What could be done?

Most Christians I know believe the church should be one.  Jesus talked about it and prayed for it.  However, few Christians are prepared to sacrifice what they are comfortable with for that to happen.  Perhaps you have noticed that the Scripture has had a lot to say about unity over the last few weeks.

Through the season of Easter, we have been reading passages from the Gospel of John.  On Easter Sunday, of course we read of Jesus’ resurrection and on the next two Sundays (the Second and Third Sundays of Easter) we read of His resurrection appearances at the end of the Gospel of John.

For the next four Sundays, we have read lessons from John that fall into a theme:  the unity of the church in Christ.  That is not an accident.  Both as we come down from the mountaintop experience of Jesus’ resurrection and as we prepare for the empowering of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (next Sunday, June 9) which thrusts the church into the world, we focus on our unity in Christ.

While the church, I would argue, has done more to shape the world for good over the last two millennia than any other institution, there have been glaring problems and sin, and much remains undone.  Much of our failure arises from our sad divisions.

We here at St. John’s, we will not solve the problems of the divisions in the church throughout time and space.  But we can work hard for that unity right here, with the person sitting next to you, and in front and behind.  If we can’t be one with those folks, we certainly will never re-unify the institutional church!

What can you do to build the unity of the Body of Christ?

This column appeared in the June 2, 2019 edition of St. John’s eNews. Click here for the complete issue.

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