This week I met a young man who was very clear about what he needed. He came here to the church to participate in a wedding rehearsal. We began to talk about weddings. He expressed the hope that this wedding would not be like the last wedding he had attended. In that earlier wedding, he had been an usher; but he knew no one other that the groom. After the service, when everyone got to the reception, they told him he was not on the master list for a seat at the tables. That surprised him, but he was sure that not only did he have a seat, but that, as an usher, he would even be at the head table. So he went to the wedding coordinator to claim his place. He told me that the coordinator looked him up and down, consulted his lists, whispered to the groom, and finally pronounced the verdict, “There is no place for you. I’m sorry, but you are not invited.”
The young man told me that he spent the rest of the evening wandering about, grazing for hors d’oeuvres, and trying to find some place just to fit in. He admitted that he finally left, dissolved in tears.
It hurts when there is no way to fit in. It’s painful when others are experiencing oneness, and you can’t have it. It’s agonizing when the message comes down, sometimes spoken, sometimes silent, that you don’t belong. You don’t fit in. You are not invited. That really hurts.
Oh, there are some times and place where fitting in doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you are on a Metro car. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be included in other people’s conversations on the Metro! I want to be left alone. If all I’m doing is taking a ride somewhere, I don’t need to get involved with anyone else. I don’t need to fit in.
Fitting in doesn’t matter if you are at some public event like a game or a concert. Who is next to me and whether they speak to me is completely immaterial. I’m there for the show. I’m there for the entertainment. I don’t need my neighbor’s life story, and I don’t intend to inflict mine on him. I’m there for the show, and oneness is beside the point. Fitting in is an unnecessary luxury.
But if you intend to do something more than take a ride or watch the show, it is vital to find oneness with the others around you. If you intend to do something more than take a ride or watch the show, it is crucial to know that you belong, to see that you fit in, to have a place at the table.
God wants to give his children the gift of oneness. God wants us as the body of Christ to have the gift of unity. He is eager to give it! It’s not a matter of looking for it or working to make it happen. It’s a matter of accepting the gift.
Once I gave a friend a gift – a little book that I thought would address something he was dealing with. My friend took the carefully wrapped package from my hand, gave it a once-over, mumbled a hurried “thank you”, and pitched it over on a shelf. Two weeks later, when I visited his office again, my gift was still there, on that shelf, unopened. I took that to mean that it was also unappreciated. I gave the gift, but he did not really receive the gift. So can you guess what I did? When I was ready to leave that day, I just slipped over, picked up the package, and went on my way. I took it back. A gift given but not received is no gift at all. And the giver may just decide to take it back.
When I read the New Testament, I read that God has given the church the gift of oneness. God has gifted us with oneness. It is not something to work for; it is not something we earn. It is a gift. We don’t will ourselves into oneness. We just receive it. We don’t craft oneness out of our own resources. We just open the gift that God has given. The danger is that we may leave it unopened. The danger is that we may not even know that there is a place at the table for each of us. But there is. The gift of God to His church is the gift of oneness. And every member has the capacity to receive that gift.
There are just two things we need to know about the gift of oneness: that oneness is defined by loving one leader, and that oneness is expressed by commitment to one calling. Oneness comes from loving one leader and from commitment to one calling. Nothing else. Nothing more. One leader and one calling.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Oneness comes from loving one leader and from commitment to one calling. It’s a gift. But some of us have not unwrapped the gift.
I
For instance, some of us fail to unwrap God’s gift of oneness because we expect oneness to come out of agreement on ideas. Some of us feel that if we don’t agree with the ideas that others hold, then we don’t belong. A whole host of people stay aloof from the oneness God wants to give His church just because they don’t agree with some of the ideas, the theology, being expressed.
And indeed, some churches are very rigorous about this. Some churches make you cross every “t” and dot every “i” and use their buzz words, or else you don’t belong. I know of one Christian tradition where they had a falling out over whether to wear buttons on their clothes or whether little hooks-and-eyes were the only thing a modest Christian ought to wear. These folks actually separated over that issue, and members of the button group were literally shunned by members of the hook-and-eye group. They would not even speak to each other!
Some believe that oneness means agreement on ideas.
But now look at the Scripture. Paul speaks of one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One faith. One faith is not the same thing as one set of ideas. One faith is not the same thing as one batch of doctrines. One faith does not mean agreement on ideas. One faith means a common trust in Christ. One faith means a shared experience of the living God. One faith – that means that as hearts turn in obedience to Christ, a fundamental oneness is given. We don’t have to agree on all the ideas.
In fact, it is off base for us to run around looking for reasons to divide and to disagree. Ideas are one thing, experience is another. The issue is not ideas; the issue is faith. It is seeing that God in Jesus Christ has done something decisive among us. That matters vastly more than ideological purity and theological correctness. I rather like the way that the Disciples of Christ denomination puts it: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials, charity.” One faith does not mean one batch of ideas.
Were you aware, last week, that the South African visitor who was here espoused some ideas that would disagree with many of yours? Did you get uncomfortable when he said something about attending the Christian Coalition meeting and speaking with Pat Robertson? I know some of you did; you’ve said so. And yes, I knew some of those things before he came. Yes, I knew that his theology would have some different nuances from ours. But I also knew that his one faith was in the same Jesus we know, and I knew that his commitment was to the reconciliation of all people under God. What else finally matters? What else makes any real difference?
Some can have the hooks-and-eyes, and some will take their buttons, but let us accept with great joy God’s gift of oneness, founded in one faith. Remember: Oneness is a gift that comes from loving one leader and from commitment to one calling. It’s just that some of us have not unwrapped the gift.
II
Other folks fail to receive God’s gift of oneness because they sense that there are personal differences, social differences, cultural differences, among people. Some don’t receive God’s gift of oneness because they are suspicious of divergent styles and personalities and cultures. Some fail to unwrap God’s gift of oneness because social and personal differences are threatening.
Are you aware that in this neighborhood we are surrounded by a host of small, neighborhood churches, many of them in storefronts, some of them in converted houses, others in small church buildings? And are you aware that one of the reasons for that is that a host of people around us believe that they wouldn’t feel at home in a church like ours? Now some of them have never come here, you understand! They’ve never walked through these doors, they’ve never worshipped within these walls, they’ve never knelt at this altar. But because we have been here a while; because we embrace more races than one; because we look like we do and sound like we do, some have decided that we are not their kind of people. Our style is different.
And I respect that. I really do. It really doesn’t trouble me deeply that there are 38 Christian congregations within a one mile radius of this front door; it doesn’t even bother me that eight of those carry the name of “Baptist”. That’s fine and good. The more places Christ is preached the more likely it is that someone will be won to Christ. That’s great.
And yet there is also a denial of something Paul points to here when he speaks of “one baptism.” One baptism. To me that means that there is one and only one fundamental human reality – the reality that all, without exception, have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And therefore all, without exception, have one way back to God – through faith in the sacrificial death of Christ and obedience in the waters of baptism.
One baptism. That means to me that we are all given the gift of redemption. Whether we are down and out or whether we are up and out, the point is that we are still out until Christ draws us in. And so no one of us has any right whatsoever to feel superior to any other; nor does any one of us have any need to feel inferior to any other. We are all nothing more than sinners saved by grace, and if we have trusted the one Lord, and followed in obedience the one baptism, then what else matters? What else counts for anything?
One pastor not far from here sent us a message once, telling us that our congregation and its pastor were ”as cold as a fish.” I’m sorry, but I suspect that speaks more about his insecurity than it does about our supposed uppitiness! Some folks have the gift of oneness left right on their doorsteps, but refuse to open it.
They tell the story of the Sunday back in the 1920’s when the invitation was given at the conclusion of a service at Calvary Baptist Church downtown. They say that from one side of the building there came to confess Christ a woman, a domestic, uneducated, simple, nobody even knew her name. At the same time, from the other side of the church there came to confess Christ a distinguished gentleman, tall, well-dressed, imposing. Everyone knew his name, for Charles Evans Hughes was the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. And as these two came to take the pastor’s hand and to express oneness in that church, the pastor exclaimed, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
Oh, yes. Oh yes. Neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither bond nor free, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. One in baptism, one in the experience of grace. Oneness is the gift of God, and it has nothing to do with social standing, cultural preference, personality type, or anything else.
Oneness is God’s gift, given on the basis of loving one leader and commitment to one calling. But, again, some of us have not unwrapped the gift.
III
So let’s review: some don’t unwrap the gift of oneness because they think they have to agree on every idea. But one faith means one experience, not one set of ideas.
Others don’t unwrap the gift of oneness because they think that their culture or their personality doesn’t blend in. But one baptism means that our basic human issue, the issue of sin, is everybody’s problem, and that grace is God’s answer.
But it gets deeper. It gets even more complicated. Some don’t unwrap the gift because they have mistaken blandness for peace. Some have felt that oneness means you don’t rock the boat, you don’t speak your mind, you don’t ask questions, you don’t express contrary points of view. Some folks have really missed the richness of the gift of oneness because they have kept their hearts closed, they have swallowed their questions, and they have stifled their energies. How sad it is to me that in the long history of the Christian church too many have decided that it was easier and safer never to have a new idea, never to express a new direction, never to offer a new perspective! How sad it is to know that the gift of oneness, which we could experience if we had hear God’s call to new frontiers of ministry, we set aside, and leave on the shelf, as if it were a ticking letter bomb that you dare not touch. We think we are keeping the peace, but all we are really doing is leaving the gift of oneness unopened.
But when the Bible tells us to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, it does not mean that we are to blunt the cutting edge. It does not mean that we should be quiet little church mice. It does not mean that we should never rock the boat. When the Bible tells us to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, it means that you and I, each of us, must seek the face of Christ, must understand that He is Lord, and so every tradition, every habit, every everything, is on the table and needs to be prayed about and thought about. Oneness is not blandness; peace is not silence. Oneness is standing up, under the one Lord, and rocking the boat.
In the weeks and months to come we are going to have a great deal of dialogue about the nature and mission of this congregation. We are going to keep doing the hard work of thinking together about all that we are called to do. It won’t be easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. And it won’t all be sweetness and light. In fact, it must not be. We will have different perspectives. We will see things from different angles. We will have our various interpretations.
I do hold out for you that the place of the pastor in this and every church is to discern and interpret a vision for what the church needs to be about. I cannot surrender that unique role. When in June I spoke to you about deepened discipleship, multiplied ministries, winsome worship, and systematic stewardship, I was gratified to see that nearly everyone stood in agreement with those basic callings. But I am not so foolish, nor, I hope, am I so arrogant, that I would pretend to have a corner on the truth or a monopoly on the wisdom about all that that means. The directions we are taking are not about me, not about the staff, not about any one individual, not about any one group. The directions we are taking are about the one Lord. And when we look to the one Lord and value one another’s perceptions, oneness will come. The gift of oneness will come.
A member of my family reported to me once about her church, and how her pastor had been pleading, “Just let me be the pastor. Why do you have to question everything; just let me lead.” She said that it was really a pitiful performance to hear a man who felt shut out, disrespected, and out of the loop. He got way off base by insisting that they follow him, no matter what. That’s sad. That’s wrong. That’s not where I am trying to go. Quite the contrary.
We are not here to be Smith’s church; we are not here to flesh out Pastor Smith’s private vision. We are not here to honor a minister, to idolize a preacher, or to kowtow, “We have to do whatever the pastor wants.” We are here to be the body of Christ, we are here to receive the gift of oneness. We are here to rock the boat when necessary, but also to bail it out when it looks like it might sink. We are here to rock the boat, but also to turn to the one for whom the winds and the waves were nothing, for He is Lord of all. One Lord.
I stand today to insist, with all that is in me, that the church is gifted with one sovereign Lord; that because of Him the body of Christ has a strength and a resilience that can permit it to hear all its members in love. One Lord. Christ is the Lord of the church; and Christ only. Christ rules, Christ gives us our commission. And when there is a little turbulence, an unsettled time, even that is part of the gift, because that’s when we learn to trust Christ. Oneness is God’s gift, given on the basis of loving one leader and commitment to one calling. Have you unwrapped the gift?
Several years ago I too attended a wedding where, evidently, they did not expect me. Like the young man I told you about, I went to the reception, thinking that as the pastor who had performed the service, surely I was invited. When I got there, nobody seemed to know anything. I stood around for a while, watching everybody else have a good time. But they all had their little place cards. They all had their little plates of food and friendly smiles for one another. They knew they belonged. I didn’t.
I was just about to slip out and go home to nurse my wounded pride, but the bride’s father saw me and quickly figured out my problem. He ran over, took me by the arm, and brought me not just to any table, but to his table, the family’s table. There he nudged his wife and looked sternly at his son, until they slid their chairs aside and put another one in place, for me. Then this father said, “There will always be a place at any table I set for the Lord’s servant.” I didn’t feel left out any more, for there was at that celebration one caring father and one purpose.
I know another Father who gives the gift of oneness. He knows what your opinions are, but that’s not the basis for your invitation to his side. All that matters is your faith in Him.
I know another Father who gives the gift of oneness. He knows your personality, your social class, your education, your bank account, your whatever, but none of those things accrue to your credit. All that counts is your baptism as a sign of His grace.
I know another Father who gives the gift of oneness. He knows you have questions and doubts and fears and personal issues and unreadiness and the whole ball of wax. But you know what He does? He just says come. Come on. Come home. Come to my side. Be one with me and one with my children.
Oh, there are some times and place where fitting in doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you are on the Metro. I don’t want to be included in other people’s conversations on the Metro. If all I’m doing is taking a ride somewhere, I don’t need to get involved with anyone else.
Fitting in doesn’t matter if you are at some public event like a game or a concert. If you’re just here for the weekly show, oneness is beside the point.
But to be a part of the body of Christ is neither to take a free ride to heaven nor is it to peek in on the weekly show. It is to receive the gift of oneness, given on the basis of loving one leader and commitment to one calling.
God has a gift for you. Just unwrap it.
God of grace and God of glory, on Thy people pour Thy power. Crown Thine ancient church’s story, bring her bud to glorious flower. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.
