Responsibility

Who is my Brother?

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

Many, many people know the above statement by Martin Niemoller. As a very young teenager I heard him speak in Colne, Lancashire. He came over as a very sincere Christian who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis in war time Germany.

But the above statement is interesting because it reflects how things were at the time. It almost says to us that Niemoller felt he was imprisoned for being a Protestant and that perhaps the others did not matter as much as he did. But the fact is that, unless you happened to get involved, you had no idea what it was to be a Communist, Jew or Roman Catholic. Whilst I was born towards the end of the War I was aware of an inexplicable difference between Catholics and Protestants. It was inexplicable because I had no idea how Catholics worshipped or what they believed in differently to a Protestant.

Thankfully, today we are all much more ecumenical and there is a great deal of understanding between us. Last Easter I attended Mass at a Roman Catholic Church because my son had made a decision to join the Roman Catholic Church. As was the case with other services I could see the same general approach to worship. I knew full well, of course, that we parted company when it came to veneration of Mary. But when Father Mark came round the church and sprinkled us all with baptismal water as was the Easter custom I had a feeling of refreshment and renewal which I felt was good and right on Easter Day.

Having attended a special Lenten service for intending Catholics at Salford Cathedral and heard Bishop Terry speak to the new people I felt quite at home there. Afterwards when we were served with tea and coffee in the cloisters I had the chance to talk to the Bishop. Boy, did we get on!

It is thanks to the efforts of Pope John 23rd who convened the Second Vatican Council that the Roman Catholic church began to move in a friendly way to the Protestant churches. From that point ecumenism began to gather pace. How long it will take to get more churches together I do not know but I was pleased to be part of the debate when the Congregational Church in England & Wales finalised their talks with the English Presbyterian Church. We were the envy of many denominations in the UK at that time because we found it possible to unite together at a time when others had tried and failed. Later we absorbed the Churches of Christ and more recently the Scottish Congregational Church.

However, a year agoI was quite recently in the position of wondering how I would overcome the problem of where I could worship God in English. This was because the Isle of Anglesey, where I came to live recently, seemed exclusively to worship in Welsh. Then I found Amlwch English Methodist Church. Having been involved exclusively in the URC and its antecedents all my worshipping life I felt a little unsure. But I started worshipping there and now I am firmly established with the fellowship.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, we are told. Well, I can tell you that I do not regret the change and in September 2005 I transferred my church membership to the Methodist Church. Many of the members at Amlwch are former Anglicans and URC members like myself. We are simply the local branch of a large family called Christians who prefer to worship in the Reformed Church style.

All this is a reminder to us that we do have a very large family within the Christian Church. For the most part we believe the same things and share closely matched worship. If you are thinking what church you might find most comfortable in which to worship God then I can tell you that the choice is yours. In other words, whichever church you opt for, you will be a Christian with the same responsibility as everyone, to feed Jesus' sheep. What you have dicovered needs to be shared with others. In this way you are responding to the commission of Jesus which unites us all an sends us out to help others wherever they are. It is a wonderful feeling to be in the company of so many people who are keen to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ.