That They May be One

Unity in the Church is Important

A Delicious Recipe

Several years ago our church leaders spent some time together crafting a mission statement for Trinity Lutheran Church. We spent several hours together talking about what we considered to be important for our congregation. Here is the mission statement that we came up with:

“Trinity Lutheran Church is unified and growing in grace to serve and share God’s Kingdom”

We began crafting this mission statement by simply putting words relating to our work and mission on the post-it notes. We then voted on which words we think should be included in our mission statement. Note that one of the first words in our mission statement is the word “unified”.

The word “unified”is defined, “brought together as “one”. We realized that for our congregation to move forward and grow we must be unified.

The leaders of Trinity Lutheran Church aren’t the only ones to recognize the importance of being united. The founding Fathers of our nation realized that when they included the phrase, “e pluribus unam” - Latin for “out of many, one”. on the seal of our nation, making it the unoffical motto of our the United States.

Even though we know the importance of unity, too often we are fractured, broken, disunited, disconnected. It happens so much that it seems that we may enjoy being at odds with one another.

Examples of Disunity

Churches Split

Husbands and Wives Divorce

Congress Votes Along Party Lines

Examples of Disunity In Scripture

Unity in Scripture

Jesus’ Prayer Is a Call for Unity

Before us this weekend we have a prayer that Jesus prayed on the night of His arrest. He had just observed His last supper with his disciples. During that time, Jesus taught them some troubling things about what would happen to Him in a short time. Namely, Jesus would be arrested, tortured, crucified. Of course, His close friends didn’t want to hear this or believe this. They were troubled, to say the least.

Additionally, Jesus knew that they would be tested in the days ahead. Their faith would be tested. Their resolve would be tested. Their unity would be tested. He knew that they would not be able to continue the mission if they were not united. So Jesus prayed about it.

While He was with them, Jesus prayed for them. He prayed, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one was we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:22-23).

Closing