Five hundred years ago the Christian Church began an internal war (historically we call it the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation) that caused us to lose our way in completing the call of the Gospel. We get a glimpse of this call in the first reading from Baruch as he proclaims: “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God.”
The central task of the Christian Church (the new Jerusalem) is that God’s glory be displayed through His work being done in and through his people. For almost a thousand years the Church lived up to this expectation as belief in Christ grew from it beginnings in Jerusalem to its being spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. We celebrate the missionaries who went into new lands to carry the Good News of God’s redeeming love and continued to build up the presence of God in the world through His Church.
With the Reformation came an internal wrangling about doctrine and discipline. In the disputes the united Christian Church splintered into a myriad of small sects each claiming a veracity greater than any other Christian understanding. We fought with each other for the next several hundred years and distracted ourselves from our central purpose. No longer was it singularly important that God’s glory be displayed, instead it became more important to proclaim who was right. With the advent of the second Vatican Council we have slowly been working towards Christian unity once again.
As we move closer to this season of Christmas let’s recall why we exist: that God’s glory be displayed by our words and work. There is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that sets the challenge before us:
Although we sing, “All glory to God on High and on the earth be peace,” there seems to be today neither glory to God nor peace on earth. As long as it remains a hunger still unsatisfied, as long as Christ is not yet born, we have to look forward to him. When real peace is established, we will not need demonstrations, but it will be echoed in our life, not only in individual life, but in corporate life. Then we shall say Christ is born.…Then we will not think of a particular day in the year as that of the birth of the Christ, but as an ever-recurring event which can be enacted in every life. Source: from a talk given on Christmas Day, 1931
Comments
There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment: