Beatitude

Stewards of Unity

 When Jesus prays in John 17:20-26 that “they all may be one” we can often become discouraged over the fragmented nature of the church. We are perhaps hyper-conscious of the fragments; a schism over here, a church fight over there, the presence of many denominations and the looming threat of further divisions among those denominations. But the prayer of Jesus in John 17 is not a command to us so much as an example of Christ’s trust in God.

I find it powerful to think about how God is answering Christ’s prayer today. So my approach runs like this: Notice where people seem to get together to do something good. Wonder about how God is involved in this emerging unity. For the most part, where there is unity, there is God helping people get together and be a blessing to the world. Because the unity is initiated by God we don’t have to assume that we are responsible for making it happen. We are simply stewards of what God has stirred up.

Certainly, faithful people must discern whether God is involved in one endeavor or another. But when we notice that God has offered an answer to Christ’s prayer “that all may be one” by presenting the opportunity to work together, then our task is to gratefully cooperate with the cooperation.

Standing in the River of Grace

In Acts 11:1-18 Peter is called upon to explain to the Jerusalem council why he ate with and baptized Gentiles. Peter had been through a great deal to get to the point of doing so. It came to him even through great perplexity and his own resistance. Two independent visions and a series of miraculous coincidences combined with some authentic religious experience and a deep reflection on scripture; these and about 80 miles of travel helped transform Peter, and through him the church into a multi-racial, multi-cultural movement. 

To me it is as though Peter was standing in the middle of the spring runoff where tributaries had overflowed their banks and come together. Peter could look and see the waters of grace flowing for the Gentiles and he could also recognize the waters of grace flowing for his fellow Jews. He simply responded by baptizing his new Gentile friends in those same waters. Those in the Jerusalem council could not see the other half of the flowing waters until Peter showed them. Then “they praised God.” 

We stand in the same spring runoff. A multitude of people experience such grace flowing. The church needs to find a way to welcome them. They are of many races and many persuasions. They are young and old, popular and friendless, rich and poor, sick and strong. God loves and embraces people. All people. And I just think the church can get to be too much like the Jerusalem council before Peter tells them about the grace he witnessed. Do you think we could more effectively reach out and welcome a larger variety of people?