Easter 7C 2007 John 17:20-26; Acts 16:16-34

In the last few years television has brought some of the most remarkable images from around the world directly into our living rooms. We have been horrified by Tiananmen Square, rejoiced over the dismantled Berlin Wall, bitten our fingernails and prayed during the unfolding of Gulf Wars One and Two and sat open-mouthed at the collapse and breakup of the Soviet Union. In the western world we have vicariously participated in these events together, our national identities seemingly submerged in the unifying excitement of seeing it all unfold before our eyes.
At the same time we find ourselves divided by the continuing Israeli conflict, riveted by the bloody mayhem between Fatah and Hamas, the ongoing war in Iraq, the tensions with Iran and other Middle Eastern entities, the worldwide struggle between radical Islamists and the rest of the world, particularly the western world.

As we look at the state of Christendom today, if ever such a thing as Christendom ever existed, we see signs of unity taking place quietly here and there. But more often we hear the shrieks and shouts of self-righteous schismatics.

This week's Gospel text presents Jesus' words of power and comfort, "I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one" (John 17:23). But oneness has never been a quality the church has had much of an opportunity to celebrate. In the church's first few centuries it was so concerned about establishing a creed of theological orthodoxy that it saw heresy and treachery everywhere. Since the time of the Great Schism around the year 1000 AD between Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Western Roman Christianity, especially since the time of the 16th Century Protestant Reformation, the church has become churches, defined by denominations, and especially splinter groups, obsessed with establishing their differences rather than their similarities. (1)
My favorite silly story about such things is this one: Some time ago a man ran into a fellow who was carrying a Bible.

"Are you a believer?" The man asked him.
"Yes," he said excitedly.
"Virgin birth?" "I accept it."
"Deity of Jesus?" "No doubt."
"Death of Christ on the cross?" "He died for all people."
“Could it be that I was face to face with a Christian? Perhaps,” wondered the first man. Nonetheless, he continued his checklist. "Status of man." "Sinner in need of grace." "Definition of grace." "God doing for man what man can't do."
"Return of Christ?" "Imminent."
"Bible?" "Inspired." "The Church?" "The Body of Christ."
Both men started getting excited. "Conservative or liberal?"
"Conservative." Their hearts began to beat faster.
"Heritage?" "Southern Congregationalist Holy Son of God Dispensationalist Triune Convention."
“That was mine!” thought the first man.
"Branch?" "Pre-millennial, post-tribulation, non-charismatic, King James, one-cup communion."
The first man’s eyed misted with emotion and fellowship. He had only one other question, as he reached out his hand.
"Is your pulpit walnut or mohogany?"
"Fiberglass," he responded.
The first man withdrew his hand and stiffened his neck. "Heretic!" he shouted and walked away. (2)

On a deep level our greatest problem may be distinguishing Jesus' promise of oneness from our own concept of "hegemony." Hegemony refers to the situation where only one way of thinking, one way of seeing, is allowed and accepted. Some historians have finally noticed in the last few decades that a hegemonious skewering of history has led to textbooks filled with the politically correct and exclusive viewpoints and experiences of certain groups.

Jesus came to enable us to become a faith community united by love, not driven apart by hegemony. In our post-modern culture the Self is still Numero Uno. The purpose of the church on earth is to incarnate a very different Latin phrase - the unum humanum - one humanity.

The church is fast approaching the time when its original discovery - the oneness at the heart of humanity - has been forgotten and waylaid so long that when it finally does begin proclaiming the unum humanum the world will yawn with boredom.

But achieving political, economic, even environmental oneness will ultimately depend on recognizing the spiritual oneness shared by all humanity. In Christ there is no male and female, Arab and Jew, Serb and Croat, black and white -- we are all God’s children, we all have the divine spark flickering in our hearts. (1)

A great English preacher of the last century put it this way: "Some people come in to me and they say, 'I am glad to meet you, I come from India (Australia, America or some other country), and I am a good Congregationalist'; or others come and say, 'I am a good Methodist', or 'I am a Baptist,' and immediately I feel there is no union. But others come, and they do not tell me whether they are Baptist or Methodist or Congregationalist, they just come in and say, 'What a wonderful Lord we have! Thank God this is the same gospel here as in my home country and my hometown!'” (3)

AMEN

1. Adapted and modified from Homiletics on Line, Unum Humanum, John 17:20-26, 5/31/1992, http://homileticsonline.com
2. Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder, p. 139-140, quoted in eSermons Illustrations for May 20, 2007
3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Growing in the Spirit: The Assurance of Our Salvation (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1989), 140, as quoted in eSermons Illustrations for May 20, 2007.