Like it or not, the stated clerk is the Presbyterian Church’s lead ecumenical officer.
Like it or not, the present stated clerk is a self-avowed ecumaniac. He works hard for Christianity-wide unity.
Like it or not, the World Council of Churches, on whose executive committee Stated Clerk Cliff Kirkpatrick has just completed a six-year term, provides the PC(USA) its most expansive network of ecumenical relationships.
Like it or not, the recently concluded meeting of the WCC presented a picture of great unity. And it provided a platform for others to cry out their contempt for American Christians.
Like it or not, we need to deal with that.
Every Christian knows that the present fractured state of the worldwide church falls short of God’s ideal. Every one of us sings, “Bind us together, Lord.” We mean it when we sing it. We mean it because we know that the gospel of reconciliation loses credibility when proclaimed on Sundays by people who shout diatribes against one another on Mondays. We mean it because we know that we are impoverished by our lack of fellowship with sisters and brothers in other nations and denominations. We mean it because we have seen what great things can be done when local congregations band together to build a homeless shelter and when U.S. congregations join with international partners to build a medical clinic in an impoverished village.
In our hearts we want to tear down walls and build bridges. But such construction costs us dearly.
When engaging in ecumenical dialogue, we Christians from the world’s most prosperous economy and the world’s lone superpower become representatives not only of their families of faith, but their government and its policies as well. Christians from other countries look on us through the lens of Hollywood, down the barrel of invading armies, and through the mindless materialism of our conspicuous consumption, and they get angry with us. They plead with us to exercise self-control in matters sexual and military, in matters economic and environmental, and our seeming deafness provokes them to react.
It is a selective hearing problem. Most all of us quote them when their words support our agendas, but we tune out the rest of what they say. Or we dismiss the rest as conspiracies (Communists? Socialists? Pharisees? Xenophobes?). Or we just dismiss the ecumenical effort. Not that we stop singing our songs.
While recent centuries have brought many painful church fights and shameful violent acts between believers, this past century has brought many positive breakthroughs in Christian unity. Critics have exposed how some unitive efforts have backfired, such as local church tithes being given charitably to recipients who then used those funds to do evil. However, many more ecumenical discussions and actions are furthering Christian understanding, strengthening missional partnerships, and expanding the reach of the gospel.
Shall we retreat from the ecumenical efforts initiated in the past century? Exactly the opposite! We must intensify our efforts–cultivate even more ecumaniacs who can propel us into greater efforts to build even more expansive networks of mission partners worldwide. We Presbyterians have long pioneered the ecumenical endeavor. We have recognized that our prosperity requires us to share our resources with others elsewhere–for “from whom much has been given much shall be required.”
Like it or not, Jesus prayed for and still prays for us to be one. Shame on us if we refuse to cooperate with him.
Like it or not.
