The Hingham Ecumenical Bible Study begins tonight: 7:30pm - 9pm at South Shore Baptist Church in Hingham. We will meet weekly each Tuesday, and will be studying the life and letters of Paul.
Sept. 9. Introductions. Talk by Fr. Rafferty
Sept 16. Acts 18:18 - 19:41 and 20:17-38
Sept 23. Ephesians 1
Sept 30. Ephesians 2
Oct 7. Ephesians 3:1 - 4:16
Oct 14. Ephesians 4:17 - 5:20
Oct 21. Ephesians 5:21 - 6:24
Next book TBD: Probably Philippians or Colossians
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Was the Founder of Taizé Protestant, or Catholic?
Article about Fr. Roger Schutz, the founder of Taize. Raises interesting issues related to ecumenism.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
On Scripture
A few quotes related to studying Scripture:
The first is from Paul's 2nd letter to Timothy: 3:14-17
[14]But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
The second is from a sermon by St. Jerome:
I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
Here is a quote from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon:
It is well to meditate upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. A man who hears many sermons, is not necessarily well-instructed in the faith. We may read so many religious books, that we overload our brains, and they may be unable to work under the weight of the great mass of paper and of printer's ink. The man who reads but one book, and that book his Bible, and then meditates much upon it, will be a better scholar in Christ's school than he who merely reads hundreds of books, and meditates not at all.
And from Martin Luther in his commentary on the Gospel of John (chapter 16):
We are obliged to yield many things to the Papists (Catholics)–that they possess the Word of God which we received from them, otherwise we should have known nothing at all about it.
The first is from Paul's 2nd letter to Timothy: 3:14-17
[14]But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
The second is from a sermon by St. Jerome:
I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
Here is a quote from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon:
It is well to meditate upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. A man who hears many sermons, is not necessarily well-instructed in the faith. We may read so many religious books, that we overload our brains, and they may be unable to work under the weight of the great mass of paper and of printer's ink. The man who reads but one book, and that book his Bible, and then meditates much upon it, will be a better scholar in Christ's school than he who merely reads hundreds of books, and meditates not at all.
And from Martin Luther in his commentary on the Gospel of John (chapter 16):
We are obliged to yield many things to the Papists (Catholics)–that they possess the Word of God which we received from them, otherwise we should have known nothing at all about it.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
last planning meeting and thoughts from previous meeting
Last planning meeting is Tues. August 19, 7:30pm at South Shore Baptist Church.
We are planning to have the first Bible Study this fall on September 9th also at South Shore Baptist Church. We will meet Tuesdays from that point forward. The book of Ephesians will be studied and we will use the Community Bible Study's materials to give some structure to the discussions that will follow our reading of the Scripture. I have received about 20 copies of the CBS materials and will offer them to all who attend.
Last meeting (July 29) we talked about some interesting issues. On the surface the issues of salvation and Baptism appear to be issues that divide Catholics and Evangelicals, yet after some discussion I think there was more similarity than we had guessed. We discussed the pope's formulation of ecumenism as shown below. Does it begin as he says with Baptism and is the goal full communion? This Catholic view was looked at and contrasted to Evangelical and Baptist views of Baptism and Salvation. Very interesting discussion. Topics that I'm sure will be discussed a lot this fall.
We are planning to have the first Bible Study this fall on September 9th also at South Shore Baptist Church. We will meet Tuesdays from that point forward. The book of Ephesians will be studied and we will use the Community Bible Study's materials to give some structure to the discussions that will follow our reading of the Scripture. I have received about 20 copies of the CBS materials and will offer them to all who attend.
Last meeting (July 29) we talked about some interesting issues. On the surface the issues of salvation and Baptism appear to be issues that divide Catholics and Evangelicals, yet after some discussion I think there was more similarity than we had guessed. We discussed the pope's formulation of ecumenism as shown below. Does it begin as he says with Baptism and is the goal full communion? This Catholic view was looked at and contrasted to Evangelical and Baptist views of Baptism and Salvation. Very interesting discussion. Topics that I'm sure will be discussed a lot this fall.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Goal of Ecumenism
Next meeting will be Tuesday July 29th at SSBC.
On July 18th, 2008, the pope gave a speech on Ecumenism to a group of Christian leaders in Australia. I have provided a link to that speech under the "Ecumenism" category on the menu on the right side of this page. I found a few excerpts from that to be very much in line with our Mission Statement of growing in Unity:
...
"This year we celebrate the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Saint Paul, a tireless worker for unity in the early Church. In the scripture passage we have just heard, Paul reminds us of the tremendous grace we have received in becoming members of Christ’s body through baptism. This sacrament, the entryway to the Church and the “bond of unity” for everyone reborn through it (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 22), is accordingly the point of departure for the entire ecumenical movement. Yet it is not the final destination. The road of ecumenism ultimately points towards a common celebration of the Eucharist (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 23-24; 45), which Christ entrusted to his Apostles as the sacrament of the Church’s unity par excellence. Although there are still obstacles to be overcome, we can be sure that a common Eucharist one day would only strengthen our resolve to love and serve one another in imitation of our Lord: for Jesus’ commandment to “do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19) is intrinsically ordered to his admonition to “wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14). For this reason, a candid dialogue concerning the place of the Eucharist – stimulated by a renewed and attentive study of scripture, patristic writings, and documents from across the two millennia of Christian history (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 69-70) – will undoubtedly help to advance the ecumenical movement and unify our witness to the world. "
.....
"For this reason, ecumenical dialogue advances not only through an exchange of ideas but by a sharing in mutually enriching gifts (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 28; 57). An “idea” aims at truth; a “gift” expresses love. Both are essential to dialogue. Opening ourselves to accept spiritual gifts from other Christians quickens our ability to perceive the light of truth which comes from the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul teaches that it is within the koinonia of the Church that we have access to and the means of safeguarding the truth of the Gospel, for the Church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” with Jesus himself as the cornerstone (Eph 2:20). "
....
On July 18th, 2008, the pope gave a speech on Ecumenism to a group of Christian leaders in Australia. I have provided a link to that speech under the "Ecumenism" category on the menu on the right side of this page. I found a few excerpts from that to be very much in line with our Mission Statement of growing in Unity:
...
"This year we celebrate the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Saint Paul, a tireless worker for unity in the early Church. In the scripture passage we have just heard, Paul reminds us of the tremendous grace we have received in becoming members of Christ’s body through baptism. This sacrament, the entryway to the Church and the “bond of unity” for everyone reborn through it (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 22), is accordingly the point of departure for the entire ecumenical movement. Yet it is not the final destination. The road of ecumenism ultimately points towards a common celebration of the Eucharist (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 23-24; 45), which Christ entrusted to his Apostles as the sacrament of the Church’s unity par excellence. Although there are still obstacles to be overcome, we can be sure that a common Eucharist one day would only strengthen our resolve to love and serve one another in imitation of our Lord: for Jesus’ commandment to “do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19) is intrinsically ordered to his admonition to “wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14). For this reason, a candid dialogue concerning the place of the Eucharist – stimulated by a renewed and attentive study of scripture, patristic writings, and documents from across the two millennia of Christian history (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 69-70) – will undoubtedly help to advance the ecumenical movement and unify our witness to the world. "
.....
"For this reason, ecumenical dialogue advances not only through an exchange of ideas but by a sharing in mutually enriching gifts (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 28; 57). An “idea” aims at truth; a “gift” expresses love. Both are essential to dialogue. Opening ourselves to accept spiritual gifts from other Christians quickens our ability to perceive the light of truth which comes from the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul teaches that it is within the koinonia of the Church that we have access to and the means of safeguarding the truth of the Gospel, for the Church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” with Jesus himself as the cornerstone (Eph 2:20). "
....
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Mission Statement and First Book for Study
At our last meeting, June 24, 2008, we discussed a mission statement and the first book to study. The mission statement that we came up with based on reviewing a number of the mission statements from web sites and bulletins from the various churches in the Hingham area, was the following:
"Growing in Faith, Hope, Love, and Unity in Jesus Christ, through the study and proclamation of God's Word."
The first book that we decided to study this fall was Ephesians. This is not a first location or a first book for Paul, yet we chose it as a rather general book that covers the Church Unity themes that we hope to focus on as we study Paul's life and his letters.
"Growing in Faith, Hope, Love, and Unity in Jesus Christ, through the study and proclamation of God's Word."
The first book that we decided to study this fall was Ephesians. This is not a first location or a first book for Paul, yet we chose it as a rather general book that covers the Church Unity themes that we hope to focus on as we study Paul's life and his letters.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, ...
At our last meeting, while we were waiting to begin, a few of us talked about the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Now I'm sure most people would think that this was not related to our ecumenical Bible Study, Yet I believe that elements like this could be a part of what we share as we meet to study the word.
Now I am not suggesting that we base our meetings on anything other than a study of the life of Paul and his letters, yet I find it very much in line with his letters to think about beautiful things that are not necessarily directly talked about in his letters. In Philippians 4, he says as much,
"whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
I was also thinking about the approach Jesus took when he was preaching. I think he would gladly welcome a discussion of Uncle Tom's Cabin just as he would a discussion of the lilies of the field, mustard seeds, the qualities of light, treasures found in a field, examples of charity, hypothetical ethical questions, etc. He obviously thought that it was important to be grounded in the Scriptures; Jesus and the Gospel writers often quote scripture. It is also important to see that Jesus himself was the fulfillment of Scripture. Yet Jesus often simply appeals to natural truths, real-life examples, and other non-scriptural ways to shed light on truth.
I look forward to more times during our meetings where people make note of or to express praise for whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, etc. The Community Bible Study curriculum already leaves openings for discussing how the scripture can be applied to our lives, and we will look for other ways to bring cultural elements to bear on the day's discussions.
Now I am not suggesting that we base our meetings on anything other than a study of the life of Paul and his letters, yet I find it very much in line with his letters to think about beautiful things that are not necessarily directly talked about in his letters. In Philippians 4, he says as much,
"whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
I was also thinking about the approach Jesus took when he was preaching. I think he would gladly welcome a discussion of Uncle Tom's Cabin just as he would a discussion of the lilies of the field, mustard seeds, the qualities of light, treasures found in a field, examples of charity, hypothetical ethical questions, etc. He obviously thought that it was important to be grounded in the Scriptures; Jesus and the Gospel writers often quote scripture. It is also important to see that Jesus himself was the fulfillment of Scripture. Yet Jesus often simply appeals to natural truths, real-life examples, and other non-scriptural ways to shed light on truth.
I look forward to more times during our meetings where people make note of or to express praise for whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, etc. The Community Bible Study curriculum already leaves openings for discussing how the scripture can be applied to our lives, and we will look for other ways to bring cultural elements to bear on the day's discussions.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Meeting 3. more planning and ideas
Met once again at SSBC on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. Continued to discuss both the general structure of the planned Bible Study as well as the themes and subjects that we would like to tie in as we go along. The themes would be both overall themes and specific themes related to certain letters of Paul. Overall themes related to the Year of St. Paul are Ecumenism, Evangelism, and Unity. Specific themes can include: anger, dissension, immorality, sin, truth, hope, love, unity, marriage, etc.
We talked, once again, about some fundamental concepts like Saint and Christian and Word.
We had a basic agreement on these topics, and discussed them to a certain degree. As expected the concepts of true conversion, and the rebirth found through baptism are concepts that Baptists and Catholics understand differently and at times I thought we were talking past each other. Just my impression, but I am hopeful in spite of what I perceived to be a disconnect. In spite of the disconnect we did agree on some major truths which included the following:
1. to follow Christ is what matters the most. Union with Him is what we all desire.
2. "The Word" has a meaning that is more than just scripture. It is expressed through Scripture, yet it existed before the first word of Scripture was written, and is expressed every time we are prompted by the Holy Spirit.
3. The word "Saint" seems to have two meanings. One that tries to capture the initial consecration, the initial decision to follow Christ, the initial receptivity to Truth and Love. And another that implies eternal salvation, truly in Heaven, truly seeing, truly one with Christ through and through, all impurities and sins in the past.
We also had an interesting discussion at the beginning while we were waiting for people to arrive that I would like to comment on in another append.
Next meeting is scheduled for Tues. June 24 at South Shore Baptist. 7:30pm to 9pm. (changed to Tuesday, 24th. Too many could not make 25th. PK)
We talked, once again, about some fundamental concepts like Saint and Christian and Word.
We had a basic agreement on these topics, and discussed them to a certain degree. As expected the concepts of true conversion, and the rebirth found through baptism are concepts that Baptists and Catholics understand differently and at times I thought we were talking past each other. Just my impression, but I am hopeful in spite of what I perceived to be a disconnect. In spite of the disconnect we did agree on some major truths which included the following:
1. to follow Christ is what matters the most. Union with Him is what we all desire.
2. "The Word" has a meaning that is more than just scripture. It is expressed through Scripture, yet it existed before the first word of Scripture was written, and is expressed every time we are prompted by the Holy Spirit.
3. The word "Saint" seems to have two meanings. One that tries to capture the initial consecration, the initial decision to follow Christ, the initial receptivity to Truth and Love. And another that implies eternal salvation, truly in Heaven, truly seeing, truly one with Christ through and through, all impurities and sins in the past.
We also had an interesting discussion at the beginning while we were waiting for people to arrive that I would like to comment on in another append.
Next meeting is scheduled for Tues. June 24 at South Shore Baptist. 7:30pm to 9pm. (changed to Tuesday, 24th. Too many could not make 25th. PK)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Glorifying God by Loving One Another
Dr. J. Vernon McGee, the old fundamentalist preacher of Thru the Bible fame (http://www.ttb.org/), tells what is probably an apocryphal story about a man who drives into a nameless town in small town America on a Sunday morning, and stops at a gas station on a hillside overlooking the town. As he looks down at the town in the valley below, he notices all of the different church steeples dotting the landscape. So he says to the gas attendant, "Boy, those people sure must love God, don't they?" In response, the attendant says, "I don't know about that, but they sure hate one another." While I wouldn't necessarily agree with this observation completely, there may be at least some truth to it. And even if there isn't, what kind of witness are we presenting to the world when professing Christians are perceived as fractious, spiteful, unforgiving, judgmental, etc.? After all, the Lord Jesus said that "this is how they will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35. That is ultimately the point of this endeavor, to show the world that we desire to love one another, regardless of our (real and imagined) denominational differences. To do that, we need to come to a greater understanding of what we believe in common, which starts with the fundamental Christian confession that "Jesus is Lord" and at the very least includes the Apostles' Creed. With that foundation, along with a deep and abiding sense of love, humilty, and respect for one another, we can begin to understand the areas where our encounter with the Risen Lord differs. In some areas, those differences may be large, while in others they may be small. But even where we agree to disagree, we can learn to admire the passion and zeal with which our brothers and sisters in Christ strive to love and serve our Heavenly Father. To be clear, the idea is not to have another morally relativistic encounter group, where the "truth" is always up for grabs. Rather, while the details of what we will be studying are still to be determined, we are committed to meet together united around the Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, under the power of the Holy Spirit, to study His Word, with the ultimate goal that others may see our love for one another and give glory to our Father in Heaven. As one of my favorite hymns goes (and I have heard this in both Catholic and Protestant churches), "They will know we are Christians by our love." Amen.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Avoiding difference? or listening to all sides?
Another discussion point that came up at meeting #2 was how to deal with differences of opinion, differences of belief, and conflicts.
One approach is to avoid disputed points. Try to address things off line as much as possible.
The thinking behind that approach is the acknowledgement that most people have a strong emotional attachment to their faith, and we don't want to scare people away by making them feel threatened.
Another approach is to listen to each person's views with as much respect and understanding as possible, letting Catholics speak for Catholics, Baptists speak for Baptists, etc.; but there shouldn't be a need to avoid the issues.
I think that we agreed that the latter approach is our desired approach. One person expressed a commonly held opinion that "ecumenism" is often associated with "compromise" or with the "watering down" of truth. I believe that everyone who was at our meeting agreed that we don't want to have to water things down or avoid difficult issues.
How that plays out will require great gentleness and care. St. Paul reminds us of just that in his letter to the Colossians where he says:
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
One approach is to avoid disputed points. Try to address things off line as much as possible.
The thinking behind that approach is the acknowledgement that most people have a strong emotional attachment to their faith, and we don't want to scare people away by making them feel threatened.
Another approach is to listen to each person's views with as much respect and understanding as possible, letting Catholics speak for Catholics, Baptists speak for Baptists, etc.; but there shouldn't be a need to avoid the issues.
I think that we agreed that the latter approach is our desired approach. One person expressed a commonly held opinion that "ecumenism" is often associated with "compromise" or with the "watering down" of truth. I believe that everyone who was at our meeting agreed that we don't want to have to water things down or avoid difficult issues.
How that plays out will require great gentleness and care. St. Paul reminds us of just that in his letter to the Colossians where he says:
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
Friday, May 30, 2008
An interesting dilemma related to Ecumenism
One of the issues that I was interested in discussing at meeting #2 had to do with an event at Wheaton College from a few years back.
I shared an article on this by Alan Jacobs,
and after the meeting one member mentioned another article that was published in the Wall Street Journal at that time.
I found this issue to be interesting for a number of reasons. We have a few people with Wheaton connections in our group, and I have a very positive opinion of Wheaton myself. I visited there many years ago to see their C.S. Lewis library which also had a lot of good stuff on J.R.R. Tolkein, G.K. Chesterton, and Dorothy Sayers.
Maintaining our solid religious beliefs is important and so on the one hand I admired what this President had done out of his convictions. On the other hand, as a Catholic I see that Catholics and Evangelicals have so much in common as related to Christ and Scripture and a rich heritage that spans centuries, that I found it to be a shame that they couldn't find a way to keep Dr. Hochschild.
I shared an article on this by Alan Jacobs,
and after the meeting one member mentioned another article that was published in the Wall Street Journal at that time.
I found this issue to be interesting for a number of reasons. We have a few people with Wheaton connections in our group, and I have a very positive opinion of Wheaton myself. I visited there many years ago to see their C.S. Lewis library which also had a lot of good stuff on J.R.R. Tolkein, G.K. Chesterton, and Dorothy Sayers.
Maintaining our solid religious beliefs is important and so on the one hand I admired what this President had done out of his convictions. On the other hand, as a Catholic I see that Catholics and Evangelicals have so much in common as related to Christ and Scripture and a rich heritage that spans centuries, that I found it to be a shame that they couldn't find a way to keep Dr. Hochschild.
Second Meeting. Fundamentals
Second meeting was held May 21st at SSBC. Began to spend time focusing on fundamental assumptions. The two big ones that we begin with are:
1. We must be Christ centered. Our relationship with Christ is key to our Faith whether we are Catholic or Protestant.
2. Our Bible Study will be Scripture based. Bringing commentaries and insights from people who have commented through the ages will be welcome. Time will be provided for applying the texts to events and concerns in our lives.
We also spent time talking with a person who is involved with the Community Bible Study and she talked about the materials that they have which we could use for our study. People at the meeting all seemed open to using their materials which would give us some good structure.
Interesting discussion ensued related to a few of these issues. Will post more on these later.
1. We must be Christ centered. Our relationship with Christ is key to our Faith whether we are Catholic or Protestant.
2. Our Bible Study will be Scripture based. Bringing commentaries and insights from people who have commented through the ages will be welcome. Time will be provided for applying the texts to events and concerns in our lives.
We also spent time talking with a person who is involved with the Community Bible Study and she talked about the materials that they have which we could use for our study. People at the meeting all seemed open to using their materials which would give us some good structure.
Interesting discussion ensued related to a few of these issues. Will post more on these later.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
First Meeting
We had our first meeting at South Shore Baptist Church (SSBC) in Hingham on Tuesday evening May 6th. Eight of us met to discuss some ideas related to where we might go with an ecumenical Bible Study. We started with the thought that we would focus on the life and letters of Paul. We talked about a number of potential "big ideas", but eventually settled on sticking to the life and letters of Paul. We still haven't decided on the frequency that we will meet, the location, or the details or structure of the Bible Study, but some of the considerations included:
1. Don't want "just another Bible Study". There are a lot of those already, especially at SSBC. Yet sticking to a Bible Study format and bringing Paul's themes to bear on our lives can be done in interesting ways. Especially as we try to focus on his words in light of the themes of unity, ecumenism, and evangelism.
2. We will not be meeting every week, but for the short term every couple of weeks should work. E-mails and other conversations will continue between the scheduled meetings.
3. Leadership will be shared and will probably rotate among interested people.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone got along at this first meeting. I had expected a little bit of contention and a little bit of suspicion, but I believe that all there maintained a charitable mutual respect and a genuine desire to work together to spread the gospel of Christ and to try to find ways to show the world that we Christians are perfectly capable of working together.
One point that we all agreed upon is the statement of Paul in Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Catholics and Evangelicals had no problem with that general sentiment.
1. Don't want "just another Bible Study". There are a lot of those already, especially at SSBC. Yet sticking to a Bible Study format and bringing Paul's themes to bear on our lives can be done in interesting ways. Especially as we try to focus on his words in light of the themes of unity, ecumenism, and evangelism.
2. We will not be meeting every week, but for the short term every couple of weeks should work. E-mails and other conversations will continue between the scheduled meetings.
3. Leadership will be shared and will probably rotate among interested people.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone got along at this first meeting. I had expected a little bit of contention and a little bit of suspicion, but I believe that all there maintained a charitable mutual respect and a genuine desire to work together to spread the gospel of Christ and to try to find ways to show the world that we Christians are perfectly capable of working together.
One point that we all agreed upon is the statement of Paul in Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Catholics and Evangelicals had no problem with that general sentiment.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Origins
Back in June 2007, the Catholic Church announced that they were going to have a Year of St. Paul, which would begin June 2008 at the time of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and continue through June 2009. As part of this Year of St. Paul, people were encouraged to take part in activities related to Ecumenism and Evangelization. Also, churches named for St. Paul would play a prominent role in this special year.
Now as a person named Paul, who was born and grew up in St. Paul, MN, and who now is a member of St. Paul's in Hingham, I felt an urge to do something in honor of my patron Saint as part of this Year of St. Paul. Over the next number of months I have talked to several people about this interest and the idea for an ecumenical Bible Study done in partnership with the Baptists at South Shore Baptist Church (SSBC) in Hingham has emerged and begun to take shape. Matt Porter who has a strong relationship with both St. Paul's and SSBC and a strong interest in promoting something like this has been working with me to help get this started.
We have had two meetings so far, both held at SSBC, on May 6 and May 21, and have begun to plan for a Bible Study that we believe might begin this fall (2008) if not sooner. I'll write about some of the ideas that came out of those meetings in a later post to this blog.
Now as a person named Paul, who was born and grew up in St. Paul, MN, and who now is a member of St. Paul's in Hingham, I felt an urge to do something in honor of my patron Saint as part of this Year of St. Paul. Over the next number of months I have talked to several people about this interest and the idea for an ecumenical Bible Study done in partnership with the Baptists at South Shore Baptist Church (SSBC) in Hingham has emerged and begun to take shape. Matt Porter who has a strong relationship with both St. Paul's and SSBC and a strong interest in promoting something like this has been working with me to help get this started.
We have had two meetings so far, both held at SSBC, on May 6 and May 21, and have begun to plan for a Bible Study that we believe might begin this fall (2008) if not sooner. I'll write about some of the ideas that came out of those meetings in a later post to this blog.
Complete My Joy Hingham
"Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." Paul in his letter to the Philippians 2:2 (RSV)
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