What It Means to be Ecumenical

“John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."  But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.”  I like to cite this as the first reference to denominationalism within the church in the gospels. The disciples see someone who is doing something in the name of Christ… and they want to stop him because this person… whoever he is… is not following Christ in the way that they are following Christ.  I can just hear the deep sigh that preceded Jesus’ words… “Don’t stop him.  Can’t you see that he is on our side?  Whoever is not against us is for us.” And, with those words, Jesus starts the ecumenical movement.

The dictionary that I referred to offers two definitions for the word ecumenical.  The first is church unity: “relating to… involving… or promoting the unity of different Christian churches and groups.”  The second is friendship: “involving or promoting friendly relations between different religious groups.”  It did not take long after the death of Jesus for different Christian groups to distinguish themselves.  The Apostle Paul refers to some of the divisions in his letters… one of which Scot read to us this morning regarding divisions in the church in Corinth.  By the time the Emperor Constantine convened the first ecumenical council of the church in Nicea in 325 AD, the divisions were deep and significant.

The term ecumenical is derived from the Greek oikoumenē, meaning “inhabited.” The ecumenical councils of the church were so named because representatives attended from churches throughout the known world.  Even then, there were splinter groups within Christianity who were not invited to attend the councils, for those groups were considered heretical.  Some of the most fascinating reading in our church’s history are the accounts of the early church councils, where groups of religious leaders determined what was authentically Christian and what was not.  Out of these councils came the early creeds of the church and the determination of which books and letters should be included in a collection of Holy Scriptures later called the Bible… and which should not.  Even then, individuals struggled with personal beliefs and church doctrine as defined by the councils of the church.

Throughout modern history, many efforts have been made to reunite a Christendom shattered through the centuries by schisms… the Reformation… and other disputes.  In the nineteenth century, the term ecumenical came to denote the Roman Catholic Church’s concern for Christian unity under the umbrella of the historic “mother church.”  The call for unity in Christ was picked up by the Protestant church during the Second Great Awakening that swept this country in the 1800’s, during which many new interdenominational Christian organizations emerged… organizations such as the missionary and Bible societies and the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association, which brought together Protestants of varying denominations in support of common causes.  Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church distanced itself from these organizations, claiming that the only true unity among Christians was unity within the mother church.  As recently as 1954, Roman Catholic priests were forbidden from participating in any ecumenical effort that was not sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church.

That all changed in 1959, when Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council. Breaking precedent, Pope John permitted Roman Catholic observers officially to attend the third assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1961. Through his influence, when Vatican II opened in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1962, Protestant and Orthodox observers were accorded places of honor and included in all working sessions. The 2500 Roman Catholic bishops who attended the four council sessions dealt with Christian unity. Their decree on ecumenism, promulgated in 1964, spoke not of “schismatics” but of “separated brethren,” and it deplored sins against unity committed over the years by both Roman Catholics and Protestants alike.

So, where are we today in this effort to become one in the body of Christ?  In the areas of disaster relief and humanitarian causes, it is easy to find cooperation of effort between Christian denominations. Even global peacemaking efforts have been strengthened by the collaboration among Christian groups.  But ecumenical leaders agree that they are not seeking a Christian unity that would gloss over basic theological differences. There remain many significant obstacles… such as the ordination of women… papal authority… Mariology… contraception… and others.   And, even as many major denominations move toward unity within the body of Christ, there are others who have defined such efforts as Satanic.  Usually quoting from the Book of Revelation, these groups have claimed that any move toward cooperation or collaboration with the Roman Catholic church, in particular, or any other Protestant group beyond their own denomination is a collaboration with evil and, therefore, a sin.

In 1952, David Barrett was an aeronautical engineer.  Today, he is an Anglican priest, called by God to use his mathematical gifts and his ability to think scientifically to systematize information on Christianity worldwide.  Since receiving his doctorate in religious studies from Columbia University, he has spent forty years collecting data on the world’s religions.  At the age of 73, he authorized Oxford University Press to publish his life’s work, the World Christian Encyclopedia.  In this book, he documents ten thousand distinct religions, of which one hundred and fifty have more than one million adherents.  Christianity is one of those… one of the largest.  Within Christianity, Dr. Barrett has identified several divisions… several distinct denominations.  If you were to guess at the total number of distinct divisions within our faith, what would that number be?   It is probably larger than you think.  Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance identifies 1500 distinct denominations in the United States of America.  Worldwide, Dr. Barrett puts the total at 33,830.  He claims he can document 33,830 distinct denominations within Christianity worldwide.

That’s a big number. 33,830. Generally speaking, Americans are in favor of big numbers, because they usually mean that we’re ahead on some metric.  We’ve scored points.  But I don’t believe that this is a number we, as Christians, should take pride in. Somehow, I don’t think that God would be proud of that number.  On the contrary, I believe that number is a source of pain.  And even that number does not account for all the divisions that exist within those distinct denominations.  You and I know that within the Presbyterian Church (USA) today there are divisions that sometimes result in unChristian conduct between brothers and sisters in our own denomination. And we are not unique. I sometimes wonder if Jesus came to Stephenville today, where would he choose to worship?  Or would he simply sit down in the City Park and weep over us in the same way that he wept over the city of Jerusalem many years ago… a city chosen by God in the time of King David to be the Holy City?

There is no question that Jesus spoke out strongly against division within the body of Christ… that his call to his disciples… and his final prayer for them, as recorded in the Gospel of John, was that they would be one in him, even as he was one with the Father. We cannot read the scriptures without become convicted that denominationalism is contrary to God’s will. Therefore, we must work for the visible unity of the church in this world.  And yet, the divisions within Christianity have been drawn by those who genuinely believed that they were defending the faith proclaimed by Christ himself… protecting the purity of God’s Word as revealed in the life of Christ.  Since Christ himself has not indicated which denomination best represents the belief and ministry that he came to earth to share, which denomination should we choose… from the array of 33, 830 that are available to us?   Or should we create yet another denomination that would be even more faithful to the preachings and practices of Christ than any denomination that exists in the world today… even the so-called independent churches… or nondenominational churches of this world?

Somehow, we know that this is not the right answer.   So, what is the right answer?  First, I think we need to humble ourselves with the realization that we are fallible human beings and that we do not have the wisdom to discern the wondrous plan that God has for us.  It is not just that we don’t know… we may never know what God truly intended for God’s people on this earth.  God may not have intended all of God’s children to be Presbyterian.  God may not have intended that they be Baptist, or members of the Church of Christ, or Assemblies of God, or Lutheran, or Methodist, but does that give us the excuse to simply give up and not do anything for fear that what we do might not be what God desires?   No.  That is clearly not the answer.  Over and over again in scripture, God calls his people to repentance and to worship.  We have been promised that God will not despise a contrite heart and that God rejoices in the adoration of his people.  Jesus told his disciples what we sing each Sunday at the close of our service of worship:  “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”  And we have been promised that, if we truly seek God, we will find him.  We may not find all the answers that we crave… the specifics of theology and doctrine that would settle the denominational disputes that have existed ever since Christ established his church… but we will know God… as much as we can know God as human beings.

So, what do we do about the divisions in Christ’s church?   What is our role within the bounds of the Christian faith to live into Christ’s command that we be one in him?   I know that not all of you who are present today were born and raised in the Presbyterian Church.  Let me ask you this: When we stand before the throne of God at the Last Judgment, do you think it will matter that we were Presbyterian… or Methodist… or Baptist… or Lutheran?   No, it won’t.  What will matter, according to scripture, is that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  Our task today is to work toward the accomplishment of that objective… regardless of the denomination we claim.  I believe that we are called to work with our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world to make disciples, teaching them all that Jesus has commanded us and showing his love in all that we do.  And you might think that this is trite… that I have simply fallen back into the safety of quoting our own church’s mission statement… but it is not… and I have not.  If we could do this one thing, it would be the greatest accomplishment we could ever claim.  This command of Jesus that our Session adopted as our mission statement several years ago came from Christ himself.  It is the same command that all Christians are bound to in the work that they do… here in Stephenville and around the world.  And while we may worship God in different ways… and make decisions about the ministries of our churches in different ways… and claim different understandings of baptism and the Lord’s Supper… one thing remains clear: Jesus Christ is Lord… the Lord of our life… the Lord of our faith… the Lord of our church… and the Lord of all that we do in his name.  So, let us all work together… for the glory of God… that all may know… and that all may believe.  That is what it means to be ecumenical.  Amen.

Mark 9:38-50