+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I’ve been asked by more than one person what I think a new pope means for Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue. One remains hopeful, particularly as we ever pray for God to heal our unhappy divisions. That said, I have no idea what the future holds on the ecumenical front. I don’t know whether those barriers to visible unity between all Christians will continue to obscure the invisible unity we all hold as baptized daughters and sons of God this side of eternity or not. I do know that on the other side, those dividing walls will be forever demolished, and if we’re trying to reflect a bit of that perfect world, we’ll do our level best to realize Christ’s final prayer.
You see, the situation in which we find ourselves seems so unhappily in contradiction to Christ’s last prayer, his final request before his suffering and death:
The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one.
I would humbly suggest that Christ’s prayer went beyond sentiment. That the unity, the one-ness, to which we as the body of Christ are called, is not about some vague, half-hearted acknowledgement of each other’s existence. You’ve heard that hand-waving excuse from people, you’ve said it yourself, and you’ve probably heard me say something like it: “Well, different strokes for different folks, we’re all praying to the same God, and all that.” I’ve increasingly come to believe that this is an excuse. We are excusing ourselves from what is a horrible sin perpetrated through the centuries: the breaking of Christ’s body.
And the really sad thing is not that we happen to go to different buildings on a Sunday morning. The really sad thing is that our divisions impair our witness:
As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Church unity is not an end in itself, but a means by which others are brought into the fold. In a world of political and cultural division, the unity of Christ’s Church could be a powerful sign of the Gospel’s reconciling power. We’ve done pretty well at welcoming people of other Christian backgrounds into our parish, people who are curious about the way Episcopalians practice the faith. This is a good thing. But how many once totally uninterested people have come and said, let me check out this Christianity thing? Some, but not as many, and I think that part of the reason is because divisions in the church are a scandal. The Gospel is compelling, but if we’re not living it, nobody will know that it is.
All of this can seem awfully discouraging. There appears to be little for us to do individually, as real, tangible church unity is a matter discussed at higher levels than ours, among popes and bishops and officials of various Christian bodies. The terms of such conversations revolve around weighty debates about what is essential to Christianity and what is not, issues which sometimes seem intractable.
Even so, there is one thing we can do, and which I myself need to do as difficult as it sometimes is. We need a change of heart. We can say “we’re all in the same business” a thousand times without really believing it. I can state my own appreciation of the work of other churches until I’m out of breath, while still secretly, subconsciously seeing those other churches as “the competition”. We can in one moment give lip service to ecumenism, and in the next moment be snide about how weird and out of touch those other Christians seem to be.
But Christ’s prayer for unity was not about being politique or delicate with those with whom we think we have so little in common. Christ’s prayer for unity has its basis in genuine love:
The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Through our love of Jesus we come to love one another, even those whose religion seems to us strange or over-the-top. While none of us is in a position to effect the institutional unity of the church, we all have a part to play in bringing about its unity in love. Ultimately, that sort of unity is a necessary precursor to the other. Unless we truly love our brothers and sisters, unless we have that invisible bond of unity, visible unity can never exist. Far from being a matter for only the highest levels of church leadership, church unity must begin with each of us, setting aside our discomfort, and “living in love as Christ loved us.” This is easier said than done, but it is our charge. May we be given the charity to accomplish it.
+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.