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One Church, indivisible: Aimee's blog from Crete

Once every five years or so, a group of about 120 men and women, pastors, laypersons, academics, and church leaders get together to talk about the issues that still divide the churches. It's called the Faith and Order Plenary Commission, and its next meeting will take place at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Greece, 7-13 October 2009. oac

This year, I've been invited to go.

And I'm writing a blog.

The Big Crete Meeting

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Sacrament of words

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009

My favorite thing about international ecumenical meetings is the Lord's Prayer. In worship, when the congregation is invited to pray together the prayer of Jesus, each speaks in his or her own language. The result is something like the flames of Pentecost - a fabulous babbling of native tongues whooshing like the a fierce wind around the room. It's as close to the sound of the Holy Spirit as I can imagine. I almost can't speak my own prayer for the incredible impact this sacrament of words has on my soul.

Posted by Aimee Moiso

Comments

James said on Oct 8, 2009: Aimee, I was struck by the last line in this post...this powerful "sacrament of words". I thought how this mirrors the title used in some denominations for clergy being ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament. And I am sure this is the ultimate goal of worship, that our prayers and song, readings and preaching elicit this same sound of the Holy Spirit whooshing in and around us. The fact that this happens in large ecumenical settings underscores the need for community and diversity and openness and trust in the worship setting. It is most difficult for the Spirit to blow through closed hearts and minds. My prayer is that these winds of the Spirit blow from Crete throughtout the world and bring new hope and new understanding to all God's children.
jane.stranz@gmail.com said on Oct 11, 2009: After speaking about the same two biblical texts as Roman Catholic and Orthodox priest at the annual meeting of Roman Catholic teachers in France one of the participants came and said to me "You Protestants really have what I call the sacrament of the word." I sometimes feel that at the Kirchentag too where people flock in their thousands to the early morning Bible studies. I no longer easily say the Lord's prayer in my own language but I enjoy our for me very privileged daily Pentecost of prayer - though I do not pray in my mother tongue but nearly always in French which is my language of prayer, therapy and medecine! ;-) These are really great posts Aimee - sorry I hadn't found time to come by earlier!

One Church, indivisible: Aimee's blog from Crete

This year, I've been invited to go.

And I'm writing a blog.

The Big Crete Meeting

Sacrament of words

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009

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