7 Comments

  1. Adam Kincaid
    October 27, 2009 @ 2:42 pm

    I appreciate you taking the time to write this out. I know you have plenty of other stuff on your plate without having to worry about what Rome is doing. Definitely answered my questions/concerns. Thanks David.

    Reply

  2. Louise Brooks
    October 27, 2009 @ 6:55 pm

    David,

    Loved your blog post! Especially this paragraph. What a leader!

    Restoration will not be taking the Pope’s kind offer. In the division and conflicts, we hold unflinchingly to the inerrancy of Scripture– its complete trustworthiness and authority for every area of our life. As a community, we will continue to wrestle with how we live in faithfulness to it. I long for the day when Jesus comes back and restores all things– including the unity of his church. Until that day, we will wait expectantly and we will work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God (2 Cor 5:11)

    We are so glad to be on this journey with you and the rest of the Restoration gang.

    Louise

    Reply

  3. Thomas White
    October 28, 2009 @ 6:49 am

    Hey David,
    Thanks for addressing this issue, I just want to declare to the Lord first, and to you and the rest of our church family, that i am not going anywhere!, and that I want to be a part of this journey that Restoration and the rest of our orthodox brothers an sisters are on. As long as we remember to keep our eyes centered on Jesus he will get us throught this diffcult journey that we are on

    God Bless

    Reply

  4. Jeff Walton
    October 28, 2009 @ 8:36 am

    David,

    Thank you for your thoughtful reflections on this development. I will note that this offer exists in a larger context than our Anglican conflicts in North America. I found this article from the New York Times especially interesting:

    “The news media have portrayed this rightward outreach largely through the lens of culture-war politics — as an attempt to consolidate, inside the Catholic tent, anyone who joins the Vatican in rejecting female priests and gay marriage.

    But in making the opening to Anglicanism, Benedict also may have a deeper conflict in mind — not the parochial Western struggle between conservative and liberal believers, but Christianity’s global encounter with a resurgent Islam.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26douthat.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1256552334-1JxPmoSA41W3cmXRHtI6FQ

    Additionally, I’m fairly certain that the Pope’s outreach was a response to our Anglo-Catholic friends in Britain who have been knocking on his door. He probably wasn’t holding his breath for Low Church evangelicals to cross the Tiber en masse.

    That being said, I hope we remain open to the work of reconciliation in our lifetime that Christ may accomplish for us and our descendants alongside those others who also hold unflinchingly to the inerrancy of Scripture. The unfolding ecumenical dialogue between our Archbishop, Robert Duncan, and Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church is an encouraging sign of this.

    -Jeff

    Reply

  5. Tim
    October 28, 2009 @ 5:42 pm

    Thanks for this post.

    I echo Jeff’s thoughts — I hope we remain open to the work of reconciliation in our lifetime . . . . And also agree with the Times’ article’s comment that Pope Benedict may have a deeper conflict in mind.

    As Dean pointed out last Sunday, even in Ephesians the use of the word “one” is rather noticeable in Eph. 4. As Eugene Peterson paraphrased it in The Message:

    “You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.”

    Or, as Jesus prayed (Jn 17):

    “I’m praying not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me . . . The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind — Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.”

    Although I suspect that the details of Rome’s announcement will be far more limiting than the news reports suggest, the fact of the announcement at least permits Christians on both sides to dream of the possibility of open communion, possibly even within our lifetime. And the power of open communion among Catholics and Protestants could send a powerful message of Christ’s peace and unity to a deeply divided world.

    At a more individual level, though, for many — with family on both sides of the aisle now or anticipated in the future — the ability to partake together in Holy Communion on a regular basis would be a wonderful and blessed moment, even (in fact) an answer to long and persistent prayers.

    –Tim

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  6. Ryan Walker
    October 29, 2009 @ 9:20 am

    David, thank you for openly addressing this issue. I would just like to say that the comments made by Tim and Jeff are right on the mark. Especially, with someone who grew up in the Catholic Church and now desires to share in communion with family in friends in both a Catholic Church and at home at RAC.

    Reply

  7. davidmartinhanke
    October 29, 2009 @ 12:52 pm

    love the ‘deeper conflict’ insight, Jeff and Tim. It is one of the reasons I will be preaching a 5 week series on the Gospel and Islam during Epiphany 2010 (Jan-Feb).

    And Tim and Ryan– I really appreciate the poignancy of your longing for open communion. As we look at the things which we can hold as central, perhaps there is hope for a unity around the Gospel. Please know that your family members who follow Jesus are always welcome to gather at the Lord’s table with us. We are open to all who confess Jesus as Lord.

    Again, interesting times, to be following Christ and committed to His church.

    Reply

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