Can we achieve unity in our diversity?
Bible Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 and Ephesians 4:1-6 | Preacher: Rev, Rev. Bruce W. Kemp
Can we achieve unity in our diversity?
I have not had time to research the splits in both Judaism and Islam but it does appear clear that while all those who have chosen to express their faith in God through these religious expressions would say that they worship the one true God, they have found themselves separated by a number of things involving practice and interpretation that have caused not only spiritual divisions but also led to physical and mental persecution of one another.
Of course Christianity is no saint when it comes to such things. We also share at the heart of our faith a belief in the one true God and we could probably all stand together and affirm that but we too have separated ourselves from one another through the formation of spiritual divisions involving practice and interpretation and have also inflicted physical and mental persecution upon one another. And while many of the spiritual divisions we know today began as earnest attempts to rediscover the true path of faith with God and therefore bring about the repentance of the body, the result often did not achieve its purpose and left the splintered group firm in its resolve to maintain the path it had chosen. The main body of believers were then to taught to consider the splintered group as heretics and worthy of ostracism from the society in general and the church in specific. At best they were shunned; at worst they were tortured and killed. All was done in the name of the God to whom all had pledged their lives.
But what really is the driving force behind the division we find in these three faiths that declare a unity of faith in one God? Further, what causes us to believe that persecution, torture and death can change what has brought about these divisions? And can we claim to be as pure in our practice and interpretation of the faith as to be able to claim that we hold the ultimate path to God?
Certainly we can find an answer to these questions but it is not one to which many of us would be willing to admit. It is our own ego and pride of believing that when we interpret the words of Scripture, we have discovered the ultimate truth and meaning and therefore can speak with all the authority of heaven. We can come to believe that no one else can speak the truth and that no one else can show us a path other than the one we have discovered. True we need to test the words we hear and determine if it is indeed the voice of God speaking and that the wisdom of God’s Spirit is in it. If we sincerely believe that we have found an interpretation that reveals the way of God for the world and its people, we have a responsibility to share that interpretation and encourage others to come to believe it but it is not for us to force our interpretation on anyone by words or actions.
Consider this: have you ever come to a fork in a trail? Discovering two paths that lead to the same place, you choose one and your friend chooses the other. Each will bring you to the same place but each of you feels led to take your own path. Your path is no better or no worse than your friend’s. It is the path you feel will best take you to the goal. When we can begin to appreciate the different paths each of us are taking and listen to the reasons why each of us have chosen such paths, we will be better able to appreciate what lies at the heart of our faith and the life to which God invites us.
I have been cautious in sharing with you my path as it has changed much over the years, has moved me in terms of how I see God and the church. I have found myself in places with people whom I may never have chosen but believe I have been led by God. These things brought me to the conclusion that I had much to learn from others whose expressions of faith differed from mine. I may not always have chosen to be influenced by such expressions to the point where I felt it was the path I was to take but I was prepared to learn from them and discover how these expressions of faith could teach me something about God and my response to God in word and action. I have experienced a charismatic community prayer group; I have taken part in spiritual retreats led by clergy and lay leaders from a denomination other than my own; I have become an associate with an Anglican order of nuns and have found the community’s life and worship to be critical to my faith development. I have received the elements of communion from clergy of many denominations and never once considered myself to be betraying the expression of the faith that has guided the branch of the church which I have known from my young days and in which I chose to be ordained. I even chose to become part of a congregation in a different denomination and would have stayed with that community of faith for years to come if God had not planned another path for my life.
I know for a fact that there are people here today who have taken different paths in their faith journey before coming to this place; others of you are here just because of this day and you will return to the communities from which you have come. Your presence here, though, speaks of a desire to share this time of worship in this space. My prayer is that this time of worship will be a blessing to you regardless of the path you have chosen to express your faith in God and regardless of where your path will take you in the future.
Can we achieve unity in our diversity is the question which is the title of this message today. Perhaps the better question may have been: can we find unity in our diversity and if we can find that unity can we or may we be willing to support the diversity of expression that God has granted to us within the body of Christ.
If we seek to achieve unity we will be trying to do something that is only for God to accomplish – the creation of one people of faith. And so it will be for us to brag that we have done what God could not seem to do. Rather if we seek to find unity, we will be doing something that allows God to be God and enables us to ever be the people of God. Paul said that like the body, each of us has a place within the body of Christ. Each of us has value. We cannot nor must we all be the same. Yet as we come to better appreciate the place each of us has in the body of Christ and how the spirit of God has blessed each of us, we can begin to tear down the walls that we have built between one another and truly accept the blessing that each of us can be to one another.
As followers of the Way of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we have met challenges that have raised up walls and sowed seeds of division within us. By times dialogue has brought understanding and a sense of how to live together in a unity that recognizes God’s grace to each of us and God’s work of reconciliation in each of our lives. But dialogue has not always been our choice; and while it is true that we all do not speak the same language culturally, spiritually or linguistically, the unity we are to find through the grace of God is something that we are to never give up striving for. It may take us a generation more to settle some of the issues that face us today and represent the walls that we find between us and that keep us from full communion with one another.
In a meditation prepared by the Presbyterian Church in Canada for a service of unity within the Church, there was a quote from Professor Barbara Wheeler who is the former director of the Auburn Centre for the Study of Theological Education. She wrote:
“God hates walls and divisions and intends to save the world by breaking them down. If we want to stay close to God, we need to participate in this barrier-breaking project, not frustrate it… The community of God has no barriers to membership, not even sin. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. He didn’t wait until we got over it….When churches live up to their charter, nothing divides its members.”
Christ has broken down the walls that separate us and we, too, are called to break down walls that divide. Our purpose as Christians is to glorify God. We cannot effectively glorify God id we are at odds with one another. By living in harmony and welcoming one another we witness effectively and give God glory.
In the end it will not matter what we call our communities of faith. What will matter ultimately is that we have been faithful in our life and that we have sought to follow our path with God so that each one of us may be received into the everlasting light of God and the kingdom to which we are all called.
I have not spoken of Robbie Burns in this message but I believe that Burns was much puzzled by the divisions he witnessed and was much troubled by the interpretations of the faith and the practices that he saw as contrary to what he understood about God and the message of the gospel. I am sure that he would have welcomed an opportunity to debate the issue of unity within the body of Christ.
I want to end this message today by reading again the words from Ephesians that Paul wrote to the community of believers in that place:
I implore you, then, as God has called you, live up to your calling. Be humble always and gentle, and patient too, putting up with one another’s failings in the spirit of love. Spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives. There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope held out in God’s call to you; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6, NEB)
AMEN