One-ness

“One” is an on-going concept throughout the Bible. God creates one day at a time. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” God is called the “One of Sinai (Psalm 68:8). He is called “The Holy One of Israel (Psalm 71:22 and throughout Isaiah).

And the concept of “one” is at the heart of Ephesians 4.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. – Ephesians 4:4-5 (ESV).

As people of God, then, it would make sense that we are “one people.” But are we? That’s a question many have been asking in these days. Are we one people? Or are we many people? Is E pluribus unum, Latin for "Out of Many, One," true?

If not actually true in 21^st Century America, then certainly it is true in the Church, yes? After all, we weekly confess we are “One Holy Christian (catholic) and Apostolic Church.”

So why are there so many churches? Look at the phone book, under churches. Each city has more than a few. Why is that? Why are there Lutheran churches and Baptist churches and Catholic churches, and Presbyterian churches, and Reformed churches, and Methodist churches, and Episcopalian churches, and hundreds of other denominations and non-demoninations?

All confess to be Christian churches, so why are there so many different Christian churches?

Denominations are not a new development in the church. I believe denominationalism has its roots in the first century Christian church. There was one Church, but many different churches – the Church at Jerusalem, the Church at Antioch, the Church at Corinth, the Church at Rome, etc.

As time when on different pastors of these churches would occasionally come up with different teachings that were considered by other churches to be heretical. These paved the way for the Ecumenical Creeds such as the Nicene Creed in the 4^th Century – being a common confession of faith to show that even though Christians gathered in many different towns and cities, there was still only One Christian Church.

Today, the different denominations exist because of the same type of things. One believes one thing about Baptism or the Lord’s Supper and another has a different teaching. Some are merely rooted in different traditions or nationalities. All are still Christian.

But what about us here at the local congregation?

Are we all “one”? Do we all agree on the mission and ministry direction that we believe God is leading us? There are several different ideas and opinions on which direction God is leading us. And that’s ok. No one believes they have the only right answer here. I don’t think anyone believes there is only “one” way of doing things, either.

But that doesn’t have to fracture us. It doesn’t mean we aren’t “one.”

For too long, I believe people have looked at the church in America as an institution or an organization. They’ve seen the church as an institution like a university or place of learning. They’ve seen the church as an organization, like a corporation or political party.

We’ve seen how institution and organizations have fared in recent history in this country. The church is right there with them as they are seen as one of them.

But that isn’t how Jesus started His Church. He started His church not as an institution or an organization but as a family. Families don’t always agree on the direction to go – anyone who’s been on a family vacation knows that. But that doesn’t make them any less of a family, does it?

Once, my family and I were driving from Mayville, WI to Lake Villa, IL to visit my mom. We normally take the interstate but I wanted to try taking US 45 – basically a “back road.” Both routes would get us there but the interstate is much quicker. We talked about it and disagreed about which way to go. But that didn’t make us less of a family. We finally decided to go my way and it took us three and a half hours instead of two, but we were still a family!

In the local congregations – and indeed in the whole Christian Church on earth – we are a family. A family of God made that way by God. We are many, that is true. We look different, sound different, eat different, live different (for the most part), but we are still one because we have one God and Father of all. The God who created the universe made us all one. That’s powerful stuff! The power of the universe is the power of our “one-ness.” Nothing can fracture us unless we stray from that power, the power of God in Jesus Christ!

That’s why we cannot “do” church like it is some institution or organization. We can’t “do” church at all. We can only be the Church! When Jesus started the Church 2000 years ago, He didn’t start it as an organization. He didn’t organize His followers. He called them. And He called them from all over! You have Jews from Judea, Jews from Galilee, Romans, Cyprians, Africans, Greeks, and on and on. E pluribus unum … sanctam ecclesiam– “Out of many one … holy church.”

Jesus Christ died and rose again for the world – as it says in John 3:16 and Hebrews 7, 9, and 10. He died for all and made us all one in that death. We were all one as sinners and now we are all one as redeemed.

Not everyone accepts that. That is why Jesus called us together – so we can go out into the world and make disciples, baptize and teach. We are called as one to share the Good News of Jesus. We learn about it together, we strengthen each other together, and now we can tell others together.

One Small Step – One Giant Leap

I don’t remember reading books until I was in the sixth grade. The first book I remember reading was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I remember always loving to read – having gone through my school’s complete SRA reading laboratory by that time.

It must have been about this time that my dad bought me my first science fiction book – Robert A. Heinlein’s Space Cadet, and I was hooked! I progressed through Heinlein’s juvenile novels, then moved on to Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. Science Fiction was my first love but I’ve since moved on to all other styles of writing.

I read Space Cadet in 1976 and while my nose was buried in a book, it got me looking up to the stars. At this point in the United State’s history, there wasn’t much to look at up there. The Apollo Program had ended in 1975 and NASA was working on a reusable “shuttle” but that was in the future – pretty much science fiction until January 1977.

But fiction was fast becoming fact and in 1981 the first Space Shuttle mission was launched.

In the early morning hours of Thursday, April 9, my brother and I woke up after not really sleeping and traveled with my dad and a friend and his dad to the airport for our flight to Florida. We were going to witness the first shuttle launch!

We arrived at Titusville, Florida early on April 10 and waited for the countdown to zero. But it was not to be. Because of a timing problem in one of the shuttle’s computers (we found out later), the mission was “scrubbed” for two days. Disappointment was tempered by a visit to Disney World that Saturday. Saturday night we didn’t sleep at all as we made our way back from Orlando to Titusville.

We gathered with tens of thousands of others on the beaches of Titusville looking east toward Pad 39A at Kennedy Space center and at 7:00 a.m. Shuttle Columbia lifted off into a clear blue sky. First we saw white smoke, then orange flame, and then the shock wave of sound hit us. It was so incredible all I could do was stare through the view finder of my camera as tears dripped down my cheeks.

I had witnessed history in the making! In just twenty years, we had moved from placing a human in orbit, to landing humans on the moon (and returning them) to being able to fly a craft into space and then return it safely to earth to be used again. We truly live in historic times!

Last Monday, July 20, 2009, marked the 40^th Anniversary of another historical event. The first time a human walked on the surface of the moon. I don’t have any direct memory of seeing that (I was four years old at the time), but the images are iconic.

As are the words uttered from the lunar surface: “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

As I stood on the beach in Florida watching Young and Crippen blast off into space, I was joined by my brother and friends and hundreds of thousands of other people from around the world. We weren’t Americans, we were “citizens of the world.” We were humans, brought together by a historical event.

As we marked the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, I was thinking about this idea of being human.

Jesus didn’t come to this earth to save a specific group of people (such as Jews in 1^st Century Israel, or Americans or Lutherans, etc.). Jesus came to this world, born of Mary in Bethlehem, to save all humans.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son….” (John 3:16, emphasis added).

Historic events like the first lunar landing or the first shuttle launch can remind us that while there are such things as Americans and Russians and Brazilians, etc., we are all, first and foremost, humans. We are people, we are brothers and sisters.

And we are loved by God and saved by Jesus Christ through His shed (human) blood on the cross. The Son of God became fully human – one of us – to save us from our sins. He remained fully God in order to defeat death through His resurrection on Easter Sunday – the most significant event in the history of the world.

LiveJournal Tags: Apollo 11,Space Shuttle,Columbia,STS-1,Jesus,Christ,John 3:16

Book Review: Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to Live Simply and Love Extravagantly by Tri Robinson

Simplify your life so you are ready to answer God’s call when it comes. That’s the gist of this book and it is a good idea. I oftentimes wonder what my family could do for God if we weren’t saddled with debt and could “up and leave” at a moment’s notice.

Tri Robinson makes the case that this is a good way to live. He also says that it is “eco friendly” and that caused me to pause for a moment. I wondered if I had started reading a “green, Christian” book.

But I was determined to give Tri the benefit of the doubt and I’m glad I did. The only thing I might disagree with him about is his stand on global warming, but he doesn’t really mention it till the very end. My personal belief is that not all the data is available to make a determination one way or another.

But that doesn’t make Tri’s message less important. Especially in these economic times we find ourselves in, it is very important to live simply. Not easily done, as he points out, but full of tremendous potential blessings and opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

There is an 8-week companion DVD Bible study that I will be using as a follow-up study for two groups at my church that are currently going through Patrick Morley’s “How to Survive the Economic Meltdown.”

LiveJournal Tags: Simple Living,Christianity,Jesus,footprints,Tri Robinson,Ampelon

Made One For Peace

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. – Ephesians 2:14-16

First, a little background: “Made us both one” in Ephesians 2 means Gentiles and Hebrews.

God had, at first, intended for Hebrews to not intermingle with Gentiles. This was so in order to preserve, not their blood line, but their faith in Him. As it turns out, nearly every time the Hebrews intermarried with Gentiles they gave up their faith in God and turn to idols.

What separated Hebrews from the rest of the world was their faith in God. God made a covenant with the Hebrews and reestablished that covenant with the Hebrews throughout the Old Testament.

The division between Hebrew and Gentile was rescinded when Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again. He was the One who is “the light to lighten the Gentiles” and He is the “glory of thy people Israel.”

So now the separation is taken away – because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus’ love that broke down all barriers in the first century.

It is Jesus‘ love that calls us today to break down barriers in this twenty-first century world.

This separation is not ethnic but goes much deeper, to a much more basic level.

“Make one” implies that there was a separation. The separation is between God and the crown of His creation.

The separation is caused by sin.

Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Prince of Peace. Angels declared on the night of his birth that because Jesus was here there would be “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14 KJV).

Not peace “among men” but peace “toward men.” There’s a big difference.

For there is very little peace among men on the earth. Read about that in every paper, on every news site on the web, listen to that on every news cast on the radio and TV.

Jesus came to bring peace, not among men, but between God and men.

We have all been made one for this peace and by this peace.

Jesus Christ removed what separated us from God – our sin.

He reconciled God with you and me. No matter what sin you’ve done – it is forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. Jesus paid the penalty for that sin and all sin. You are now a child of God who will live forever!

This has the effect of making possible peace with others.

There is a true story related about a church in the Pacific Northwest, who much like us, has a time during the service for passing the peace of Christ. This is a time when they greet one another, and their guests, with handshakes and hugs, and kind words of welcome. Nobody thought much about the weekly ritual until the pastor received a letter from a man who had recently joined the congregation. The new member was a promising young lawyer from a prestigious downtown law firm. He drafted a brief but pointed letter on his firm's letterhead. "I am writing to complain about the congregational ritual known as 'passing the peace,' " he wrote. "I disagree with it, both personally and professionally, and I am prepared to take legal action to cause this practice to cease." When the pastor phoned to talk with the lawyer about the letter, he asked why he was so disturbed about sharing the peace of Christ. The lawyer said, "The passing of the peace is an invasion of my privacy."

And, in the Pastor's response to this man, we find the truth of the Christian life. He said, "Like it or not, when you joined the church you gave up some of your privacy, for we believe in a risen Lord who will never leave us alone." And, he said, "You never know when Jesus Christ will intrude on us with a word of peace." [illustration taken from sermons.com, accessed July 18, 2009]

Most personal of all is we can have peace with ourselves.

When Jesus removes our sin and reconciles us to God, we can then start to actually live with ourselves. We can stand ourselves again. We can love ourselves. After all, if God can love us enough to send Jesus to die for us, certainly we can love ourselves and others, right?

LiveJournal Tags: Peace,Christ,Jesus,Ephesians,reconciliation

Book Review: Call of Duty

My Life Before, During, and After the Band of Brothers by Lt. Lynn “Buck” Compton (with Marcus Brotherton)

This is the “best of the best!” I’ve ready all the memoirs of Easy Co. soldiers that have been published (as a result of Stephen Ambrose bringing the unit’s story to life in Band of Brothers). And this is, by far, the best of all of them.

Buck Compton is probably the most “famous” of all the Easy Co. soldiers. He was a two-sport star at UCLA (playing baseball with Jackie Robinson as well as playing in the 1943 Rose Bowl game).

After the war he went on to be a successful LAPD detective, then prosecuting attorney (being the lead prosecutor of Sirhan Sirhan who assassinated Robert Kennedy).

He then had a successful career as an Appellate Court Judge in California.

Upon retirement he hosted a weekly radio commentary at a station in Washington state.

Any one one of those parts of Compton’s story would be fascinating to read or hear about – but that this man did ALL of them is truly astounding!

Marcus Brotherton guides the story along and the two of them have shaped a very readable book that would make an excellent mini-series in its own right (as a follow-up to HBO’s Band of Brothers).

If you’ve read Band of Brothers or seen the series, you will greatly enjoy this and the other books from the men who lived the life.

21st Century America owes a debt of gratitude to these men and I am very glad they have shared their story with us.

May we never forget!

LiveJournal Tags: Band of Brothers,World War II,Easy Co.,Buck Compton,Marcus Brotherton,war

Book Review: We Who Are Alive and Remain

Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers by Marcus Brotherton

Marcus Brotherton gets to the heart of the men who served in Easy Co., 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, United States Army during World War II.

Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers simply had to be written. No disrespect to Stephen Ambrose, but there were simply too many stories to include in one book. Without Ambrose, none of the other books would have seen the light of day and a debt of gratitude goes to him.

But since then - and the subsequent HBO series - the men of Easy Co. have published their memoirs (or in the case of David Kenyon Webster, published posthumously).

These books are essential to 21st Century America. These men have a story to tell that will shape our country and our lives for years to come.

Marcus Brotherton has meticulously interviewed 20+ men that were not included in Ambrose's book and does a great job of expanding the story. He brings the story to life - it is, after all a true story - and in bringing these men's story to light, sheds new light and life on the stories we already know.

This book led me to Buck Compton's book, which I will read and review next.

 

LiveJournal Tags: Band of Brothers,World War II,Easy Co.,Marcus Brotherton,Army,War

Ephesians – One in Christ, Many in the World

I’m reading the Epistle to the Ephesians over the next couple of weeks as I put together a sermon series at my church. “One” jumps out as a common thread through the readings.

This week I’m looking at Ephesians 1, specifically focusing on verse 10: “to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

Jesus Christ died on the cross to forgive our sins. His shed blood washes us clean from the stain of original and actual sin. One of the reasons God has done this for us in Jesus Christ is to unite us with heaven – to bring together and make one heaven and earth.

Not “heaven on earth,” as wonderful as this earth can be.

Yosemite, Yellowstone, Hawaii, Greece, Kenya, the Himalayas – this earth is incredibly beautiful.

But it is only half of what God has made for us. Genesis 1:1 says that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Still, many have bought into the lie that this earth is all there is. Beautiful yes, but singular. Others have bought into something that is just as much a lie – that God is pleased when all they do is spend time in His creation. They tell us, “I can worship God there. I don’t need church.”

But God has sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins, to forgive us and reveal the mystery of God’s will to us in order to unite both heaven and earth.

Heaven on earth doesn’t happen out there (the world), it happens in here (the worship service). Remember the words of the Communion liturgy? “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name saying, ‘Holy Holy Holy…’”

Arthur Just tells the story of a family in his parish. There was a young man, 12 years-old, who had died of cancer shortly after being confirmed. Pastor Just wasn’t quite sure what to tell the family at the funeral that would bring them comfort. Of course, he shared the comforting words of Jesus Christ – the Gospel of sins forgiven and the sure and certain hope of eternal life for all who have faith in Jesus. After the service the father talked to him and told him he knew all that but that he still – understandably – missed his son terribly. Pastor Just thought about it for a couple of days and then came Sunday. When Pastor Just came to the Communion Liturgy, those words resonated in a new way, “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name saying, ‘Holy Holy Holy.…’” After the worship service he told the father that even though his son was not with them physically, each time they came to the Lord’s Supper they came together again. For their son was in heaven. And in the Lord’s Supper all who partake come together with heaven here on earth for a brief moment. We are united with the body and blood of Jesus Christ and those in heaven are also united with Christ (Romans 6:5).

Jesus Christ unites us as a family today and He unites us with all those who have gone before us and will come after us. Jesus Christ unites heaven and earth with His death and resurrection.

This series of blogs will continue to focus on why Jesus Christ does this and what it means for us. Next week we’ll look at the result of this – peace.

 

LiveJournal Tags: Christ,Christianity,Ephesians,heaven,earth,sin,forgiveness,communion