Looking back on this summer with The Episcopal Church’s festival “It’s All About Love,” the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee meeting, and the active work of the Churches Beyond Borders, we are encouraged by the fruits of an ecumenical summer.
Now, looking toward the fall, we are reminded that there is also a quiet harvest of listening to reap. Ecumenical and interreligious engagement always draws us outside of ourselves and into issues of common concern: common concern for the reparative work ahead. Our planet and our siblings everywhere call us ever more into a state of listening. As Christians, we have an opportunity not to dominate and to listen and engage in ways that acknowledge the deep wounds all around us.
The work highlighted here helps us engage this crucial listening and decentering work. Whether it is the upcoming ecumenical dialogues, August’s Parliament of the World’s Religions, or the many events coming this fall and winter (among them, the Christian Unity Gathering and the Christian Churches Together forum), we enter with our hearts open, ready to be disrupted and reinvigorated as we move forward into greater circles of belonging.
We hope you enjoy the recaps and news stories in this fall newsletter. Come along as we reap a harvest of listening.
Sincerely,
Hank Jeannel, associate for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations