Seeking Unity – October 6, 2024
Psalm 116:1-13, Ephesians 4:1-16
October 6, 2024
I beg you! That’s how Paul starts our reading for today. “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” That sounds pretty serious, doesn’t it?
And what does that life look like that Paul is begging us to live? He continues, “With all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Did you catch that? It’s not just “maintaining the unity of the Spirit,” but “eager to maintain the unity or the Spirit!”
I would say right off the bat that the things he said, “lowliness, meekness, patience, and forbearance” are things that lead to, or even make it possible to have that unity. And I think you’d agree. If we seek those traits, “lowliness, meekness, patience, and forbearance,” we will be less likely to be proud, and insistent, and wanting our way all the time. And I think you’ll also agree that those are things that cause divisions and stress among us.
But this is more than that. Paul calls us – he begs us – to be eager for that unity! He wants us to “seek” that unity, too!” And do you get that. Seeking is more than just being happy when it happens, or avoiding things that prevent it, or even setting up the conditions for it. He wants us to be “Seeking Unity.” And that’s the title of this sermon.
I believe Paul saw this as one of the most important things in the Church. He was begging his readers! He begged them (and us) to have those things that promote peace – the lowliness, meekness, patience, forbearance. And he begged them to “seek” that unity. That’s an active thing! This was that important to Paul And yet, Churches seem to have had not done so well with this.
Over the years I’ve been asked many times, “Why are there so many different denominations?” And whenever I was asked that, I’d always try to put a positive spin on it. I’d say, “It’s good, because we’re all different, and the Church offers something for everyone.” I would say, “Some people need more regimentation in their faith, while others need less structure and more emotion. Then there’s us Presbyterians, who have prided ourselves over the years on “freedom of thought.” You know, “God alone is Lord of the conscience.” You’ve heard me quote that many times. And yet some are uncomfortable with that. They’re only comfortable when there’s someone to tell them exactly what to believe.
And then for some, it’s cultural. Their faith is related to the society in which their denomination was formed. Or it has to do with their country, like the orthodox denominations – Russian, Lithuanian, or Greek, each of those using the language of the country in their liturgy
People have also asked me why I’m Presbyterian. And I like to think it’s because I was raised in a family where learning was important, and questioning what we do or what we think is an important tool of learning. So if I had all the denominations to pick from, I think I would likely be Presbyterian! But I also have to wonder if it was simply a product of my upbringing. I was raised a Presbyterian! And I was always in the Church – or in Sears. But I wonder, if I had been raised as a Baptist, or a Catholic, would I have reasons in my life why I would pick one of them?
Those are all good ways of thinking about it. They’re some of the positive reasons we have all the different denominations. But even so, when I attempt to answer that question, there’s always another nagging reason in the back of my head about it. And that reason is that people just don’t get along very well! Unfortunately, the history of the church is filled with conflicts between believers that have caused them to split off into the various groups. And I have to say that reason makes me very sad!
This is world Communion Sunday. This is the day we say we’re one with all believers around the world, and with all the people with whom we share this sacrament today. But are we truly one? Are we one, even with those whose beliefs we question and whose practices make us uncomfortable? Well in this letter, Paul is begging us to consider that we should be. And the God knows that we live in a world that needs that kind of unity. And remember, it’s a world that he “so loves!”
I don’t need to tell you that we live in a badly divided world! And divisions between people seem to be growing worse. Wars seem to be expanding. Vengeance is the order of the day. And we grow callous to it. We hear the news and we think “Oh, another rocket attack.” But it’s getting bad!
Political divisions are worse all the time. People in this country are literally hating one another over their different stands on so many candidates and subjects. And I truly believe that all of that breaks the heart of God! And I can hear Paul begging the church not to be like that, but instead to seek unity! And I can hear Jesus saying to the church in this divided world, “It shall not be so among you!”
Paul looked at the things that were happening in the world, and in even the church itself, and he said, “No!” “Rather,” he said, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, with each part working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.”
We often think of those words as describing a congregation. Each of us are members, each has our own function, and together we are one body. But what if we were to expand that and think of each of those “members” Paul talked about as being the various denominations of the world? Can we picture the whole church working together like that? Though we may all be different, can we still work properly, and make bodily growth and upbuild the whole church in love?
I believe that’s the challenge for this day! We need to be the example of unity to the world. We need to be that “city set on a hill for all to see.” And at the very least, we can’t contribute to the world’s problems! The world is in a mess. Many people are opposed to each other, they are causing more and more conflict and division. And in all that, can we hear Jesus saying to the church today, “But it shall not be so among you!”?
Prayer
Eternal God, help us to have the strength we need to be that shining example to a divided world. Teach us your ways of unity and peace so that we might be that city set on a hill. We pray for the peace of our world, and ask you to use us to promote that peace in all we do. For we pray in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.