Come with me as I tip toe among the tulips of memories near and far that show the extent of the 'closed system' mentality that the majority of our Christian communities have. What must the good God think when from His vantage point He sees each closed system and the treasures within each that should be shared for the good of all and the advancement of His kingdom?
These are not in any particular order.
A conversation with a Seventh Day Adventist about how they could see value in 24 hour/7 days a week prayer, but not sure how to get it started or keep it going. Then over a year later listening to a Baptist so excited about what God did through the Morovian Christian community and their 24/7 prayer over many decades. More recently there is the International House of Prayer in Kansas City https://www.ihopkc.org/ that broadcasts 24/7 prayer (or more accurately live worship music). Yet none of them know about the 5th century monastic movement in Constantinople led by St Marcellus Akimetes where with three groups the Divine Office was chanted 24 hours a day. They were called the 'non-resters'. A little later in history with Odo of Cluny in the 10th century there was a revision of the Benedictine Rule to emphasise the praise of God perpetually (24/7). Various religious orders, mostly contemplative ones, continue to practice 24/7 adoration of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament (eg Tyburn Nuns). In more recent times there have been perpetual adoration chapels set up in parishes, with massive increases in conversions and vocations arising from them. If you are on Twitter visit the 23 Dec 2018 post of @frpatrickop and the vocations that have come out of 20 years of perpetual adoration in his home parish.
They are all responses to 1 Thess 5:17, 'to pray without ceasing', and there is much we can learn from all of them. Can you imagine God's agony when the on-fire community of Methodists in a capital city starts working towards 24/7 prayer when around the corner there is a chapel of perpetual adoration that has already been going for 4 years?
So much more could happen if we join together rather than expend time and resources 're-inventing the wheel'.
Have you wandered into a Christian bookstore recently? I went into a rather well stocked one recently and gave them a list of Christian authors that I had found online. Only about 2 out of 10 were on the shelves, maybe because my list had prophets and non-denominational church leaders with international reputations on it, and the store was more geared to evangelistic resources and family ministry – and apart from the bibles, the only other title that would have been found in a Catholic bookstore was Brother Lawrence's 'The Practice of the Presence of God'. So we have a Christian bookstore largely ignorant of the charismatic/pentecostal dimension of faith, and both ignorant of the swathes of classic Catholic spiritual literature that has withstood the test of many centuries.
Could you imagine what might happily happen if the three groups shared their 'best of the best' with each other, or at least allowed a bit of cross-pollination to occur? Thankfully Amazon Kindle helps that happen for me when birthday and Christmas arrive.
Then we have the Christian talk show hosts on radio, free-to air and paid television services, and via YouTube channels and some of you may have heard of Sid Roth, Larry Sparks, Glory of Zion, Cradio, EWTN, Benny Hinn, God TV, The Catholic Guy, The Journey Home, and there's plenty more. The guest speakers tend to come from a community of people who listen and read each other's stuff. Very little in the way of cross-pollination occurs.
I was encouraged at the Divine Renovation conference 2016 and the inclusion of Lee Kricher's input and the presence of pastoral leaders from other Christian communities in attendance at that event. More of this needs to happen, using either the biblical 'Test all things, hold on to what is good' 1 Thess 5:21 or the more modern Fr James Mallon CASE strategy 'Copy And Steal Everything' from other churches that is working and producing missionary disciples of Jesus.
Any closed system that doesn't get fresh input goes stale.
Twenty years ago the then Fr Porteous (now Archbishop) made sure that at Conferences and Summer Schools there would be speakers from outside the Covenant Community systems. He brought in noted moral theologians and scripture scholars and bioethicists, local and international, even bishops noted for orthodoxy and not for charisma, so that we could hear the same truths dressed in different language and with more rigorous insights and thus ground our faith in deeper and richer sources. One year we even had input from the Eastern Rites of the Church. However today I notice that in many places this commitment to fresh input is missing. Yes it is cheaper to use 'home grown' speakers, or speakers who have visited several times in the past, but the growth, the fresh perspectives, the outcomes of having a different mirror held up to your lived experience to reflect upon, that only happens when there is fresh input. Each speaker, no matter how anointed, only has a finite amount of revelation from God to pass on to others.
Variety and cross-pollination in moderation is crucially important.
We need it all, the evangelists, the apologists, the intercessory prayer warriors, the catechists, the theologians, the bible scholars, the prophets, the entrepreneurs in new forms of Christian ministry, the worship leaders, the song-writers, the artists, the social media apostles, the workers of mercy, the talented administrators, the hospitality teams, those with healing and deliverance ministries etc. Anything missing diminishes us as a whole, and each part needs to have fresh input and encouragement on a regular basis.
Dear God, may the walls of mutual ignorance come tumbling down soon!
These are not in any particular order.
A conversation with a Seventh Day Adventist about how they could see value in 24 hour/7 days a week prayer, but not sure how to get it started or keep it going. Then over a year later listening to a Baptist so excited about what God did through the Morovian Christian community and their 24/7 prayer over many decades. More recently there is the International House of Prayer in Kansas City https://www.ihopkc.org/ that broadcasts 24/7 prayer (or more accurately live worship music). Yet none of them know about the 5th century monastic movement in Constantinople led by St Marcellus Akimetes where with three groups the Divine Office was chanted 24 hours a day. They were called the 'non-resters'. A little later in history with Odo of Cluny in the 10th century there was a revision of the Benedictine Rule to emphasise the praise of God perpetually (24/7). Various religious orders, mostly contemplative ones, continue to practice 24/7 adoration of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament (eg Tyburn Nuns). In more recent times there have been perpetual adoration chapels set up in parishes, with massive increases in conversions and vocations arising from them. If you are on Twitter visit the 23 Dec 2018 post of @frpatrickop and the vocations that have come out of 20 years of perpetual adoration in his home parish.
They are all responses to 1 Thess 5:17, 'to pray without ceasing', and there is much we can learn from all of them. Can you imagine God's agony when the on-fire community of Methodists in a capital city starts working towards 24/7 prayer when around the corner there is a chapel of perpetual adoration that has already been going for 4 years?
So much more could happen if we join together rather than expend time and resources 're-inventing the wheel'.
Have you wandered into a Christian bookstore recently? I went into a rather well stocked one recently and gave them a list of Christian authors that I had found online. Only about 2 out of 10 were on the shelves, maybe because my list had prophets and non-denominational church leaders with international reputations on it, and the store was more geared to evangelistic resources and family ministry – and apart from the bibles, the only other title that would have been found in a Catholic bookstore was Brother Lawrence's 'The Practice of the Presence of God'. So we have a Christian bookstore largely ignorant of the charismatic/pentecostal dimension of faith, and both ignorant of the swathes of classic Catholic spiritual literature that has withstood the test of many centuries.
Could you imagine what might happily happen if the three groups shared their 'best of the best' with each other, or at least allowed a bit of cross-pollination to occur? Thankfully Amazon Kindle helps that happen for me when birthday and Christmas arrive.
Then we have the Christian talk show hosts on radio, free-to air and paid television services, and via YouTube channels and some of you may have heard of Sid Roth, Larry Sparks, Glory of Zion, Cradio, EWTN, Benny Hinn, God TV, The Catholic Guy, The Journey Home, and there's plenty more. The guest speakers tend to come from a community of people who listen and read each other's stuff. Very little in the way of cross-pollination occurs.
I was encouraged at the Divine Renovation conference 2016 and the inclusion of Lee Kricher's input and the presence of pastoral leaders from other Christian communities in attendance at that event. More of this needs to happen, using either the biblical 'Test all things, hold on to what is good' 1 Thess 5:21 or the more modern Fr James Mallon CASE strategy 'Copy And Steal Everything' from other churches that is working and producing missionary disciples of Jesus.
Any closed system that doesn't get fresh input goes stale.
Twenty years ago the then Fr Porteous (now Archbishop) made sure that at Conferences and Summer Schools there would be speakers from outside the Covenant Community systems. He brought in noted moral theologians and scripture scholars and bioethicists, local and international, even bishops noted for orthodoxy and not for charisma, so that we could hear the same truths dressed in different language and with more rigorous insights and thus ground our faith in deeper and richer sources. One year we even had input from the Eastern Rites of the Church. However today I notice that in many places this commitment to fresh input is missing. Yes it is cheaper to use 'home grown' speakers, or speakers who have visited several times in the past, but the growth, the fresh perspectives, the outcomes of having a different mirror held up to your lived experience to reflect upon, that only happens when there is fresh input. Each speaker, no matter how anointed, only has a finite amount of revelation from God to pass on to others.
Variety and cross-pollination in moderation is crucially important.
We need it all, the evangelists, the apologists, the intercessory prayer warriors, the catechists, the theologians, the bible scholars, the prophets, the entrepreneurs in new forms of Christian ministry, the worship leaders, the song-writers, the artists, the social media apostles, the workers of mercy, the talented administrators, the hospitality teams, those with healing and deliverance ministries etc. Anything missing diminishes us as a whole, and each part needs to have fresh input and encouragement on a regular basis.
Dear God, may the walls of mutual ignorance come tumbling down soon!
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