2012 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 1

This is my favorite prayer week of the year. The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity runs from January 18-25 and is prepared by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches. I will post the readings/prayers/reflections for everyday. This year, particular emphasis is placed on the Christians of Poland. The theme for 2012 is based on 1 Corinthians 15:51-58: "We will all be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ." All reflections posted here come from the WCC and Vatican websites.

BIBLICAL TEXT FOR THE WEEK
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.
New Revised Standard Version

Day 1 Theme: Changed by the Servant Christ

Text: The Son of Man came to serve (cf. Mk 10:45)

Readings

Zech 9:9-10 A king righteous and victorious – and humble

Ps 131 My heart is not proud

Rom 12:3-8 We have different gifts with which to serve

Mk 10:42-45 The Son of Man came to serve


Commentary


The coming of the Messiah and His victory were accomplished through service. Jesus wants a spirit of service to fill the hearts of His followers as well. He teaches us that true greatness consists in serving God and one’s neighbour. Christ gives us the courage to discover that He is the one for whom to serve is to reign – as an early Christian saying has it.

Zechariah’s prophecy concerning a victorious and humble King was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He, the King of Peace, comes to his own, to Jerusalem – the City of Peace. He does not conquer it by deceit or violence, but by gentleness and humility.

Psalm 131 briefly but eloquently describes the state of spiritual peace which is the fruit of humility. The picture of a mother and child is a sign of God’s tender love and of trust in God, to which the entire community of believers is called.

Paul the apostle challenges us to make a sober and humble assessment of ourselves and to discover our own abilities. While we have a diversity of gifts we are one body in Christ. In our divisions each of our traditions has been endowed by the Lord with gifts that we are called to place at the service of others.

For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mk 10.45). By His service, Christ redeemed our refusal to serve God. He became an example for repairing all relations between people: Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant – those are the new standards of greatness and priority.

In the Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that the diverse gifts given to us are for service: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership and compassion. In our diversity we are always one body in Christ, and members of one another. The use of our diverse gifts in common service to humanity makes visible our unity in Christ. The joint action of Christians for the benefit of humanity, to combat poverty and ignorance, defend the oppressed, to be concerned about peace and to preserve life, develop science, culture and art are an expression of the practical ecumenism which the Church and the world badly need. The imitation of Christ the Servant provides eloquent testimony to the Gospel, moving not only minds, but also hearts. Such common service is a sign of the coming Kingdom of God – the kingdom of the Servant Christ.

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, by travelling the royal road of service your Son leads us from the arrogance of our disobedience to humility of heart. Unite us to one another by your Holy Spirit, so that through service to our sisters and brothers, Your true countenance may be revealed; You, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Questions for reflection

What opportunities for service are most threatened by pride and arrogance?

What should be done to ensure that all Christian ministries are better experienced as service?

In our community, what can Christians of different traditions do better together than in isolation to reveal the Servant Christ?

For any people interested in Reformed - Catholic dialogue check out this blog: http://www.calledtocommunion.com/ The bloggers are former Reformed Christians and ministers who became Catholic. They post essays written by former Reformed Christians and lectures by the Catholic theologian Lawrence Feingold on issues that engage those interested in understanding the Reformed tradition. The blog is a friendly and intellectually stimulating atmosphere for having dialogue between Reformed Christians and Catholic Christians. Even if you are not Catholic or a Reformed Christian it is a very helpful site. I have learned quite a lot about Calvin through calledtocommunion. Check it out...

Martin Luther and Saint Bernard - Surprising Similarities

I have recently finished reading a book I bought from a gift shop at the famous Gethsemane Abbey in Trappist, Kentucky. Pater Bernhardus: Martin Luther and Bernard of Clairvaux, written by the German Catholic theologian Franz Posset is a study in the theologies of the last of the Church Fathers, St. Bernard, and the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. As you may have guessed from my previous posts, I tend to focus on Christology through an ecumenical (particularly Lutheran-Catholic) lens to understand Christ and the Church in the modern world. Posset’s thesis is that Martin Luther, though a Protestant reformer, was greatly influenced by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the twelfth century Cistercian. Although Luther eventually abandoned monasticism altogether, Luther was knowingly (and unknowingly) influenced by Bernard. Sixteenth century libraries, unlike libraries today, contained Bernardine works alongside pseudo-Bernardine ones, making difficult a correct understanding of the medieval saint. In addition to a handful of authentic Bernardine sermons, Luther leaned much about this Church Father from The Golden Legend written by the hagiographer Jacobus de Voragine and the Vita Bern. Posset breaks down Pater Bernhardus  according to the Reformation solas (Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, Evangelization Alone), and by comparing the two men, attempts to prove that the Reformation cries (the solas) were not Lutheran inventions but were sometimes adopted from Bernard’s own teachings, given nearly four hundred years earlier. Posset argues that Luther and Bernard hold in common what the author calls an “affective christocentrism.”  

When one reviews Luther’s deep appreciation of Bernard’s sermons on the advent, incarnation,  and passion of Christ, and of the bernardine concepts of contrition, humility, self-knowledge, God-knowledge, self-judgment, grace, faith, and Christ’s double right to heaven – which taken together we call his affective christocentrism – one can better understand why the reformer ranked Bernard ‘higher than any monk or priest on earth’ and could state unequivocally that ‘Bernard is above all the teachers in the Church.’(337).

Of course, Luther was not in complete agreement with Bernard, but hostility was often a result of a false understanding of the monk’s teachings, taken from pseudo-Bernardine sources. Interestingly, though an enemy of the cloister, Luther was more influenced by monastic tradition than he was by scholasticism, which Luther openly attacked shortly before his 1517 Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. Martin Luther is certainly a complex character, one whom many people have attempted to understand. Like Bernard, de-mythologizing the life of Luther can be challenging.  Posset has also written a biography of Martin Luther (The Real Luther), another recent attempt to understand this complex man. Posset is convinced that Lutheran scholarship is still in its birth pangs because a huge aspect of Luther’s theology has been overlooked. By acknowledging Luther’s monastic influence, the author hopes that his books will help further ecumenical relations, help Catholics come to a better understanding of St. Bernard and his teachings, and help Lutherans come to a better understanding of the man they claim as the founder of their churches.  I will outline some of Posset’s arguments in the next post. It is not common for a Catholic theologian to invest so much time and effort into understanding the life of an excommunicated “schismatic”, but Posset hopes to help Christians approach ecumenical dialogue responsibly and honestly, with a good understanding of each other’s traditions.

Perhaps the bernardine/cistercian tradition is predestined – because of its specific bernardine spirituality and its affinity with Reformation concerns – to become the agent of further redintegratio between the two separated streams of western Christianity, Catholicism and Protestantism. There is no doubt that ‘Bernard can be a meeting ground for catholic-protestant dialogue’. In the future, the two streams may again flow together to form one gospel-centered Catholic Church by reappropriating these two giants of western spirituality. (393-394).

I definitely recommend this book not so much because of its great writing style (the writing is okay) but because of its content and the questions that this book explores. Copies of this book are admittedly expensive though (I own a cheap, faulty copy), so I hope to comment further on this book in the future so that others too may feel inclined to join in the dialogue.

                

Day 1 of the 2011 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

 Every day for the next eight days I will post the prayers, readings, and reflections for this week of prayer for unity. The brochure from which I am getting my information can be found on the World Council of Churches and Vatican websites. This brochure was, "Jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches."

The theme this year comes from Acts 2:42-47:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

(NRSV)

Day 1 sets forth the background to the mother church of Jerusalem, making clear its continuity with the church throughout the world today. It reminds us of the courage of the early church as it boldly witnessed to the truth, just as we today need to work for justice in Jerusalem, and in the rest of the world.

Day 1 – The Church in Jerusalem
Readings:
Joel 2:21-22, 28-29 I will pour out my spirit on all flesh
Psalm 46 God is in the midst of the city
Acts 2:1-12 When the day of Pentecost had come
John 14:15-21 This is the spirit of truth

Commentary:
The journey of this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, at the beginning of the Church’s own journey.

The theme of this week is “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.” The “they” is the earliest Church of Jerusalem born on the day of the Pentecost when the Advocate, the Spirit of truth descended upon the first believers, as promised by God through the prophet the Joel, and by the Lord Jesus on the night before his suffering and death. All who live in continuity with the day of Pentecost live in continuity with the earliest Church of Jerusalem with it leader St James. This church is the mother church of us all. It provides the image or icon of the Christian unity for which we pray this week.

According to an ancient eastern tradition, the succession of the church comes through continuity with the first Christian community of Jerusalem. The Church of Jerusalem in apostolic times is linked with the heavenly Church of Jerusalem, which in turn becomes the icon of all Christian churches. The sign of continuity with the Church of Jerusalem for all the churches is maintaining the “marks” of the first Christian community through our devotion to the “apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.”
The present Church of Jerusalem lives in continuity with the apostolic Church of Jerusalem particularly in its costly witness to the truth. Its witness to the gospel and its struggles against inequality and injustice reminds us that prayer for Christian unity is inseparable from prayer for peace and justice.

Prayer: Almighty and Merciful God, with great power you gathered together the first Christians in the city of Jerusalem, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, defying the earthly power of the Roman empire. Grant that, like this first church in Jerusalem, we may come together to be bold in preaching and living the good news of reconciliation and peace, wherever there is inequality and injustice. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who liberates us from the bondage of sin and death. Amen.

October 31 is All Hallowed Eve/Reformation Day But There is Yet Hope for Christian Unity

Today is a special day for both Catholics and Protestants.

If you are Catholic, October 31 is All Hallowed Eve, the eve of All Saints Day. All Saints Day honors the lives of all saints who have not been officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. For there are many who have gone before us and are with God in Heaven as saints.

If you are Protestant,October 31 is Reformation Day. On this day 493 years ago, Martin Luther is said to have nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral. On Reformation Day, Protestants recall the lives of the reformers - the most famous ones being Martin Luther and John Calvin.

As you can see, October 31 divides Christians. But there is hope. On All Hallowed Eve/Reformation Day 1999, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification saying,

"In faith we together hold the conviction that justification is the work of the triune God. The Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The foundation and presupposition of justification is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. Justification thus means that Christ himself is our righteousness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in accord with the will of the Father. Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.

All people are called by God to salvation in Christ. Through Christ alone are we justified, when we receive this salvation in faith. Faith is itself God's gift through the Holy Spirit who works through word and sacrament in the community of believers and who, at the same time, leads believers into that renewal of life which God will bring to completion in eternal life.

We also share the conviction that the message of justification directs us in a special way towards the heart of the New Testament witness to God's saving action in Christ: it tells us that as sinners our new life is solely due to the forgiving and renewing mercy that God imparts as a gift and we receive in faith, and never can merit in any way.

Therefore the doctrine of justification, which takes up this message and explicates it, is more than just one part of Christian doctrine. It stands in an essential relation to all truths of faith, which are to be seen as internally related to each other. It is an indispensable criterion which constantly serves to orient all the teaching and practice of our churches to Christ. When Lutherans emphasize the unique significance of this criterion, they do not deny the interrelation and significance of all truths of faith. When Catholics see themselves as bound by several criteria, they do not deny the special function of the message of justification. Lutherans and Catholics share the goal of confessing Christ in all things, who alone is to be trusted above all things as the one Mediator (1 Tim 2:5f) through whom God in the Holy Spirit gives himself and pours out his renewing gifts."

             - The full document can be found on the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html

This is so exciting and definitely made my day. We are now one step closer to unity. Of course, there is a long way to go and I doubt complete unity will be achieved in my life time; however, this declaration is certainly a cause to rejoice. Let us continue to love and learn about and from each other, for it is certainly NOT through hatred and ignorance that Christians will ever achieve unity. God Bless You All!!

               

An Opportunity for Reconciliation Amongst Christians and Susan Boyle Singing

I must confess that in the past two weeks I have been at a loss for ideas for blog posts. I am in the process of reading the book of Ezekiel and I'll be the first to admit that it's really challenging. I hope to be able to post a reflection on some aspect of this book once I finish it (I'll be done in a few days). But right now I have a better idea. In the past few months I have really been looking forward to the pope's visit to the United Kingdom. What I've looked forward to the most is the ecumenical dialogues that this visit will spark. Catholics, Anglicans, and Scottish Episcopalians in particular will, I hope, get to know each other more, and I am truly excited about this. After all, in Europe especially,but in America as well, secularism and relativism are the two greatest threats to Christianity at the moment, and I trust that it will only get worse unless Christians unite, stop bickering, and stand up for the Truth together.

Early this afternoon, Pope Benedict celebrated mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, Scotland. And guess who got to sing for the pope? Susan Boyle. I've posted here the link to the video of her performance for you to enjoy. Her voice is breathtaking and her claim to fame is even more so...quite a remarkable woman. Boyle sang I Dreamed a Dream (which made her famous on Britain's Got Talent) and How Great Thou Art.
http://video.stv.tv/?bcpid=37654293001&bctid=610153399001

Christian Unity to Come to a True Understanding of God

Recently, I finished reading the second volume of Theology of the Old Testament by Walther Eichrodt. In this volume, Eichrodt discusses sin, punishment, angels, death, and immortality as seen through the eyes of the ancient Israelites. The chapter on punishment really caught my attention. In the past few days, I have started to see the connections between ancient Judaism and Christianity. In fact, I find that Christians have gone through almost the same sort of spiritual obstacles, so to speak, as the Jews. In this post, I will attempt to discuss some of these obstacles, mainly the question of sin and punishment and the consequences of the ancient Jews’ and Christians’ responses. I understand that what I will be discussing is pretty controversial, but I will post my reflection anyway so that others can respond to it. I feel that tracing our history can prepare us for what is to come. Although we should be coming to a better and better knowledge of God and his workings in the world, we are just living and reliving the same spiritual experiences. How can we escape from this cycle?

Eichrodt notes that during the Babylonian exile, the Israelites became once again aware of the power of YHWH. After all, Isaiah and Jeremiah strongly engraved into the Jews’ minds the conviction that the Assyrian and the subsequent Babylonian invasions were decreed and willed by God in punishment for His people’s stubbornness to obey. In the book of Lamentations, the poet cries, “How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger” (2:1). Clearly, God’s power is here acknowledged and feared. People felt as if God had abandoned them, and that He would never save them. However, He did, and after returning from the exile, the Jews started to wonder that maybe God was not to be taken so seriously. Instead of seeing liberation from exile solely as a result of God’s free compassion for His people, the Israelites stopped fearing God – that is, until the prophets reminded the Jews of the law and their obligation to keep it. Soon, the law that used to be seen as a means of communication between the Covenant God and His people came to be seen merely as a bunch of rules that needed to be followed. Inevitably, the law overshadowed God. In addition, sin, seen as a violation of the law, was broken down into mortal and venial sins. Some sins had to be worse than other ones. No one can deny that. But eventually, venial sins ceased to be so sinful, and those who felt as if they had not committed mortal sins came to believe that they were without sin. The Israelites came to see sinlessness as a state that could be realized. People came to believe that Abraham and Job had achieved perfection, so naturally, others could too. A great chasm was slowly built between the so-called saints of Israel who kept the law and the sinners who had committed grave sins.

This was the situation in first century Palestine. The Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus encountered really felt as if they were sinless in the eyes of God. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get” (Luke 18:11-12). Jesus showed these Jews that they were still sinners, grave sinners in fact. By reminding them that all people sin and stand in need of repentance and forgiveness, Jesus uncovered the Truth that had been buried for so long, that “[t]here is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). But surely some sins are graver than others. This we can all agree on.

This is where the concept of purgatory emerges. The early Church needed to address the distorted view that many Jews had of sin and punishment. How can someone accept what happened on the cross if he/she does not feel in need of salvation? Venial sins are sins in fact; so, if the punishment for mortal sins is Hell, what is the punishment for venial sins? The Christians came to believe that only if there was punishment for these sins would all people realize their need for God’s grace. Purgatory was the solution. This is what I believe happened in the early Church.

Why would I care to follow God if there was not a punishment for disobeying Him? Certainly, there is a problem with looking at our relationship with God in this way, but unfortunately the threat of punishment is probably one of the greatest reasons why people worship God. Love becomes secondary. However, in the Middle Ages, the fear of purgatory and Hell came to dominate Christians’ lives to the point that people like St. Thomas More could say that God was the chief jailor of a prison from which no one could escape. Early on, people came to realize that they could not stop sinning, and though they knew subconsciously that Jesus could forgive all sins, people felt as if they could never escape from the wrath of God. In addition, witches were real. With evil everywhere, there was no place for joy, peace, or freedom in religion. It is no wonder that church leaders could exploit this great fear of God to finance grand cathedrals. People were only too happy to buy an indulgence if they could get to Heaven. Although it may seem silly to us that Frederick the Elector of Saxony owned 17,443 relics, he really believed in their power to save. In many ways, Christianity was replaced by a sort of Voodoo.

Martin Luther had a solution. Sola fide. Sola gratia. Ultimately, Luther argued, we are saved by grace alone. We cannot buy our way into Heaven. In this, all Christians agree that he was right. Formerly a distraught monk, Luther was only too glad to find a way out of his predicament. Purgatory, Luther felt, was an obstacle to salvation. It wasn’t a solution anymore. A few centuries later (and thanks to the Age of Reason), the concept of cheap grace dominated Protestantism. Instead of an irrational fear of God, complacency kicked in. Now, instead of flagellants, there were couch-potato Christians. But lest we think that this was solely a Protestant problem, let’s fast forward another couple hundred years. In 1959, Pope John XXIII announced his decision to hold a Vatican council in hopes of bringing about an aggiornamento, or a renewal of the Catholic Church. Fear was still a large part of the Catholic experience, and John hoped to alleviate some of that fear. Unfortunately, the Second Vatican Council was greatly misunderstood, and cheap grace came also to dominate much of Catholic thought.

Neither Purgatory nor grace alone is the cause of a misunderstanding of God. In fact, it seems to me, that for a time they helped the faith of Christians. Christian faith throughout history has swung from extreme to extreme. We must reach a middle ground. We must have a healthy fear of God and realize that punishment exists, but we must also realize that Jesus has made us truly free and accept the gift of salvation he has given us. Only from avoiding extremes can we escape from this cycle. Only from a true understanding of the nature of God can we help build up the Kingdom on Earth. We must rediscover God not to create a new solution to our problems, but to understand His Truth. In many ways and places in the world, Protestants and Catholics are in the same place spiritually. Only by working together can we learn from each other and escape the cycle and accept and worship God fully and completely. This is why reconciliation amongst Christians is so important.

...that all of them may be one

Mother Teresa and Brother Roger Pray for Peace, Love and Reconciliation

Oh God, the father of all,
you ask every one of us to spread
Love where the poor are humiliated,
Joy where the Church is brought low,
And reconciliation where people are divided. . . 
Father against son, mother against daughter,
Husband against wife,
Believers against those who cannot believe,
Christians against their unloved fellow Christians.

Great Thanks to puzzled for the Blog With Substance Award

Firstly, I would like to thank puzzled for having chosen me to receive this award. I am glad that I have been able to engage and inspire my followers, whose blogs, I must say, are fabulous. Blogging, I find, is a great way of sharing ideas.

I long for my blog to be ecumenical, theologically-stimulating, discussion-oriented, warm, and thoroughly Christian. As a Christian, I know that I am not alone. Ecumenism is so important because it is only through ecumenical dialogue that we can ever hope to fulfill Jesus' prayer "that all of them may be one." By discussing works of theologians and my own theological epiphanies, so to speak, I hope to spark dialogue amongst my followers. We have so much in common, so instead of focusing on our differences lets focus on our similarities and through our conversations may we truly come to love and understand each other.

I would like to send this award to:

Coffee Pot Gospel

Portiuncula: The Little Portion

A Prayer for Reconciliation

We thank you, Christ Jesus, because the Catholic Church is the Church of the Eucharist, rooted in your words, "This is my body, this is my blood", and so giving life by your adorable presence.


We thank you, because the Protestant Churches are the Churches of the Word, and constantly recall the power of your Gospel.


We thank you, because the Orthodox Churches, so often in their history, are brought by faithfulness to go to the very extreme of loving.


So Christ, give us all openness to ways leading beyond our own selves: may we no longer delay reconciliation in that unique communion called the Church, irreplaceable leaven set in the midst of humanity.

                                                               ---Mother Teresa and Brother Roger

True Ecumenism

Fr. Hans Kung (I know that he is very controversial) wrote a book called The Council, Reform, and Reunion where he discussed ecumenism in light of the Second Vatican Council. To me, he really understands the meaning of true ecumenism. Below is a great passage from his book:

Pope John himself spoke of an approach to reunion by degrees: approach, then coming together, and finally perfect unity. There are two things to be noted here.

The "approach" takes place on the basis of what we hold strongly in common. Our separated brethren are already brethren. There is already a deep communion, koinonia, between them and us; it is founded on one baptism, faith in one Lord, and love for him; and it is stronger and more important than anything that separates us. We are Christians, and they are Christians. "They too bear the name of Christ upon their foreheads, they read his holy and blessed Gospel, and they are not unreceptive to the stirrings of religious devotion and of active, beneficent love for their neighbor." What we need for reunion is that this communion which already exists should grow. What we need is that both sides should create more and more common ground between us, until at last what separates us becomes insignificant and full unity is a reality.

This "perfect unity" will not be uniformity. As Pope John has said, it will be unity in essentials, freedom in all else. It is quite unthinkable that after centuries of separation we could be reduced not only to a common denominator but to a single numerator. What we can have is unity in the sense of the living koinonia of the Scriptures, which is unity in diversity, unity in a variety of rites, languages, customs, modes of thought and action and prayer. Such unity is more perfect than uniformity. 

The passage above truly reflects my views on ecumenism. In all religions of the world there are conflicts. The Orthodox and the Reformed Jews don't get along. Nor do Sunni and Shiite Muslims. What makes us any different? I am pleasantly aware that there has been more dialogue amongst Christians in recent years, but Christians still seem to be caught up in finding theological faults in each other. Christians must unite. Jesus wanted it to be so. But unity does not come about through hatred and misunderstanding. All Christians will never go to the same church, but they may see each other as valid Christians and join with them in standing up for what other people in secular society ignore like the unborn. Traditionally, Baptists and Catholics have not gotten along, but both groups are pro-life. Both sides must acknowledge this, and join together to stand up for the unborn. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

We are all Christians. God bless you all!!!!