Our Lenten Journey can be an Ecumenical one

For Christians, the season of Lent is underway, a time that calls for more intentional prayer, fasting, almsgiving and study.  Can churches around the nation and globe be more intentional on making this season an opportunity for deepening ecumenical relationships?  A time in which Christian communities can give and share the gifts their traditions have to offer by coming together throughout the season of Lent for prayer, service and study.

Ecumenical endeavors are being done in various parts of our nation and world during Lent and beyond.  Christians, however, may still be missing an opportunity in which an intentional ecumenical journey through Lent can serve as a common witness to Jesus Christ and also be a time of repentance for the visible disunity in the Church.

"You are dust and to dust you shall return."  Whether we engage in it or not, our Lenten journey is one that we share.  We also have a common baptism, claimed and marked by the same Lord and Savior, our call to discipleship is also a shared journey.

A week of prayer for Christian unity in January is admirable but a season such as Lent intentionally celebrated ecumenically calling Christians to repent, fast, pray and serve may lead to tremendous transformations in the lives of individuals, congregations and denominations (not to mention the church and the world).

By the Spirit's work, there may be joyful receptions of unity and diversity God has given God's one holy church.  Walking this Lenten journey together, we will at times be serving one another and at other times standing shoulder to shoulder in our service to the poor, beginning and ending our time together with worship.  If Christians across denominations engaged in such a journey together it may continue past Lent.  It may seem ridiculous to put the brakes on and return to isolation as we celebrate Easter and proclaim the resurrection.

Christians engaging in a common mission and Lenten journey may discover that by Easter, what some are calling a dying ecumenical movement may be raised to new life pointing to Jesus Christ, the one who makes all things new. 

Joint Thanksgiving Services: Demonstrate Unity or Tolerance?

As Americans gear up for the Thanksgiving holiday many ecumenical, and in some contexts, interfaith celebrations are  organized to demonstrate that there is some common ground among faiths.  Gathering in one voice seems to state that, we can all agree that as people of faith we all give thanks to a higher power.  It seems that if there is a day or time of the year in which people of different faiths would gather together in prayer it would be for Thanksgiving.

This is a National holiday and secular holiday.  Is there a concern that the time in which we are most likely to gather together it would be on a secular holiday?

Is there a danger that by gathering  this time of year promotes "civil religion" or "patriotism" over the diversity that exist in the unity God has given to us?

Our worship does have ethical implications.  If in any given community, the only time and reason various Christian traditions and other faiths gather together is for a single prayer service only to retreat to our separate quarters when it is over says more about our division than our unity.

Maybe what these celebrations are trying to emulate is what happens in many homes throughout the country on Thanksgiving Day. If this holiday, is a day in which we gather and eat with family and friends we normally can not stand, and this feast serves as a day in which we demonstrate tolerance towards those who normally annoy us.  Judging by how many faith communities fail to engage each other as sisters and brothers or even as neighbors, the common prayer service around Thanksgiving then becomes more about tolerance than a celebration of unity.

As Christians, we are called to be peacemakers and are entrusted to be ambassadors of the ministry of reconciliation.  As we reflect on all that we have to be thankful for may it motivate us to create tables of dialogue, common service and witness in the community throughout the year.