A REVIEW of the work and witness of the Christian Renewal Centre, founded 40 years ago last autumn, opens this issue of Search – a tribute to the late Cecil Kerr and his leadership in reconciliation between Protestant and Catholic communities and spiritual renewal across the denominations in Ireland. As Patrick McGlinchey writes: “The legacy of the CRC challenges us to leave room for the unsettling ministry of the Holy Spirit”.
Further articles explore how this prompting to inclusivity may work out in practice. Adrian Clements considers how our calling as Christians demands that we care for one another at parish level, and the structures needed to enable such care when relationships are challenged by illness, misunderstanding or bad behaviour. His article is particularly pertinent to decision-making at this year’s General Synod. William Marshall’s article on “Church, Gospel and Mission” looks to the Four Nations Faith and Order Consultation meeting in Dublin this May, and what we have to contribute to it as Anglicans. Robbie Roulston follows up with a critical look at discriminatory practices, particularly in the areas of education and health care, which “go both ways”, the Protestant community in the Republic being as guilty in this area as the dominant majority.Widening the area of inclusivity still further, Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre, looks at Islam’s teaching on inter-faith relations, showing that Qur’anic instructions on relations with Christians is much more liberal than is commonly supposed.In our series on seasonal scripture readings intended largely for preachers and biblical explorers, Margaret Barker contributes some fascinating textual insights in her article “Jesus and Isaiah on the Emmaus Road”, identifying the source of the “glory” dimension of Luke’s text.And to turn to biography, we are delighted that Brenda Sheil, until recently lay hon secretary of General Synod for the Northern province, has accepted our invitation to reflect on her journey of faith and service in the Church of Ireland.Search’s next issue will be based on material from our April 18 Colloquium on the evolution of worship space and its significance, “Re- pitching the Tent”, led by Richard Giles, Michael Burrows, Tom Gordon and conservation architect Margaret Quinlan. Do come to this event for the full experience, which will be “beyond print”!
Contents
Looking back on the Christian Renewal Centre – its gift and call
A SPECIAL celebration on 13 September 2014 marked forty years since the founding of the Christian Renewal Centre in Rostrevor. Some readers of this journal will have visited the Centre and been deeply touched by its ministry while others may have only the haziest notion of its significance. The Centre was established by the Revd Cecil Kerr, the Church of Ireland chaplain at Queen’s University (1965-74), and his wife Myrtle. It was an adventure in risk-taking faith which profoundly influenced the Church across Ireland. Central to the story is the spiritual pilgrimage undertaken by Cecil Kerr in the early 1970s - a journey from the relative security of university chaplaincy to an unknown future that meant living by faith in order to pioneer a new ministry. At the heart of his story was a profound experience of the Holy Spirit (generally referred to as Baptism in the Spirit) which opened new possibilities for him that few who knew him could have imagined.
MARY didn’t respond. This had happened so frequently before. Once again she felt singled out and humiliated, in public, while she was doing things voluntarily for her church. And any attempt she made to set the record straight was only going to bring further sarcastic and hurtful remarks. She knew others felt the same but no one wanted to stand out from the crowd. They were volunteers and life was too short and they had too many other things to do without taking on that one as well! Eventually someone was going to be scarred by the constant bullying, but the rector probably didn’t even realise the impact he was having.
ON THE EVENING of Easter Sunday we often read the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. He joined two disciples as they were walking, but they did not recognise him. The disciples were amazed that the stranger did not, apparently, know what had happened in Jerusalem in the last few days. The stranger then began to expound the Scriptures, showing how the prophets had foreseen the events: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24.26). Our problem is: Which prophecies was Jesus expounding? Where in the Hebrew Scriptures is there a prophecy about the suffering of the Messiah? The obvious place to look is Isaiah 52-13-53.12, but in our present text, there is no such prophecy.
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? What is the church for? What do we Anglicans understand by the church, its nature and purpose. The question is prompted by a project of the Four Nations Faith and Order Consultation, comprising the four Anglican Churches of Britain and Ireland, which next meets in May this year in Dublin, the Church of Ireland representatives being Archbishop Jackson and the Revd. Niall Sloane. It has asked the churches to work in advance on the question: “What is the Church, what is the gospel, what is mission and how do they relate with practice (with case studies)”.
‘The beam in thine own eye’ – discrimination goes both ways
THAT SOUTHERN Ireland was “a cold house for Protestants” 1 has become something of a common refrain in recent years. However, there are two problems with the concept. First, the “cold house for Protestants” imagery is distorting. The earliest use of the phrase that this writer is aware of was by Judge Donal Barrington in May 2001.2 The phrase implies a peace-process-vintage symmetry. In his Nobel Lecture in 1998, David Trimble described Northern Ireland as historically being a “cold house for Catholics”.3 The mirror image was presented of Protestants in the south being on the receiving end of discriminatory practices.
A journey of faith and discovery in the Church of Ireland
MY EARLIEST MEMORIES are of walking from the rectory through the church grounds to morning service on Sundays in rural Co. Armagh. There was no electricity in the area until 1956 so my early memories of the great church occasions of Christmas, Easter and Harvest Thanksgiving include the hissing of tilley lamps. Since those early childhood days as the only “child of the rectory”, the Church of Ireland has been an integral part of my life.
Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations- confrontation or appreciation?
ALTHOUGH it is a term much used in today’s world, “Christian-Jewish- Muslim relations” remains a process in urgent need of theological reflection. The contemporary discussions of the three Abrahamic faiths and interfaith relations in today’s Europe tend to be mainly focused on compromise and assimilation. As a result, the dialogue can become contentious, since Muslims perceive Islam as a way of life.1 Shari’ah is deemed the ultimate authority for Muslims. Shari’ah regulates Muslims’ relations with Allah, Muslim-Muslim relations and Muslim- non-Muslim relations. In other words, relations between a Muslim and the entire universe around him/her are regulated by Shari’ah, the foremost sources of which are the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
MORE THAN 50 years since Dr R.R. Hartford’s untimely death, it may be appropriate to recall some elements of his life, while some of those who studied under him in the Divinity School of TCD are still around.
