… in 1968, Karl Barth died in Basel. A little more than 9 years before that, he said in Basel Prison:
“Haven’t we all thought at times that the most secure thing one could have would be exactly this: a solid inner foothold, character and faith in oneself? Certainly, this is a good thing to have. But: ‘if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!’ (1 Cor 10:12) … No, one can certainly not hold on to one’s own character, the good in oneself. No, one can indeed not have faith in one’s own faith. This could only result in disaster. One can and may only hold on to the fact that God is for us. You can only believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again for you … Whether I am weak or strong, whether I stand or fall, have doubts or peace in my heart, walk in darkness or light: ‘my unfailing love for you will not be shaken,’ declares the LORD (Is 54:10) – onto this I hold, onto this we can all hold.”
Indeed, a much needed message today, as it was back then.
As this has been a busy Sunday so far, I have only had a brief opportunity to glance at Benedict’s sermon this morning in Freiburg. I am, quite honestly, a little bit puzzled by this sermon, and will spend some time thinking about it. Centrally, though, my puzzlement is mostly due to one particular paragraph, which I will be chewing on a bit. Here is the text:
“The Christian life must continually measure itself by Christ: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5), as Saint Paul says in the introduction to the Christological hymn. And a few verses before, he exhorts us: “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Phil 2:1-2). Just as Christ was totally united to the Father and obedient to him, so too the disciples must obey God and be of one mind among themselves. Dear friends, with Paul I dare to exhort you: complete my joy by being firmly united in Christ. The Church in Germany will overcome the great challenges of the present and future, and it will remain a leaven in society, if the priests, consecrated men and women, and the lay faithful, in fidelity to their respective vocations, work together in unity, if the parishes, communities, and movements support and enrich each other, if the baptized and confirmed, in union with their bishop, lift high the torch of untarnished faith and allow it to enlighten their abundant knowledge and skills. The Church in Germany will continue to be a blessing for the entire Catholic world: if she remains faithfully united with the Successors of Saint Peter and the Apostles, if she fosters cooperation in various ways with mission countries and allows herself to be “infected” by the joy that marks the faith of these young Churches.”
My problem is more with the second half of this paragraph… Particularly against the background of the meeting with representatives of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) about which I reflected yesterday, this is a pretty tough cookie to swallow… I am thinking here of the question of allegiance… allegiance to bishops, allegiance to the pope … . Considering the beginning of the paragraph, “The Christian life must continually measure itself by Christ,” I am maybe slightly over-sensitive right there, yet still. I suppose it goes to the very core of the Protestant-Catholic divide. I am not denying here that there should be obedience to “elders” in the church…however, whether a church is a blessing or not, or whether it will successfully meet challenges of contemporary society – does that really depend on obedience to bishops and the holy see? Of course there is an understanding of apostolic succession at the core of this, but still: our hope is found in Jesus Christ, who died and rose for our sins, and whom we profess as Lord – if anyone should enable us to meet contemporary challenges and indeed help us be a shining light, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, then it is the one who indeed is “the light of the world”, and not a confusion of a creature with the Creator. (compare also Benedict’s text from the prayer vigil last night, also in Freiburg, here). Thus, I am not entirely sure what is going on here…yet I think I can say that I am not too happy about this.
The full text of the sermon this morning can be found here.
Benedict XVI has spent some time yesterday in a meeting with members of the evangelical church in Germany. There were some interesting “demands” put on this, people were in high anticipation about the meeting and progress in ecumenism. To this, B XVI spoke as follows:
“Prior to my visit there was some talk of an “ecumenical gift” [not happy with this translation...the German text says "Gastgeschenk", i.e. "gift from the guest" not just "gift"] which was expected from such a visit. There is no need for me to specify the gifts mentioned in this context. Here I would only say that, in most of its manifestions, this reflects a political misreading of faith and of ecumenism. In general, when a Head of State visits a friendly country, contacts between the various parties take place beforehand to arrange one or more agreements between the two states: by weighing respective benefits and drawbacks a compromise is reached which in the end appears beneficial for both parties, so that a treaty can then be signed.”
If one does a quick survey across German newspapers today, these hopes were crushed and destroyed. Two thoughts on this: firstly, the fact that there are now voices of disappointment acknowledge that such expectations were apparently more or less overtly being made (not necessarily by the EKD…more by society at large). There is a bit of hypocrisy underlying this… along the lines of “we welcome you, but only if you give us…” (again, this is more directed at the media voices, rather than the EKD…who have dealt with this very well, I though, because they knew that this was not a forum for this kind of “guestgift”). So…I find that interesting… and also rather cleverly solved by B XVI. The passage above continues:
“ But the faith of Christians does not rest on such a weighing of benefits and drawbacks. A self-made faith is worthless. Faith is not something we work out intellectually and negotiate between us. It is the foundation for our lives. Unity grows not by the weighing of benefits and drawbacks but only by entering ever more deeply into the faith in our thoughts and in our lives.”
I find this fascinating, which brings me to my second point: the expectation of some major sign of ecumenism was put onto this visit, yet B XVI is fully aware that there is a major community already established Protestant and Catholics which is not visible, yet humanity would like to have something more tangible… sitting at the same table for communion, etc. . The demand for this kind of “gift” should not be made light-heartedly…and there are few who make this kind of demand with well-reasoned theological argument (rather than “oh, that would be nice” in a voice similar to accepting whipped cream to go with your apple pie…). But alas, the important passages such as the following will be ignored at large…because some people think they did not get their whipped cream.
“…the first and most important thing for ecumenism is that we keep in view just how much we have in common, not losing sight of it amid the pressure towards secularization – everything that makes us Christian in the first place and continues to be our gift and our task. It was the error of the Reformation period that for the most part we could only see what divided us and we failed to grasp existentially what we have in common in terms of the great deposit of sacred Scripture and the early Christian creeds. For me, the great ecumenical step forward of recent decades is that we have become aware of all this common ground, that we acknowledge it as we pray and sing together, as we make our joint commitment to the Christian ethos in our dealings with the world, as we bear common witness to the God of Jesus Christ in this world as our inalienable, shared foundation.”
Conclusion? We’ve come a long way since the time of the Reformation when people of the same body of Christ were only condemning the differences of the other. It requires work from both sides (which is being done already) that works towards these different groups becoming fully one, but guest gifts and gestures are not doing that job.
Full text of the meeting with EKD representatives can be found here (excerpt 3 above). Full text of the address during the Ecumenical Celebration can be found here (excerpt 1 & 2 above).
[it's been two months since my last post, I realize...let's just say, I've been busy...]
Currently, Benedict XVI is in Germany. There have been many opportunities already that deserve mentioning, and I will follow up on these in due course. For the moment, see the following excerpt from his sermon last night in the Berlin Olympic Stadium (the passage was the beginning of John 15):
“Many people see only the outward form of the Church. This makes the Church appear as merely one of the many organizations within a democratic society, whose criteria and laws are then applied to the task of evaluating and dealing with such a complex entity as the “Church”. If to this is added the sad experience that the Church contains both good and bad fish, wheat and darnel, and if only these negative aspects are taken into account, then the great and beautiful mystery of the Church is no longer seen.
It follows that belonging to this vine, the “Church”, is no longer a source of joy. Dissatisfaction and discontent begin to spread, when people’s superficial and mistaken notions of “Church”, their “dream Church”, fail to materialize! Then we no longer hear the glad song “Thanks be to God who in his grace has called me into his Church” that generations of Catholics have sung with conviction.”
Read the full text here, and you will not be disappointed. It should be worthwhile mentioning that this last sentence should be applicable to all Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
News are appearing that John Stott has passed away earlier today. Stott is one of the most prominent and highly regarded Evangelical Christians of the 20th century.
For me personally, Stott was an important figure at the early stages of being exposed to evangelical Christianity. When I reopened my volume of his “Basic Christianity” and just read the first paragraph, I am reminded why this is the case.
“‘In the beginning God.’ The first four words of the Bible are more than an introduction to the creation story or to the book of Genesis. They supply the key which opens our understanding to the Bible as a whole. They tell us that the religion of the Bible is a religion of the initiative of God.” (11)
Stott had such an impact on so many people because he practiced what he preached, and indeed, “heart and mouth, deed and life” spoke of Jesus Christ. I respect him for his integrity and the tremendous attraction of him as a person for me also came from the clear, undiluted pointing to the Gospel. Having been exposed to evangelical Christianity in both the UK and the US, I also remain grateful for the fact that Stott’s evangelical Christianity was without much of the baggage attached to it in the US context (whether willing or not). “Basic Christianity” for Stott really was about God who has acted and acts in grace and love and the good news of the Gospel. This is the message that we need to hear on a daily, hourly basis.
Today marks the release day for the new Hillsong record “God is able“. This is Hillsong’s 20th album and looking at my music library, I can say that I own most of the records. While an overall comparison would be tempting to do, I am more interested here to give some initial impressions, drawing a little on more recent album releases.
I’ve had a bit of an ambiguous relationship with the more recent Hillsong albums. Last year’s “A Beautiful Exchange” sounded at times stylistically way too much like Hillsong United to me and while there is nothing wrong with that in and of itself, it was, for me, maybe one of the weakest Hillsong CDs. That being said, and as it happens very often with these albums, different songs speak to different people at different times. From that album, I love, up to this day, a reworking of Rich Mullins’ “Step by Step” which is wonderful. Still, I was not able to connect with this album.
“God is able” is different. It feels very different musically and from a lyrics point of view. Before the release, the title track of the album was released online, and it is a wonderful message to put at the center of an album. In an article, Reuben Morgan, Hillsong’s Worship Pastor said that this song was written in anticipation of a weekend to celebrate God’s generosity and how God can use our gifts. Little did he know that the Australian floods and natural disasters that have hardly disappeared from the news over the recent months, this would turn into a testimony of faith in the midst of troubled times.
This is the true strength of this album. It is a testimony of faith and the statement that “God is able” in its simplicity is also an expression that means different things to different people at different times. The fact that God is still “greater than all we seek, greater than all we ask” is a timeless truth, just as the message that God is “almighty”. In this emphasis of God’s sovereignty, it links with other Hillsong songs that belong to the strongest songs that have come from Sydney, Australia, such as “Might to Save”, “This is our God” “Shout to the Lord”, more than some other songs (and that goes way beyond Hillsong) have done.
So, it is a great release. After listening to the whole album three times and to some songs more often than that, I am glad to see this being a more personal album again which made for the true strength of “Might to Save” or “God He Reigns”. Today, more than ever, we need to hear that “God is with us, He will go before, He will never leave us. God is for us, He has open arms, He will never fail us.” I am grateful that this record reminded me of the simple, but amazing truth that God is indeed able.
Further to my reflection earlier, there is something else that came to mind. The following is a song that has been dear to my heart for a few years now.
When I first engaged with this song, I wrote a reflection on this which is just as relevant today as it was back then in its applicability. Updated and edited, this reflection reads as follows:
…I think it is a wonderful song that expresses a deep trust and faith in God. What made the difference to me and challenged the basics of my faith was reaching a point when praising God “for all He has done” had become problematic. Yes, there was a bigger picture of it all, but one does not very easily see that when it feels like all you are surrounded by is broken pieces.
And then, these lines: “I will worship You for who You are.” That made a huge difference for me. It took me some time to realize that “the good things You have done” was still in there (and rightly so!) but it did not take such a prominent place, and that helped a lot. Our faithfulness to God should not depend on what God can do, but on what He has already done. This is grace, nothing but grace, all grace.
Your faith and whole belief system changes and, subsequently, also, how you approach other people. If I loved those around me “for what they had done” or what they were doing – what form of “love” would that be? And, simultaneously, I would not want people to love me just on the basis of what I had done or am doing – no, this can simply not be a decisive factor in the living together as members of the Christian family. Yes, it is a factor; however, it should not be the primary and / or exclusive one. No, over time, I came to a point that just as God loves us for who we are, His beloved and treasured children, and we are called to worship Him for who He is, we are also called to love each other for who we are, and, crucially in this last case, not primarily for what we do. And, it asks for persistence and ability to forgive – love is called to be, indeed, patient (or, more to the original meaning of the word from 1 Cor 13, “long-suffering”).
I am struggling with that, I think everyone does – but, in the long run, especially when somebody has wronged you, it makes a difference to the way you approach relationships and how you live your daily life. If you love people for who they are, for – and this is absolutely crucial – who they are and are becoming in Christ, for them being a creation of God, it is unavoidable to bring God into the equation. It is not humanly possible – in fact everything speaks against this. Yet, it is possible by God and God’s Holy Spirit. The passage from Matthew 11:28-30 referred to earlier refers to Jesus being “gentle and humble in heart” – it’s a challenge to be like that on a daily, hourly, second-ly basis. So, overall, this song, and I am not even speaking about the powerful images of Jesus being “holy, righteous, faithful to the end / Savior, Healer, Redeemer and Friend” is certainly one of the most powerful ones from recent contemporary Christian music.
Grace, grace, nothing but grace, all grace, indeed.
