Unity in Christ

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

10 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 knit together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

Saints, there are a lot of things that want to tear the church apart in these days. If we let ourselves, we could be divided by how long we’ve been part of the congregation, by our political beliefs, or by our birthplaces. There are forces that want us to do that—to arrange our lives and our alliances by a standard other than Christ. Those forces are not from God.

These aren’t new problems. They are as old as the church. 1 Corinthians was written somewhere around the year 55. The global church was barely 20 years old and already people were dividing themselves by who baptized them or who their favorite preacher is. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?

There are some divisions we can’t opt out of. There is no congregation on this planet that doesn’t have some denominational background or theological tradition, even if they claim to be non-denominational. We may as well be Lutheran, which has the advantages of a rich theological background and a tendency toward partnerships and dialogue with other traditions. Plus, our grace-filled Lutheran theology just makes sense with the God we meet in the Bible.

Within a congregation, though, within our outpost of the body of Christ, we have a duty to be unified as much as we can. Our unity isn’t based on believing the same things, but on being connected to Jesus. We owe it to each other to work for the good of the whole. Jesus himself prays that we may be one, just as the Triune God is one (John 17). We do this work when we encourage each other, when we line up our budget with our mission, when we share what we have for the common good.

This isn’t easy, especially at this moment in history. To commit ourselves to life together is to commit ourselves to being uncomfortable. It is to commit to hearing things we don’t like and saying things that others disagree with. Honesty is part of unity.

Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about the honesty of community in his book Life Together. He says that we cannot be truly together until we have become disillusioned with one another. In his words, “The very hour of disillusionment with my brother becomes incomparably salutary, because it so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and Deed which really binds us together--the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. When the morning mists of dreams vanish, then dawns the bright day of Christian fellowship.”

It is not our beliefs that unite us or our family heritage, but Jesus Christ. The water of our baptism washes through us all, making us One in a holy and mystical way. To live that out is an adventure worth having.