9 Pentecost, Proper 11
21 July 2024
Unity; uniformity. Strange how two words with the same root, oneness, can have such different meanings. Seems to me that Jesus was quite clear on the difference between the two. He taught that the way God wants us to live is in unity; humans and all of creation are part of the great unity. It is in God that we live and move and have our being. Jesus never asked that we all be the same. Not all sheep are of the same fold. He made room for the blind and the lame, for the Jew and the Samaritan, and even the gentile Roman centurion. God created a universe that was full of difference and diversity. There is a saying that nature abhors a vacuum and which biologists rephrased as “nature abhors a monoculture.” We are not meant to be just alike. At the very least it is boring; at worst it is destructive of life itself.
Our apostle we love to hate, Paul, was brilliant at understanding the difference between unity and uniformity. The entire book of Romans was dedicated to the truth that the world was reconciled to both Jew and gentile. In our reading from Ephesians, he reminds his listeners that Jew and Gentile and now one in Christ, part of a new single humanity that can live in peace. We are all part of a new temple, a spiritual dwelling place for God. Jews can remain Jews, but non-Jews are now part of this great unity.
Sadly what we have done more most of Christian history is to demand uniformity. A faith which has the power to free all of us becomes no more than a check list of do’s and don’ts. Over the millennia Christianity splintered hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Much of it was over what was perceived to be correct belief and people were either in or out. I refuse to believe that is the sort of thing that interested Jesus. What would be Good News about one set of rules and laws replacing another? When the church became “official” under Constantine, people were forced to accept Christianity or be out of a job. Do you think that is what Jesus had in mind? I wonder what the human Jesus would think of the institutional church in all of its manifestations around the world!
Let’s become those early disciples for a bit. We are following Jesus because he brings us hope and light. As Jews in Palestine we would likely be quite poor and food insecure; living in fear of the Roman overlords. At the end of each day we would be thankful we were still alive. There would be stories shared, music, and hopefully a loving family. But Jesus came through the area and brought healing and hope. He did not ask people to sign a confession of faith; he loved them and fed them and healed them. That is what brought unity. He came for us, the lost and forsaken, and did not leave behind a long list of rules. That is why people flocked to him; he gave them what they needed: healing and hope.
Paul said that, through his life, death, and resurrection, he brought reconciliation to all, both Jew and Gentile. “One body through the cross” were his words. Unity, not uniformity. Jesus is the cornerstone and we are the building blocks that come in all sizes and shapes.
Have you been to the Grotto of Redemption at West Bend? If you have, you know that the remarkable structure was mainly the work of one man who took stones of all shapes and sizes and created a work that flows, one that experience, not merely see. Each stone is different, yet together they form a beautiful and cohesive work of art. Living stones. It is a new house and we are a new kind of household.
Those disciples, the ones we have become, became and brotherhood and sisterhood. We are bound together by our acts of love and kindness and service to each other, and even to those who are not of our “tribe”. We are becoming unified in our love of Jesus, of one another, and of God. We are united by the work of the Holy Spirit in each of us.
Christians are not a majority religion in this country. It is not normative to be Christian. That may seem like a difficult thing, but in reality it is not. We are part of family, part of a household and a house where Christ is the cornerstone. It should be a place where we are safe and nurtured and welcomed. That is our unity. It is also a place where, as we experience the Good News, we can carry it out the door and into the world. It is my hope and prayer that this household grows because of what we say and do and how we act with one another and in the world.
Let us live as brothers and sisters, in peace and unity, in this household and in the world.
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