Our common calling - Christianity - Common Understanding and Vision: Continuing the Discussion

In 1961 the WCC assembly in New Delhi added to the World Council's Basis the words "and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling, to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit".(1) The full significance of this addition is, even today, not clear to everyone, nor has enough thought been give to its implications, let alone their implementation. This article will examine one aspect of this and will, I hope, offer a Catholic contribution to the WCC's 50th anniversary. If we are to fulfil our common calling, we must give account to ourselves, and to others, of what that "common calling" means and what its implications are for our fellowship and our mission.

There are advantages and disadvantages in the fact that the Basis does not set out in detail what exactly goes to make up our common calling. Some people may be tempted to disregard the New Delhi addition or else consider it and its concluding doxology as a pious but ultimately non-binding "appendix". The advantage of the lack of specific detail in the formulation is that it challenges us constantly to reflect on our calling. It also avoids giving the impression that any list could ever enumerate definitively every aspect of our calling. The experience and gift of that calling is always greater than our capacity to grasp and express it. That is why, with the passage of time, we must expect to discover elements we had not perceived before.

In order to see and state as precisely as possible what our calling is, we must let ourselves be guided by the biblical witness. This corresponds to the earlier part of the Basis, which emphasizes the confession of Christ "according to the scriptures" as the bond which holds the churches in the World Council together. Certain central biblical statements lead us in this same direction pointing to Jesus Christ.

Paul assures the Galatians - and us: God "called you in the grace of Christ"(Gal. 1:6). This is not just the triggering of an event, a one-time experience; rather it is the gift to us of an enduring relationship to our Lord and Saviour. We see this at the very beginning of the first letter to the Corinthians when the apostle to the nations says, "God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). The fact that this statement is directly followed by the urgent plea for unity in the community (1 Cor. 1:10-17) should give us pause for thought. Our calling is grounded in and culminates in the communion with Christ which has been given to us. Its dimensions are those mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Romans when he speaks of those who are called according to God's purpose (Rom. 8:28): "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Rom. 8:29-30).

God's personal love for each human being, which is effectively expressed in his "calling" us, has its beginning in the eternal life and love of the triune God. A creative "fore-knowing" takes place here, just as an artist makes a plan before he sets to work. Conceived and affirmed in this way, each human being is meant to receive the greatest possible joy which can be bestowed on any creature: he or she is to share intrinsically in the sonship of God's eternal Son. In other words, he or she is called to "obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 2:14). That which is planned and willed in eternity becomes effective in history through the calling of each person. This forms the earthly beginning of communion with Christ, which in turn brings justification and glorification.

Personal though they are, all these gifts of God are directed beyond the individual. This does not mean there is a limit to God's love for each individual; rather, its perfect fulfilment occurs when each is received into the fellowship of all those beloved of God and so into the loving-kindness of God. The letter to the Ephesians testifies emphatically to this dimension of the individual calling which entitles us to speak of a common calling. In the hymn of praise to God's plan of salvation at the start of Ephesians there are echoes of themes in the letter to the Romans. They speak of God's choosing us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), and pre-destining us "for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ through the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us through the Beloved" (Eph. 1:5-6).

Part of this "pre-history" is that from all eternity God has decided "as a plan for the fullness of time to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph. 1:10). Those who believe in Christ are exhorted "to lead a life worthy of the calling" (Eph. 4:1). The apostle immediately follows this exhortation with the plea for unity, first mentioning some basic attitudes that belong .to the ecumenical commitment: "with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:2f.). Jews and heathens, women and men, rich and poor -- all are called to unity in Christ. Those who follow the Lord's call are not set apart from other people; the tasks entrusted to them link them more closely with others, placing them in their service and laying upon them a shared responsibility for their salvation. This is why the Christian oikoumene is turned towards the oikoumene of the whole of humanity.