Becoming One in Christ
Easter 7
May 29, 2022
Fr. Tim Nunez
Memorial Day means to remind us of over 1.3 million the men and women who died in defense of this country. What do we mean, then, by country? Certainly that means our geography including our states and territories. Certainly that means our people. And within our people, it is formed around ideas. The assumption is that if you are born here you’ll absorb those ideas in many ways, including schools. We hope. More about that in a moment.
It is very clear in the naturalization process where applicants for citizenship have to pass a civics test, which focuses on our founding documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with a special focus on the Bill of Rights. In other words, words.
We the people are a nation with widely divergent views on what those mean and what the answers to those questions ought to be. In fact, the study guide acknowledges that some of the answers will change a bit depending on who is President. And while we require naturalizing citizens to pass a test, a poll a few years ago determined 2/3rds of American cannot pass such a test. It seems to me that people need to know what the words are and mean before they argue about them.
And we see flashpoints of conflict around the flag, which is our national symbol of those words. The flag at once draws us to the highest and best ideals those words convey, and reminds us of the ways we continually strive for that “more perfect union.” We remember those 1.3 million as having died for those ideals, for those words, as Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The vast majority of people will honor those ideals as we honor the sacrifices of our servicemen and women who died in defense of them.
Today is not primarily a civics lesson, but the centrality of words forming our identity as a nation, unified and fractured as it is, is a helpful analogy to contemplate the unity Jesus describes in today’s Gospel. He is with his disciples at the Last Supper. He has shared a thorough summary of his teaching with them. In chapter 17 he shares a long prayer for them in verses 1-19, and now that prayer expands to “those who will believe in me through their word, that all may be one.” (John 17:20-21)
We may not find we are doing very well at this if we look at the tens of thousands of denominations and non-denominational churches. From that angle, we look very fractured. But I don’t think that’s the right way to think about it. It’s better to look at it from what we hold in common. What we hold in common is far, far more important and rooted in Jesus himself.
The disciples became apostles, meaning the sent ones, to share words Jesus shared with them along with their testimony to all that he said and did, most importantly about his death and resurrection and what that means for the world. They went out and told that story in the synagogues, marketplaces, town squares, people’s homes, wherever they found people who would listen, be it in groups or alone. That went on for decades before they wrote any of the New Testament.
For example, we have Paul’s letters because there were Christian churches to receive them. The Church was initially built entirely on their oral witness. Their testimony has been passed on across the centuries, from generation to generation. We find accounts of the essential elements of their preaching throughout the New Testament, and you will find them present in every Christian church of every stripe and flavor. A group who didn’t adhere to that testimony would be something other than Christian, no matter what they called themselves.
Recall that Jesus is himself The Word of God embodied. Their testimony became written and points to The Word. Knowing about Jesus leads to knowing him which leads to fulfilling the primary mission: that the love with which God loves his Son Jesus may be in all who believe in him.
It’s also true that the Church and our churches, along with their organizations and ministries, are also filled with and run by flawed human beings. Further, we disagree, we snipe and argue in ways that don’t manifest our faith very well. In that way the fractured struggle toward the ideal is similar to our national struggle to live up to our highest national ideals.
But that only underscores the point. How can we recognize when and where an error occurs, impose accountability and embark on a solution? Because we know better and we are straining toward the very best, which is Christ himself. Imagine how much better our world would be if every person knew he or she was loved by God and to love other people in that same way. We obviously don’t but our direction matters.
Today we are baptizing Meg’s and my granddaughter, Mabel. We are so blessed that although they live in Deland, which is an hour and forty minutes to 3 hours away depending on traffic, her parents share pictures and or videos and/or FaceTime with us almost every day. She is 3 months and 19 days old today, and a most prodigious girl. She’s in that stage of watching and listening to her parents intently and responding. That is great fun. We delight in watching Mabel respond, hearing her voice. It’s clear she is trying to talk, to form words even as she is being formed by her parents’ words.
We pass language on primarily and best through imitation. Yes, reading, writing, spelling and grammar are all important parts of honing and using language skills, but generally speaking (pun intended) people learn to speak and speak well by listening and copying from others. The best way to learn a new language is full immersion for an extended period of time.
In a few moments we will baptize Mabel into this new life. She is already learning the language of faith by full immersion. Her parents both work for their church and her mom is their contemporary worship leader.
Our words take on real life when they point toward and approach The Word of God, the living power of Jesus Christ. My hope and prayer for all of God’s children is same as for Mabel and the rest of our family, as well as our church family. To paraphrase Paul in his letter to the Philippians:
Not that we have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but we press on to make it our own, because Christ Jesus has made us his own. Beloved, we do not consider that we have made it our own; but this one thing we do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, we press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
AMEN!