That They May Be One

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from our Triune God. Amen

If I could transform John Chapter 17 into a hymn, the chorus would be words found in verse 11, and again in verses 21, and 22, and 23: They are? "That they may be one."

Let’s set the scene…Jesus is in the Upper Room with his disciples. He's about to go out and be arrested, tried, and crucified. It's the last night of his earthly life. And what's on his mind, and in his heart? "That they may be one." That his disciples, then and today, that we through all time and all ages, be as close to one another as Jesus was to God.

Why?

Why was the unity of his disciples so important to Jesus?

Perhaps because Jesus knew what was ahead for them. The authorities were about to crucify him and do you think they would hesitate to do the same or worse to his followers? Jesus knew that if they were to survive his suffering and their own to come, they had to stick together.

Jesus prayed so fervently for our oneness because he knew we could not make it alone. And, sisters and brothers, we don't even need to try. We need one another.

Jesus also prayed that we may be one because together we can better carry out the commission he has given us. When we come together and pool our resources, we can do things together we never could alone. We do amazing things when we recognize and live into our connections – like being a part of the ELCA. Together we have created and supported colleges, universities, seminaries, hospitals, homes for children with special needs, and senior citizens. We engage in many local and world-wide relief ministries through our disaster response organizations - and so much more. Only working together as one could we accomplish these things. This is a big reason why we are part of the ecumenical movement.

We also get a real insight in verse 21 about why Jesus prayed for our unity:

"I pray that they may be one. May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one SO THAT THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE YOU SENT ME."

Perhaps our most powerful witness of the power of Christ is our unity. This world is a broken place - racially, economically, nationally, divided in countless ways. What a tremendous witness we give this shattered world when it can see that we, as diverse as we are, are united by love, a power far greater than that which would divide us! Our unity, our love for one another, our coming together to serve honors Christ sends a powerful message to the world.

And, sadly, when we are divided, we dishonor Jesus and destroy our witness to the world. For why should this broken world come to the church that cannot even get along with one another? My nephew’s powerful Facebook comment this morning brought this home for me. He said, “Never have I felt so unwelcomed in my own church. I felt invisible, no wonder why I don't like going there anymore. I feel outcasted by the youth group.” To which a friend of his replied, “I know what you mean. I don't understand how churches can have cliques and crap. It is supposed to be a place to escape from the world and it's not anymore.” That’s a powerful message to the world, all right. But, I’m not sure that’s the message we want to be sending.

It seems that we Christians are acting like islands. To be an island it has to be separated by water. Islands can be far apart. They can be close together and have totally different climates and cultures! If we make this analogy to the church we can say that there are so many denominations, so many churches, and we seem so far apart from one another, not seeking or desiring much contact, much connection. An average non-church person must be really confused when he or she looks at how very divided the church is today.

I see as never before the growing realization that the church is like a tree. We all are the branches on this tree. Jesus is the trunk - the source of our life, the One who holds us up. We are to bear fruit for him. Fewer churches are saying or thinking, "We're the only branch on the tree!" We are beginning to see that Christ has many branches and each one is needed.

I see a willingness as never before to look more at what we have in common than concentrating on our differences, more at what unites us than separates us...

Our faith in one God, the Creator...

Our love for one Lord, Jesus the Christ...

Our dependence upon one Spirit, the Empowerer...

Our realization that we truly must love one another like Jesus loves us if the world is to know that we are his disciples.

There are differences between denominations and even within denominations - and we should not gloss over them as if they do not matter. But this must not keep us from learning to look first for what we have in common - for those "essentials that unite us." When we do that, even when our differences do seem so great - they become easier to accept and maybe even appreciate.

We have throughout our country groups of clergy & laity from all denominations that meet each week to read and discuss the Scriptures, to pray together, to plan ways to serve together. I drive to the Antelope Valley every Tuesday to be part of such a group. We have come to know one another, to care about and care for one another, and we have discovered that our differences actually enrich us.

I believe the prayer of Jesus that "they may be one" is beginning to be answered. For we are beginning not just to see ourselves as islands forever separated by great distances and differences. We are beginning to realize that even the islands, if you look beneath the surface of the ocean, all are connected to one foundation, one earth.

We in the ELCA have led efforts for some time to bring the various denominations together to promote understanding and to unite in service together. Just think about it: all Christians on this planet working together! What things we could accomplish for the Kingdom of God! And, sitting here this afternoon experience and enjoy the connection we have to the Episcopal church….a connection that began 10 years ago with the Call to Common Mission…which states that we accept and embrace the unity we share with the Anglican Tradition by being able to not only share table fellowship (which means take communion together) but also that we will embrace each other’s clergy and could call them to serve our congregations. We can and have opened joint mission starts. This decision was the first of many we have made…with the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church, The Reformed Church in America, The United Methodist Church. And, we are continuing to make. We have begun discussions with the African Methodist Episcopal Church – a predominantly African American church to center around the things that really matter - we are already one.

Rooted, grounded, and connected forever by our common threads:

Our faith in one God, the Creator...

Our love for one Lord, Jesus the Christ...

Our dependence upon one Spirit, the Empowerer...

Our realization that we truly must love one another like Jesus loves us if the world is to know that we are his disciples.

As a teenager, we sang a song that – though it does not have “that they may be one” as the refrain, it does have as its first verse, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.” The chorus is: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

Make us one, dear Jesus, make us one. Amen