URCumenism

The URC has a new website but where is the ecumenical news?!

2012-02-21T08:30:00.001-08:00

At last the new website has gone live but in the meantime time has passed! The website currently doesn't contain any up to date information about the service in Westminster Abbey on Februay 7th, only the message that Rowan Williams 'will preach'. There is a news story about Kisrty Thorpe's sermon on Radio 4 that does mention it as well. However, the plan is to have files that can be downloaded for use in local celebrations and so on and my hope is that it will be possible to put this up on the site as soon as possible. In the meantime, if anyone wants this kind of resource, please let me know. I will up what I can here on my blog and will try to start using this blog properly again!
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Coptic Orthodox Memorial Service

2011-01-10T01:38:00.001-08:00

How quickly the focus of the news passes on from one massacre to another. By the time I had attended a memorial yesterday for the Coptic Christians killed in Alexandria, the media was full of the shooting in Tuczon, Arizona.

It seems most likely that that shooting will be judged the result of a single, unstable individual but is already generating much discussion about the health of American society and politics. That would seem to be the only connection with the situation in Egypt where it is the attitude on the part of some to the country's small Coptic Orthodox population which is the issue.

The memorial service, which followed the rite of a funeral liturgy, was not only for those killed on New Year's eve but for others killed during 2010 in Nag-Hammadi and Giza. The situation seems to be deteriorating but it led to Bishop Aengelos reminding us in his address that Christians have no enemies. It seems a strange comment but what he meant was that Christians should not see others as enemies even when others may see us as such. It struck me that to make such an interpretation only really becomes possible when we are in a situation of persecution and we have to deal in a hard way with Jesus' command to love our enemies.

The Copts were deeply grateful for all those who came to support them at such short notice and the names of everyone there as representatives were read out.

The existence of the Coptic Orthodox centre and its very modern Cathedral of St George on the edge of Stevenage, is a hidden treasure but more than that, so is the existence of the Coptic tradition within the world church and community and we should continue to support and pray for them.

'Let us give thanks to the Beneficent and Merciful God, the Father of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. For He has covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us to Himself. Spared us, supported us and has brought us to this hour. Let us also ask Him, the Lord our God, the Pantocrator, to guard us in all peace this holy day and all the days of our life.'

(From the opening of the liturgy)

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Christmas Greetings and a Reflection

2010-12-23T02:53:00.000-08:00

I was struck by how conventional we get when we think of our Christmas greetings. Even the flash mob video of the Hallelujah chorus being sung in an American shopping mall is just a variation on the usual. So are all the variations we find within the Christian traditions which litter our planet and having had to read some books on the development of the concept of salvation and atonement the other day for a paper I was writing, reminded me of just how much nit-picking argument and disagreement there has been, and still is, over what so often seems to be either irrelevant or blinkered detail.

Like all the best pieces of electrical equipment I sometimes think that what we need is a reset button. So the picture above is my attempt at a reset button.

The main picture is not of stars but of galaxies, in the centre is a picture of a star-forming region of our own galaxy; the eagle nebula is there because it looks nice and then there is our own earth. If it was all to scale, our planet would be so small you could barely see it with an electron microscope....

And we make the outrageous claim that the One who is behind all of that (allowing for everyone's particular theology of creation!) cares enough about our lives and by implication life in the Universe, to become one of us.

It really is the most utterly outlandish, absurd and heartwarming claim that maybe at Christmas time we can simply set all our petty differences aside and bask in the thought. Which also makes me remember the story of that famous Christmas Day during the first world war when both sides stopped killing one another and played football in no-mans land. Wasn't that absurd? or wasn't it rather that just for once the power of what God has done actually broke through the insanity and made a difference? But then on boxing day the insanity took hold again.........

Expert jugglers throw jelly to each other without dropping it...

2010-11-21T05:25:00.001-08:00

No picture to go with this (yet) but it's the image that comes into my mind sometimes when professional theologians from different traditions engage in dialogue. There's a careful mental maneuvering that takes place in order to be in the most appropriate position to catch and hold what the other person is trying to throw to you and then to be able to throw it on in turn. One cannot be slapdash about it and it requires a lot of focus and a grip that doesn't let the whole mass of concepts and language slip through the fingers.
The image came to me the other day in ameeting of the theology and unity group of Churches Together in England. It's not a denegrating image by any means but I think it is a challenging one because it is about the difficulty and the importance of listening to one another. The challenge is that this needs to be able to be done at all levels of the church and cannot just be the domain of professional theologians.

Maybe the recent enthusiasm for 'messy church' needs to embrace what happens when the rest of us throw the sloppy jelly to each other?

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Of DEO's

2010-11-16T07:29:00.001-08:00

Amongst the many acronyms that proliferate in the ecumenical movement stands that of the DEO or Denominational Ecumenical Officer. In the URC these are those who present the denomination on county ecumenical bodies, the 'intermediate level' of Ecumenism in England. In Wales and Scotland the scale and structure is different.
Life is never simple of course and because denominational boundaries do not match up with county boundaries it is often the case that more than one DEO coming from different URC synods may need to attend the same county meeting.
As we begin the process of a comprehensive review of ecumenical relations, one of the items on the agenda is to loop at how DEO's are supported and networked so that the knowledge and experience they have and gain in one place can be shared more widely. The meeting pictured above of DEO's in South synod was one step on that process.
Anyone for a googlegroup?

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A Story of Ecumenical Co-operation

2010-11-05T03:38:00.000-07:00

When it comes down to it, the cutting edge of being together in the body of Christ is what happens day by day in our relationships with one another. All the rest is simply there to facilitate that, or of course, to get in the way (and somteimes that's the way we want it).

A little while ago, A URC minister retired to Tenerife with his wife. It had been advised on health grounds for his wife's benefit but ten days after they arrived he died of a massive heart attack. The search was quickly made for some church support for his wife which led to a call to the offices of the Anglican Diocese in Europe. They gave the phone number of their priest on the island who was phoned and made contact with the minister's wife within a couple of hours.

It's a story of effective co-operation which could, thankfully, be retold in various forms all over the world.

The Friends of Bossey

2010-10-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

No, not the friends of someone with an over assertive personality.....Bossey is the Ecumenical Institute near Genava and closley linked with the World Council of Churches. The friends are a small group of people in the UK who have or have had a close involvment with the centre and try to encourage the link and new initiatives. We met on Monday 18th at the CTE offices in London and heard, amongst other things, of the plans for two students of Bossey from China to spend Chritmas in Milton Keynes as part of a gradually developing link. Milton Keynes, with its long ecumenical experience is working towards establishing a dimension of ecumenical theological reflection and education and sees the link with Bossey as an important dimension of this.
The centre runs courses throughout the year and has a graduate student programme but can also be used for independanetly run seminars and conferences. Have a look at their website.

The First Joint Methodist - URC Council

2010-10-22T00:10:00.001-07:00

The meeting was held from October 13th to 15th October at the Swanwick conference centre. Its origins of lay in the joint resolution presented to both Methodist Conference and URC General Assembly in 2008. There has been a liaison group in existence for some time, dealing with grass roots issues whilst at the same time the Strategic Oversight Group, consisting of the Moderators and Presidents, the general secretariat of both churches and the shared treasurer has looked at more 'conceptual' issues of working together and the potentials for closer union. It was this group which organised the joint council. In the event there were probably those who would have liked the councils to have achieved much more, especially given that one of the papers which came to the meeting was a proposal to work towards a uniting church with the Church of England. The meeting stayed, by and large, on a 'getting to know' you level with the exception of issues in the area of youth and children's work which demonstrated that there are certain areas where there is already close co-operation.
One session introduced the URC practice of consensus decision making although there was little chance for Methodists to experience it in use. What it served to remind people of, perhaps, is the fact that despite the close similarity which exists in many ways, there are strong cultural differences which still distinguish us. Those differences may be less obvious than the differences which separate us or the Methodists from the C of E, but they are none the less real. Recognising and overcoming(?) cultural differences takes time and a gradually developing maturity. Such things do not happen overnight although when that has been achieved resulting changes can be swift. I believe we need to have the wisdom for patience but also the courage to act when we believe the time is right.

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5 Denominations Ecumenical Officers' Consultation

2010-10-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical officers from the Baptists, Church of England, Methodists, Roman Catholic and United Reformed Churches came together for 48 hours at the Swanwick conference centre from 11th to 13th October. This was primarily a conference focussed on the Edinburgh conference of 2010 but with a retrospect to the first conference in 1910. What where the characteristics of the Church and society reflected in the first conference, how have things changed over the century in between and where are we now? The standard of input was extremely high and the papers are being made available on the CTE website.
One of the noticeable aspects of the meeting was that some people commented on the becalmed state of ecumenical relations in the UK. This was responded to by referring to the changed nature of the dynamics of Ecumenism which is becoming increasingly diverse, moving into areas that were not originally on the agenda. There is progress towards closer relationships between the URC and the C of E, the Anglia - Methodist Covenant is being worked at with considerable energy and the prospect for a few years time that the work might become much more thee-way. Similarly, across the country there is a lot of imaginative work being done together focussing on mission projects and the URC is now a full partner in the Fresh Expressions initiative.

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Council for Christian Unity (CCU)

2010-10-05T02:56:00.001-07:00

The CCU is the Church of England body which deals with its ecumenical relations. It met for 24 hour's in Woking over the 29th and 30th September to consider an agenda which included its relations with the other churches of the Porvoo agreement, the Methodist Church and it received a report on the work of a small group which has been meeting with the URC. This will hopefully lead to some significant celebrations in 2012 which will be the 350th anniversary of 'the great ejectment', when many priests were ejected from the Church of England and became independents. The meeting also spent a long time considering a document on local unity in mission which maps out almost the entire landscape of C of E ecumenical involvement. It focuses in one part on the scope of the ecumenical canons which provide the legal permission for ecumenical work at parish level. If the document is properly handled, it could go a long way towards encouraging closer working.
From a URC point of view, though, we always have to remember that we relate also to the Church in Wales and the Episcopal Church in Scotland. Neither of these two Anglican churches are established and we already have a close relationship in Scotland through the EMU (Episcopal, Methodist, URC) statement and in Wales both churches are part of the commission of covenanting churches and the Anglican ecumenical canons are more permissive to allow non Anglican clergy to preside at eucharists outside LEPS. It's sometimes difficult for us to realise that in dealing with the Church of England we are not dealing with the whole of Anglican communion, especially in terms of its canon law.

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Mission Committee - September 2010

2010-09-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

The URC's mission committee met over September 23rd - 24th at Leicester University. The committee is the body which has replaced a number of the earlier committees such as the ecumenical committee. It is made up of staff members and representatives from each of the synods who act as link people to the synods.
One of the areas which it has particular responsibility for is Vision 2020, the church's 10 year focus on its life and identity. Ecumenicaly one of the important areas of focus is on how resources and initiatives can be used in LEPs. A resource which is specifically designed to assist the life of one particular cdenomination is inherently difficult to use in an ecumenical context.
The meeting also had an update on the advertising campaign which is being developed in conjunction with a London based advertising agency. This is another area in which ecumenical relations are significant. One of the implicit problems of modern advertising is that it usually assumes an approach of 'my brand is better than yours'. By the end of November we should have the detail of what the campaign will look like and we will be able to see what the implications might be for relations with other churches.
The hope is that this will link closely with our work on our identity as Reformed Christians.

My own feeling is that our identity is important as a contribution to the wider Christian presence in the country. At the same time we need to continue in our widely appreciated commitment to ecumemism.

The committee is also responsible for overseeing the review of ecumenical relations which will begin soon. This will take about a year and give us guidance on priorities and patterns of resourcing grass roots ecumenism.

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Society for Ecumenical Studies AGM

2010-09-21T12:52:00.001-07:00

The society held its AGM this evening at St Joseph's church in KensIngton. It's one of the groups which has brought together theologians and others who are enthusiastic about Ecumenism. Many have long memories of when there was a real hope of a united Protestant church in the UK and some of them were instrumental in trying to create it. Times have changed though and the society's membership has shrunk. Nevertheless it voted to continue under the chairmanship of Elizabeth Welch and to forge new links and look for new ways of working. I think one of the useful roles it may be able to explore is to connect gras roots experience with 'national' levels of theology. Because it is a voluntary group, perhaps it can achieve some things more informally working with some of the other more formal bodies to which people are appointed?
Early days perhaps but there are possibilities and given the number of people who were there with Milton Keynes connections there could be the chance of a local link up with an ecumenical area which could suggest some other possibilities.

The main meeting was followed by the ecumenical reminiscences of David Gamble, ex President of the Methodist Conference. His stories from right through his ministry highlighted just how often local situations saw people from different traditions working side by side.
This reinforces the thought that I have that at grass roots levels very often local church 'cultures' are formed which transcend the wider denominational cultural differences which have divided people. There is sometimes then the frustration of feeling that 'we've done it, why can't they?' The answer is not a simple one of course, but its an important one because it makes us really stop and think about what forms and constitutes our identity.

The society has its own website on which it will be possible to find their report of the meeting and the text of David Gamble's address. Its address is http://www.ecumenicalstudies.org.uk/

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Churches Together Enabling Group Meeting - September 17th - 18th

2010-09-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

Churches Together in England (CTE) has several groups responsible for its functioning. The largest of these is the Enabling Group which meets three times a year and is made up largely of representatives of the many denominations which are members of CTE plus others. It is one of the places where the sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle differences between Christian traditions can be explored and new pathways of ecumenical working discussed and tested.

On September 17th and 18th the group met in London and coincidentally it coincided with the visit of Pope Benedict. The agenda therefore included attendance at the service of evening prayer at Westminster Abbey led by both the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury (see previous posting).

Although there is a tendency to feel that the agenda of a meeting such as this is dominated by 'large items' of ecumenism it is not the case. The agenda included agreeing the membership of CTE of the Free Church of England ( a small denomination with a most fascinating history more closely linked with the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection than with the Church of England). We heard too, the news of the gradual establishment of the Orthodox Church in the UK which will bring together into one church all the traditionally recognised present ethnic orthodox churches such as Russian, Greek and so on. It is a dramatic if rather below the radar move which is intended to turn the theory of the unity of the Orthodox into a reality.

The group spent some time receiving an early report of the plans for the next Forum meeting of CTE which will take place in October 2012. These Forums take place every 3 years and are an important way of taking the temperature of ecumenism across the country.

Perhaps most interestingly for this meeting was the opportunity to begin to reflect theologically together as a result of the General Secretary's report written very much against the backdrop of the Pope's visit. It resulted, by the end of the meeting, in a pleas that we should create more time to reflect theologically together. It seemed to me as a relative newcomer to the group, like a sign of growing maturity. It is all too easy to hide behind agendas and practical initiatives but in the spirit of receptive ecumenism, we have to be able to listen to and learn from one another.

Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey with Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury on September 17th

2010-09-19T00:06:00.001-07:00

Photo Copyright: Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey.

I walked to the Abbey from Victoria Station because of the crowds which gave a good chance to get a feel for the surrounding atmosphere and activity. Cars with blacked out windows and non-standard number plates were everywhere and police motor cyclists with sirens blaring raced in all directions. Nearer the Abbey the crowds grew thicker and banners saying 'Welcome to the Holy Father' jostled with those declaring 'No Popery'.
A friendly woman with a pile of leaflets gave me one which outlined the errors of the Catholic faith. There was nothing new in it. Some of the arguments were ones I have some sympathy with as a protestant; others seemed to show a determined adherence to deliberately distorted interpretations. Put together the arguments simply reinforced prejudice and could not have been in greater contrast with the spirit of the worship which followed.
It was my first experience of Westminster Abbey worship which was, of course, beautiful and ornate and yet attempted and to a great degree, achieved a warm simplicity. The welcome given to the Pope was clearly genuine and also clearly appreciated and reciprocated by him. Catholic and Anglican clergy were mixed up together in seating and procession and other church leaders were given their place too and not sidelined. Val Morrison, our URC moderator of General Assembly was one of the several other Church leaders who greeted the Pope on his entry to the Abbey. The words spoken about shared Christian heritage and the prayers for unity were genuinely felt and meant and the kiss of peace which the two men shared and the shared pronouncing of the blessing at the close were both powerful symbols of ecumenical determination. That much was true and yet I cannot help feeling that it could have been much more. Perhaps it is the non-comformist in me but I wish they could have dressed down and not up, I wish it could have been more spontaneous and less scripted. I say this not because I don't like liturgy; I do, but the genuineness of feeling that I detected and which I know was real, needed to be presented to the watching millions in a far more human than ceremonial way.
So had it missed a trick? I think my almost reluctant answer is yes, because it was all so well meant, but it's perhaps unrealistic to see how it might have been otherwise. Anglican and Catholic bishops may well be able to loosen their collars and sit down round a pub table together, with the odd URC moderator thrown in, but its still hard to imagine the Pope and the Archbishop doing the same, at least in front of the cameras. My prayer is that leaving issues such as the ordination of women aside, that is one issue they might make a priority, for, without simple humanity where are we?

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Kirchentag Day 3

2010-05-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

One never ceases to be amazed at the scale of the Kirchentag. For the Orthodox vespers this evening, 1000 tables had been placed in the open air at Odeonsplatz in the centre of Munich. Each table sat 10 people and they were all full. I was one of the unlucky many who didn't get a seat which meant that there probably at least 11 or 12,000 people taking part. The climax of the service was the blessing of the bread and the distribution of it to the tables where it was shared by all along with apples, water and olive oil to dip the bread in. On each table people then took it in turn to read the text of the feeding of the 5,000 and to share thoughts on it together. This is an old Orthodox tradition which is not sacramental and yet uses much of the symbolism and is a focus of fellowship and hospitality which can be extended to anyone. In the context of the Kirchentag which continues to struggle with the problem of the lack of intercommunion it has been a powerful new element. Earlier in the day some 6000 people had filled one of the halls to listen to a panel discussion on the question of unity around the Lord's table. This was the same hall which had earlier held a meeting addressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a very different theme.

(Munich has the largest Greek Orthodox community in any city outside Greece and it is the first time that the Orthodox have had such a high profile in a Kirchentag.)

2010-05-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Second Ecumenical Kirchentag of the German Churches started on May 12th in Munich. Somewhere in the region of 100,000 people have descended on the city, mostly around the Trade Centre for three and a half days of meetings, services, debates, concerts, displays and so on.

At its launch on Wednesday evening, it took over the centre of Munich with music, processions and an endless supply of food stands. Three large open air services began the Kirchentag which then led into the more informal 'evening of encounter'.

I've been attending Kirchentags since 1973 and have always been impressed by the profile that they have in German society. The media covers them extensively and major politicians, including Angela Merkel, take part. The theme of this one is 'That they may have hope'. Usually the Protestants hold theirs one year and the Catholics the next but in 2003 the first joint one was held in Berlin and now this one in Munich. I missed the session with Hans Kung and Jurgen Moltmann today but attended an interesting session on the future of the brain and another on fundamentalism. It is the ability to bring together experts in theology with experts in neuroscience and sociology and so on in the public sphere with an audience of hundreds of people that challenges us in the UK.

'The GLU that holds it together'

2010-05-12T01:29:00.000-07:00

GLU is the Churches Together in England (CTE) 'Group for Local Unity' which met on May 11th for one its occasional meetings, at Baptist House in Didcot. The URC is well represented on it through the General Secretary of CTE (David Cornick) and the Deputy General Secretary of Action for Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) in the person of Lindsey Sanderson. Although I couldn't stay for the whole of the meeting due to having to catch a plane to Munich, I was reminded again of the fact that it sits in between the grass roots level both of intermediate bodies such as a county ecumenical body and local churches and the denominational level at which ecumenical relations are discussed. One of the problems I am increasingly coming to recognise is that what goes on at grass root level, where ordinary people in 'ordinary' congregations (if there are such things!) get on with one another in a whole variety of ways can be quite disconnected from what may seem like a more conceptual level of relating. That level may seem quite irrelevant to people at the grass roots who just want to get on with it whilst at the other level the feeling may be that at the grass roots people may not simply recognise the full range of issues that have to dealt with.

It seems to me that both perspectives are correct! At the grass roots people need to be able to 'get on with it' enthusiasm needs to be encouraged and structures made more facilitative rather than controlling but at the same time it needs to be understood that what may be easy in one place with a relatively small group of people who have come to share pretty much the same culture, is much harder when we come to deal with large numbers, greater diversity of practice and understanding and greater diversity of culture. Time on that level may run at a different speed than at the local level and that produces frustration. It seems to me that it is in the middle of that that GLU seeks to do its work.

39th Assembly of the Congregational Federation on Saturday May 8th 2010 in Leicester

2010-05-09T14:22:00.001-07:00

Young people at the assembly performing a sketch on inclusivity in the church

The federation comprises about 300 churches which did not join the union of the URC in 1972 and have continued in their own federation since then. There are still a number of ways in which we still cooperate including through the Council for World Mission and more recently by joining the Fresh Expressions movement.

The assembly felt familiar and yet different. It was short, all contained in one day with only a fraction of the business of a URC General Assembly, and informal in feel. The majority of the agenda was focused on various things that were happening including the CF's support for a Christian Aid project, stories of different congregations' work and the 30th anniversary of their integrated training programme. There were many stories of success and optimism, nothing dramatic but quietly positive. I couldn't help thinking that what seemed like a much less organised structure has much to commend it.