Christian Unity
This subject has both interested and confused me since becoming a Christian but recently I have been looking into it in greater depth.
No doubt we all enjoy fellowship with friends in our place of worship and bonds may be formed, especially with those with whom we share similar beliefs and tastes in worship, but for some that’s as far as it goes. Should it indeed go any further? I think it should.
I was brought up in a mainstream Methodist Church and in the past few years have leaned towards the evangelical, so until I came to University, and for some time afterwards, I had very little experience and a very distorted view of the higher Churches and Catholicism.
It all seemed so silly — people wearing frocks and silly hats, speaking in Latin so no-one can understand, swinging incense and spending ridiculous amounts of money on regalia that could have been spent on “more important things”.
But my views (although slowly) are still changing. My tastes remain the same, though I’m starting to respect and appreciate other peoples views but there is still a long way to go.
I’m sure that this is not a one sided complaint as I feel that people from Catholic/High Church backgrounds have biased views of people like me (dancing in the aisles and waving arms about in the air). In my opinion, these views can’t be anything but bad.
On the University front, Unity is increasing but still leaves a lot to be desired. There are Christian Leaders meetings every now and then but these are often poorly attended and lack enthusiasm from any of those taking part. There is the Christian Unity service once a year (which I helped in organising last time) which I felt was a great step forward and gave some of those taking part a feeling of fellowship with others who before had been distant or alien.
But this effect doesn’t last long and people soon go back to their stereotypical views of other Christians and their styles of worship.
Maybe I’m being overly critical but I know the above was true for myself only a year ago and I’m not finding it easy to change.
There must, though, be a way forward. I can see two ways in which we can go forward.
Firstly the individual must accept that they are prejudiced (if they are, and I don’t think there are many of us who are not) and then try and combat their prejudice by taking a closer look at the views of those they are prejudiced against.
Recently I took a weekend break from University life to go on a Chaplaincy organised retreat to an Anglican Monastery. The weekend comprised of times of silence and reflection, worship with the community (plainsong) and meetings where one of the Brothers taught us some finer points of prayer and praise (obviously from a High Church view).
I could accept the silence and reflection as it was for that that I went on the retreat, but the worship and what we were told in the meetings seemed so alien to me and contrary to what I felt that, for the first day, I was put off a great deal. But later on, after prayer and after talking with friends I knew I had to break this determination to discard what I was seeing as wrong and accept that maybe there was something to be learned from it.
I actually found that I could accept and respect those views of others which seemed so wrong to me without in anyway detracting from my own.
The second way of breaking down barriers is to promote communication and fellowship between Christians of differing persuasions.
Just as in the way that a white person brought up in an all white area who rarely met or communicated with Blacks would be naturally curious and prejudiced against them, so someone who is used to a set style of Christianity would be prejudiced against a Christian with a differing style unless he/she met and communicated with the other on a regular basis.
This was one of the reasons behind the “All Night Prayer And Praise Celebration” (end of week 8 last term), being an event where Christians of all denominations (a word I don’t like using when referring to people) could experience each others style of worship and have fellowship together.
Communities like Taize and Iona are prime examples of where this can work most effectively.
I encourage anyone reading this to take a close look at themselves and ask the question “Am I unwarrantedly prejudiced?”, and if the answer is yes, to do something about it.