“Unity in Christianity is elusive…”
Our faith draws its richness from paradox. God has a wonderful habit of encouraging us to turn our gaze upon Him by stirring what on the surface looks and feels like contradictions. Are these really attention grabbers or might they be thresholds of grand, infinite doorways inviting us to assume a role of active participation in the mystery of God’s reality? We don’t have to look far to find a plethora of examples…The Master is the Servant….the language of the Beatitudes…the holy folly of Christ’s death on the Christ.
We sit in a “Catholic,” Universal Church and yet as we commune with each other in and through the living Sacrament of Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within each of us, we are also separated from each other by great personal, social and religious distances. Perhaps the image of a minuscule electron orbiting the nucleus of a hydrogen atom with its vast relative distance of 2 miles of empty space between them comes close to offering us an analogous picture of the dynamics of our communion with each other and distance.
Nature is full of differentiation. It is also full of integration. The interplay between these two is at the heart of complexity. Elaborate ecosystems optimize their exigencies through careful but dynamically unconscious orchestration of its resources. Our life in the faith as the Living Body of Christ is no different. St. Paul in four of his epistles employs the metaphor of the Body of Christ to characterize different nuances of these principles of differentiation and integration in our faith and in the Church.
So is unity elusive? Is our vantage point too short…too linear…too earth bound….I am as easily tangled in the, “You are either with me or against me,” mentality when it comes to how I think about unity. A flame is unified and yet it flickers, moves and has an ethereal character. Yet leave your finger in the flame for more than a moment and the reality of its burning energy will leave a lasting mark.
I am drawn to the beauty of the early Church. Not as some romantic notion that I wish to return to or idolize with sentimental reverie. I am drawn to holy confusion. The stumblings…the assertions….the missed turns….the space made for the Spirit to guide discerning men and women wishing only to set their hearts upon the Goodness and Greatness of God. There is such grace in the imperfections. It leaves room for God’s anxious hand to step in and usher in a never ending co-creative Kingdom where we stand as unequal equals co-creating an eternal life. If this is even remotely close to intimating God’s loving plan for us His creations I am signed up for the journey and committed to laboring with Him.
Let’s Pray:
Lord, please make us one in You. Help us respond to the beautiful ways You call each of us by name. May our personal relationships with You become blessings that draw us together in prayer, welcoming hearts, and holy intentions to encounter Your Presence in others. Unite us through the workings of Your Spirit to encourage and support each other on our eternal Journeys into the Center of Your Heart. Grant us a share of Your infinite Grace of Mercy to forgive one another for our trespasses. Lord, we praise and thank You for our differences and ask that we become One with You in Sacrament, Word, and Truth. AMEN
Please consider sharing with us how you think of Christian unity in the comments below:
