UNITY IN LOVE

Proper 13 Year B: Ephesians 4:1-16 Rainey G. Dankel

Psalm 78:23-29 Trinity Church Boston
John 6:24-35 August 5, 2018

Key Passages: …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3)

It is almost exactly one year ago that I was in Charlottesville, Virginia. I was
responding to a call issued nationwide to white clergy to help in a rally of faith
communities. These people of faith were standing up against the white
supremacists planning a demonstration to protest the removal of a statue of
Confederate General Robert E Lee. The congregations had been preparing for
weeks, holding prayer services as well as training in techniques of non-violent
confrontation.

On the night before the planned marches, the white nationalists rallied on the
campus of the University of Virginia, wearing battle gear, carrying weapons and
torches, and shouting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. It was like something
out of Germany in the 1930’s. We were two blocks away, in St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church for a service of singing, praying, and preaching. The service
was high energy, designed to help us prepare for the next day’s likely
confrontations. But there were no words of hatred or retaliation.

The most dramatic of the preachers was Cornel West, scholar, theologian, and
activist, previously on the faculties of both Harvard and Princeton, and now
Professor of Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary. He was clear in
his denunciation of the evils of racism and all forms of oppression as
antithetical to God’s plans for humans created in the divine image. He was
passionate in his urging us to be prepared to stand up for our faith. And he
was also very clear that we had to do so from a position of love, not hatred or
violence. As Martin Luther King said, “Hatred cannot overcome hatred, only
love can do that.”

I thought about that message as I read today’s passage from Ephesians. The
Letter to the Ephesians is probably what is known as a “circular letter,” that is
a communication designed to be circulated among various churches in Asia
Minor. These fledgling communities were wrestling with issues of
understanding who Jesus is and who could be his followers. The split between
Jewish and Gentile followers was particularly difficult. The writer of Ephesians
(whether Paul or one of his students) is clear that Christ has united all people
through his sacrificial death. In powerful poetic language, Ephesians

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celebrates the life of the church, whose head is Christ, come to earth to break
the power of death and reconcile all people to their loving Creator.

Maybe you recognized some of this language as it was read: “There is one body
and one Spirit, …one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all…” (Ephesians 4:4-6a). Those are the words that we
use at the beginning of each celebration of Baptism. As we are baptized into
Christ’s death, we are raised with him into new life as part of the body of
Christ. We become one with each other as we are incorporated into the
church, the continuing presence of Christ in the world.

The hallmark of this community, the bond that holds us together, is the love of
Christ that has been poured into our hearts, giving us strength and courage to
live together. This blessing brings with it an obligation. Paul urges us to live 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” (Ephesians 4:1b-2).
The exhortation is straight-forward, but living it is a challenge.

Our natural fears of those we do not know, of those who may differ from us,
keep us on alert. And when the possibility of harm is implied, then our
instincts for survival overcome our more rational selves. It takes discipline and
self-awareness to restrain our fears. Otherwise we act from those instincts,
bolstered by unrecognized biases and stereotypes. We enact laws to enable us
to “stand our ground” with impunity. We become the employee who calls the
police when a student of color “seems out of place.”

That is why Christianity is counter-cultural. The heart of the gospel—the good

news that we receive as forgiveness—commands us to recognize all others as
brothers and sisters, not just members of our own blood families or tribes.
And it commands us to love them, that is, to act in ways that further their best
interests and their flourishing. So when Cornel West tells us that we must face
our enemies with love, we have to work at it. And “speaking the truth in love”
can have disastrous consequences.

The place where we work at loving each other is in the church. We learn how
to love each other as we encounter and engage with fellow followers of Jesus.
The peace which Christ places in each of our hearts enables us to reach out in
peace. We seek unity with each other, not by being nice, but by being willing
to share ourselves with each other, to support each other, to forgive each other,
and to grow together as part of God’s beloved community. These are the
practice drills that help us develop spiritual muscles to love fiercely and
reliably.

The unity we seek as members of this community does not come from
uniformity. We are each unique persons, created out of divine love and made
for love. As we claim membership in Christ’s body through the grace of God,
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we understand our place and that of others in that body. As we mature in our
following of Christ, we see the gifts that we bring to our life together, and we
affirm the gifts of others and learn from them. Diversity is God’s gift to us.

Paul enumerates some of the gifts that are needed for followers of Jesus to
learn to live together: “Some would be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some pastors and teachers.” These are roles traditionally assigned
to persons especially ordained for their work, i.e., the clergy. And we certainly
need such leaders. Trinity Church is in the process of seeking a new Rector
who will lead us into the future to which God calls us. The functions described
here in Ephesians are certainly on the minds of our Search Committee.
(Perhaps it will be a little bit of relief to you searchers to see the implication
that no one person is expected to have all of the gifts!)

We must think of these roles as shared by all who respond to Jesus’ call to
discipleship. Unfortunately as the church concentrates on those who are
called to ordination, it is lousy when it comes to helping all of us discern our
own vocations, our calling as disciples. What gifts for ministry have you been
given? Maybe you are an evangelist as you proclaim the gospel by singing in a
choir or serving at the altar. Maybe you teach the faith to our children or to
each other in a Bible study group or to people considering a financial pledge.
Maybe you are a pastor who prays for those in need, or visits them, or prepares
meals for them. Maybe you develop the voice of a prophet as you work against
racism, violence, and injustice.

Paul says that our varieties of talents and passions must all be directed toward
one end: “building up the body of Christ” (Eph.4:12a). The word that Paul uses
is suggestive: he says that our gifts are to be used to “equip the saints.” The
Greek word (katartixo) translated here as “equip” literally means to prepare, to
mend, to restore. In the gospels, it is the word used to describe the activity of
fishermen as they repair torn nets, preparing to reuse them for their intended
purpose. (See Mark 1:19 or Luke 5:6.) It can also mean to set a broken bone,
or to restore to a right mind, or to reconcile differences.

The unity of Christ’s church is organic, as the metaphor of the body suggests.
We are growing together, closer to each other as we grow closer to the heart of
God. Our unity comes as we develop practices of intentionally loving each
other, praying for Christ’s help as we encounter differences and divisions that
threaten to tear us apart. Our ministry is one of reconciliation, of exposing and
addressing the brokenness in individual and corporate lives. We live in a
variety of relationships, with families, friends, co-workers, fellow citizens, global
neighbors. And by being part of a Christian community we learn how to work
for wholeness in all those relationships.

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Giving and receiving forgiveness begin in faithful listening to each other and by
being alert to God’s work of reconciliation. It does not come naturally to any of
us. It takes practice to approach one another with patience and humility. It
requires us to set aside our competitive natures and our judgmentalism. It
requires many of us to suspend our privileges, our need to be right, our
confidence in our own accomplishments, and our inevitable blind spots. As
with some broken bones, surgery may be required. What we gain as we enter
this practice is a sense of God’s unfailing presence as we acknowledge the mess
we have made and our need of God’s wisdom and love. What we gain are so
many new friends and companions in the work of building God’s kingdom.

Here is an invitation to one small step in finding this unity in love. After
the10:00 service, come to the Ferris Library where we will discuss the book
Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson. It is subtitled “A Sermon to
White America.” It speaks directly to Christians, especially white Christians,
who need to hear how racism affects our individual and common lives. He
addresses us as “beloved,” and the word is both endearing and ironic. Paul
says that in “speaking the truth in love,” we will grow together into a body
whose head is Jesus Christ. Come to a practice session. It’s time for us to
leave the silent bystanders and assume the role of active listeners and
speakers. God’s providence awaits you.