Oneness
Oneness is a popular concept. We think it sounds wonderful. One America. One race – the human race. One God. One Lord – One Faith – One Baptism. Can we actually get there?
In the realities of dealing with human beings, the answer, of course, is no. There will always be people who choose differences over similarities, and understand themselves in terms of what makes them different. Also, some people are just self-centered and that is not conducive to seeking oneness.
Christianity strives for oneness, even though the sad reality is that we have divided over and over again through history. Our Baptism affirms the words of Paul: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4). We talk of the church as one body – the Body of Christ. We believe in One God.
In Sunday’s lesson from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (click here to read it) Paul reflects on the centuries old divisions between Jews (“the circumcision”) and Gentiles (everybody else, “the uncircumcision). Paul, as a Pharisee once a great champion of that division, has now come to believe that in God’s reality, we are one. In Christ, there is no longer Jew and Gentile (or many others things on which we divide ourselves).
We can believe that, but actually getting there in our hearts and lives is much more difficult. In doing some prowling around on this subject, I came across a comment that is not directly Biblical and was unreferenced which said, “In order to achieve one-ness, we must first give up two-ness.” I think there is some real truth in that sentence.
Usually, when I hear politicians and others talking of oneness, what they really mean is “Come over to my side and then we will be one.” But if we truly want to work for oneness, I would suggest that the primary work is in ourselves. We need to give up seeing ourselves over against others. To use Paul’s terms, we need to stop seeing ourselves as either “in” or “out” of the club – the circumcision. Before God we are all in the same boat. I think recognizing and internalizing that truth is what it means to give up “two-ness” and is the beginning of the road to oneness, and all the richness that promises!
This column appeared in the July 18 edition of St. John’s eNews. Click here for the complete issue.
If you are reading this at a different time, you may click here for the current eNews.
