Monday, May 13, 2013

John 17:20-26 Are We One?


Sermon 5/12/13

That they may all be one

Good morning friends! It is good to gather in worship with all of you this morning.
I hope that today finds you well. Our theme this morning is one that is near and dear to my heart-the question of oneness in the church.

In our text this morning, we are offered the last words that Jesus offered to his disciples before the crucifixion- after his long discourse that we talked about last week, with it's promise “my peace I leave with you” and claim “no one can come to the father except through me”, Jesus closes his message not with a final set of commandments, but with a prayer-a prayer for his disciples, a blessing for their flourishing, and their future as the church.

At the heart of this final prayer, Jesus prayed that the church might be one, just as Christ and God are one, that the disciples might demonstrate unity so that the whole world might know that they are followers of the one God, brothers and sisters who love one another.

It is a powerful vision of a community tied together in relationship, a church that is one, just like Jesus and God are one, so committed in mission as to be one spirit. It speaks to a church spanning the globe, proclaiming one gospel, working for the good of all people, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, united in ministry, in prayer, and in practice. This is, I believe, who we are supposed to be.

But as we all know, it's not what the church actually looks like. Rather than being of one heart and one mind, I might go so far as to say that we Christians are experts at division. We have countless denominations, different congregations teaching different things, Christians on opposite sides of every core issue in our society, from abortion and torture to Israel Palestine and climate change. How can we be one when we disagree so vehemently with one another?

And I worry that I might be part of the problem- after all, I'm a member of a tiny denomination, some one tenth of one percent of global Christians, a denomination known for schisms and division, to the point that there are far more Anabaptist denominations than I can keep track of, and none of them are very large. You might even say that from the very beginning, Mennonites were the ones who took what was one, and made it many. Watching Anabaptists at work Desidarius Erasmus wept that “Christ's seamless Coat is rent asunder on all Sides.” What is more, and I'm a minority within that denomination, off on the progressive fringe of the church, and I don't always do a good job of falling in line with the established order, more likely to remain as the loyal opposition rather than submitting to the will of the whole.


Sometimes it feels like a long way away from Christ's vision of a church that is one.
So what are we called to do and to be in this broken church?
Are we all supposed to agree on what is our calling, to work out a common set of Christian beliefs, and embody them in the world? Are we supposed to set up institutions that can police the boundaries, kicking out those Christians who do not agree? Are we supposed to find the lowest common denominator, and believe only what we can all agree on?

I hope not, on each case. Because I don't think it's possible to care about Jesus and avoid disagreements with fellow Christians. The Bible is not a precise enough instruction book, society has changed to much, and our own ethical and moral perspectives are to important a part of the Christian calculus for everyone to always agree.

Rather, I think our challenge is to decide what it means to be one in the face of our disagreements.
It is a question that I wrestle with regularly-how do we walk the balance between maintaining the core of our identity, while still being open to difference and transformation?

You all may know that Chuck Neufeld, our Conference Minister has been actively working on this question over the last four years. Illinois Mennonite Conference is a diverse group of Christians, part of a diverse denomination, with churches that freely welcome gay and lesbian members, and others that would not invite a woman to be their pastor. We all may claim the title Mennonite, but what that looks like in practice can vary widely.

Many of you, I'm sure, remember the conversation we had with the Southern Illinois Mission Partnership last year about homosexuality. We invited them to come worship with us, they formally decided they could not be in fellowship with us, we said we would pray for them. Well, while that was the end of the conversation so far at a congregational level, over the past year I've continued to talk with pastors at the conference level about what it means to be united. Pastors around Illinois have gathered to reflect on what it means to have a common confession of faith, what it means to accept scripture as authoritative, and what it means to follow “God's word” and we will continue in our conversations about what unity means for a conference.

And this is where I go first when I think about what it means to be one-
Chuck suggests that at it's core, oneness in the church is about gathering around a set of convictions, and holding fast to the center, rather than policing the edges.
The center that Chuck defends is a set of four affirmations:

Christ is Lord
Scripture is authoritative
The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective is ours
We actively seek the Holy Spirit's guidance.

If a congregation or an individual can confess these tenants of faith, then they are welcome to be part of the Illinois Mennonite Conference. It is because we agree with these statements that Chuck defends our right to be part of the conference, despite our differences on issues of LGBT inclusion.

And this is something I really appreciate- the value of both a central core that ties us together, and a willingness to allow diversity in expression and perspective. We are connected not because we share similar boundaries, because 'this' is a Mennonite , which is divided from a Lutheran or a Baptist, but because we have a common conviction that Jesus is Lord, and Christ's Lordship calls us to lives of reconciliation and justice, working for peace and caring for the poor. Squabbling around the edges about who belongs in and who should be out does not lead to life.

But in some ways, I think these four convictions, well thought out and useful though they may be, are not the core part of the oneness work that Chuck has been leading us in. 

Rather, the core work of unity is not the theological work, in deciding what is or is not sufficient basis for continued fellowship, but rather in practice, in the way that we orient ourselves to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Most of you know that we are a consensus congregation-every formal congregational decision requires everyone's approval-or at least acceptance in a congregational meeting. This kind of system is an attempt to embody God's calling to oneness in a very concrete way-we are one, in that we give each part of the local church veto power over what we proclaim as a community. But this kind of consensus process can be tremendously divisive-it can push groups of people to split off from one another out of frustration, and it allows anyone who chooses to throw a wrench in the works and shut down all sorts of progress, it can turn the one into many very quickly. It functions only when people act as their best selves, when they turn their concerns to the interests of the whole, when they are generous towards their neighbors.

This is the core of what it means to be one.

We can always find something to fight about-in the church, denominations have been created over whether to wear buttons on clothes or the color of bumpers on cars, and even sillier things that we cannot know the answer to, like whether or not God knows everything that is going to happen in the future, or if we help write reality with our free will. And at the same time, we can always decide not to let differences divide us.

Each week I gather with people from a host of different traditions, acknowledging our common commitment to Christ and our willingness to be one together. We preach different things, and I have heard defenses of political action and warfare, theology around choice and free will, and interpretations of the Bible that I disagree with deeply. But I welcome them as my friends.
One fascinating dynamic of 20th century denominational relationships is the breakdown of the old reformation divisions. The Eccumenical moment has led many denominations to formally end the theological divisions between them. Prebyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, UCC, and the Reformed Church in America are all fullcommunion partners with one another, recognizing one another's baptism, share the Lord's supper together, may exchange clergy, and share a common commitment to evangelism, witness and service. Mennonites have been invited to participate in some of these dialogues, but because of our radically congregational style, we've never tried to make these kinds of claims.

But I think they speak to a powerful trend-a movement to close historic divisions, to be one, as Christ calls us to be one. Not because old divisions have been erased, but because we have decided to be in relationship despite our differences. Bob Hagel, a pastor in our neighborhood reflecting on this eccumenical force, spoke of the model of Catholic Orders-you have your Domincans and your Jesuits and your Franciscans and whatever, each with their own emphasis and mission, but all part of the church universal. What would it look like if we claimed a similar role? We are part of the Order of Mennonites on the Christian Church, and while we treasure our uniqueness, we are one with all who confess Christ as Lord. 

Chuck Neufeld has themes on this point-he does not only list the four questions, but he says that we must trust each other-if someone says they believe them, then they believe them. It is not our place to evaluate whether they believe them in the right way. And second, he loves to say 'were you part of the same church yesterday? (Yes) are you part of the same church today? (yes) can you be part of the same church tomorrow (I guess) then you can keep being one until Christ comes again!"

Which brings me to my conclusion, which I think sums up nicely what I'm trying to day. 
according to Allyn Harris-Dault, to be the church means saying 
"We are committed to unity-we display this by a lot of conflict, done well."

We do this all,
So that we might embody Paul's calling in Ephesians 4:1-6

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Amen

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