Deacon John Brasley

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2011

January 22, 2011

Our bishop, Matthew Clark, is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in the ecumenical movement promoting Christian unity. In 1988, he signed a Covenant Agreement with the Episcopal Bishop of Rochester, William Burrell. The Diocese of Rochester is a member organization of the Greater Rochester Community of Churches, representing all the mainline Christian denominations. As the Ecumenical officer for the Diocese I sit on their board. We are also involved in regular dialogue with the Orthodox Christian Churches, with whom we share many practices and beliefs, although we are no longer in full communion. Bishop Clark has also moved beyond ecumenism and embraced interfaith dialogue and cooperation. He has signed formal agreements of understanding with representatives of the local Jewish and Muslim communities. Both of these agreements are believed to be the first of their kind with a local bishop, not only in the United States, but in the whole world.

One summer afternoon, in the year 1054, in Constantinople, in the Church of Hagia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom), the liturgy was about to begin. Cardinal Humbert entered the worship space and made his way up to the sanctuary. He placed a Bull of Excommunication on the altar and turned to leave. As he passed through the western door, the Cardinal shook the dust from his feet with the words: 'Let God look and judge.'

It's this incident which is generally taken to mark the beginning of the great schism between the Orthodox Church of the east and the Roman Church of the west.

Five hundred years later, in 1517, Wittenberg, Germany, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the Castle Church. This incident is generally taken to mark the division between the Roman Catholics and the Protestant Reformers. Starting with the Church of the apostles, discord and division have always shadowed Christians since the time Jesus called us to "love one another" as he loved us, and to be one, even as he and his Father are one. In the early centuries, bishops and church communities went in and out of communion with one another on an all too regular basis. Today, those who call themselves Christians exist in three Christian groups, all struggling with internal divisions and conflicts of their own. The Orthodox Church suffers from divisions according to different cultures, languages, calendars, and overlapping jurisdictions throughout the world. Protestant churches have divided into thousands of denominations, separated by doctrine and politics. In the Catholic Church, we have our fair share of internal conflicts - between traditionalists and progressives - and other various factions.

But whatever the divisions we face, whether between Orthodox, Protestant, or Catholic; whether external or internal; whether doctrinal, political or cultural - our divisions and discords can be traced to a single source, to a collective and an individual failure on the part of all Christians in all places: the failure of love. Christ has called us to love one another and to be one, to be united in that love, and we have failed that calling.

And what is this failure to love? Is it the failure to meet with one another, to listen to one another, to seek to understand one another? That is certainly part of the matter. But it goes beyond that. As Paul tells us in the today's Corinthians reading, the failure to love comes out of our failure to focus on the One who is the Source of love: our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born, who lived, suffered and died on the Cross, who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

The Gospels record a crucial question that Jesus asked his disciples: "Who do people say that the Son of man is?" And they said, "Some say, John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter's confession, his answer to that question, is the very definition of divine love.

We are Christians. Our faith is not just built on some notion of a transcendent God. Our faith is built on Jesus Christ, who really lived in Palestine 2000 years ago. And who he is, exactly who he is, is the very content and substance of what we believe. So if we want Christian unity, we must seek the answer to his question, "Who do you say that I am?" More than that, we must seek a single answer, one answer, to the question, because there is only one Jesus Christ.

As Paul says, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

If we can't or won't find that single answer, let's not pretend to look for Christian unity. Let's call this the Week of Prayer for Christian friendship or fellowship or dialogue; but not Christian unity. If we want Christian unity, we have a much more difficult task ahead of us.

Our answer to his question will make a difference in how we live in relation to one another. If we believe Jesus is just a mere prophet, or a wise teacher, but nothing more, then the sum total of God's love is to instruct us, to show us the meaning of a good life. And the sum total of our love for others will be no more than to teach and preach, to set an example for them to follow.

But if we believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of the living God, then God's love is far more than that; it's nothing less than the eternal God entering into our human lives and participating with us in our suffering, to raise us up to participate in his divine life. And if that's the case, then our love for one another will express itself in our willingness to suffer in solidarity with one another, to faithfully walk beside each other, to bear one another's burdens, and to fulfill the law of Christ.

As I pointed out earlier, ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue is an area where the Diocese of Rochester is considered cutting edge. But we are following the directives of the Second Vatican Council and the examples of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who have called ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue essential necessities for Christian Catholics living in the world today.

And so, in this same spirit of ecumenical and interfaith cooperation and understanding, I will leave you to ponder the words of Paul at the close of today's reading from Corinthians:

"I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose...so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning."