If, in the metaphor of the body, the apostle Paul has in mind only the individual members of the community and not the churches themselves, Oscar Cullman, the great Protestant ecumenist, believes that extending the text of the Corinthians to the churches is certainly in line with the thought of Paul. Cullman says that in each local church the one church is present, but with different colours and charisms.
“For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ… Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Cor 12,12,27
This is what he wrote in « Unity through diversity« , a book that marked ecumenical reflection in the 1980s: « In accordance with its very nature, the Holy Spirit exercises a diversifying action… It is in this diversity that the richness of the fullness of the Holy Spirit lies. Whoever does not respect this richness and wants uniformity sins against the Holy Spirit« .
Cullmann believes that each Church, over the course of time, has developed a characteristic charisma. What then are the characteristic charisms in the various Churches?
The typical charisms of Protestantism are, on the one hand, the concentration on the Bible and, on the other hand, Christian freedom which promotes openness to the world.
The essential charisms of the Catholic Church appear to be universality, in the spatial and temporal sense, on the other hand, the institution and organization which enables it to address its members and the world with the necessary authority and which creates a unity of structure.
As a charism of the Orthodox Church he sees the theological deepening of the notion of the Holy Spirit and the preservation of traditional forms of liturgy.
All these charisms are in danger of being distorted. Among Protestants the concentration on the Bible can become narrow. The renunciation of any magisterium can lead to a pluralism producing a paralyzing doctrinal dispersion. Freedom risks becoming anarchy and openness to the world subservience to it, a false adaptation to morals. Then human weaknesses, instead of being, as in the Gospel, forgiven, are justified.
In the Catholic Church, the charism of universality can succumb to the temptation of claiming to be the only one to possess the fullness of the Gospel and to be its guarantor. Another danger of the Catholic Church’s influence is the integration of unassimilable elements, which are not controlled by the fundamental truth of the Gospel. The charisma of the organisation can degenerate into institutionalism and totalitarianism.
As for the deformations of the charisms of the Orthodox Church, we can see them in a certain stiffening and formalism. O. Cullmann concludes: « To warn against the distortion of charisms seems to me to be a particularly important necessity, because it is these distortions that engender hostile divisions, whereas charisms, precisely because of their diversity, create unity ».
Conclusion: Charisms need to be exchanged; churches need to open up to each other so that charisms are not distorted but are gifts for each other.
When we focus on Christ who died and rose again, He is present in our midst, and gives us the opportunity to be enriched by each other’s charisms and preserves us from distorting those he has given us. This is why the approach of JC2033 which focuses on the Risen One has great ecumenical significance.
Memory and thanksgiving: an example of exchange of gifts and charisms
Lausanne Cathedral, 23 January 2000
Before God, we remember the Reformed Church with gratitude.
Living God, thank you for the Reformed Church!
In spite of its sometimes temptation in the past to accommodate excessively rational interpretations too easily within it,
by your grace, perhaps more than in any other Church,
You have kept alive in her a willingness to study the Bible with application and a concern to respect the freedom of conscience of each person.
Thank you for the countless Reformed who, throughout the centuries and up to the present day, have celebrated you faithfully and served their neighbours with generosity.
Before God, we remember with gratitude for the Catholic Church.
Living God, thank you for the Catholic Church!
In spite of its sometimes pretension in the past to believe itself to be the one universal Church and in spite of its sometimes temptation to be oppressive by its hierarchy,
by your grace, perhaps more than in any other Church,
you have kept alive in it a demand for openness to all and the will to keep and find visible unity for your Church.
Thank you for the countless Catholics who, throughout the centuries and up to the present day, have faithfully celebrated you and served their neighbors with generosity.
Before God, we remember with gratitude for Evangelical and Pentecostal churches.
Living God, thank you for Evangelical and Pentecostal churches!
In spite of their claims sometimes, in some places, to refuse ecumenism and in spite of their temptations sometimes to create new communities without consultation,
by your grace, perhaps more than in any other Church,
you kept alive in them a demand for radical obedience to your Word and a fervent search for community life.
Thank you for the countless Evangelicals and Pentecostals who, since the last century and up to the present day, have celebrated you faithfully and served their neighbours with generosity.
Before God, we remember with gratitude for the Orthodox Churches.
Living God, thank you for the Orthodox Churches!
In spite of their claim sometimes, in some countries, to believe that they are the only national Church, and in spite of their temptation sometimes to refuse modernity in the name of tradition,
by your grace, and perhaps more than in any other Church,
you have kept alive in them the beauty of the liturgy and the sense of mystery through their unceasing celebration of the Holy Trinity and the resurrection of Christ.
Thank you for the countless Orthodox who, throughout the centuries and up to the present day, have celebrated you faithfully and served their neighbours with generosity.