Epiphany 2
By Canon Dr John Toy, Sunday 18th January, 2009
The two worst tendencies in any religion are firstly to split over disagreements and secondly to be so bigotted about one`s own view as to want to destroy those who do not hold it. Looking back into history we confess that Christianity has been as bad as any other religion in this, although today it is easier to recognize it in others than in ourselves. ”Tolerance” is even a bad word for some supposedly religious people. On the other hand we rejoice that in so many ways Western Christianity has got so much better in the last hundred years, due as much because of the general cultural shift as to the moving of the Holy Spirit ( perhaps those two things are actually not so far from each other). We do not attack each other as much, we have joint services and go on church walks and affirm that we are all one church – yet we worship separately.
It is difficult for us to understand what an obstacle it is for any unbeliever to see in any town half a dozen different churches, all claiming to be part of the church universal, the church catholic, yet sticking persistently to their own version of the faith and their own ways of worship. We Christians have got so used to that we cannot see the offence it is, what a stumbling block it is to those outside.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which starts today, is a chance to do more than the ordinary expressions of fellowship and friendship,a chance to say like Samuel , ” Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”. To hear God`s Word is like a surgeon`s knife opening us up to see what really lies inside, or as the writer of Hebrews put it , ”it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword piercing so deeply that it divides soul and spirit,joints and marrow, it discriminates among the purposes and intentions of the heart”. This service and all this week is an opportunity to allow God`Word to dig deeply down into our minds to ask what really governs our attitude to our fellow Christians. Is it actually something like Nathanael in today`s gospel when he heard that Jesus was from Nazareth: ”Nazareth ! Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Inherited prejudices are often ours when we say or think things like ” O he goes to that church does he?” or ” She is one of those is she ”..
Even harder is it to let God`s Word question our own innermost convictions about our faith. Why do we go to this church rather than that church? . Because we always have, because I am more comfortable there, because this worship seems more genuine, because I believe their interpretation of the Christian faith. Or do I go from church to church because I think they are all really one and the differences are all matters of culture or tradition?
I want to point to one event on the ecumenical scene in the last twenty years, namely the Porvoo Agreement between the four Anglican churches of Great Britain, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland -(not just Northern Ireland) and six of the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Episcopal churches. There are three reasons why I want to draw your attention to it: one, My own retirement ministry is very largely given to promoting it in the Church of Sweden, two it is one of the most significant moves in recent times involving an adjustment on both sides to previously often held positions, and three, the Church of Denmark is not a member of this agreement and therefore I think an Anglican church in Copenhagen could have a significant role in helping them to reverse that decision.
Their refusal was for a complicated series of reasons but there were many in Denmark who regretted it then and are working for a change now. Just after the Church of Denmark decided not to join, in the early 90s, two Danish priests came up to me after the Sunday morning service in York Minster and asked if they and their parish groups could have a few moments discussion. Since Librarian was one of my jobs I led them there, a group of about 30, and they explained that their parishes had voted to join Porvoo and they were desparately sorry about what had happened and wanted us to know that. That is why I think that any move to help them see that doing such an ”unDanish” thing is not so life-threatening, and a small gesture of ours such as our joining the Kirkevandring, involving a few hours on Tuesday evening, is worth doing as much for them as for us.
But the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is more than small gestures like that, important as small things always are; it is an opportunity to pray, to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches, and to hear what God has to say to us individually. Something may come to you either now or during the week but let us all now, like Samuel, say in our hearts ” Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” and keep a few moments silence.
