Hope for a Shattered Church--May 5, 2022

Hope for a Shattered Church--May 5, 2022

"Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose." [1 Corinthians 1:10]

Okay, the cynic in me has to confess something when I read these words.  I want to be able to believe that what Paul talks about here is possible, and I want to believe that he is not being naive about the many ways that the followers of Jesus fracture and fragment themselves along all sorts of lines--some very significant, and some pretty petty.  I want to see that some kind of unity is possible among us, even with all of our diversity--and I am convinced that the "apostle to the Gentiles" himself saw that diversity as a good thing, not something to be homogenized and stamped out with rigid uniformity. 

I want to believe all of those things, but the cynic in me also opens my eyes on an almost daily basis to see the ways that we do divide ourselves up into factions, teams, brands, denominations, and cliques.  Christians have been splintering into sects from the beginning--as Paul's train of thought here will point out--but it certainly seems obvious in our day and time.  We live in an era where people who name the name of Jesus can find themselves landing on opposite sides of controversial issues in civil society, affiliating with different political parties, supporting diametrically opposed candidates for office, and on top of all that arguing about how we baptize, what kind of music to use in worship, and what color the church carpet should be.  We divide, not only over things we disagree about, but over whether we can even live in the same organization with other people who disagree with us.  And I can't help but think that Paul would be heartbroken and/or furious with us over all the ways we have carved ourselves up into teams, not to mention that Jesus has got to be weeping over the ways we tear his body apart.

That's not to say that the differences between Christians are all trivial, or that we can ignore the issues that deeply divide us.  But it does mean that we start from a place of deep brokenness as the church, and that brokenness flies in the face of Paul's dream for the Christian community to be united in purpose and mindset.  He wants us to be unified, not simply for the sake of conformity, but around the way of Jesus.  Jesus' kind of love, Jesus' kind of truth-telling, Jesus' way of seeking the good of others, and Jesus' willingness to listen to people who sometimes have something surprising to tell us.

What's the cynic in me supposed to do with the glaring contradiction between Paul's wish for us to be united in mind and purpose on the one hand, and this the reality that we are a shattered piece of pottery, broken into innumerable jagged shards?

Well, I think first, it's lament.  Rather than being so proud of our own little clique or denomination and looking down at all the other groups as doomed to hell or "controlled by Satan" (which is a more fashionable thing to say about other Christians than you might think at first blush, apparently), I think Paul would have us lament our brokenness.  That means naming that our divided reality is NOT God's will for us, and it harms and wounds our witness in the world.  It means confessing that our disagreements and infighting make it harder for anyone to hear our talk about the power of God's love to reconcile, and to grieve over that.  It means admitting how deeply consumer capitalism has infected the church where we end up competing with one another, or with the church down the road, like we are brands selling similar products and angling for a bigger share of the market--and confessing that whole mindset as a damnable sin.  

And from there we can see what the goal, or the vision is.  Paul's dream is for the community of Jesus to share a mindset--that we would strive increasingly to see the world through the ideas of Jesus and to use our resources and ability as the hands of Jesus for the purposes of Jesus.  I don't think that means we will all do the same work, or even that we will always be completely on the same wavelength as every other group as to how they "do discipleship" and live out their faith.  But maybe we can at least imagine being able to see some glimpse of the face of Jesus in those other groups, and at least then to see and understand why they do things the way they do, or how they are trying their very best to follow Jesus.  When we at least give the benefit of the doubt that others are at least trying to love like Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to serve like Jesus, it changes the whole conversation when we eventually do get to honestly exploring our differences.  When I make the effort to see how those I disagree with or am divided from may still be seeking to follow Jesus, and when I at least try to see their perspective as an attempt to walk in Jesus' way, it has a way of leading me to extend grace to the people I don't like... and to see how they may be extending grace to me.  The honest cynic in me knows that isn't enough of a plan to be the last step--but it is enough to be a first step.

And that's where we are today--just the beginning. Today, when we find ourselves interacting with others who follow Jesus, but with whom we also disagree strongly in different ways, let the first step be curiosity--the willingness to ask, "How might this person, this group, this branch of the family tree, still show me something of Jesus, if I am willing to look?"  And maybe from there, the second question becomes, "How might this person, for all their disagreements with me, yet see something undeniably of Christ in me as well--and to let that be enough to hold us together for right now?"

Today, let's take at least those steps, even if that's as far as we can go at the moment.

Lord Jesus, we are trying.  Failing, too, but trying.  Help us to follow you, and help us to find ways to walk where you are leading us even if we struggle to walk together as we do.