At the table with other Christians
“Our involvement in inter-Christian relations is about healing the belief that the healing activity of the Christ can be removed from Christianity and that the Christ can be divided,” says Beth Gibson, a member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Victoria, British Columbia. Beth works with multifaith organizations on behalf of our branch church.
Her comment reminded me of a sentence that Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “We must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can furnish us with absolute evidence” (p. 142 ).
Bridge building with those of other faiths requires patience, a gentle humility of listening, and a willingness to learn and to acknowledge the healing presence of the Christ. This wholeness of Christ is the central theme of Christianity, and extending this thought, one can also see that this Christly garment covers all.
This idea is illustrated in the story of Peter and Cornelius. It was Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who reached out to Peter in a remarkably courageous piece of bridge building. Cornelius was not a Jew, and this caused Peter to have no small amount of inner wrestling about what that meant in terms of this new religion of Christianity. But Peter was able to recognize the unity of Christ that binds us all together as one family. He said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34, 35, New International Version).
This concept of acceptance and openness became important to our church.
About a year ago, a local Anglican minister offered to introduce Beth to the Victoria Downtown Churches Association (DCA) with the thought of our church applying for membership. Beth accepted and made a presentation on Christian Science.
As she prepared for the meeting, Beth held very firmly to the idea that all are included in the whole Christ, that the healing Christ is represented where Christianity is represented. As such, it was inherently right that our church, literally, sit down at a table with other Christians. A couple of months later Beth received a polite letter from the chairwoman of the association rejecting her application. She wrote that they appreciated Beth’s presentation, but they needed to focus on issues pertaining to members of the Canadian Council of Churches and the Evangelical Churches of Canada. Our church didn’t belong to either organization.
The letter added that her application had led to a deep discussion about what membership meant. And it included the option of our participating in any public interfaith events to which the DCA invited us in the future.
In spite of her disappointment, Beth felt compassion for their struggle to define who they were as a group and what it meant to be members. However, she knew that Christianity is about the Christ, and that the exclusionary thinking behind the rejection could not stand.
If we see that we all belong to the Christ, doors that were formerly closed may open up.
Some months later, a Jewish cemetery in Victoria was badly vandalized. The rabbi was so touched by the ensuing outpouring of love from the community, that he invited religious leaders from all faiths to a “thank you” breakfast at his synagogue. Beth was one of the members of our church who attended. In the lineup for breakfast, Beth found herself standing next to the chairwoman of the DCA. They had a friendly exchange while in line, but went their separate ways to eat. Later, the chairwoman pulled up a chair beside Beth and joined in on a conversation Beth was having with a new minister in town.
This new minister’s Christian denomination is slightly more known than Christian Science, and when he inquired if there was a ministerial group in the city, the chairwoman eagerly told him about the DCA and said he was welcome to participate in it. In the ensuing conversation Beth felt embarrassed since she had been rejected, but she had compassion for the chairwoman who had written the rejection letter, feeling her discomfort about the situation also.
After the new minister had departed, the chairwoman turned to Beth and said: “I have never felt right about the decision regarding your application. The last thing we want is for the DCA to be an exclusive club. We would love for you to join.” Moved by this shift in thought, both women embraced and shed tears.
Beth joined, and is now spearheading a new project with the Association. She told me that one of the reasons she understood and felt compassion for what this association was going through was that many individual church members face the same questions: What does it mean to belong to a group, church, religion? If we change the rules does it mean that we have lost something? Does belonging become meaningless?
I agree with Beth that these are important questions. We can say we are all one family, but if we are holding on to our own personal sense of belonging, the “family” becomes exclusive. And it is hard for others to build a bridge to an exclusive club.
A different sense of what belonging truly means may be a beginning. If we see that we all belong to the Christ, and that the healing Christ is present within all denominations, doors that were formerly closed may open up.
The biggest surprise that has come out of all our branch church’s bridge building has been in who is building the bridges. Our members began by thinking that we needed to do the building and outreach, but it has actually been more about others building bridges to our church community. As we became more open and inclusive in our thought about others, we have become better listeners. We have found many ways to see the unity of the Christ in action in our community. And these interfaith activities have blessed our members.
Additionally, we decided to share our church space with the community. Musical groups have approached us about using the space for concerts and practices and are discovering the ideas of Christian Science in the literature left in the church.
Did we lose something as we extended our thought about what it means to belong? No, our sense of belonging has extended and widened into including the community in a better understanding of “the undivided garment, the whole Christ.”
