UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

Fratelli Tutti – Everyone is Connected: Brothers and Sisters, All

Sunday, January 3, 2021, 4 – 5:30pm

Online via Zoom

(Registration ends at 3pm on the day of, and the Zoom link will be sent right after that)

 

Fr. Tom Ryan of the Paulist Center will deliver remarks on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, reflecting on how we can all live out the call to fraternity, social friendship, and solidarity. We could not think of a more fitting way to begin the new year. Father Tom Ryan is also a member of the UniteBoston Board of Directors. Responding to him will be Boston Islamic Seminary President Dr. Basyouny Nehela and others to be announced. Audience Q&A will follow the presentations.

 

Born and raised in southern Minnesota, Fr. Tom Ryan did his graduate studies in theology at the Washington (D.C.) Theological Union and the University of Geneva. He was ordained a Paulist in 1975, and served in campus ministry at the Ohio State University (Columbus) and at McGill University (Montreal, QC.), prior to directing the Montreal-based Canadian Centre for Ecumenism for 14 years and working in all ten provinces of Canada. Perceiving the need for places where Christians of different traditions could gather to share faith and life with each other as well as with members of other religions, he spearheaded the founding of Unitas in Montreal, an ecumenical center for spirituality and Christian meditation co-sponsored by eight different denominations. He served as its director for five years prior to answering the call of his community in January of 2000 to set up and develop the Paulist Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations.

 

Dr. Basyouny Nehela holds an M.A. in Fundamentals of Religion, and a Ph.D. with Honors in Da’wa and Islamic Culture, both from Al-Azhar University. He is currently the Dean of Academic Affairs and professor at Boston Islamic Seminary. Dr. Basyouny was previously an Associate professor at Qatar University’s Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Department of Islamic Creed and Da’wa, a faculty member at Al-Azhar University and Islamic American University, and Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston. He has also served as head, and coordinator of many academic committees covering Curriculum Enhancement, Core Curriculum, Strategic Plan, Academic Activities and Events, & Professional Development. He has taught many academic courses including Fundamentals of Dawa, Ethics, Comparative Religion, Islamic Creed, Islamic Culture, Quranic Studies,…etc.

 

To register, click here. For more info, please visit www.coopmet.org or email info@coopmet.org

Letter from Birmingham Jail: Public Reading & Reflection

All are welcome on the anniversary of Dr. King’s death for a public reading of Letter from Birmingham Jail, with times of personal and community reflection.

The Letter began in the margins of smuggled newspapers in response to criticism from moderate white clergy, and became the moral framework for the Civil Rights Movement. Today, it continues to call people of all faiths and none to pursue reconciliation in our communities.

With special guest Rev. Emmett G. Price III, Ph.D. Dean of the Chapel & Founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

For questions or more information email richard@nscbc.org

Transforming Hostility into Enemy-Embracing Love Sermon

Do you want to learn more about the theology behind Christian unity?

UniteBoston’s Executive Director Kelly Fassett preached at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary this past Wednesday. Her sermon was titled “Transforming Hostility into Enemy-Embracing Love.” Jesus redefined who we should associate with and modeled enemy-embracing love, even for the people that were nailing him to the cross. The sermon is centered on the scripture text Ephesians 2:11-22, which emphasizes Jesus’ reconciling peace, and the work of Christ that destroyed hostility between Jews and Gentiles.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.” (Ephesians 2:14-17)

As Christians, how can people believe that we are reconciled to God, if we aren’t reconciled to one another? Kelly believes that there is one major component that is preventing unity and reconciliation: hostility. She highlights four steps we can take to uncover the hostility we may be holding towards other Christians by:

  1. Reflecting on which Christian groups we consider to be outside of the “true Christian church”
  2. Going with curiosity to learn from people and worship settings
  3. Reflecting and discerning which aspects of their faith that you want to adopt into your own Christian practice
  4. Speaking well of fellow Christians and treating them as if they were the living, breathing body of Christ

She states boldly that Christian unity is a process by which the church is brought to maturity (Eph 2:21-22, Eph 4:15-16). Our differences even among Christians seem to lead to intractable polarization and division – Listen to the sermon below to reflect, learn and grow together across the diversity of Christian belief and practice.

 

Please join us for Chapel at 11:10am (EST) to hear Kelly Fassett preach the Word.

Publicado por Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary en Miércoles, 13 de febrero de 2019

 

Christ, Our Peace

This week, we hear from UniteBoston’s own Kelly Steinhaus, as she shares how the upcoming 10 Days of Prayer provides Boston’s diverse Christian community an opportunity to reconcile differences by remembering Christ as our Peace.

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For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16)

What a radical concept Christian unity is! The fact that in Christ, we are one!

This heavenly reality certainly does not appear to be true when we look around the world. We all come from various backgrounds and cultures, life experiences, and we have our own denominational distinctions. Each person sees the world very differently, and because of this, we are inherently prone to disagree with and distance ourselves from those who are culturally, denominationally, and ethnically distinct from us.

Yes, it is easier to worship with people who look like us, act like us, and have the same theological beliefs as us. But as Christians we are called to go beyond this place of comfort to see and value Christ in our neighbor.

Paul acknowledges the difficulty of extending Christian fellowship by exhorting us to “earnestly endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). According to Karl Barth, the Greek word here implies a “full effort of the whole man, involving his will, sentiment, reason, strength, and total attitude”. “Earnestly endeavor” is not simply an outward action of embracing the other, but is first and foremost an inward examination of our hearts.

When you look at your brother or sister, do you see Jesus? What might be hindering your view?

From my experience, one of the chief hindrances to Christian unity is my need to be right. This places walls between me and my brothers and sisters, resulting in a self-righteous attitude. At the end of the day, only God knows those who are His, and so the “right” answer is Jesus’ work and righteousness, extended to all.

During 10 Days Boston, we have the opportunity to step outside our comfort zones to get to know our brothers and sisters from various denominations and backgrounds. As we do this, we learn to respect those that disagree with us. We learn to be confident in the fact that the fellowship of the saints goes beyond a uniform doctrine to involve a unity of Spirit (Eph 4:3) based on the inward spiritual rebirth of those who confess faith in Jesus as Lord. We also learn to value the breadth of Christian traditions rather than promoting a particular expression as having greater spiritual authority over another. Indeed, the deep, difficult work of Christian unity is to respect and honor those with whom we may have significant disagreements.

When we step back, we realize that the one and only thing that makes us one is our revelation of Jesus Christ. It is what Jesus did in his incarnation, sacrifice, and resurrection that has reconciled us to God and to one another, thus forming an inseverable and eternal peace. It’s as we all gaze at Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross that we are one.

Jesus, we confess our tendency to exclude rather than to include, to judge rather than to honor, and to assert our position rather than to love unconditionally. Lord, have mercy.

 

*Note: This devotional is a part of the 2015 daily devotional published by the national 10 Days team.

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Crossroads of Peace in Boston’s Back Bay

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These past four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community. This week, Andrew Walker, UB Rep in the Back Bay, shares his insights.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and finish in May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com

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When I think of Back Bay, two symbols come to mind that help me capture the character of this neighborhood: a pen and a wagon wheel. The pen represents learning and the pursuits that require a high level of literacy. Most of the activities that are evident in the Back Bay, from commerce to the various trades and occupations require learning and literacy as basic preconditions.

The wagon wheel brings to mind travel; and the Back Bay is certainly a hub of travel with Back Bay Station serving as a major gateway bringing people into the city and sending them to destinations within the region and beyond. Numerous hotels and restaurants provide hospitality for these travelers as well as those calling this home. And a healthy selection of shops along Boylston and Newbury Street attract shoppers from near and far.

For the most part, the resident population in Back Bay are those who can afford the high real estate prices, which consists of people with professional or highly technical training who hold jobs in the near vicinity. Among them are many families, as well as many with no close family ties.

The churches in the Back Bay are mostly examples of “traditional mainstream” denominations. Their congregations draw from the immediate neighborhoods, but also among them are some who come from surrounding schools as well some who commute to church, just as they commute to work sites in the Back Bay. But there are also a few more recent church planting efforts. The CityLife Presbyterian Church and Renewal Church are two examples of growing fellowships whose leaders speak with great excitement about praying and working for renewal in the city guided by the Spirit of Christ. They seem to be reaching mostly students and young working folks.

So one might gain an impression of the Back Bay being a crossroads offering comfortable domesticity as well as lively commercial and entertainment activity. But there is also in the Back Bay a confrontation with a less comfortable contrast: In 2013 the celebration of cosmopolitan expansiveness that is so much a part of the Boston Marathon and so appropriate to the character of the Back Bay was shattered by the explosion of two bombs. We witnessed and marveled at heroic interventions by so many first responders. In the following weeks admirable efforts were launched in aid of the casualties and their families. All of Boston’s citizens rightly drew encouragement from these acts and efforts. And then, four months later a young man was shot to death on Boylston Str., just across from Trinity Church. This event was not completely over looked by local media, but it got nowhere near the attention of the Marathon Bombing. That young man’s mother has asked us to consider, was the loss of her son any less tragic? Similarly, leaders in other Boston neighborhoods have asked us to consider, of the more than 300 shootings in other parts of the city, over the past ten years, are they any less tragic that they are deserving of so much less attention?

As I consider the question that we are all addressing, what’s God doing among us, this contrast weighs heavily on my heart. But I am not without encouragement.

At First Lutheran Church in Boston, my home congregation on Berkeley Street, I was invited this spring to present 3 sessions of instruction in Biblical Peacemaking during Sunday Morning Adult Bible study. I was pleasantly surprised at how well received it was. Three sessions grew into five sessions and there were more participants at the last session than at the first. I was especially delighted to observe that the sessions included allot of discussion and many thoughtful and penetrative questions were raised and debated. Perhaps most encouraging was the readiness of participants to consider the consequences of avoidance of difficult questions; how the patterns of avoidance hinder discussion when important issues like budget need to be addressed.

Participants in the congregation at First Lutheran are in many ways similar to the folks in the immediate neighborhood. Some are families, some are single, many are students. And we are blessed by much cultural diversity. Career interests are similar. Economic goals are similar. So I don’t consider it too much of a stretch of imagination to suppose that the thoughtful interest in Biblical Peacemaking I was surprised by at First Lutheran might imply that a similar interest exists in the larger community.

God is working among us and we’ll see the benefits when we listen to Him and to one another.


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