Almost twenty-five years ago I was sitting in one of the front rows of a church in London, UK. It was a warm summer’s day and the occasion was my friend’s wedding.
An “altar call” had gone out, as is always the case towards the end of the Catholic liturgy. The Catholics were duly receiving the Eucharist and those not ‘in communion’ were welcome to come forward and ‘receive a blessing’. Such a gesture I’ve seen offered on many occasions – not just in Catholic churches – as a way to honour the brotherhood we all share in Christ whilst not painting over the reality of the brokenness (which we also share, by the way).
I had received the Eucharist. Then, as I watched and prayed from my front row vantage point, it happened. One by one they came, crossing their arms for a blessing. Matthew the Lutheran, Eroni the Methodist, Sebastian the Evangelical, Mark the Pentecostal and Andrew who was Church of Ireland. As they bowed their heads and passed me by my heart moved. I knew the body of Christ was broken but something became flesh at that moment. It was, for me what Steve Clark would have called, “my ecumenical encounter”. Not a theory, but a prompting of the Spirit that nudges the will.
You see the brotherhood I shared with these men was profound. We had battled together, lived together, spoken words of hope into one another’s lives, prayed over one another, been missionaries together. We’d even fought with each other.
What I realised in a deeper way that day was that each one of these men was truly my brother and that that brotherhood transcended the confessional differences that we had. It did not eliminate them, nor should it. As I said, we tussled from time to time. But we had a respect and love for one another that allowed us to build a life together out of what we held in common. Which, in truth, was very great.
My conviction is that the brotherhood that is made tangible in lived ecumenical community is a foretaste of heaven. It is part of the “not yet” that we can already taste now. Indeed, I do believe it is supposed to present a living question mark not just to God’s people but to the world, a prophetic signpost to the life of the age to come.
- See related article by Paul Jordan, The Holy Spirit: The Dynamic Force of Ecumenism
Top image credit: People walking across Millennium Bridge with St. Paul’s Cathedral in the background in London, UK; photo by Don Schwager.
Paul Jordan, originally from Scotland, grew up in the context of the Community of the Risen Christ in Glasgow. He and his wife Noemi are Sword of the Spirit members living in Belgium. Together with their five children they serve a number of local mission initiatives.