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 still holding space for folks to join us in Chicago in mid-June and plant more seeds of unity. We’re also featuring a reflection on Pope Leo from Council member Elizabeth Woodard. 

Seeds Grow

     In the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells a parable that compares the Kingdom of God to someone planting seeds, quite confidently expecting them to grow, “though he does not know how.” (Mark 4:27). My own engineering sensibility finds this little parable difficult to reconcile. I want to know exactly how the growth is going to take place. There’s got to be a system there, right? If we can capture the process, then we can repeat it with increasing efficiency and productivity.
I’m continually discovering that the work of missional ecumenism – contrary to those sensibilities – has Jesus’ kind of confident-if-ignorant seed-planting mystery in spades (pardon the mixed metaphor pun). Bringing Christians together across divides for the sake of embodying God’s love to the world is a lot more like farming and a lot less like producing widgets. There aren’t a lot of grand, sweeping victories to point to, and much of the time our way of life in The Initiative seems like a lot of seed sowing. But seeds grow. It’s what they’re made to do.
So when we gather, like we’ll do in Chicago in about a month, we’re planting more seeds of unity and love. I don’t know exactly how that’s going to happen this time, but I’m grateful for another opportunity for us to experience this confident-if-ignorant posture of trusting God as we move toward one another across our differences. I’ve been repeating something along these lines as I’ve been inviting folks to come to the Carmelite Center in mid-June: “I don’t have a grand plan or ‘pitch’ for this time together. Just a strong sense of the value of a geographically and generationally and denominationally diverse group of people discerning together what the call of God is to us at this moment to live out missional love that is greater than division.”
It’s not too late for you to join us if that resonates with you and you can pull it off logistically. We still have some space and we still have some resources to help you get there if needed. You can see the details below and just click to the registration page.

Resource(?) of the Month

     In the month since the last newsletter, Christians around the world (both Catholic and non-Catholic) have mourned the passing of Pope Francis, myself included. In the span of his papacy, the seeds of my own calling to missional unity grew significantly. I still remember my amazement as I read line by line through Evangelii Gaudium (his first apostolic exhortation in 2013) and the deep encouragement of the personal letter he wrote to an Evangelical/Catholic dialogue I was part of in 2015.
This past month, we’ve also witnessed the election of a new Pope, Leo XIV (perhaps I should refer to him as “Da Pope” for all the Chicago friends of The Initiative 😉). Since his time as Bishop or Rome is just beginning, it’s hard to tell yet what seeds he’ll be planting. But it is a moment to lean in to that confident-if-ignorant place of Mark’s parable. Elizabeth Woodard, a Catholic theologian and member of our Leadership Council, has written an excellent reflection very much along those lines for our friends from UniteBoston, which I wanted to share with you all here. Please give it a read.
From my perspective as a Protestant, I think it’s not insignificant that Pope Leo is an Augustinian (after all, Martin Luther was an Augustinian priest, too!) If you’d like to do a deeper dive on some of the fruit that might grow from those seeds, I’ll point you to two more reflections: one from a Catholic Augustinianwho knows Pope Leo personally and one from a Protestant professor of philosophy.

In her reflection, Elizabeth also mentioned the cohort sponsored by UniteBoston that we were both participated in over the past year. So many good seeds were confidently planted there! We’ll be sharing more about that in the months ahead!

Let me say once again how thankful I am for everyone who reads these updates, gives generously and faithfully to our work, and prays for “love greater than division.”

You are confidently sowing seeds and trusting in God’s mysterious ways of growth. May each of you continue to experience that in your own little “farming patch” of God’s kingdom!

Happy Easter!!

Yours in Christ’s Love,
Scott Brill
Executive Director