Rare Priviledge

“I’m praying not only for them

But also for those who will believe in me

Because of them and their witness about me.

The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—

Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,

So they might be one heart and mind with us.

Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.

The same glory you gave me, I gave them,

So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—

I in them and you in me.

Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,

And give the godless world evidence

That you’ve sent me and loved them

In the same way you’ve loved me.”

(John 17:20-23 The Message)

Two weeks ago I had the rare privilege of gathering for worship with folks from various churches, as well as some Bob Marshall Music Festival organizers and attendees.

It was rare because it seems that, for soooo long, despite efforts and movements toward Christian unity, many of us continue to prefer setting ourselves apart from one another, building walls instead of bridges. We call ourselves Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Non-Denominational, Catholic.... wow, just beginning to list the various ways we self-identify breaks my heart. Not because we have distinctions - no, the distinctions can be celebrated. As one colleague has stated previously, our differences tend to be “functional differences.” Rather, it’s how we separate and eye with suspicion any others who are not of the same label or brand of Christ-follower.

I recall one seminary professor saying, “The greatest sin of the Protestant Reformation was the constant splitting of the church.”

For the last 500 years, that sin seems only to have increased.

So it is a rare thing indeed for local folks like us to have transcended what we think makes us so different from one another in order to gather and worship the One True God.

This gathering together for worship was also a great privilege. Most Sundays you’ll find us all in our separate buildings worshipping God in the most faithful, creative and honorable ways we know how. These traditions are shaped over time by the people who gather for worship. So it is a privilege when we get to cross over the boundaries and enter one another’s worshipping world, to share a bit of what makes us unique, and to create something new - all for the glory of God. What an amazing sense of freedom and friendship!

I hope and pray these privileges or gathering together for worship and prayer become less rare. I pray for all those who are not so sure about all this, all those Christ-following folks in town who still have reservations about one another. And I echo Christ’s prayer in John 17, that we might be unified and together - not for the sake of unity, but for the sake of Christ. That we might become mature in our oneness - so that the world would come to experience the abiding love of God. Amen.