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Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

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Jan 10 2020

Abiding in Beloved Community: The Cory Johnson Program through the Lens of Literary Imagination; a Talk by Rev. Liz Walker

Join us as we look at our Cory Johnson Program for Post-Traumatic Healing (CJP) trauma work through the lens of literary imagination. Activists, intellectuals and artists throughout contemporary history have eluded to the beloved community as a place and mindset of grace filled justice and reconciliation. Through the words of Dr. Martin Luther King and literary artists including the incomparable                  Tony Morrison, Reverend Liz Walker presents a meditation on CJP as the model of that beloved community, a groundbreaking antidote for these troubled times.

Thursday, 1/16 at 6:00 pm; Roxbury Presbyterian Church Social Impact Center; 328 Warren Street; Roxbury, MA

Written by Andrew Walker · Tagged: boston, christian, christian witness, community, ecumenical, healing, trauma

Dec 30 2019

Celebration of Unity

The Boston Focolare community invites you to celebrate with us!

The program spotlights the centennial of Chiara Lubich’s birth, the Focolare Founder whom the New York Times referred to as “one of the most influential women in the Roman Catholic Church”. The program also includes personal experiences, recreation and light refreshments. All ages are welcome. 

Written by Andrew Walker · Tagged: ecumenical

Oct 21 2019

Greening Your Parish: Answering the Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor

Find out how to promote the principles of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’ in the your parish.

Keynote: Words Matter: Communicating Climate Change to Save Our Common Home.(John Anderson, Former Director of Education at New England Aquarium)

Breakout sessions on:  forming Creation Care Teams, praying in the spirit of Laudato Si’, energy efficiency and solar for parish and home, politics and policy for clean energy and environmental justice.

Learn about the Faith Science Alliance (started by Cardinal O’Malley), and the Global Catholic Climate Movement , which mobilizes Catholics around the world

Sponsored by the Boston Catholic Climate Movement.  For more information and for free registration: https://tinyurl.com/greening-19-register

Written by Andrew Walker · Tagged: archdiocese of boston, boston, catholic, christian witness, community, ecumenical, faith, godinthebrokenness, jesusatwork, Life Together, pope francis

Mar 03 2019

What does it mean today to be ecumenical?

“The message we joyfully proclaim is that we are reconciled to God and to one another through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. “Being ecumenical” means feeling a holy unrest at our failure to live consistent with our message, more interested in proving our “rightness” and the other’s “wrongness” than in seeking together to know what the Spirit is asking of us and to do it.”

You may hear people using the term “ecumenical,” but what does it mean? The word “ecumenism” is used to describe the efforts to bring together Christians of varying traditions and backgrounds. This week’s blog is written by Father Tom Ryan, director of the Paulist Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in downtown Boston. Father Tom has valuable recommendations for how all Christians can be “ecumenical” in their day-t0-day lives. Read his post below to learn how you can take part in the healing movement of uniting God’s separated people.


 

UniteBoston Neighborhood Dinner at Tony’s house in Revere, which Father Tom Ryan attended.

What Does It Mean Today To Be Ecumenical?

by Fr. Tom Ryan, CSP

Recently a friend asked, “What does being ‘ecumenical’ mean?” It was one of those questions that stop you cold because the answer goes off in so many directions you don’t know where to begin. Later, I took paper and pencil in hand and began to reflect on the lessons of my last 35 years in ecumenical work.

Here are some of the things which, in my experience, “being ecumenical” means:

1. To pray regularly for the unity of the Church, as Christ wills it and when he wills it. As theologian, Yves Congar, said; “The way through the door of unity is on our knees.” Prayer is important because prayer’s effect is in us. Prayer changes our hearts, and it is our hearts that most of all need to be changed.

Photo at a Taize Prayer service, MIT Chapel

 

2. To be rooted in a particular Christian tradition, to know it well, and to be able to present to others the coherency of that tradition’s response to the Gospel. The genuine ecumenists are not at the margin of their church’s life, but at the heart of it. They know what is important in the Christian life and can recognize those elements in other churches even if they may be differently expressed.

3. To take an active part in the careful and honest appraisal of whatever needs to be done for the renewal of one’s own church. Ecumenism is not a specialty within the Church, but an expression of every dimension of its life. It helps the Church to be more the Church and to be faithful to her calling. Dialogue is the meeting of churches.

4. To be fascinated and curious about that which is different. Risk peeping out of our provincial perspectives and opening ourselves to the bigger picture. Ecumenism is a way of living that dares to think globally and live trustfully with differences in community.

5. To be willing to learn. Truth is seldom discovered in isolation but rather through dialogue in diverse community. Each Christian tradition has preserved better than others one or more aspects of the mystery of God’s work in Christ. The work of unity aims at restoring the fullness to our common appreciation of that mystery.

Photo from a prayer gathering at the Greek Orthodox service during January’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

6. To cultivate a historical consciousness. We’re on a journey. The church we have is not the church God wants. An ecumenically minded person refuses to worship false gods, and the present expression of the church is not God. Similarly, there is a refusal to make absolute a stage of development that is only the next step on the way to something greater.

7. To be ready to celebrate vitality in the body of Christ wherever it is found. What advances the reign of God in any church helps all churches. The churches are not like competing corporations in the business world, so that the stakes of one rises as the lot of others falls. Any loss of divine truth and life is a loss to Christ and his Church. The only triumph a Christian seeks is that of Jesus and his cross. Our rivalry is not with one another, but with sin.

8. To be willing to work together. Ecumenism is an understanding of human society that identifies fear of the “other” as one of the greatest evils we face. The principle given to all the churches for their life together is: Do everything together as far as conscience permits.

9. To feel the scandal of our divisions. Unity is for mission. Our primary mission is to announce the Good News. The message we joyfully proclaim is that we are reconciled to God and to one another through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. “Being ecumenical” means feeling a holy unrest at our failure to live consistent with our message, more interested in proving our “rightness” and the other’s “wrongness” than in seeking together to know what the Spirit is asking of us and to do it.

10. To be open to God’s will for the Church. Our unity is God’s gift, and the way to give more visible expression to that gift will also be God’s gift. But we will have to empty ourselves of our self-righteousness and let go of our power games in order to let this be God’s work.

11. To appreciate the important role of provisional regulations and church structures in our evolution from alienation to reconciliation. To accept that the only constant is change and the only refuge is the insecure security of faith. To struggle against the temptation to live in a closed, safe, secure system that reduces our level of fear and satisfies our desires for control. God is a verb. And in the dynamism of the provisional, God’s Spirit is at work, endlessly correcting, improving, adjusting, reorienting.

12. To have an appreciation for the hierarchy of truths in Christian doctrine. A belief has greater or lesser consequence in the measure in which it relates to the foundation of the Christian faith. Grace has more importance than sin, the mystical aspect of the Church more than it’s juridical, the Church’s liturgy more than private devotions, baptism more than penance, the Eucharist more than the anointing of the sick. Placing the greater stress on those doctrines in closest relation to the heart of Christian faith enables us to build further agreement.

13. To try to understand others as they understand themselves. To avoid any expression, judgment or action that falsifies their condition. Ecumenical honesty means we do not look upon others through the prism of their weakest elements, or over-generalize their positions with statements like “Protestants say … Anglicans do … Orthodox are … Catholics will …” Rather, our ideals are put next to their ideals, our practices next to their practices, as opposed to our ideals next to their practices.

West Roxbury neighborhood dinner at Sally’s house

14. To be alert to the presence of God and the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of other Christians and members of other living faiths. The Church of God does not have a mission as much as the mission of God has a church. The Church is the sign and sacrament of God’s presence in the world, but God’s activity is by no means limited to the Church and its members. The Church serves the advance of the Kingdom but is not tantamount to it.

15. To have a biblical patience. Biblical patience calls for creative waiting, doing now what we can instead of moaning about what church disciplines will not allow us to do. It means being willing to accept or absorb negativity so that the person who is the source of it will eventually go beyond it. Christ suffered for unity. At times so will we. Biblical patience involves staying with it, searching for the healing that comes from understanding and forgiveness. Everyone is in favor of Christian unity. Some are even willing to work for it. But few are willing to suffer for it.

Fr. Tom Ryan leads the Paulist National Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. You may find more information about the office, it’s newsletter/journal Koinonia, ecumenical retreats, and inter-congregational Gospel Call missions at tomryancsp.org

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: church, ecumenical, ecumenism, history, jesus christ, paulist, prayer, tom ryan, unity

Nov 28 2016

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an international initiative where Christians worldwide are reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe” (John 17:21). Locally, UniteBoston coordinates evening collaborative gatherings of fellowship, prayer and worship from January 18-25 annually.

This year’s theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is from Isaiah 1:17, “Do good; seek justice.” The entire scriptural passage for the theme is Isaiah 1:12-18, lamenting a lack of justice among the People of God. Yet, it also promises redemption by encouraging acts of justice in how we can live our unity as Christians so as to confront the evils and injustices of our time.

The 2023 theme was developed with the assistance of a group of Christians in Minnesota, USA, convened by the Minnesota Council of Churches. Minneapolis, MN became a flashpoint for calls for racial justice and equity during the responses of communities to the George Floyd murder. This received world-wide attention and spurred on an awakening for the unjust reality that communities of color have faced for centuries and the change that is so imperative today.

In its Introduction to the Theme, the organizers write: “Today, separation and oppression continue to be manifest when any single group or class is given privileges above others. The sin of racism is evident in any beliefs or practices that distinguish or elevate one “race” over another. When accompanied or sustained by imbalances in power, racial prejudice moves beyond individual relationships to the very structures of society – the systemic perpetuation of racism. Its existence has unfairly benefitted some, including churches, and burdened and excluded others, simply due to the color of their skin and the cultural associations based upon perceptions of ‘race’.”

Calling to mind our common Christian commitment to justice and mercy, we pray that the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18-25, 2023 will be full of moments of conversion of heart through our encounters, so that “all may be one.”

Mark Your Calendars – You are invited to mark your calendars and plan to attend the evening gatherings! In this time of Epiphany, we encourage you to receive the manifestation of Jesus Christ through those of different denominations, races and cultures. Let’s make the most of these opportunities in order to truly be the family of God and serve as the body of Christ in the world.

Spread the Word – We also appreciate help spreading the word to people in your congregation, family, friends, and neighbors. A personal invitation goes a long way.

Schedule

Worship and Prayer for Justice

Thursday January 19 at 7pm | In Person (Newton) and Zoom

Join a diverse group of believers and NewCity Church of Newton for a gathering to lament and repent regarding the church’s role in past and present injustices. Let’s lean on the Holy Spirit to bring true peace and empower us for the work to achieve it. Email Rev. Devlin Scott at devlin@newcitychurch.cc to RSVP for the specific address or Zoom info.

Christian Unity Taizé Prayer

Sunday, January 22 at 5 pm | St. Michael’s Church, 26 Pleasant St, Marblehead

Join for a Taize prayer gathering around the theme “Do Good, Seek Justice” through scripture readings, chanted song, and shared silence. All are invited to share in this experience of God’s quiet grace.

Christian Unity Prayer Gathering

Due to inclement weather, this gathering will be hosted online.

Please join us to pray and live our unity as Christians so as to confront the evils and injustices of our time.

We will be using the worldwide prayer template around the theme “Do Good, Seek Justice” that Christians throughout the world will be using this week. Rev. Edwin Johnson, Director of Organizing at Episcopal City Mission will be preaching, and we will hear stories testifying to how Christian unity can help overcome injustice from Rev. Jua Robinson (Boston Collaborative) and Savina Martin (MA Poor People’s Campaign). Co-presiders include Dean Amy McCreath (Episcopal), Rev. Devlin Scott (Assemblies of God), Rev. Kelly Fassett (American Baptist), Deacon Chuck Hall (Catholic).

We look forward to praying with you.

Join us on Zoom
Join The Youtube Livestream
Download the Service Program

Christian Unity Prayer Service

Sunday January 29 at 4:00pm | St. Barbara Parish, 138 Cambridge Rd, Woburn

A Christian Unity Service will be held on Sunday, January 29 at 4:00 PM at the Woburn Catholic Collaborative – St. Barbara Parish. This prayer service will be led by Fr. Edmund Ugochukwu, a Nigerian Catholic priest, alongside Deacon Ed Giordano, and Pastoral Associate Michelle Park. Please join us to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.


Photos from Previous Years

In 2017, we coordinated a large worship service on January 21st in alignment with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, that had over 8 co-sponsors and was attended by over 800 people.
Here are many of the leaders hosting gatherings for the 2019 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
UB City-Wide Dinner Launch – November 2017
UniteBoston dinner at Sally’s house in West Roxbury
Prayer Gathering at the Greek Metropolis of Boston
Neighborhood Dinner at Adam’s house in East Boston
Co-presiders from various Christian traditions at the 2017 Week of Prayer Anchor Gathering

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: boston, christian, dinner, ecumenical, ecumenism, fellowship, Institute for Christian Unity, john 17, movement, prayer, uniteboston, unity, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, worship

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