Brazilian Theologian Urges ACC Meeting in Wales to Explore New Avenues of Growth in Communion
Episcopal News Service. August 7, 1990 [90189]
A Brazilian theologian urged delegates to the eighth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) to look beyond the traditional structures of communion to the grassroots of the church where the Holy Spirit is creating new forms of life
. Growth of communion will not come through structures or institutions by themselves, argued Dr. Jaci Maraschin during his keynote address to about 70 delegates from 36 nations around the world meeting at Dyffryn House near Cardiff, Wales, from July 21 to August 4 (see edited version of Maraschin's speech in the Newsfeatures section of ENS). The archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, the meeting of Primates representing the 28 churches in the Anglican Communion, and the ACC itself "belong to our tradition," but they are "the outcome of communion instead of being the agents of communion," the professor from Sao Paulo told a plenary session.
These four institutions "were born out of historical needs and respond to some degree to the development of our denominational consciousness and identification," but that is not the same thing as communion. In fact, this hierarchical structure "contrasts vividly with the image of a church of the people, growing from the grassroots, expanded through base communities, and holding faithfully to the principle of the priesthood of all believers," Maraschin contended.
"We can grow in communion when we come down from our higher positions, from our sublime institutions, and join people in digging together, which is the building of communion. It means going to the depth of our faith," Maraschin said.
Maraschin shared a story from the recent visit of the archbishop of Canterbury to Brazil. "The archbishop was received by the Roman Catholic cardinal, Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, in his cathedral. This ecumenical celebration of the centennial of the Brazilian Episcopal Church represented to my understanding the most significant liturgical action there."
It was a ceremony "full of the same Spirit wishing to lead us to communion," Maraschin said, because the archbishop "was saluted by the cardinal as a messenger of peace and union." The two church leaders came down from the high altar to the nave of the large church, filled with people "chiefly from the poorer sections of our society." And the people, who did not speak English or know the meaning of Anglicanism, "received him as someone coming from God," and they all sought his blessing," Maraschin said.
"The church has to come down to the people. Communion will grow only if it means communion with the people and among the people, and transcends all the separation built in history by our narrowness and lack of vision," Maraschin added.
If structures are not a source of communion, neither is theology, Maraschin continued, because "theological debate and reflection are results of communion -- but they do not produce communion. The only source of communion is the Holy Spirit, the giver of life," he added. "In the light of the Spirit we see how communion is related to life and how it has to be seen as the chief aim of the mission in our days and always."
Maraschin said that institutions could be helpful in the search for communion but that they must be "revitalized" to avoid the "devils of authoritarianism, absolutism, and idolatry." Theology can also be helpful if it serves growth in communion and allows "full participation in the debate and starts a process leading to what in some places of the third world is already called a theology by the people."
"Communion is koinonia," that special relationship conferred as a gift of the Holy Spirit, and "growing in communion is living with the Spirit the new life that he brings to all. This is the same life announced by Jesus in his preaching, ministry, death, and resurrection, threatening the old life of sin and disunity," Maraschin said. "For that reason we cannot just maintain our old disrupted structures" because the new life in the Spirit "is dangerous to the institutional life of the church and of nations. It judges them and calls them to repentance and amendment of life," he said.
The first condition for communion is love, according to Maraschin, because only love has "the possibility of overcoming noise in our processes of communication." And noise encountered in the process of interchanging messages "disrupts not only communication but also communion." Therefore, the theological question that emerges is "how we can grow in communion in the midst of a world of noise and disruption." He argued that only love can build "a new kind of society where people would not be led by coercion."
Maraschin has made major contributions as a musician to new forms of liturgy in Brazil. He ended his address by sharing with the delegates a Brazilian song about God calling people to a new life. "We sing that the time is ripe for changing, the moment is now. Then everybody in the congregation, hand in hand, makes a big circle and dancing they sing: 'It is God who calls us to work together for justice. Let us walk together, no one can go alone."'