Unity 1: Transforming Disunity in the Church
Can we practice the kind of humility that heals?
Pride is the first step toward destruction. Proud thoughts will lead you to defeat.
Proverbs 16:18 (ERV)
Many things try to knock unity off its delicate perch—doctrine, politics, and personal grievances, to name only a few. Today I want to focus on disunity caused by words and actions that come from pride or arrogance.
Many Christians voted for both Republican and Democratic candidates up and down their ballots. These voters share a faith but disagree on various political measures. This division in the Church can trigger alarm and cause pain, fatigue, and disappointment. Many of us in the Church harshly judge our brothers and sisters in Christ or are tempted to do so. We struggle mightily to avoid actions and viewpoints we consider to be wrong.
Something powerful is loose at the junction of church and politics.
And it is dividing the Church.
A Virtuous Vision
From all sides of the political spectrum, I hear people say, “I don’t get it. How can someone vote that way?” Many times, “I don’t get it” is a phrase that carries truckloads of disdain and dismissal.
But what if we put the accent of that statement on curiosity? Meaning, “I’d sincerely like to understand the complicated reasons people and demographics cast their votes.” Or “I want to understand the whole picture so I don’t engage in minimizing or stereotyping—which can lead to condemnation and division.”
The relational ethic in the New Testament leads the way to unity. It begins with highlighting the cohesive and healing power of humility and how it works to create and sustain unity:
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:2-3
All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 3:8 (NIV)
When Peter says be like-minded, he doesn’t mean, “Think the exact same thoughts about everything.” The context for Peter’s letter is important. Christians in Peter’s day lived in a dangerous world where Christianity was seen as a threat to the empire. The ancient Church also had disagreements and discord within it. Peter gives powerful advice for facing threats from the inside and out: be like-minded; keep the same perspective among yourselves. This is a call to center Jesus and his kingdom worldview, to view everything through that lens, and to decenter anything non-essential that would cause division.
Such like-mindedness is achieved in part by being sympathetic. A literal translation of sympathetic is together-emotioned. It means putting yourself in another’s shoes with compassion, to suffer with her. Walking in another’s shoes makes it harder to judge.
Next, Peter says unity is achieved by loving one another. “Brotherly love” is a simple call to kindness, that is, to seek the good of others and to work toward it.
Compassion in this passage puts the accent on tenderheartedness which leads to empathy. Brotherly love, compassion, and empathy are the nutrients in spiritual soil that provide the basis for acts of unity in the Church and deeds of justice and healing-repair in the world.
Lastly, Peter brings home our thought for today: Pride poisons the soul, which then spills over in poisoning the body of Christ. Pride cannot produce like-mindedness, sympathy, love, or compassion.
Pride goes before a fall—not least the fall of Church unity.
Pride hinders unity. Humility facilitates it.
So, Peter says, be humble. The word he chooses emphasizes being friendly and courteous. Paul helps us see the vision:
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Romans 12:16
That means we don’t get to say, “I’ll have nothing to do with someone who voted for ______.”
These voters are our family, neighbors, and brothers and sisters in Christ. Even if you think they are enemies of something important, they are still to be loved. More than having a certain sentiment, love means actively seeking the good of the other.
When we fundamentally identify and align ourselves with political parties instead of Christ’s one body, we invite division. It is a classic example of choosing the lesser in place of the greater. The Church, the elect people of God, calls for our ultimate commitment. Political systems are important, but penultimate.
Learning from Peter, we know that we best facilitate church unity (and thus obey the command of Christ), on the basis of transcendent virtues: like-mindedness, sympathy, love, compassion, and humility.
Let’s band together to daily cultivate those virtues and become healers of division.
In 67 years I have not met a humble bishop. They should teach by example. For instance, the enormous money that was spent on all the pomp and circumstance involved in electing a new archbishop. (We got a letter from the archbishop asking for an end of year donation!) I have trouble tithing when the upper crust spends it so frivolously.
Remember Matthew 23:5 “They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats at synagogues
and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men.” The words of Jesus 2000 years ago are still applicable today.