Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Unity

Today, I pray for unity in the body of Christ.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rachel,
I have a thing about unity myself, and a wise friend of mind pushed me to really give some thought about what I mean by unity:
Organic unity? Unified witness? Unified administration? Mutual recognition? Unified scriptural interpretation?

Needless to say, much to think about! This wise person also pointed out the beauty of unity is (as with so many of the things of God) already and not yet.
A God's eye view of Christians most likely ignores most of what we herald as our distinctives. Isn't that a glorious thought?!


Your sister in Christ,
Amy

Rachel Nguyen said...

It's a great question, Amy!

What DOES unity in the church mean?

For me, it is something along the lines of loving one another, in spite of the differences that in the real world would fracture us.

In my denomination, for example, from a practical, worldly view, it looks like schism is inevitable. But I have (unwarranted, perhaps) hope that ultimately we will come to some deeper truths about what connects us. We will see past the things that separate us and focus on the things that draw us into communion with one another. This would be huge. Not just for our church, but for a broken world that needs to know that we can, with God's help, heal divisions and love one another.

What an astonishing witness to the world it would be if we could rise above our struggles and find common ground.

I pray for unity with other churches too. There are lots of things about other denominations that I don't agree with or like...But I am coming to understand that what separates is not the whole picture. What draws us into fellowship is much more important. So, while I don't agree with everything, I do agree with at least one thing: Jesus is Lord.

And that might very well be the only important thing.

Anonymous said...

Amen, my sister.

I couldn't agree more about this. These sad divisions, it seems to me, are all human-made...and division is part of our nature.

How can we just
STOP and look at where we are and what we are up to?

And listen intentionally to one another?