Thanks so much for reading this month‘s news from The Initiative, a community committed to “walking in deeper friendship with Jesus and his followers, so that the love of Christ might exceed all divisions.” We do this primarily through prayer, sharing of our lives, and proactive work for greater unity.
This month we’re featuring another in our series of reflections from one of our members, plus some resources old and new, and some information about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity coming up in January.
“I have had a long journey where the Lord has been developing a heart in me for the oneness of His people. My development began with reading Pope John Paul II’s Ut Unum Sint (a document on ecumenism). After I finished reading this, I recall telling the Lord, “Yes! I want this call to unity among Christians! But where?” As a 21 year old, I was not able to see this in my immediate environment. A second step came with my theological formation in Rome. It was a paschal experience, challenging and costly but full of God’s grace and love. I experienced diversity outside my U.S. upbringing by living in an international Roman Catholic community of Discalced Carmelites and experiencing the liturgical diversity of the Church available in Rome. In addition, I was radically impressed by the truth of God as the Trinity. This mystery of God as diversity and unity: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I asked myself, how should our lives be transformed by the Trinity if this is the God of Jesus? During this time, the Lord opened my heart to diversity and community, and my ministry opened up a third step in my growth: My fundamental desire to bring people to the Lord. I discovered that sometimes they were not at home in my Church, but they did find our Lord and a home in another Church. I could only rejoice in their finding Jesus.
A fourth development came through my doctoral journey. I wanted to bring something to fruition for the Lord that would benefit the wider body of Christians, and not just my own Roman Catholic Church. While I chose to study spiritual leadership, I also chose the context of an ecumenical organization. This set me out on a wonderful, heart-filling journey of entering into the ecumenical world. I began relationships with people from around the United States who all loved Jesus and were responding to his call to unity in John 17. The creation of relationships during this time led me to experience what a non-denominational pastor friend said regarding Christian unity: “The discovery that Jesus is their Lord, too!”
This most recent step in my journey was a special culmination of all that the Lord had been doing through the years. I already knew that the Lord formed my heart to be one of loving the Lord, loving the friends of the Lord, and working to build authentic and intimate friendships in the Lord. At the Chicago gathering of the Initiative, I discovered a group of friends who shared this heart too! This filled me with joy and I discerned the call to sign and commit to the covenant of the Initiative. The past few months have highlighted the beautiful gift my ecumenical friends have been to me, in particular, those from the Initiative. At the end of August, my wife started to develop some health complications, and our son came early at 35 weeks. We received so much love, support, prayer, and blessings during this time, and in the weeks since. This experience speaks to me of Psalm 133 where we hear about how good it is to live in unity.
It is a powerful experience to experience unity across historical divisions. As the birth of my newborn has led to a pause and slowdown of initiatives over the past few months, I look forward to continuing the journey of a heart for oneness with friends of Jesus into a new year of grace.”
Juan Medina recently completed his Doctor of Education in Christian Organizational Leadership focusing on ecumenical organizations. He currently teaches theology and sees clients as a biblical counselor. He lives in Tucson, AZ with his family.
Resource(s) of the Month: from last month’s CCT Forum and an eight-year-old blog.
In this current moment that seems to be clarifying how deeply – and in many ways intractably – divided we are from one another, I continue to believe it’s also another opportunity to move towards others across difference and division rather than pulling away from relationships. To that end, I wanted to offer you all a couple of resources:
First, I was reminded by a friend last week how much they were helped by a reflection on cheap unity versus costly unity that I had written on my (mostly neglected now) blog page eight years ago. It was also a good “posture reset” for me in reading it again, so I thought I’d share it with all of you here.
And then from the Christian Churches Together Forum gathering last month, a simple 1-page overview of CCT’s approach to receptive ecumenism that will help each of us to “ready, relate, receive, repent and respond” as we build relational bridges.
January 18-25 is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Beginning more than a century ago and taking place between the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter (January 18) and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25), these eight days offer Christians from various traditions the opportunity to come together across our divisions to pray together. This kind of commitment to pray is at the core of The Initiative, and the week is becoming an anchor point for our chapters around the country as they form.
This year’s theme, liturgies, and prayer guides were developed to honor the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, which followers of Jesus have been reciting together for centuries. The Scripture text is John 11:26. The planners of theme have explained it in this beautiful paragraph:
“If faith can raise the dead and conquer all fear, surely faith will bring us the miracle of unity as Christians. Remembering that division, separation and rejection are symptoms of sin, the healing of the Church comes about in the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray knowing to whom it is we pray, as one community. God wills us to reconcile. God wills us to love one another. God will give those who profess the faith of Martha, of Nicaea and of all the holy ones who have gone before us, the precious gift of unity.”
Are you interested in learning more about how you might be able to participate or help organize a prayer event in your community during the Week of Prayer? Reply to this email or reach out through info(at)theinitiative(dot)org.
In what’s become something of an Advent tradition for our community, you can also join us on Zoom Monday December 16th at 8:00pm to pray for the Week of Prayer.
Please pray for our Leadership Council, as we meet in Chicago this next Monday and Tuesday (11/18-19) for a time of reflection, evaluation and planning for the future of The Initiative!
Finally, this is the time of year when many ministry organizations and non-profits use the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to invite folks to practice generosity as a part of their Thanksgiving celebration.
We’ve had small Giving Tuesday campaigns the past two years, and once again we’re inviting folks to consider a small donation that will help us continue establishing chapters of The Initiative in several new locations. Keep an eye on our social media and website for more information. And if you’d like to invest something in the chapters project, click on the button below. Thanks!
As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m so thankful for each of you and for the ways that you enrich The Initiative: by reading this (kind of long) update, by the encouragement you offer, and through your prayers and generosity.
I pray for each of you to receive some kind of gift from this newsletter, and may God give you precious gifts of faith and unity!
Yours in Christ’s Love,
Scott Brill
Executive Director
