Brief Talk on Unity

I was part of a community worship service at McHale Auditorium at 2 PM, It involved 16 churches. I had a 3 min talk.

I am George Plasterer, pastor at Cross~Wind UMC. It pleases me greatly to be part of this community service of worship. We need times when the churches can set aside the things that make us unique and remember what unites us. Here is the scripture I have for today.

 

Ephesians 4: ¹⁵ we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

 

How can we apply this in our lives in order to reach our community to join as one body in Christ?

Growing up in Minnesota, our family took too few vacations. When we did, we crammed into the old Pontiac Bonneville or a station wagon, all seven of us, and traveled together. We children would get argumentative at times. I am sure mom and dad got tired of hearing the question, “Are we there yet.” For many of us, our earliest ideas of a “group vacation” meant fighting with siblings over who had the privilege of the back window seat. Most of us have experienced the dangers of families travelling together. Eventually, I hope we learn that the family that travels together stays together.

The church is always a migrating or travelling church, on the way to meet its Lord. We are in a denominational age. We have differences. Those differences can actually strengthen the work of God in the world. Yet, surely, Christ has called the various denominations to witness to their unity in Christ, even in the midst of difference. We keep learning how we can get along and strengthen each other as we journey toward the full revelation of our Lord. Many divisions arise because we have taken our eyes off Christ. Unity comes, not as we gaze at each other, but as together, we turn our gaze toward Christ. The unity we have is because of our unity in a person, Jesus Christ. He is the one that binds us together. If the community listens to the world, thinking in its categories and conforming to its language and standards, it makes itself incapable of its hope.[1] Christ nourishes the body and enables its spiritual growth. The body is nothing without its head, Jesus Christ. What the church is to grow, and this should come as no surprise, is love.[2]

How can we apply this passage to our lives?

When I played baseball as a youth, I played various positions, mostly first and second base. I was part of a team that had one name and one identity, even though it had many different types of players. The church of Jesus Christ is like a baseball team, in that it also has one identity, but lots of different players. The Christian team has its identity in one name, Jesus Christ.

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[1] Church Dogmatics IV.2 [68.3] 799.

[2] Church Dogmatics IV.2 [67.2] 660.