“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:13)
“For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28)
Last Sunday after worship Sam Paravonian left me an article to read, from The Wall Street Journal entitled “Houses of Worship Shouldn’t Mirror the Class Divide” by Ryan Burge, pastor and Political science professor at Eastern Illinois University. The summary of the article are these words: “If churches, synagogues, and mosques were once again full of people from across the economic and political spectrum, it would help build bridges not just in the congregation but in the larger community.” Wise words to ponder in an exceedingly challenging cultural and political climate in our country, where the goal of unity has lost its “hutzpah” and the pursuit of uniformity seems to shout out loud!
Where the church ought to be and has a chance to re-insert unity’s witness and power, too often we have followed the cultural and political trends along that are doing great damage to us individually and collectively.
Though both words are so similar and sound benign, both pack a punch!
Uniformity is all about holding the same views, beliefs, and standards, and there is no room for differences. It seems impressive and might be easier to manage, but it only creates a false sense of unity. Instead of tolerating differences, we are out to eliminate them.
Unity is all about harmony between different people and groups. It comes to life when people who are different in all kinds of ways are able to coexist peacefully and respectfully. It is fueled by tolerance, and it requires maturity.
Uniformity does not require grace, but unity does. The key difference between unity and uniformity is the acceptance of differences. When there is unity, people accept or at least respect each other’s differences, but uniformity implies that everyone is alike, or must be, so there is no room for differences. Uniformity leads to fights for control.
So what of it? How are we doing, Church? The author reflects: “If someone walked into an average Protestant or Catholic Church in the 1980s, they were just as likely to sit next to a Democrat as a Republican. That’s no longer the case…” We, like the culture, have siphoned ourselves off into essentially republican churches and democratic churches, just as the landscape of our country has becomes more clearly defined as red or blue. Our theological differences in this climate valuing uniformity over unity have found us dismissing each other as we splinter further and further into places where “everyone thinks like me.”
But it seems that Unity is clearly what God is after and hoping for, and where our energy and effort should be as Christians in community. It should be our deep longing and hope and the focus of our prayers as we seek to live together. And while our culture, driven by our politics, is certainly pulling us in a different direction toward the TV stations and newspapers and blogs and rallies that reinforce our views and disparage those “others” we see, the Church really does have an opportunity to show a better way, that it is still possible to be tolerant and respectful of one another in our differences.
The problem is that as we become more monolithic we become more dogmatic and assured “that I am right and you are wrong”, etc… and less tolerant, even intolerant of one another. The extreme ends of our “side” fuel the fire, and get all the press. As the author says, we know so well: “When religion becomes so politically uniform, it can have corrosive effects on democracy. In general, Americans, are becoming less tolerant from people who are different than us.” Sad, but not surprising, given our collective broken relationships and painful experiences. The Church doesn’t seem to be helping the situation.
Maybe the answer, at least in part is to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (which leads toward unity) rather than quench our spirit in the political and cultural climate which is forever pushing us toward uniformity, and while we’re at it, to limit our intake of favorite news outlets while we make new plans with neighbors, wondering how we can bless them.
Unity is hard courageous work. But God’s Spirit and the love of Jesus make it possible!
Love from here
Peter Hawkinson
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