Church Unity And Who We Are
Connected to that there's another engine that feeds our
eager attempts to maintain our unity; there's the vision of who we are.
Paul makes the astonishing claim that that for which God exercised his
power in Jesus Christ he pursues through us the church or body of Christ
(1:19). And in 3:10 he says that the church is a witness to all the
powers in the universe that God has summed up and reconciled all things
in heaven and on earth in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:10, 21-23 with
Colossians 1:20). To say we have some inner superiority over the rest of
creation would be silly since our place in all this is sheer gift and
privilege (1:3-14). Still, here we are, God's community of witness to
the universe and all in it! And we're told that that role as witness
will never end (3:20-21).
Witness to the whole creation? Do we hold out hope only for
ourselves? Hardly! Surely we hold out hope for the entire human race.
And is that all (as if it were not enough)? Isn't there a groaning
creation in Romans 8:18-22 that keeps a longing eye on us, waiting for
the day of our complete glorification? Looking to us because we have the
Holy Spirit as pledge that such groaning is not in vain? Aren't the
groans coming to us from every quarter? There are the three-legged cats
with piteous meows, collapsed old bridges with their ribs jammed into
dried up riverbeds, creaking and protesting in the wind. There are the
derelict buildings with windows that are really eyes without souls where
ghostly winds enter and moan up and down in the deserted halls and then
there are the tired old dogs like "Jordan" with stomach tumours and
deep eyes full of questions. Do we confront all that and speak hope to
the emptiness, weariness and longing? Is that who we are? If so, no
wonder he says we should be eager to maintain church unity because the
reconciled Community is a promise of a larger restoration and
reconciliation.
And are there beings in those "heavenly places" who have sinned
against God to whom forgiveness is possible through an atonement wrought
by God here on this little out-of-the-way planet? If there are and if
it's possible then perhaps our witness that the holy love of God met sin
even beyond the stars and made atonement for it is even grander than we
know it is. Does it matter to other worlds that we protect and nurture
the unity of the Spirit that has been created by the Father through his
Son? Is that possible? Do the scriptures allow for that? If so, no
wonder our gallant God so passionately put his shoulder to the
foundation of sin's wall. If so, shouldn't we be ashamed not to join him
in it? Worse, should we be ten thousand times ten thousand times
ashamed if we got in his way?