Devotion - Wednesday, November 8

A couple of us went to the Catholic Student dinner last night, carrying with us the candle stand given to our Lutheran Bishop by the Catholic Bishop.  In a very simple ceremony, we repeated the affirmations of the Call to Common Mission.  These affirmations are invitations to unity; they are also strong guides for the way each of us should live our lives.

Allow me to share them with you this morning:

The first imperative

Catholics and Lutherans should always begin from the perspective of unity and not from the point of view of division in order to strengthen what is held in common even though the differences are more easily seen and experienced.

The second imperative

Lutherans and Catholics must let themselves continuously be transformed by the encounter with the other and by the mutual witness of faith.

The third imperative

Catholics and Lutherans should again commit themselves to seek visible unity, to elaborate together what this means in concrete steps, and to strive repeatedly toward this goal.

The fourth imperative

Lutherans and Catholics should jointly rediscover the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ for our time.

The fifth imperative

Catholics and Lutherans should witness together to the mercy of God in proclamation and service to the world.

I am more guilty than most of lifting up the things which lead to a variety of denominations among God's people.  The affirmations above could be re-written with the name of any faith community.  The call to rediscover the power of the gospel for our time and to be active in our service to the world needs to reclaim the center of every congregation and ministry group.j

May God guide us in living into these affirmations and living them out in our lives together.