A young man was filling out a form for college in which he was asked to list some of his preferences in life. When he got to the line that said “church preference” he thought for a minute and then put down “red brick.” The form, of course, was not asking about his preference in architecture but his denominational affiliation and hoping he would use the shorthand that so many denominations use: RCC, ELCA, LCMS, UMC, A/G, SBC, PCUSA, and so on. The Christian Church is divided into many denominations, and some of them are not very cordial towards each other.
Friday, January 25, is the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which is observed by some denominations but not by all by any means. Those who observe this week annually join Jesus in the prayer that he prayed for his disciples in John 17:11: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.” It is the express desire of the Lord Jesus Christ that those who confess him as Lord and Savior will be united in faith and will live in harmony with one another. Unity does not mean uniformity of practice or holding a common view on every public issue of the day, but confessing a common faith in Jesus, desiring to follow his teachings, and loving one another. In John 13:34 Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The history of the Christian Church is the history of a struggle between the impulse to work together in love and the impulse to splinter into different and often competing groups. This goes all the way back to the days of the New Testament. St. Paul was dismayed at the divisions that were arising among Christians in Corinth. They did not use the alphabet soup of labels we use today, but identified themselves by one apostle or another: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and so on. In 1st Corinthians 1:13 Paul’s response was, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” And in verses 10-11 he wrote “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”
The prayer of Jesus, the great intercessor, is still being offered up today as new issues and new personalities cause division and hard feelings. And the appeal of St. Paul still needs to be heard in this day and age as much as it did in the first few decades after Pentecost. As hard as it is to appreciate the views of some believers and as hard as it is, at times, to love some people, those who follow Jesus are still asked to “make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” because “there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:3-4) So pray today for unity and peace, and say a little prayer for that person or that denomination with whom you most strongly disagree.
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