What Is Christian Unity?
Today, the United States of America conducted its Presidential Inauguration which returned one of the most despicable men in the world to a position of extreme power and privilege. Hauntingly, we are also in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which runs from January 18 to January 25 in the Northern Hemisphere. Given the widespread embrace and promotion of the current POTUS by Christians in the USA and the efforts of other Christians in Canada and around the world to put similar figures in positions of power and privilege, it is worth considering what, exactly, Christian unity means.
From The Beginning…
Far too often, talks of unity assume that all Christians must believe the same things. The extent of which beliefs Christians must share range from “the essentials” to anything of even minor import. This focus on orthodoxy has been an unreliable metric from the moment it was conceived. The New Testament canon follows the Hebrew scriptures in preserving diverse theological perspectives and contemporary debates. The four canonical gospels present diverse perspectives on the life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus despite being written within sixty years of his death and resurrection. The epistles likewise attest to diverse debate in the first and second centuries of the early church with different perspectives on what it meant to be follower of the Way, who could be accepted, and the requisite practices involved.
Since beliefs and practices varied widely within the early church, it is no surprise that the passage of millennia has continued this development. Indeed, the Pauline epistles refer often to the Body of Christ, and emphasize that diversity in skills and specialties is a gift of the spirit – diversity is valued over uniformity. Yet Paul also insists that the Spirit works to knit this diversity into a unity of purpose. Such work of the Spirit is difficult to discern when there are Christians like myself who are firm in our preferential option for the vulnerable and marginalized and there are other Christians who value the ardent suppression of all those who disagree and the preservation of the current neo-imperial status quo.
On Discerning The Way
The most tempting path to take is to claim that all those who pass a certain threshold aren’t “really” Christian, identifying them instead with the “bad teachers” and “wolves among the sheep” to whom scripture attests. Such condemnations are tempting but risky – taken too far, they engender the suppression of diverse theological perspectives and turn those working for justice and inclusion into oppressors just as surely as those they have fought against.
Fortunately, Jesus and Paul both speak to the importance of fruits, and identify the “fruits of the Spirit”, as well as specific actions which can be used to discern the true followers of the Way. Actions like feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked; fruits like self-control, gentleness, and compassion. Taken individually, any of these could be misleading; taken together, they provide a useful, though not foolproof metric.
While useful, these traits and characteristics to look for in others and cultivate in ourselves and our communities, do not resolve the basic tension, however. There will still be those who claim the title of Christian who do not possess or cultivate these traits and practices. Even those who do so will, inevitably, fall short on occasion. So again, we must ask, what practically does Christian unity mean in the face of all of this?
A (Possible) Way To Unity
I humbly suggest that the only way to achieve true Christian unity is to, paradoxically, not seek it directly. Seeking to achieve Christian unity can become its own form of idol – ways of thinking and speaking can be censored, dissenters can be silenced and excluded, and injustices can be ignored or perpetuated all in the name of “unity”. Yet such unity would be built on an entirely false foundation and would not take much to crumble.
It is a far harder path to the create communities where dissent is encouraged, and where active listening is cultivated. The only way to cultivate Christian unity then is to continue to call and out and name injustices, to lift up the lowly and humble the proud and might, to express disagreement openly and boldly, and to wrestle long and hard with questions of faith and spirituality. The Christian canon, like the Hebrew scriptures, intentionally included diverse perspectives and areas of sharp disagreement precisely to model the importance of this work in the practice of our faith.
Week of Prayer For Christian Unity – A Prayer For When Christian Unity Seems Impossible
By Devin Hogg
*Note: Feel free to use in services and gatherings – just appropriately cite! 🙂
Loving God,
I come before you, troubled in mind and heart.
People acting in the name of Jesus
perpetuate grave injustice, seek power and privilege
and rally behind people of great cruelty and selfish pride.
I ask you, loving Spirit
how can I, as a follower of your Way,
seek unity with such people?
How can I claim the same faith
as those whose values so sharply differ?
I know that I too have fallen short
done wrong and failed to do right;
help me to recognize these failings in myself
and cultivate humility in responding to the failings of others.
Loving Goddess, do not let my desire for harmony
become a barrier to doing what is right.
Loving Spirit, empower me and guide me
To recognize and challenge injustice
to hold the powerful and privileged accountable
to do good and resist evil
regardless of the source of wrongdoing.
Lord Jesus,
many diverse people use your name
and I cannot align with many who do so;
yet I can stand with many others who do
help me to recognize both of these realities can co-exist.
Loving Spirit,
be with us in this time of great evil
help us to choose faith, hope, and love.
Empower the members of your Body
to achieve a unity based in love and justice
so that we may truly become
all that you hope for us to be.
Amen.
The Dreamers' Corner 