Yesterday morning, my second semester New Testament survey course had a guest lecturer (Dr. McGowan, Warden of Trinity College, Melbourne). The topic of conversation was food, the Lord’s Supper, and the tradition of the banquet in the Greco-Roman world. It was fantastic.
However, right before the lecture started, the TA encouraged people to move up (everyone sat in back). She waved her arms, shouted, encouraged us to move, at a glacial pace, towards the front. Some moved, most didn’t. When the TA asked “why are you all sitting in the back?”, my friend responded “We’re Episcopalians.” I turned to him and said, “oh, we would have called them Lutherans.”
Considering how long it took us to develop the Call to Common Mission, with our tendency to sit in the back of the room, the ecumenical movement should have moved faster. We’re alike!