|
A New
Heart and Call to Ecumenism and Building
Communities
.
by
Dorothy Ranaghan
In March of 1967 the word boredom disappeared from
my vocabulary. There was and is no time to be
bored, because the Spirit poured out on us then
was a Spirit of boldness and power!
As we approach the golden jubilee of the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal, it is important to remember
that we have been swept up in one of the greatest
works of the Spirit in history. That is not my
hyperbole speaking, it is just the simple and
profound truth. To quote Pope Saint John Paul II,
“The charismatic renewal is an eloquent
manifestation, a bold statement of what the Spirit
is saying in the church.” If the figures we have
are accurate, there are over 150 million Roman
Catholics in over 120 countries that have
experienced baptism in the Holy Spirit.
One of the most significant works of the Spirit
that we have seen is the movement towards
authentic Christian community. Whether it is in
the loosely structured small Christian community
concept in parishes or the highly organized
Catholic and ecumenical covenant communities,
there has been an impetus, a call, a desire to
build community. And it is very often within these
communities that the gifts of the Spirit remain
most in evidence.
Most importantly, there is a new heart and hope
for ecumenism. Not just for theological doctrinal
dialogue, but what is known as the ecumenism of
relationships, a “spiritual” ecumenism. Baptism in
the Holy Spirit is an “ecumenical grace” for the
church. Wall of separation, division and suspicion
began to crumble in the wake of this Pentecostal
outpouring whose origins were thoroughly
ecumenical. We have come to know that from the
many streams of Christianity we are already
significantly one and are called to deepen that
reality.
The best is yet to come. The Spirit is saying, “go
out, preach the gospel, heal the sick, change the
world.” And as the Anglican theologian N.T. Wright
so beautifully put it, “The announcement of Jesus
as Lord of the whole world which all Christians
since Pentecost are mean to announce, meets the
resistance of economic, social, cultural and above
all political forces of the wider world. But the
Spirit given to us is greater than this resistance
so that God’s work may be done through us.” It is
not, Wright says, just that God intends that the
Spirit will declare that the world is in the
wrong, but that it is “we, trembling, but in the
power of the Holy Spirit who will make that
declaration.” Let those who have ears…
This article was first published
in PENTECOST
Today Magazine,
Spring 2015 Issue, Volume 40 Number 2.
Used with permission.
Dorothy
Ranaghan is a founding member of the People
of Praise.a charismatic, ecumenical
and covenant community with 22 locations
in the US, Canada and the Carribean. She
is married to Kevin Ranaghan, and has six
children and twelve grandchildren.
|
