Whitegate, Little Budworth, Easter 7, 12/5/2013
‘I ask ... that they may be one’, prayed Jesus to his Father. To him, the way that his followers would show him to the world would be by demonstrating their unity. His disciples have been striving to do this ever since. And we inherit the struggle.
The problem we have with ‘being one’ is that we’re burdened by the instinct that to be one, a group of people must find a common enemy to fight against, to overcome, to punish. This is obvious at times of war, but is actually a feature of the way we are, at all times and in all places. Look at today’s reading from Acts. Paul and Silas heal a slave-girl of the spirit of divination which has oppressed her for so long, but made money for those people who ‘owned’ her. Those slave-owners unite against Paul and Silas, angered that the healing has lost them a source of income; the group of slave-owners becomes one in the act of throwing Paul and Silas into prison.
Uniting like this is normal human behaviour, from the playground to the bartering-floor of the stock exchange. Groups of people get together to put things right with each other by putting someone else away. I’m keenly aware of this today, having heard that one of the influential people in my journey of faith, Janet Henderson, a woman of intelligence and integrity who was my personal tutor at theological college, has resigned as Dean of Llandaff Cathedral after just two months in post. The reason given in the newspapers is a dispute with the cathedral choir over fees for a TV appearance; but they also report an underlying cause - the opposition she received from some clergy who object to a woman being appointed. [1] ‘I ask ... that they may be one’, prayed Jesus to his Father; unfortunately it seems that unity for the cathedral has come at the cost of another person’s vocation.
If you have ever felt ganged-up-on, at school, at work, at home, at church, then you’ll have some appreciation of what I’m saying. The gang accusing you grow closer as their accusations against you develop. It’s a road which Jesus travelled, ending on the Via Dolorosa, after being ganged-up-on by the religious authorities whose unity was at risk in the melting-pot of occupied Jerusalem at that time, but whose unity was regained by the execution of one who had spoken out against their corrupt practices. Like anti-women clergy stirring up the cathedral choir, the chief priests and elders provoked the crowds against Jesus, so that they could be one again, at the cost of one victim.
And so Jesus knew that he was asking a lot when he prayed that his disciples ‘may be one’. He knew the way that unity usually worked, he knew that he was set for a crucifixion. But he was looking for a different sort of unity altogether. A unity which doesn’t depend on punishing or expelling another, but which is based solely and completely in a relationship of love: ‘I in them and you in me,’ he prayed to his Father. This is the unity we must seek in our church today, a unity based in mutual love for God and each other, a unity built on prayer and grace, a unity so vividly unlike the way that the world unites, that the world may truly know that God lives with us and in us, and makes a real difference to the way we deal with each other.
I see that in the example of groups on opposing sides of church debates about gender, sexuality and marriage nevertheless making time to listen and try to understand each other's points of view. I see that whenever Christians who disagree, nevertheless kneel together at the communion rail to share in receiving the signs of Christ's sacrificial love for each of us.
Notes
[1] Llandaff Cathedral dean quits over Songs of Praise row, The Sun, 11 May 2013
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