"Christians are afraid to believe how deep, real and powerful that relationship is between companions of Jesus, those who are on the same path together, who eat the same food."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p. 208)
One of the aspects of the Christian faith that still perplexes me is the Christian on Christian attacks that flare up every now and then. When folks who share that companionship with Jesus decide that some other companion of Jesus isn't worthy. They start jabbing verbally, throwing loaded words at each other, until instead of a unified mission, revolving around spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, we act as if we are two wrestlers in the WWE.
Part of this stems from our fear of others, in earlier times you had the Catholic/Protestant mistrust, which really had more to do with hatred of immigrants than any truly deep theology. Now it's the mainliners vs. the non-denominationals, each with their mutual accusations, missing the heart of the biblical witness about the body of Christ.
I will say that in those times of ecumenical cooperation, granted mainly among Christians, great things have occurred.
When I'm able to see in my non-Episcopalian brothers and sisters in Christ, that they too love Jesus and want to serve him in the service of others, I start to believe that there is hope.
I'm not saying that denominations, even one's that claim to be non-denominational are not necessary. They are because we all have different ways of worshipping which speak to the wide variety of folks. It is that central point of who Jesus is for us that should unite Christians. Unfortunately we some more interested in our points of disagreement. Maybe we really are afraid of what a unified front could positively do for a hurting world.
Blessings,
Ed
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