On July 8, I was at West Concord Union Church for the 10:00 Service at which Pastor John Hudson preached and led the people of WCUC in prayer for the last time before moving on to become pastor of Pilgrim Church in Sherborn, Massachusetts. I was grateful that this coincided with the weekend when we had a visiting missionary priest at Holy Family, freeing me to worship with a church community who were so much a part of my first 10 years in Concord.
John's sermon on his last Sunday was, as usual, well-crafted and challenging. All faith communities face challenges of one kind or another and John was direct in calling the people of WCUC to face theirs and to continue to become the church the Lord calls them to be. I was grateful to have a moment in the service as a visiting pastor to voice a prayer for John and for the people he served so well in West Concord.
Only days later I would be reading the most recent document from Rome which deals with the question, "Who is the Church of Jesus Christ?" The Vatican's answer is very defined and, unfortunately, its effort to lift up important truths may have been obscured by a vocabulary easily read as denigrating of other Christian faith communities. What I know from my experience two Sundays ago is simpler and more easily simply put: the people of West Concord Union Church are the body of Christ, gathered for prayer and worship and committed to proclaiming and living the message and justice of the gospel. In their sanctuary that morning the Spirit of God was alive and well and filling the hearts of believers who had gathered to bid farewell to a man they loved, a man who had served them so very well. My prayer goes with John as he moves to Sherborn and to the people of WCUC as they begin the process of searching for a new pastor.
7/18/07
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Yes, unfortunately the sound bites do seem denigrating but even the substance is disturbing. Once again, I see the hierarchy out of touch with most Church people. Why go out of their way to heighten discussion about differences at this time especially when Catholics I know do not believe that they are better than other denominations? We should be finding more ways to work together.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comment, Novo!
ReplyDeleteOne can easily challenge the timing and vocabulary of this document but the bottom line is that there's nothing new in it. The document makes the claim that the Catholic Church is different than others regards its origin, authority and relationship to Christ. It does not in any way deny the relationship that other Christians have with the Lord.
In the 16th century, Martin Luther and the Reformers were saying that the Catholic Church was wrong on several important issues and, in fact, they still say Catholics are wrong and that they are right. Such differences need healing and the ecumenical and interfaith movement of our own lifetime has been a great development.
But different ecclesial bodies claiming that others don't quite get it? That's old news...