In the theme of this conference you speak about “Living in tents”. That is why we are called to be disciples, that is why we are called to be Christians, to be Church, to be signs of the one humanity God created us to be, together from all layers of society, of all tribes and nations, of confessions and continents, of different personalities and different. Love is first of all and most of all and in the very end the gift of God. Hope, faith and love belong always together. This means to go into an unknown future, as disciples of Christ, believing that love can create something more and something else than what we see today. Love is also the commitment to move together, as we said in the 10 th Assembly in Busan in 2013. Love is the commitment to stay together, as the first Assembly of the WCC said in 1948. Love is not only the good feelings we can have to one another. There is no true spirituality reflecting the belief in the triune God that is not an expression of the love of God, mirrored in deep human love. Love is what makes us really human and really spiritual. Love is what can trespass everything, particularly such obstacles. Love is not the sign of perfection or perfectionism, when everything is without obstacles, challenges, wounds, sorrows, conflicts or unrest. Therefore, all that we say and write about “unity” in the Church or among the churches, must serve the life given by God in the quality of relationships that is love. Love is to bind ourselves to one another in giving and receiving, in mutual relationships of life, also in structures of visible unity. Love is a reality shown in what we do, how we turn to one another in respect, in honour, in providing what the other needs, in bringing justice and peace into reality. If it turns into something like that, then it is not love anymore. Love is not a tool for dominion and abuse of power. Love is not something abstract, an idea, a principle. Just as the Father and the Son are one, because of the love that is expressed between them, so are also the followers of Christ one in God, in the love of God. The relationship between them is defined by their relationship to God in Christ. The long reflection on separation and belonging that is formulated so brilliantly in the Prayer of Jesus in John 17, from where we quote his prayer that “they all may be one”, is a long reflection on what it means to remain in love. The love between his disciples is the sign of them being one. The first and most significant content of the unity of the Church, is, as Jesus says: Love. I am pointing to the quality of relations, their thickness, their content and their structure, the dimensions of moral accountability in relationships and the dimension of hope and faith that is expressed in relationships. When we reflect on what “unity” or “visible unity” means for the Church, we have to pay attention to the Church as a reality of relations. I am not making a point of scholarly reading of dictionaries here. History shows that this idea easily also can be turned into a tool of power, of demanding uniformity, in terms of opinions, perspectives, identity and behaviour in a hierarchical or forced expression of controlled unity. Unity can be a beautiful idea to bind us together or a principle of harmony. The Gospels are not so much reflecting on ideas, theories or something abstract but speaks about the gifts of God, about human beings, the struggle of life, about attitudes, emotions and convictions – and much more that can bring people together in unity. We gather in the name of Christ who called his disciples – to what? To unity? Well, there is no text from the Gospels that exactly uses a word to be translated to “unity” as a description of the quality of relationships among the followers of Jesus Christ. This was the same time as the World Council of Churches was established as another concrete expression of churches relating to one another and searching visible unity in faith, witness and service to the one humanity for freedom, justice and peace. It is a great honour and joy to visit you here in the Church of South India - as a truly united church, one of those who really materialized the vision of visible unity of the ecumenical movement in the post-war and post-colonial period. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)ĭear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear fellow disciples of Christ,ĭear representatives of a United or Uniting Church,ĭear Moderator and hosts of the Church of South India, As I have loved you, so you must love one another. “A new command I give you: Love one another. The inauguration worship of the meeting of United and Uniting Churches St George Cathedral, Church of South India Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC
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