A good Mennonite friend of mine
from Buhler, Kansas, posted the attached video onto her Facebook™
Timeline.
Obviously, I have disclosed that I fellowship with a Roman Catholic group on Saturday evenings when in Chicago (no – I am Mennonite, not Catholic). I fellowship with them because I enjoy the method by which they delve into the scripture readings for the service and because I have found within the Roman Catholic church a continued, obstinate dedication to old Mennonite values such as Communitarianism, Pacifism, Social Outreach, personalism or Pietism in one’s relationship to Christ, and Grace – especially amongst the orders (Franciscans, Jesuits, Vincentians and the Poor Claire’s).
Having similarly attended numerous fellow Evangelical services, I have
found myself all too often discouraged that while many churches share a commitment
to Biblicism and the Evangelical message, I have left too many of these services
feeling that the fruits from that service were negative, judgmental or
counter-productive – or just as often, having experienced what I often refer to
as Evangelical-lite – meaning that I experienced Truth but was leaving the
service still spiritually hungry. I have
found certain Roman Catholic services and a few Evangelical Free Services to be
a better mix for my own personal spiritual needs and “character.” So I am a bit ecumenical by nature. (Clarification, in saying this, I am stating
that I believe that each individual has different needs and will find those
needs met in different settings. The characteristics and needs of the New Testament churches were likewise greatly divergent and relative to their situation.)
That is not to say that I agree with fellow Catholic Christians
regarding infant baptism – but even in that regard, I have found my former
understanding of their theology to be a bit over-simplified and am comfortable
that a Roman Catholic who has completed the Catechistic process to be
potentially every bit as much the adult believer as are Mennonites. That being said, I have wondered about the
very close political ties between groups such as the Southern Baptist
Conference and certain Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches – how can
they, and we, cooperate so closely when the latter three churches also practice
or do not exclude infant baptism. Our
Mennonite churches in Congo / Zaire are part of the same ministerial structure as
the pedo-baptists. How can one group be
judged so harshly and the others just as easily forgiven? I have not yet received a great explanation
in that regard.