Pastor Noel Noack President Lutheran Church of Australia Qld District, Reverend Bruce Johnson, Moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia Qld Synod, Anglican Primate Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, Bishop Michael Putney Chair of Ecumenical Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious relations, my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

In 1962 I was a brand new priest in Goondiwindi, assistant to Irish priest Charles McDonald whom I used to call “old” because he was 54.  For obvious reasons I no longer call a 54 year old person “old”.  One day Charlie and I went to the hospital to rebaptise a good Anglican man who was dying, at the behest of his good Catholic wife who wished him to be a Catholic.  Leaving aside the weakness of our theology, the Anglican priest of Goondiwindi said at that time that what we did “was immoral”.  He was right.  I now shudder with embarrassment about it all.  Only 15 years ago was I told for the first time that I was the great grandson of the first Presbyterian Minister David Watt of Esk.  So deep was the feeling between Churches in those days that the mere fact my great grandfather was Presbyterian was never mentioned in our family circles.  I could go on forever quoting the suffering that happened in the past because of religion.  Today things have changed.  Relationships between Churches have softened for the better, not nearly enough I am sure, but certainly a great improvement of what existed in the past. 

The word “dialogue” is a beautiful word that we hardly ever heard before.  Now it is a regular part of our vocabulary that, when practiced, causes good things to happen.  Since that distant incident in Goondiwindi almost 50 years ago much has changed in my life, and one of the great blessings I have received has been my involvement in ecumenism and inter-religious relations.  Over the last 23 years I have participated in dialogue overseas with Methodists, and Anglicans, and here in Australia with Uniting Church Christians.   In those dialogues theological discoveries were made, papers were produced, camaraderie was strengthened, friendships were deepened, and faith was confirmed.  We gather here today within a host of Christian friends to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing in 1999 of the joint declaration of the Doctrine of Justification.  Initially the agreement involved Lutherans and Roman Catholics, now involving Methodists as well, most of whom in Australia are members of the Uniting Church celebrating with us today.  Great progress has been made since Roman Catholics and Lutherans in the past hurled mutual condemnations at each other as part of their official Doctrine on Justification.  After much dialogue and study all this was changed in 1999 when an official Common Statement was launched between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, joined later in 2006 by the World Methodist Council in a Statement of Association.  Paragraphs (22-24) in the joint declaration indicate the compatibility between Lutheran insistence on God’s declaration of forgiveness and Catholic teaching on the effectiveness of God’s grace imparted in justification.  It is impossible in a simple sentence to sum up the significance of the agreement.  To some extent it is captured in paragraph 15 starting with the words, “In faith we hold together the conviction that justification is the work of the Triune God.”  Those simple words partly sum up the essence of the entire agreement that for a full understanding needs to be read and absorbed. 
 
Today we rejoice on the 10th anniversary of this remarkable agreement.  At the same time we realise how much further we still need to go.  A recent, excellent small booklet entitled “Harvesting the Fruits” under the signature of Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is filled with joy about what has been achieved in dialogue between Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Methodist, and Catholic Churches, and what is hoped for in the future.  In his final conclusion named “Outlook of Hope” he states “It must be acknowledged that our ecumenical dialogues cannot of themselves realise the final goal and ultimate hope of the ecumenical movement:  that movement is an impulse of the Holy Spirit.” 

Today we gather to rejoice in what has been achieved almost miraculously through the signing of the joint declaration, and yet there is still so much further we need to go if we wish to find the unity desired by Christ.  Let us remember always to pray to the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit will continue to help us move forward to further expand ecumenism, only one area of which we celebrate today.  In today’s somewhat materialistic, secular and even atheistic world we need each other more than ever if we wish to share with unbelievers the good news of the gospel.  In today’s scripture Jesus asks us to be ‘Salt of the earth and Light of the world’.  Without the power of the Holy Spirit the Agreement on Justification would never have happened.  If the Holy Spirit could bring us together in this one area of agreement surely the Holy Spirit can also bring us together for mission, to open the eyes of Christians so that they will see the new world won for us by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  First of all however we need to see that world ourselves before we can share it with others.  Only together will we be the light of the world that people expect of us as Christians.  Let us not disappoint them. 


Archbishop John Bathersby

October 31, 2009