On Saturday, October 29, 2016, Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont, hosted a celebration and luncheon in thanksgiving for the ongoing ecumenical dialogue between Methodists and Episcopalians. Those gathered shared Eucharist in Kresge Chapel and the Rev. Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan, President of Claremont School of Theology, preached. The service commemorated Anglican priests, John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism.
“Ecumenical ties are the life blood of CST,” explained President Kuan. “Our charter explicitly calls for the School to commit itself to ecumenical education and engagement. Today that commitment includes interreligious education as well as the on-campus presence of students, faculty and staff from a wide range of traditions. We are so fortunate to take this journey with friends at Bloy House.”
“The Episcopal-United Methodist dialogue is an important relationship in the life of the church,” said The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, CST Vice President of Academic Affairs and Bloy House professor of Anglican Studies. “CST and Bloy House have been living this relationship for many years and we hope to introduce our students to the work of the committee next semester.”
Rev. Dr. Kujawa-Holbrook co-presided with the Very Rev. Sylvia Sweeney, Bloy House Dean and President. “Our commemoration felt like a wonderful, life-filled, hope-filled event that helped bring Episcopalians and Methodists closer together,” said Rev. Sweeney. “I am honored to be a part of this amazing time of reconciliation; a time when we can celebrate more of what unites us than what makes us different from one another.”
Rev. Patricia Farris, Chair of CST’s Board of Trustees, is also a United Methodist member of the national dialog team which met in Chicago prior to the Bloy House event. She shared this perspective at Bloy House during the lunch presentation. “It was a joy for me to come straight from our national meeting and share this with the students of Bloy House,” said Rev. Farris, who is also senior pastor at First UMC Santa Monica. “The work of bilateral dialogue provides opportunities for listening, healing, establishment of mutual respect, and celebration of opportunities for mutual mission and witness. This proactive work and witness of the church can be one of healing and hope to a world torn by violence and enmity.”
According to a communique created by the national team in Chicago, areas of concern include the “deep polarization in our nation and of the poisonous political rhetoric in this election season. These divisions are not new and our churches are not exempt. We acknowledge that United Methodists and Episcopalians also participate in the divisiveness raging in our society.”
The national team continued its work on an informational document of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as well as a statement for full communion called “A Gift to the World: Co Laborers for the Healing of Brokenness.”
“We noted numerous examples places where United Methodists and Episcopalians are already working in mission together, most recently in our ecumenical solidarity at the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation,” said the communique. “Our efforts of working toward full communion have progressed over many years. We are convinced the time is now to move forward toward legislation and church wide engagement. To a world torn by division, mistrust and fear, our witness of Full Communion is a beautiful sign of life and hope. After all, Jesus prayed for his disciples to be one as he and the Father are one, so that the world may know (John 17); Paul also reminds us that we are one Body (1 Corinthians 12).” Read the full communique here .
In closing his homily at Saturday’s gathering, President Kuan quoted from a letter John Wesley, the Anglican, wrote in 1749 to a Roman Catholic friend, saying, “Let us in all our conversations – either with or concerning each other – use only the language of love. Let us endeavor to help each other in whatever we are agreed leads to the kingdom. So far as we can, let us always rejoice to strengthen each other’s hand in God.”
Rev. Farris added, “Here at CST, we live into this new reality week in and week out. Truly, our unity is God’s gift, to the church and to the world.”