[Oe List ...] Help on "ecumenical" piece

[David Walters]

Our use of ecumenical in our name has its roots in the meeting of the
World Coucil of Churches that met in Evanston in 1954. They decide
that there shuld be an ecumenicalcentre in the Us similar to the
Ecumenical Institute in Bossy and similar centres that hd sprung up
in Eurpoe during the post-war 1940s. The doucument produced by the
WCC meeteing in 54 should provide more clues. My copy is somehow
missing in action. Another is did Bishop Jim attend this meeting and
what is his memory and what can be found in his papers? By this time
Bishop Jim was pretty much the de facto leader in the Methdist Church
globally.

My other memory is that I was an observer at the 1968 plenary of the
Counsultation on Church Union. This is where i first met Bishop Jim
who was an offical delegate. I was able to sit at the table with him
uring most of meals and the conversations were very nlightening.
Although COCU never achieved its stated goal it did provide a
vechicle for doilogue in this counrty amoung people from the
denomination that were officially a part of it and the 75 0r 8
others, incuding Roman Catholics, that came as observors.

I also would not be sao q
  
>Thank you, Jann,
>
> 
>
>One reason to write the paper on "ecumenical" is to move beyond the
>narrow
>meanings you allude to  and reclaim the word's inclusive meaning. It
>is so,
>so much bigger and wider and deeper than a few Christian
>denominations
>working together.  As you know, at its root it refers to "world
>house"
>(oikos/oikoumene), or the whole world community, or cosmos, or at
>least as
>big as the Earth community. MLK was going further than most, but did
>not go
>nearly far enough:
>
> 
>
>"We have inherited a big house, a great 'world house' [oikoumene] in
>which
>we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and
>Westerners,
>Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a
>family
>unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can
>never
>again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big
>world,
>to live with each other. 
>    "This means that more and more our loyalties must become
>ecumenical
>[oikoumene] rather than sectional. We must now give an overriding
>loyalty to
>mankind [sic] as a whole in order to preserve the best in our
>individual
>societies.
>   "This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly
>concern
>beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation [sic] is in reality a
>call for
>an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men [sic]." 
>
> 
>
>~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, from Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Dec. 11,
>1964
>(45 years ago)
>
> 
>
>MLK's is a far better definition of "oikoumene" than the 1960's
>Protestant
>Christian use, but it is much too narrow to do justice to the great
>word
>"ecumenical." The three "sic's" above have to be included, of course,
>but
>transcended:
>
> 
>
>*	from "mankind/humankind" to "Earth community"
>*	from "tribe, race, class, and nation" to "Earth community"
>*	from "men" and women to "Earth community"
>
>We have to shift from a "human-centered understanding of
>world-centered" to
>Earth-community-centered, or even cosmology-centered. Absolutely we
>have to
>shift from an interfaith/interreligious understanding of the word
>"ecumenical." It is truly evolutionary and revolutionary. Much bigger
>than
>religious. Much bigger than "cultural." Properly understood,
>"history-long
>and world-wide" takes on new meaning. The "world house" has to be
>itself,
>maybe for the first time, in our understanding.
>
> 
>
>So, I'm a proud member of the Ecumenical Institute and am glad that
>institution is still in being, still a legal entity, even.
>
> 
>
>Thanks for mentioning Fox's book. I've got it. I'll see if he and how
>he
>uses the word "ecumenical." 
>
> 
>
>Seasons' Greetings to you,
>
> 
>
>John
>
>
>  _____  
>
>From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On
>Behalf
>Of laurelcg at aol.com
>Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2009 1:10 AM
>To: oe at wedgeblade.net
>Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Help on "ecumenical" piece
>
>
>Dear John
> 
>It was my impression that after we started working in places where
>Christianity was a small minority, the word ecumenical was not
>helpful,
>because it connoted inter-denominational Christian rather than
>inter-faith.
>I don't feel very confident in this. I thought that was  why "I.C.A."
>and a
>more secular approach was adopted, and other forms took the place of
>the
>daily office.
> 
>Matthew Fox's book One River, Many Wells might be helpful.
> 
>Blessings,
>Jann
> 
>In a message dated 12/23/2009 7:17:01 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>jpc2025 at triad.rr.com writes:
>
>Am writing a paper on meaning of "ecumenical." 
>
>I think the word can help us articulate our individual take on
>universal
>reality as our gracioius home, our depth calling as a movemental
>community
>(why did we choose the word for EI and OE?), our comprehensive
>mission as
>the Earth community, and much more. Trying to get hold of a fuller
>context
>of the word. 
>
>If you have any insights, please share.
>
>John
>
>