Though I'm very disappointed to be missing the National Workshop on Christian Unity this year, I'm hoping that the calendars will coordinate better next year. In the meantime, I've been very busy with this work in 2010 around the Synod.
In January, I attended the Massachusetts Council of Churches annual meeting which as held at Assumption College here in Worcester. I met a number of interesting colleagues and gathered some information about environmental auditing that our congregation could do.
Yesterday I was excited to be a part of coordinating the liturgy that celebrated the new Full Communion agreement between the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Margaret Payne of the ELCA New England Synod and Bishop Peter Weaver of the UMC New England Annual Conference led worship. Bishop Weaver's sermon was energetic and inspiring. The following statement was printed in the Worship Folder for the assembly to explain full communion.
"The Churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a full communion agreement in August, 2009 with The United Methodist Church (UMC), following adoption of the same agreement by the UMC General Conference in 2008. It is the ELCA’s sixth full communion relationship and the first for the UMC.
Full communion is not a merger, but means that the two churches express a common confession of Christian faith and mutual recognition of Baptism and sharing Holy Communion; agree to mutual recognition of ordained ministers for service in either church; express a common commitment to evangelism, witness and service; engage in common decision-making on critical matters; and mutually lift criticism that may exist between the churches.
The two churches began formal theological dialogues together in 1977, which led to interim Eucharistic sharing in 2005.
The ELCA has 4.6 million baptized members, and the UMC has 8 million."
The next big event has a decidedly more somber tone. I will be representing the Synod at a Memorial Service on the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide at Our Savior's Armenian Church in Worcester. Though the occasion of remembrance is sad, it will be a powerful witness to join together with representatives and members of many churches in upholding the life and dignity of our neighbors.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
On the Alleluia Side
Reposted from "Many But One"
http://manybutone.wordpress.com
Here it is Easter Wednesday and I'm still dwelling in the afterglow of the Vigil fire. I'm so grateful to my various colleagues for all of their hard work, especially John Weit, our new musician for jumping into the experience head first. I'm also grateful to the other writers here on this blog, your contributions provided great food for thought to use in my ministry settings and I know that several parishioners read Many But One during Lent after I publicized it in the newsletter.
As for me, I am always touched by the powerful drama and saving truth of Holy Week. For better or for worse, though I suspect largely for the better, my father reflected deeply and profoundly on the sufferings and the triumph of Christ during his own battle with terminal cancer. My cruciform witness comes from a hospital bedside as much as from the hill of Golgotha.
In our interfaith dialogues at Worcester Polytechnic Institute we discussed the troubling violence and suffering that permeates Holy Week. However, I would suggest that these very real trials are precisely what make the gospel so relatable to people in great distress of their own.
The passion and perhaps even the seeming "reboot" of the resurrection make us uncomfortable, because it is uncomfortable! We are brought face to face with death, our mortality and a radical promise of life that contradicts every bit of logic. We are invited into the pattern of the Paschal Mystery and what a joy that is, tears, shouts, joy and all. Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
http://manybutone.wordpress.com
Here it is Easter Wednesday and I'm still dwelling in the afterglow of the Vigil fire. I'm so grateful to my various colleagues for all of their hard work, especially John Weit, our new musician for jumping into the experience head first. I'm also grateful to the other writers here on this blog, your contributions provided great food for thought to use in my ministry settings and I know that several parishioners read Many But One during Lent after I publicized it in the newsletter.
As for me, I am always touched by the powerful drama and saving truth of Holy Week. For better or for worse, though I suspect largely for the better, my father reflected deeply and profoundly on the sufferings and the triumph of Christ during his own battle with terminal cancer. My cruciform witness comes from a hospital bedside as much as from the hill of Golgotha.
In our interfaith dialogues at Worcester Polytechnic Institute we discussed the troubling violence and suffering that permeates Holy Week. However, I would suggest that these very real trials are precisely what make the gospel so relatable to people in great distress of their own.
The passion and perhaps even the seeming "reboot" of the resurrection make us uncomfortable, because it is uncomfortable! We are brought face to face with death, our mortality and a radical promise of life that contradicts every bit of logic. We are invited into the pattern of the Paschal Mystery and what a joy that is, tears, shouts, joy and all. Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
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