It's funny how you end up in a particular church or denomination.

When I was a boy the Catholic priest visited my grandfather who was ill, to give him communion.  I had hoped to stay with him but the priest said to grandad -  "He's not a Catholic!" and ordered me out of the house.  I had been a regular at the Methodist Sunday School, but just before the annual Anniversary service, the teacher took away my part in it and gave it to someone else.  I voted with my feet.  Then I joined the Scouts and as it met in the local C of E Church, I became an Anglican.  For some reason the Anglican Church has never offended me.  It still doesn't. 

Religious experience of a negative kind can turn you away from Church very easily.  It can also colour your judgement about other Churches.  It took me a while to think kindly of the Roman Catholic Church.  I forgave the Methodists rather sooner. 

It sometimes feels like attempts at  Christian Unity fall foul because every church believes that it is right and that it alone has the truth.  How false is that!

I think that's why I like what the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, says when he speaks of there being no 'truths' on earth because the real truth is in 'heaven'.  God is the only truth and all over the globe people are seeking to answer that profound question of Pilate to Jesus at his trial - what is truth?

I believe that we can only look to God for the real answer and anyone who claims to hold THE truth exclusive of others, is bound to be mistaken.  WE can only learn truth if we listen to and share our insights with others.

There is much in Judaism I admire and there is much in Islam that I respect.  My Hindu hairdresser in the North taught me a lot about prayer in the family.  I love the joyful and convincing hymn-singing and biblical insights of the Methodists.  I like the ritual and devotion of the Roman Catholic Church.  I love the ceremonies of High Anglicanism; the intellectual honesty of Anglican theology; the exuberant praise worship of our evangelical brethren.  I draw strength from Celtic insights into the sacredness of places and people; I enjoy the simple rhythm of Taizé; I find enrichment in ancient prayer forms like the Labyrinth; I adore the Orthodox Liturgy.  I am reduced to silence by the spirituality of the 'desert' practised by a Carmelite Anglican Religious Community with which I am associated,;  I like the simple quiet worship of a rural church and my heart soars during Anglican Cathedral Evensong.  I find talking to Christians of other denominations fascinating.  There is so much to learn.  Within our own church of St John's, I rejoice at the many different insights people bring to worship.  There is so much to share.

And God is in all that and in much, much more.  He is bigger than all our concepts of Him or He would not be God.  Wide Vision goes with deep exploration.  God is always teaching us something new.  Evelyn Underhill (whose vision gave us Pleshey) spoke of all our differing expressions of faith as 'Chapels in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit'.  I like that.

We are all part of the Universal Church - and that's what being Catholic means.  What gives any church real authenticity is if in the worlds of Michael Ramsey, it is filled with the grace-giving presence of Jesus Christ.  Grace-filled churches have no need of labels.  They simply reflect Jesus and so try to live close to God who is the giver of Grace and Truth.  Happy Unity Week.