Christian Unity: More thoughts

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism…
Is this only wishful thinking, a pipe-dream, or is it an eternal truth, a reality that is grounded in the eternal nature of the Logos? The question that makes many Christians blush is this: When will there be Christian Unity?

I believe that questions about Christian Unity are intricately tied to questions and responses to Christian Community. There can be no Christian Unity without a Christian Comm(on)-unity. Our unity as Christians arises out of our ability and calling to enflesh and practice Christian Community. In his book, Gemeinsames Leben (Life Together) Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:

“Christiliche Bruderschaft ist nicht ein Ideal, das wir zu verwirklichen haetten, sondern es ist eine von Gott in Christus geschaffene Wirklichkeit, an der wir teilhaben duerfen.”
(Christian brotherhood is not an ideal that we must somehow make happen, but rather it is a reality, created by God in Christ, that we are allowed to participate in.)

Christian Unity, like Christian Community, exists in and through, because of and for Jesus Christ as the Living Logos and Son of God. He is the mediator of all our lives. He is the purpose and end of our hoping and striving, discipline and worship. Though outwardly we have signs that present evidence to the contrary, yet there exists out of time as well as couched within time One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism. There is not one Jesus for the Church of Rome, and another that visits Canterbury. There are not many Jesuses, one each for the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Assemblies of God. No, He is whole and not split into pieces. He is the Only One through whom we relate to each other and love each other. “Der einzige Mittler” (the only mediator)

What we need to do, therefore, if doing is the proper perspective, is to allow Jesus to do in us and through us all that He has planned for us. The One-ness of the Body of Christ, the Universal Church through all ages, exists although we close our eyes to it, or act against it.

There is One Body, but as Thomas Merton pointed out: It is a Body of Broken Bones:

“As long as we do not permit His love to consume us entirely and to unite us in Himself, the gold that is in us will be hidden by the rock and dirt which keep us separate from one another.
As long as we are not purified by the love of God and transformed into Him in the union of pure sanctity, we will remain apart from one another, opposed to one another, and union among us will be a precarious and painful thing, full of labor and sorrow and without lasting cohesion.
His physical Body was crucified by Pilate and the Pharisees; His mystical Body is drawn and quartered from age to age by the devils in the agony of that disunion which is bred and vegetates in our souls, prone to selfishness and to sin.
As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will bring us suffering by our very contact with one another, because this love is the resetting of a Body of broken bones. Even saints cannot live with saints on this earth without some anguish, without some pain at the differences that come between them.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)

Visible and viable Christian Unity is thwarted by sin that comes in a multitude of forms: arrogance, intolerance, narrow-mindedness, among others. Christian Unity is also being thwarted by our reluctance to really listen to each other, hear each other’s words, liturgy, theology, concerns, music, prayers, hopes and frustrations. We also are failing to value the same things. There are numerous issues on which we have not come to agreement: abortion, capital punishment, involvement in war or pacifism, environment stewardship, economic responsibility and which system of economics is most just. Obviously, we also haven’t come to agree on the essentials of theology: doctrine about the Trinity, about Christ, His atonement for our sins, how he saves us, whether we need saving, how depraved we are, or whether we can speak of an original blessing. We disagree on baptism, whether we think one can be baptized in the ignorance of one’s infancy or must wait for a personal decision as a youth or as an adult. We don’t even agree on the amount of water! (Thankfully we are not concerned with its temperature or its clarity!) We disagree on the rest of the sacraments as well, or even if they are sacraments. Some of us refer to them as ordinances. What about Communion/ the Lord’s Supper/ the Eucharist/ the Breaking of Bread? We find no consensus on its name, let along the mystical nature of the Event. How is Christ within the Elements: are they transubstantiated, consubstantiated, or just blessed by human hands and remain a memorial to His vicarious suffering? In the baking of the bread, must we use wheat flour or may a wafer of rice suffice? Should we pour wine into the chalice or stick to grape juice? These are just some of the issues that divide us, and push us away from embracing more fully our Christian Unity.

But there are things that we can do, and ways to broaden our understanding of what other Christians value. We must each endeavor to begin an ongoing dialogue with as many brothers and sisters of other denominations and expressions of Christianity as possible. We must talk with, worship with, pray and sing with Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Protestants of all traditions: Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Fundamentalists, among the many I could name. Dialogue is essential. All sides sharing, desiring to understand and grant that other persons may have legitimate differences that are based on taste, past experiences or viewpoints that do not exclude them from membership in the Kingdom of God. Each of us may hold a particular belief or doctrine that falls within the boundaries of orthodoxy that our brother or sister does not understand or find necessary to embrace.

I would propose that each of these areas of concern be included in our ongoing dialogue, a dialogue that will resemble increasingly less a debate:

Abortion: Is abortion immoral in all cases, or are there some instances that would make it allowable. Is it a matter of choice of a woman’s sovereignty over her body and womb, or is it a matter of God’s sovereignty over all our bodies and the bodies that we carry within our bodies?

Capital Punishment: Do we further violence or discourage violence by killing someone who has killed someone? Are we consistent in our message? Does the execution of a notorious murderer, rapist or traitor help bring about the Kingdom of God, or help the greatest number of people? Does it perpetuate a culture of violence? Does it teach forgiveness, or does it teach natural consequences of one’s actions? Or can it do both?

Environmental Stewardship: The Psalmist proclaims that the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. What is our responsibility to the conservation of earth’s natural resources, the environment, the land and soil that we farm, cultivate, plant and harvest from? What is our responsibility to preserving species, do as little harm as possible and preserve the habitats to as many creatures as God has created? Are creatures created that can justifiable be driven to permanent extinction so that we may harvest more forests just so we can have bigger houses or more land for temporary crops? What about our insatiable need for oil and other fossil fuels? Can we do without SUVs and Hummers, vans and monster pickups and seek out others to carpool with in order to save gasoline and keep costs in line for each other?

Consumption, Economics, Materialism, Capitalism or Socialism: Most of this issue comes down to concerns about needs and wants and how those are supplied.

Wendell Berry upholds and practices what I would call a Pro-Creation philosophy. This Pro-Creation ethic and practice includes elements from what are commonly called Pro-Life, Social Justice, Environmental Conservation, and Agrarian/Rural-based values. His approach, boldness, wisdom and depth as an authentic American statesman and philosopher give us a model towards bridging the issues that separate and bifurcate our society.
Wendell Berry writes in Citizenship Papers:

“The confusion between needs and wants is, of course, fundamental. And let us make no mistake here: This is an educated confusion. Modern education systems have pretty consciously encouraged young people to think of their wants as needs. And the schools have increasingly advertised education as a way of getting what one wants; so that now, by a fairly logical progression, schools are understood by politicians and school bureaucrats merely as servants of ‘the economy.’…. How do we know when we have passed from needs to wants, from necessity to frivolity?”

Such a statement serves as only a springboard for further thought. As the Body of Christ we are obligated to seek answers, not so much to definitively describe a lifestyle that uniformly will dictate needs and wants to all individuals, for that would be socialism at its best, and totalitarian communism at its worst. Uniformity is not Unity. Community leads to Unity, and Community embraces diversity. Differences of taste and of aesthetics. But Community also expects, even necessitates, sacrifice, sharing of resources, generosity, and interdependence.



These thoughts must suffice for now. Beginning thoughts in the dialogue towards Christian Unity.