Paschal Mystery the foundation
of hope for all Christians
By Kiply Lukan Yaworski
SASKATOON — The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity opened in Saskatoon
with an ecumenical worship service Jan. 22 led by representatives of several
different denominations, exploring this year’s scriptural theme, “We
will all be changed by the victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (1
Cor. 15:51).
Rev. Jim Halmarson, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
(ELCIC) who serves as pastor at Christ Church Anglican in Saskatoon, welcomed
representatives of other churches to the gathering, as well as homilist
Rev. Donald Bolen, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon.
The victory that we have in Christ comes to us through the Paschal
Mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the foundation
of hope for all Christians, said Bolen, exploring the scriptural text
chosen by the Week of Prayer planning committee from Poland.
“We are united in the death and resurrection of Christ. And it’s
not just an idea, it is not even simply a belief,” said Bolen. “For
us as Christians, the death and resurrection of Christ is part of the
fabric of our being. We are shaped at the depths of our lives by being
linked and held to the great gift of love from God to us in the cross,
and in the explosion of hope that comes from the resurrection, and
the proclamation that life is stronger than death.”
The Polish ecumenical planning group’s decision to take the
text from First Corinthians about the victory of Christ no doubt springs
from the experience of suffering lived in that country, observed Bolen.
“There is a revelation of a depth of love in which we can live
and hope, even in the midst of our struggles,” he said, noting
that the hope and victory in the cross goes beyond usual ideas of success
and failure, and inviting those assembled to also rethink the ideas
of success and failure in ecumenical efforts in light of the Paschal
Mystery.
Bolen quoted an excerpt from an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury
during a visit to the Vatican: “If we are to keep the cross of
Christ at the very heart of what we say and do in our ecumenical encounter,
then we are going to need to be more and more aware of the wounds and
the weaknesses in ourselves and in the other.
“A successful ecumenical dialogue is one where we are brought to
the foot of the cross, and where we discover the absolute sufficiency of
God’s grace,” he said.
“A successful ecumenical dialogue is one where we set aside
the idea that we might solve all our problems ourselves, and instead,
turn to the death of Christ, which we carry in our heart, so the life
of Christ may also be made visible.”
Bolen noted that the Polish drafting group developed the idea that
we as Christian communities are to be transformed by our joint immersion
into the Paschal Mystery. Among other things, that means “we
are called in our faithfulness to be transformed by our encounter with
the other,” he
said.
“Every one of our churches have received gifts from the Holy Spirit,
each of us have received gifts which others could learn from. It is our
responsibility and our great opportunity to look to the gifts of God that
are present in other Christian churches, and to learn from them, and to
enrich our own communities by them,” he said, describing the
call to become more and more the community of disciples that Jesus
envisioned when he prayed that we would be one.
Other events held during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in
Saskatoon included an ecumenical Scripturefest at Queen’s House
(see related article), as well as morning and evening services at
different Christian churches throughout the week. Services included
a ministry of healing service by the Order of St. Luke at St. Stephen’s
Anglican Church, a jazz service at Augustana Lutheran/St. Timothy Anglican
church, vespers at Dormition of the Blessed Mother of God Ukrainian
Catholic Church and a music fest at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church.
A closing celebration at the Cathedral of the Holy Family Jan. 29 featured guest speaker Dr. Darren Dahl.
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