dennis Sullivan for his cordial welcome, and I warmly
greet all those in attendance representing Christian communities
throughout the United States. May the peace of our Lord and Savior
be with you all!
Through you, I
express my sincere appreciation for the invaluable work of all those
engaged in ecumenism: the National Council of Churches, Christian
Churches Together, the Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical
and Interreligious Affairs, and many others. The contribution of
Christians in the United States to the ecumenical movement is felt
throughout the world. I encourage all of you to persevere, always
relying on the grace of the risen Christ whom we strive to serve by
bringing about "the obedience of faith for the sake of his name"
(Rom 1:5).
We have just listened to the scriptural passage in which Paul - a
"prisoner for the Lord" - delivers his ardent appeal to the members
of the Christian community at Ephesus. "I beg you," he writes, "to
lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called …
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph
4:1-3). Then, after his impassioned litany of unity, Paul reminds
his hearers that Jesus, having ascended into heaven, has bestowed
upon men and women all the gifts necessary for building up the Body
of Christ (cf. Eph 4:11-13).
Paul's exhortation resounds with no less vigor today. His words
instill in us the confidence that the Lord will never abandon us in
our quest for unity. They also call us to live in a way that bears
witness to the "one heart and mind" (Acts 4:32), which has always
been the distinguishing trait of Christian koinonia (cf. Acts 2:42),
and the force drawing others to join the community of believers so
that they too might come to share in the "unsearchable riches of
Christ" (Eph 3:8; cf. Acts 2:47; 5:14).
Globalization has humanity poised between two poles. On the one
hand, there is a growing sense of interconnectedness and
interdependency between peoples even when - geographically and
culturally speaking - they are far apart. This new situation offers
the potential for enhancing a sense of global solidarity and shared
responsibility for the well-being of mankind. On the other hand, we
cannot deny that the rapid changes occurring in our world also
present some disturbing signs of fragmentation and a retreat into
individualism. The expanding use of electronic communications has in
some cases paradoxically resulted in greater isolation.
Many people -
including the young - are seeking therefore more authentic forms of
community. Also of grave concern is the spread of a secularist
ideology that undermines or even rejects transcendent truth. The
very possibility of divine revelation, and therefore of Christian
faith, is often placed into question by cultural trends widely
present in academia, the mass media and public debate. For these
reasons, a faithful witness to the Gospel is as urgent as ever.
Christians are challenged to give a clear account of the hope that
they hold (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
Too often those who are not Christians, as they observe the
splintering of Christian communities, are understandably confused
about the Gospel message itself. Fundamental Christian beliefs and
practices are sometimes changed within communities by so-called
"prophetic actions" that are based on a hermeneutic not always
consonant with the datum of Scripture and Tradition. Communities
consequently give up the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing
instead to function according to the idea of "local options".
Somewhere in this process the need for diachronic koinonia -
communion with the Church in every age - is lost, just at the time
when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common
witness to the saving power of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:18-23).
Faced with these difficulties, we must first recall that the unity
of the Church flows from the perfect oneness of the Trinitarian God.
In John's Gospel, we are told that Jesus prayed to his Father that
his disciples might be one, "just as you are in me and I am in you"
(Jn 17:21). This passage reflects the unwavering conviction of the
early Christian community that its unity was both caused by, and is
reflective of, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This,
in turn, suggests that the internal cohesion of believers was based
on the sound integrity of their doctrinal confession (cf. 1 Tim
1:3-11). Throughout the New Testament, we find that
the Apostles were repeatedly called to give an account for their
faith to both Gentiles (cf. Acts 17:16-34) and Jews (cf. Acts
4:5-22; 5:27-42). The core of their argument was always the
historical fact of Jesus's bodily resurrection from the tomb (Acts
2:24, 32; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30).
The ultimate
effectiveness of their preaching did not depend on "lofty words" or
"human wisdom" (1 Cor 2:13), but rather on the work of the Spirit
(Eph 3:5) who confirmed the authoritative witness of the Apostles
(cf. 1 Cor 15:1-11). The nucleus of Paul's preaching and that of the
early Church was none other than Jesus Christ, and "him
crucified" (1 Cor 2:2). But this proclamation had to be
guaranteed by the purity of normative doctrine expressed in creedal
formulae - symbola - which articulated the essence of the Christian
faith and constituted the foundation for the unity of the baptized
(cf. 1 Cor 15:3-5; Gal 1:6-9; Unitatis Redintegratio, 2).
My dear friends, the power of the kerygma has lost none of its
internal dynamism. Yet we must ask ourselves whether its full force
has not been attenuated by a relativistic approach to Christian
doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies, which, in
alleging that science alone is "objective", relegate religion
entirely to the subjective sphere of individual feeling. Scientific
discoveries, and their application through human ingenuity,
undoubtedly offer new possibilities for the betterment of humankind.
This does not mean, however, that the "knowable" is limited to the
empirically verifiable, nor religion restricted to the shifting
realm of "personal experience".
For Christians to accept this faulty line of reasoning would lead to
the notion that there is little need to emphasize objective truth in
the presentation of the Christian faith, for one need but follow his
or her own conscience and choose a community that best suits his or
her individual tastes. The result is seen in the continual
proliferation of communities which often eschew institutional
structures and minimize the importance of doctrinal content for
Christian living.
Even within the ecumenical movement, Christians may be reluctant to
assert the role of doctrine for fear that it would only exacerbate
rather than heal the wounds of division. Yet a clear, convincing
testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus has to be
based upon the notion of normative apostolic teaching: a teaching
which indeed underlies the inspired word of God and sustains the
sacramental life of Christians today.
Only by "holding fast" to sound teaching (2 Thess 2:15; cf. Rev
2:12-29) will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront
us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous
testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching.
This is the message
which the world is waiting to hear from us. Like the early
Christians, we have a responsibility to give transparent witness to
the "reasons for our hope", so that the eyes of all men and women of
goodwill may be opened to see that God has shown us his face (cf. 2
Cor 3:12-18) and granted us access to his divine life through Jesus
Christ. He alone is our hope! God has revealed his love for all
peoples through the mystery of his Son's passion and death, and has
called us to proclaim that he is indeed risen, has taken his place
at the right hand of the Father, and "will come again in glory to
judge the living and the dead" (Nicene Creed).
May the word of God we have heard this evening inflame our hearts
with hope on the path to unity (cf. Lk 24:32). May this prayer
service exemplify the centrality of prayer in the ecumenical
movement (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 8); for without it, ecumenical
structures, institutions and programs would be deprived of their
heart and soul. Let us give thanks to Almighty God for the progress
that has been made through the work of his Spirit, as we acknowledge
with gratitude the personal sacrifices made by so many present and
by those who have gone before us.
By following in their footsteps, and by placing our trust in God
alone, I am confident that - to borrow the words of Father Paul
Wattson - we will achieve the "oneness of hope, oneness of faith,
and oneness of love" that alone will convince the world that Jesus
Christ is the one sent by the Father for the salvation of all.
Every four years,
the members of annual conferences (representing their local
churches) elect delegates to attend the worldwide gathering of the
United Methodist Church. In this forum, we worship together and we
deliberate (and often act) to bring about the future of our church.
Nearly the entire Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions are
open for revision, updating the operating process and advocacy
positions of our church for the coming four years.
The Renewal and
Reform Coalition is the voice of evangelical and moderate United
Methodists at General Conference. The Confessing Movement brings a
broad-based concern for doctrinal renewal and faithfulness in our
church. UM Action focuses mainly on social issue advocacy from an
evangelical and conservative perspective. Transforming Congregations
promotes ministry with people struggling with all forms of sexual
brokenness, including homosexuality. Lifewatch is a faithful voice
on bioethics, including abortion, euthanasia, and stem-cell
research. Good News is the oldest mainline renewal group, with a
broad agenda for reform that will facilitate spiritual renewal and
revival in the United Methodist Church. Renew, the women's ministry
arm of Good News, fosters renewed and accountable women's ministry
at the local and national level and shares responsibility for issues
important to women, children, and family. Since 1980, Good News has
led the effort to inform and persuade General Conference delegates
to help our denomination return to its Wesleyan foundation, built on
Scriptural holiness, doctrinal faithfulness, energetic evangelism,
and winsome social action and advocacy in the name of Jesus Christ.
All six of these organizations are working together in the Renewal
and Reform Coalition to lovingly and boldly press our church forward
in renewed ministry at the 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth.
(In contrast to
most other mainline denominations), The United Methodist Church sees
itself as a worldwide denomination, with members in many countries.
A member in the Congo or Finland is on the same footing as a member
in Indiana or Texas. Until now, the UM Church has been a
U.S.-dominated church, dealing mainly with U.S. problems and
addressing the U.S. cultural and political situation. That is
beginning to change, as an increasing percentage (now nearly a
third) of our members live outside the U.S. Non-U.S. members are
beginning to raise concerns about times when the General Conference
takes actions that are really only applicable to the U.S., without
necessarily considering how those actions will affect members in
Nigeria or Eastern Europe—or whether the actions are even relevant
for a member living in the Philippines.
The 2006 General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) met in Birmingham,
Alabama. I found the landscape familiar, remembering some 40 years
earlier when Martin Luther King led our entourage just 70 miles from
the place where Presbyterians now gathered. Revisiting that scene, I
can see now what was only partially visible to me then. Some
marchers shared King’s passion for the higher law, a realm of
principle that transcends politics, a life of obedience to the Word
of God that is the fruit of one’s salvation from above. Their
commandment was entirely consistent with and, in fact, emanated from
a thoroughly Reformed faith.
Other marchers were
differently motivated. Driven by a passion for movement politics,
they secularized a faith that King held sacred. Among them were
leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The same year in which
they walked the streets of Alabama, they enacted The Confession of
1967 and replaced humble obedience to the Word of God with
ideological demands for entitlement.
The rest, as we
have documented is history. Presbyterian Church USA policies and the
movements they spawned triggered bloodbaths in Africa, Latin America
and Europe. They shielded from ecclesiastical scorn North Korean
dictators and a Cuban despot. They endorsed statist economies that
have enslaved and impoverished their own people, while condemning an
economic system that, albeit blemished by sins that beset any human
construct, has produced a higher standard of living for a greater
number of people than the world has ever known. They baptized sexual
behaviors that Scripture condemns. They approved, and through their
medical plan, even underwrote the slaughter of infants in their
mother’s wombs. And finally, having wrought such abominations
through the policies and programs of an institution that claims the
name “church”, they alienated the faithful, resulting in massive
membership departures.
It will not do to
say that those whose actions have brought us to this divide meant
well. History is replete with disasters that emanated from high
minded motives . . . The church’s moral authority cannot be bartered
or brokered. It will withstand every human emendation. It is what it
is, a precious gift from the Lord. Any ecclesiastical institution
whose accommodation to the world squanders that authority forfeits
its claim to be called the Church of Jesus Christ . . . The Word of
the Lord, declared by his prophet when our forebears failed him,
remains strong and sure: “Thus says the Lord: The Word that goes
forth from my mouth shall not return to me void, but it shall
accomplish that for which I purpose it.”
All that we
preach, teach and do must be centered on Jesus Christ. He alone is
Lord and he alone has been given "all authority in heaven and on
earth." (Matthew 28:18) Whenever we turn
to anything or anyone else to do that which Christ alone can do, we
are caught up in idolatry.
Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit must not be separated from or set against the Holy
Scriptures. Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth
disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18).
The Holy Spirit
calls all believers to submit to the authority of the revealed Word
of God, that is Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures. Christ and the
Scriptures stand in authority over us, not us over them. If we place
ourselves in authority over Christ and the Scriptures, we are caught
up in idolatry and we are led by spirits other than the Holy Spirit.
. . .We understand ourselves to be
disciples of Jesus, not simply members of an institution, and we
call the ELCA to faithfulness to its rich biblical and Lutheran
heritage. Our intention is that the primary focus of the ELCA be
returned to its mission outreach in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not
on its own institutional matters.
“The 1988 Lambeth
Conference brought evangelism to the top of the Anglican Church’s
agenda and challenged us to ask ourselves what we know and believe
about evangelism. For the whole Anglican Communion found itself
obliged to face a responsibility which it has often shirked, namely
the call to bear witness to Jesus Christ. According to the
definition which the Anglican primates commended to us, to
evangelize is ‘to make known by word and deed the love of the
crucified and risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that
people will repent, believe and receive Christ as their Savior and
obediently serve him as their Lord in the fellowship of his church.’
John Stott, The Living Church
In March, 2008,
Presiding Bishop Katharine Schori of the Episcopal Church sought to
“inhibit” Renewal leader, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh from
holding his ordained office of Bishop. In his response Bishop Duncan
wrote:
I consider myself
fully subject to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of this
church. I have striven to follow the Lord Jesus with all my heart
and mind and soul and strength, all the while relying on God’s grace
to accomplish what my sinfulness and brokenness otherwise prevent. I
have kept my ordination vows – all of them – to the best of my
ability, including the vow I made on 28 October 1972 to “banish and
drive away all strange and erroneous doctrines contrary to God’s
Word.”
I have preached and
taught nothing but what faithful Anglicans and mainstream Christians
have always preached and taught, with the exception only that I have
supported and encouraged the ministry of women in Holy Orders.
I have been present
to all but 2 of 24 meetings of the House of Bishops during the last
12 years. In those meetings I have clearly and openly opposed the
theological and moral drift of the Episcopal Church, often in the
face of great hostility and sadly, at times, derision. I have made
no submission to any other authority or jurisdiction.
I have gathered
Anglican fragments together from one hundred and thirty-five years
of Episcopal Church division, vastly increasing understanding and
cooperation through preserving the jurisdictional independence of
all.
I have, with the
clergy, people and para-church organizations of my dioces, built
missionary relationships all over the world, fielding both
missionaries and resources on five continents. I have faithfully
served and shepherded the clergy and people of the Episcopal Diocese
of Pittsburgh through what has, by God’s grace, been one of its
greatest periods of extension and blessing. My intention is to
continue in this call for what remains of my active ministry.
“God uses language
to tell us things and the Bible is the language he has used. The
Bible is personal communication from the creator to us creatures.
And in personal communication you speak and write to be understood.
You don’t communicate in code. You don’t say one thing in a way that
is intended to be understood as meaning its opposite. God is, we
believe, straightforward and the Bible in that sense is
straightforward, and the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 6 is
straightforward
J.I. Packer,
(Threatened in 2008 by the Westminster Diocese of the Anglican
Church of Canada with loss of his ordination standing for his
witness to orthodoxy)
J. I. Packer on
youtube)
Recently the
leadership of the United Church of Christ has called for a national
dialogue on racism. The irony is profound. The leaders of one of the
most homogenously caucasian denominations in the country have
arrogantly deluded themselves into thinking that they are taking the
moral high ground. In reality their rejection of God’s Word,
illustrated graphically by their rejection of the sanctity of human
life, sexuality and marriage has alienated Hispanic and African
American Christians in their own communion. A significant number of
African American churches and the entire Puerto Rico Conference have
publicly challenged them to repentance. The rebuff of denominational
leaders has been implicitly racist. The UCC is not alone. Recent
statements and actions by Episcopal and some Methodists leaders
indicate they also just don’t get it.
The rise of the
spiritual authority from the “global south”, namely African, Asian
and Hispanic Churches, birthed by missions, is a work of the Holy
Spirit. God is still speaking. God is removing the mantle of
spiritual and ecclesiastical authority from the errant,
predominantly white American denominations that have refused to
submit to his Word. The rise of liberal racism, whether in the
democratic presidential primary campaign or the refusal of white
mainline religious leaders to submit to the rebuke of our African,
Asian and Hispanic brothers and sisters in the church is not a new
phenomena. Church leaders in other generations who deviated from
faithful obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ often spawned racial
injustice in defense of their power.
But beyond the
issue of race, the wider reality is that the entire church of Jesus
Christ in the United States faces a crisis of relevance and
authenticity like none we have faced in our lifetime! Declining
participation, aging congregations, failing leaders, clergy
shortages, and an anti-Christian spirit in our culture are forcing
us to rethink everything about church regardless of denominational
affiliation. For 25 years people have said that the conflicts we
faced as renewalists were peculiar to our involvement with the
United Church of Christ. Both friend and foe told us we should
sensibly leave the UCC to join some other branch of the church. We
replied that the heartaches in the UCC were contagious to the whole
church and the whole culture. We replied that we could stand for the
gospel of Jesus Christ right where we were called or face the same
crisis somewhere else. So here we stand. Radical commitment to Jesus
Christ will prevail in this as in every age until he comes.
Too
often those who are not Christians, as they observe the splintering
of Christian communities, are understandably confused about the
Gospel message itself. Fundamental Christian beliefs and practices
are sometimes changed within communities by so-called "prophetic
actions" that are based on a hermeneutic not always consonant with
the datum of Scripture and Tradition.
Communities
consequently give up the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing
instead to function according to the idea of "local options".
Somewhere in this process the need for diachronic koinonia -
communion with the Church in every age - is lost, just at the time
when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common
witness to the saving power of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:18-23).
Faced with these difficulties, we must first recall that the unity
of the Church flows from the perfect oneness of the Trinitarian God.
In John's Gospel, we are told that Jesus prayed to his Father that
his disciples might be one, "just as you are in me and I am in you"
(Jn 17:21). This passage reflects the unwavering conviction of the
early Christian community that its unity was both caused by, and is
reflective of, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This, in turn,
suggests that the internal cohesion of believers was based on the
sound integrity of their doctrinal confession (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-11).
Throughout the New Testament, we find that
the Apostles were repeatedly called to give an account for their
faith to both Gentiles (cf. Acts 17:16-34) and Jews (cf. Acts
4:5-22; 5:27-42). The core of their argument was always the
historical fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the tomb (Acts
2:24, 32; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30).
The ultimate
effectiveness of their preaching did not depend on "lofty words" or
"human wisdom" (1 Cor 2:13), but rather on the work of the Spirit
(Eph 3:5) who confirmed the authoritative witness of the Apostles
(cf. 1 Cor 15:1-11). The nucleus of Paul's preaching and that of the
early Church was none other than Jesus Christ, and "him
crucified" (1 Cor 2:2). But this proclamation had to be
guaranteed by the purity of normative doctrine expressed in creedal
formulae - symbola - which articulated the essence of the Christian
faith and constituted the foundation for the unity of the baptized
(cf. 1 Cor 15:3-5; Gal 1:6-9; Unitatis Redintegratio, 2).
My dear friends, the power of the kerygma has lost none of its
internal dynamism. Yet we must ask ourselves whether its full force
has not been attenuated by a relativistic approach to Christian
doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies, which, in
alleging that science alone is "objective", relegate religion
entirely to the subjective sphere of individual feeling.
Scientific
discoveries, and their application through human ingenuity,
undoubtedly offer new possibilities for the betterment of humankind.
This does not mean, however, that the "knowable" is limited to the
empirically verifiable, nor religion restricted to the shifting
realm of "personal experience".
For Christians to accept this faulty line of reasoning would lead to
the notion that there is little need to emphasize objective truth in
the presentation of the Christian faith, for one need but follow his
or her own conscience and choose a community that best suits his or
her individual tastes. The result is seen in the continual
proliferation of communities which often eschew institutional
structures and minimize the importance of doctrinal content for
Christian living.
Even within the ecumenical movement, Christians may be reluctant to
assert the role of doctrine for fear that it would only exacerbate
rather than heal the wounds of division. Yet a clear, convincing
testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus has to be
based upon the notion of normative apostolic teaching: a teaching
which indeed underlies the inspired word of God and sustains the
sacramental life of Christians today.
Only by "holding fast" to sound teaching (2 Thess 2:15; cf. Rev
2:12-29) will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront
us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous
testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching. This is
the message which the world is waiting to hear from us.
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