A Cloud of Witnesses: a message to the churches

6. Possibilities for Future Commemorating Together

6.1 Arising out of our reflection came suggestions for the future. These are:

• build upon what is being done already;

• commemorate witnesses from different traditions annually on an appropriate occasion such as the Feast of All Saints, Reformation Day, a day in Lent or Holy Week, or in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity;

• publish and exchange ecclesiastical calendars, biographies, and martyrologies;

• identify witnesses that both are and could be shared by different traditions;

• encourage Christians at local levels to exchange stories of their witnesses;

• convene more meetings such as the one held at Bose on the Cloud of Witnesses;

• encourage the World Council of Churches to include witnesses and their biographies into the ecumenical prayer cycle;

• develop an internet website which should include links to existing sites;

• encourage production of an annotated bibliography of key resources;

• help those churches that because of their cultural and missionary context are concerned to avoid anything which might suggest ancestor worship to distinguish between that and an appropriate honouring of the witnesses of earlier generations.

6.2 We reflected on the emerging convergence in the doctrinal bilateral and multilateral conversations, particularly in understanding the Church as communion and the significance of baptism and eucharist for life in the Body of Christ. This convergence provides a firm foundation for celebrating together the witnesses to the faith of the Church. It may be the right time now to ask the multilateral conversation in the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches to produce a short convergence text on the communion of saints that would gather together some of the rich insights of the bilateral dialogues, deepen the reflection, and in that context consider some of the remaining areas of contention. Such a text would provide a theological and ecclesiological basis for the project begun at Bose in 2004.