I
originally wrote this as a series of replies in a Facebook thread that I
started with my reflections on John 17:20-26. As that developed, I thought I’d
compile them into a single document. I even considered doing a rewrite to make
for a more coherent flow. But I decided to let them stand and related but
unconnected elements in a sort of verbal mosaic. I am posting to my Pilgrim
Path blog, but do not intend to link back to FB or Twitter, even though they
started in the more public arena of FB.
A conundrum I
have been pondering in my lectio divina on the lectionary readings for this
coming Sunday is Jesus' prayer that all of his followers (the succeeding
generations are definitely included in v. 20) would be one as he and the Father
are one in John 17:20-26. Recognizing that we who follow Jesus are anything but
one does not take a genius. I am not troubled by variations in theology or
ecclesiology. Those can easily be seen as many rich colors in a single
tapestry. What troubles me is how readily one color (to maintain the tapestry
metaphor) discounts another color as not belonging in the tapestry and how
virulent those conflicts can become, even to the point of one group of "Christians"
killing other "Christians" in the name of Christ when they get the
power to do so. To be sure, this has happened plenty in history, and while
"Christians" executing other "Christians" may not seem as
common today, the rhetoric of rejection is certainly loud. My pondering here,
however, is not so much about how we who follow Jesus handle our disagreements
as it is about what was going on in Jesus' prayer for our oneness. Has that
prayer not been answered? It seems to me that postponing the answer to the eschaton
is a denial of Jesus appeal that the world would recognize him in the oneness
of his followers. May we - you and I - be impediments to the Father answering
the prayer of the Son? What did Jesus expect when he prayed this? I'm not
expecting to resolve this in either my meditations this week or in responses to
this post, only to try to get in tune with Jesus' prayer myself. If anyone else
feels drawn into Jesus' prayer, how is that emerging within you?
I am not
content to dismiss the powerful implications of Jesus' prayer for the oneness
of his followers by spiritualizing it or putting it on hold until the last day,
though both the mystical and future dimensions are important. But if we stay
there we become practical Gnostics denying the creation reality in which
God placed us. I don't have an easy formula, but somehow I pray and look for
opportunities to at least begin to live into that oneness with other Christians
who are not like me. Sometimes those differences are ethnic and cultural.
Sometimes they are theological and ecclesiastical. I played a very small role
in helping some Anabaptists connect with Catholic bishops after Germany
reunited and travel to the former East where their movement originated became
possible. The Anabaptists wanted to apologize and ask forgiveness for
slandering and not always telling the truth about the Catholic Church. When the
bishops received this small delegation, they replied in kind by saying that
while the spiritual ancestors of the Anabaptists had indeed not always spoken
with truth and kindness, the spiritual ancestors of the bishops were executing
Anabaptists. With mutual prayer and a bit of good humor came just a bit of the
taste of oneness in Jesus. The Anabaptists went on being Anabaptists and the
bishops went on being Catholic, but they acknowledged their mutual kinship in
Jesus. I have benefited from fleeting experiences like this and hunger for them
to become more common.
When I was at
Wheaton Graduate School in the early 70s Jim Engle and Will Norton worked together
on mission/evangelism. I think they did it together (or maybe just Jim Engle)
wrote a book "What's Gone Wrong with the Harvest?" That book and
conversations with both of them at the time came to mind as I reflected on
Jesus' prayer in John 17. Verse 21 says, "they may all be one. As you,
Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world
may believe that you have sent me." and verse 23 says, "they may
become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me."
Not offering any specific answers, only raising a question for pondering. Could
it be that what has gone wrong with the harvest is that we who follow Jesus are
not one with each other, with him, or with the Father as Jesus prayed we would
be? Besides all the implications for us which I have not fully explored, what
are the implications about how God answers any/all prayers and particularly
this prayer of Jesus? Only exploring not preaching. Please!
After posting
my last reflection on Jesus’ prayer for oneness among his followers, I sat on
the porch with my afternoon tea and cookies. Jesus’ concern that the world
would know him and believe he came from the Father because of the oneness of
his followers took my mind in a different direction. I’m not going to vouch for
the logical connection, only pursue these ruminations.
Since at least
the Enlightenment, the arguments for atheism have largely been empirical and
logical. The answers of the whole range of theist apologists, not just
Christians, have generally ranged from some version of Romans 1:19-20. “What
can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to
them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine
nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the
things he has made.” And ranged to some variation of Pascal’s Wager – better to
believe and be wrong than not believe and be wrong. I know a lot more is going
on than that, but this will serve to make the contrast with the arguments for
atheism that are gaining traction in our time.
Those arguments
are basically ethical. That so much violence, injustice, suffering is and has
been promulgated in the name of religion and God (even in the name of Christ as
contradictory as that should seem) that we humans would be better off
without God and without religion. This is the essential core of John Lennon’s
song “Imagine” that has become the anthem of this generation. Pointing out that
that is not what Jesus (or choose your own favorite religion founder) taught or
lived does not change the argument that those who claim to believe in God have
been rampant purveyors of violent hatred. Pointing out even dramatic exceptions
does not ameliorate this history and contemporary realities.
Given the
nature of this trend, citing examples of any and all good that has been done
and is being done by any and all believers in God is counterproductive. Keeping
score of good vs. bad is a losing endeavor, and getting offended that such
arguments are rejected only reinforces writing off religion/God as a negative
force. Again, I don’t have a nice packaged answer, but I do believe we who
recognize the core of divine love (though I speak as a Christian, I don’t think
that is limited to Christianity), can and must do better at living that love
into the daily realities of our world. My pondering here is not about comparing
Jesus and other religious leaders or movements. That may be a worthwhile
endeavor but goes in a different direction than positing a theism that responds
effectively to ethical atheism.
Again, speaking
specifically as one who trusts and aspires to follow Jesus, I believe his
teaching to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-35 and affirmed by the
Apostle Paul Romans 12:17-21) may be an effective response to ethical atheism.
Not in the sense of that is what Jesus taught us to do, but in the sense that
people will observe and recognize that is what is actually happening in our
human relationships. This is amazingly challenging. How do I love someone who
is bent on harming or even killing me? Yet, I believe that is what this
demands.
Once again, I
am exploring and welcome fellow ponders, but I will not engage in arguments
about why ethical (or other) atheists are wrong. Rather I welcome exploration
of how we can live in ways that those who reject believing in God will
recognize the love of God even in the face of all the evil people have done in
the name of God over the centuries.
Though I was young at the time, I remember church
discussions about degrees of separation that were presumed to be based on
passages such as 2 Corinthians 6:17. “Come out from them, and be separate from them.” First degree
separation was not sharing Christian fellowship with someone whose theology
regarded as suspect. Second decree separation was not sharing Christian
fellowship with someone who fellowshipped with someone whose theology was
regarded a suspect (even if theirs was considered acceptable). My sense is that
the people of the congregation in which I grew up – solidly evangelical
Baptists – were aware of these discussions but did not consider them
particularly relevant to us.
I do recall
that when Billy Graham came to San Francisco in 1958 some preachers in the area
objected that he allowed “liberals” to sit on the platform with him. The people
of my church participated in that crusade with some enthusiasm and dismissed
the complainers out of hand.
This memory
came back to me today as I have continued to contemplate Jesus’ prayer that
succeeding generations of his followers would be one with each other and with
him as he was with the Father. My lunch conversation with some friends of
Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church (Milwaukee) prompted me to frame the question
from the other way around.
How can I
express and experience oneness in Christ with those who exclude me from their
circle of acceptable doctrine, while I definitely include them as fellow
disciples of Jesus, despite significant disagreements?
I am pondering
how Edwin Markham’s (1852-1940) poem “Outwitted” might help me sort this out.
It was often referred to among Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) folk as
expressing how Christian unity was their “polar star.” (Barton Stone) It seems
to express the sentiment. Now to translate that into relational reality.
He drew a circle that
shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In!
