One in Christ      January 22 2006    Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

 

 

Reading: “ I pray…. that all of them may be one…..” John 17.20,21

 

One of my professors told the story of  his regular visits to Sierra Leone, if my memory is correct, to speak at a Bible college there. A short distance away from the college, there was a street, with shops, houses and a church. As he passed by the Church, there in typically, colourful, highly embellished style, with greens and yellows, and crimsons, and whites, was written in ornate letters over the Church door ‘The True Church’.  A year or so later, the Professor returned to the college, and walking down the street, he noticed there were now two churches. ‘The True Church’,  and then a little further down, another Church. The guide told him that the pastor of this Church was the son of the pastor of ‘The True Church’. There was a sign above the door. But though the sign was in the same, dancing, glowing letters, this second Church had over the door ‘The One, True Church’.  Another couple of years it was, before the Professor returned to the college. Walking down the same street, there was ‘The True Church’, a little further on ‘The One True Church’ and now, another church a little further on still. A third church on the same street. The guide told him that the pastor of this third Church was the son of the pastor of the second Church, and grandson of the pastor of the first Church. Over the door of his Church were, in dancing, glowing colours, the words ‘The One and Only True Church’. You might say that that street could sum up the history of the Church………..  once a family, but now divided. Once one, but now disunited.

 

It seems only proper to consider Christian unity, this morning, this is, after all – The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

 

So where do we begin ?

 

Well, the New Testament, is of course, absolutely basic for our understanding of the Church.

Picture that scene at the beginning of the book of Acts.

As they wait in that house in Jerusalem, as Jesus had commanded them, the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised comes sweeping down on the men and women in the house,  filling them with power, giving gifts of speech, and at the same time shaping them as one. The gifts they receive are given to all, the new life and power common to all, the experience they have is one experience,

so these men and women are forged, united into a community unlike any other – a community in Jesus Christ – in other words, the Church.

 

The Church, then, is not a club:

before anything else it is what it is because of the creative power of Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit.

This means,  that we do not come together because we are “religious people”,

and it might be a good idea to get together, like stamp collectors, or motor bike enthusiasts.

To think of ourselves as members of an interest group would be a very low estimate of  the Church.

No - Jesus Christ, draws us into His life and presence through the Holy Spirit, and so the Church is made, shaped, among men and women among ourselves.

 

The Church, is not a business organisation:  before anything else it is what it is because of the creative power of Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit.

The Church is not a business organisation, a kind of large worldwide corporation – the Churches, particularly the protestant churches have been wrestling with the temptation to think of the Church in business or management terms for most of the twentieth century……………

only the other day, I read these comments on the web, written by church leaders:

"we need to manage things better. improve our managerial skills when things turn out poorly”............. we need "Management for Christian Leaders."

"We need to be capable of consulting and planning ahead and getting things done, with the capacity, commitment and ‘clout’ to do so”.

 

Now of course, we need proper responsible organisation,  nobody would deny that,

but the Church, before anything else it is what it is because of the creative power of Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit.

or to put it another way………….

the everlasting, living foundation of the church is Jesus Christ Himself…………..

He is the source, the wellspring, the cornerstone, the life, of the church,

the source, the wellspring, the cornerstone, of your life and mine

He is the foundation of our oneness.

We are one because Jesus Christ is the one source of our life,

we are one because He has called us, shaped us, as one through His Holy Spirit,

who is present and working and active in all of us in all the Churches…..

And because of the work of the Spirit

as Paul proclaims in 1 Corinthians 12,  the Church is blessed with enormous diversity and richness, a wonderful diversity of talents and gifts - all the result of the creative power of Jesus Christ at work among His people through the Holy Spirit

 

Jesus Christ alone is

the source, wellspring, cornerstone, of our life

 

What might this mean for us ?

Well it means many things – but just to take two for the moment…..

 

Because Jesus Christ alone is

the source, wellspring, cornerstone, of our life

though we live from day to day in

this struggling, often weak church of ours,

despite our failures as sinful men and women……….

yet by His life we are being renewed from day to day,

We are, declares Paul in 1 Corinthians, the body of Jesus Christ, made one with Him.

Because we are His body, the life of Jesus is working in us, and among us, strengthening us, imparting life to us. He it is who fills us with His new life. And because He is Jesus, crucified and resurrected, we are filled with hope, that through Jesus we too will be raised, by God's power.

So the church of Jesus Christ, despite its weakness, failing and faltering, is being made new, built and re-built by Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit, until that day when He comes again.

 

And second,

Because Jesus Christ alone is

the source, wellspring, cornerstone, of our life

we are one with each other………..

 

I once mentioned before a  little Highland Church,  I read about, on the shores of Lochbroom –

in the Church there are two long tables with benches which run from the front of the church to the back - the old traditional Scottish communion tables.

In days gone by, at the Communion season, family and friends gathered there and it was a time to rest from working the rocky soil, or fishing the unforgiving sea,

Ordinary life was suspended whether at the plough, or at the anvil, or on the hill, or at home, or out in the boat

 

During the service,  after the sermon, the minister would invite the men and women in the congregation, to the long tables to come and sit at communion - you can picture it in your mind –  fishermen, crofters, shepherds, the laird, cooks from the big house, domestic servants, estate workers all there at the long tables.

And  when the bread and wine were shared, they were an eloquent sign

to those present

that because Jesus Christ alone is

the source, wellspring, cornerstone, of our life they were one with each other………..

You see, when the men and women in the congregation, fishermen, crofters,  the laird - when they came and sat together around the table –

the bread was passed from neighbour to neighbour, from the fisherman to his wife, from to the crofter to the laird, from the elder to the minister,

each man and woman there had to receive the bread from a neighbour, and then give the bread to a neighbour

each one receiving and giving, giving and receiving,

each person, being served by their neighbour and then serving the neighbour at his or her side.

 

Isn’t that a perfect sign, of the way in which we who are one in Jesus Christ serve one another, giving and receiving ?

sharing, as we do with one another, the joys and sorrows of human life……….

 

because the source, wellspring, cornerstone - of all of our life

the source, wellspring, cornerstone of our life together…..

is - Jesus Christ .

 

AMEN