Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

John 11:17-27

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus[a] had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles[b] away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ 23 Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ 24 Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ 25 Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.[c] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ 27 She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,[d] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

1 Peter 1: 3 – 9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

John 20:24-29

Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord”. But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe”.

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the

doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you”. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe”. Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Sermon:
Being a part of a community is hard at times. There are normal interpersonal differences that can cause static in our relationships. But there are more layers that can cause division. … We try to hold together a number of important things that motivate us as Christians and each of us will prioritize these things differently- service to the poor, care for creation, justice for the disenfranchised, beauty in worship, careful theology, preserving the tradition of the saints, the place of Scripture, Evangelism… Then we get into musical preferences, and high church vs low church practices, sacramental practices, active vs contemplative leanings. Who should be ordained? Does celibacy have a place? Is change a good thing, so we can stay relevant to our society? Is preserving the ways of the elders a better thing, so we maintain our connection to our origins? … And then there are Christian ethical standards. How much of our resources should we give to the work of the church? Is that an important question? Where are the lines regarding relationships and sexuality, … monogamy, polygamy, polyamory? What about divorce? … Our unity is threatened by the way we deal with these various issues. Some of us will hold certain of these issues as being more important than others. And that in itself can cause division.

Jesus prays in John 17 that all his followers would be one, and he says that it is by this that the world would know God sent him (17:21).

Our lack of success at this has indeed caused some to doubt. … For example, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, says that he was trying to discern which of the many denominations was the right one, when God appeared to him and told him to not join any of them, which set him on the road to founding Mormonism.

Ecumenical events like this are attempts to move towards the oneness that Jesus prays for in John 17. …

St. Augustine is credited with the phrase, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, and in all things charity”.[1] It is a pretty good guideline to use to work towards unity. But that still leaves us with the challenge of defining what is “essential”.

Sometimes ministerial groups will produce ‘statements of faith’ that members are expected to sign. They can sometimes be quite specific naming a stance on how atonement works, and what will happen when Christ comes again, and how to think about evolution. … That level of detail doesn’t allow much diversity. So, detailed statements of faith like that often exclude a number of Christian ministers.

We might be tempted to go the other direction and be as wide open as possible, and not put any boundaries around our faith. … Though, if we don’t have any definition of what a ‘Christian’ is, then the word becomes useless. … There can be a danger in definitions creating in-groups and out-groups. But words become meaningless without definitions that distinguish them from others. … My marriage has important definitions regarding who’s in it and who isn’t in it. And I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. That defines what my marriage is.

The struggle for the unity of the church is not new. … The Council at Nicaea in 325 was a part of that struggle. There was division in the church over how Jesus was to be understood. Everyone seemed to believe that Jesus had a pre-incarnate identity. Jesus existed, in some way, before he was born. That wasn’t the issue. But, was he a creature, like an angel? Or was he, in some way, God?

Around 300 bishops gathered from as far away as Spain to meet in Nicaea (present day Turkey) to come to an agreement on this issue. For them, this was an essentials issue. And defining their stance meant excluding those with an Arian stance, who believed Jesus fell purely on the creature side of the creature/Creator divide.

But this didn’t end the problems. Constantine was baptised near the end of his life by an Arian Christian, and two emperors after Constantine supported Arianism, which meant that the church continued to struggle with Arianism. The Council of Constantinople in 381 held 56 years later was still dealing with this issue, but it seemed to diminish after this.

So here we are 1700 years after the Council of Nicaea. And we are still struggling for unity. And we have made a lot of progress through the work of The World Council of Churches. We have joint faith statements and full communion arrangements between various denominations. Anglicans are in full communion with ELCIC Lutherans and Moravians. The work of Vatican 2 did a lot to open conversations with other denominations. … I have loved the opportunities to talk and laugh with Christians of all different denominations. I have learned to appreciate the strengths and gifts that mark their denominations.

Our readings call us to believe. … Jesus asks Martha, do you believe this? That he is the resurrection and the life, and that believing in him will mean life, even for those who die. … And the resurrected Jesus encourages Thomas to touch his scars and says to him, “Do not doubt but believe”. …

At the center of our faith aren’t propositional truths, but a person, Jesus Christ. He is unavoidable. But, during his earthly life, he was also a cause for division.

He once asked Peter, as a representative of the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16). The Nicene Creed is an answer to that question. It is a question that continues to unify and divide us today.

Our journey towards unity is a continual process. The challenges we face in bridging our differences are not new; they echo the struggles of early Christians who came together despite their diverse nations and languages. And just as the bishops at the Council of Nicaea sought to find essentials that could unify them, so we strive for common ground and unity.

“In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, and in all things charity”. I believe the Council at Nicaea was trying to define what was essential. When that is defined, it might help us to know what is non-essential, and so extend grace and mercy into our diversity.

We are called to believe. And we are called to unity. And there can be tremendous tension when holding those two things at the same time. But that is our calling. Lord, have mercy. AMEN.

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[1] Though it might have originated with the German Lutheran theologian, Rupertus Meldenius, in the early 1600’s.