Celebrate Unity

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. 7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Focus Statement

Celebrate that unity does not mean uniformity!

Our diversity is knit together in the unity of faith as we grow into Christ.

Point of Relation

When I first learned I was appointed to First United Methodist Church of Newton

I remember getting a call from Rev. E T. Holland...

granted this was after it was announced…I hadn’t yet started my appointment here.

“This Saturday, 8:30 a.m., Rotary’s having a Pancake breakfast. I look forward to seeing you there.”

Sadly, I was unable to make it due to a conflict, but that was my first introduction to the Newton Rotary Club...

and it put on my radar that someone from this congregation might be asking me to join.

Sure enough, that did happen.

Both Frank Eberhart and Rev. Dr. Alden Welch asked me to join…and I did.

But I have to confess, I wasn’t quite sure why I joined.

I mean, sure, the networking aspect, I get that.

But truthfully, my entire vocation is “service above self”…so why did I need to join Rotary to add more Service above Self to my plate.

It took me a while, but eventually I saw Rotary for what it is...

That happened the day Isobel Costello came to share with us what she was doing with the Weekend Bag Program...

I mean I was blown away and instantly introduced myself to her and we brought her to do the same presentation at our church.

I would have never known about her had I not been a part of Rotary.

And I began to see that Rotary was made up of COMMUNITY business members…but most of them are also living in the COMMUNITY.

And they care for their community…and put the community’s welfare and progress as a part of its mission.

SERVICE ABOVE SELF.

And it was a way of educating people of all the wonderful things happening around our county.

Rotary became an essential community for me because they are, at their core, inclusive...

They NOT only accepted me for who I am…I mean look at me…but they also asked me to be on their board...

And on Wed. I will be inducted as the 2022-2023 President of the Newton Rotary Club.

WOW! That community accepted me and gave me a place to learn and grow.

Things to Consider

Community and belonging are huge parts of how we understand ourselves,

how we fit into the world, and how we function it.

Most of us belong to a variety of different kinds of groups.

I myself am a Rotarian, a member of Order of Elders in the United Methodist Church, and am or have been a part of other groups as well.

Perhaps you are a member of a sewing or knitting club...

Or a book club, a Masonic or and Elk or a Moose lodge...

or perhaps your still living into your legendary high school strategy skills

in a chess club somewhere.

I want to invite you to pause for a minute and think of a group or groups you belong to where you feel you can be most yourself...

Where you feel most comfortable being you.

How has being part of those groups been better than “going it alone”?

Now think about what unifies those groups.

Unity can be understood in many different ways,

but once you have a clear definition in mind, it can be measured and celebrated.

Perhaps it would be helpful to understand what unity is NOT in order to discover what it is.

Unity IS NOT Uniformity.

Being all a bunch of clones is not a requirement of Christ’s.

Dressing up and sitting stiff and reverent in a pew IS NOT a requirement of Christ’s.

Everyone agreeing with each other all the time on all things IS NOT a requirement of Jesus...

Being of one mind…for Jesus…was being of one MISSION...

Not some sort of code word for brainwashing everyone into thinking the same way you do.

Unity, rather, is different people with different backgrounds, different thoughts, different likes and interests…UNITING for a COMMON PURPOSE...

THAT PURPOSE: Serving Christ by Loving God with our whole being and loving our neighbors (including each other) as we love ourselves.

What Scripture Says

All things are from God and the vast diversity of creation reflects the vastness of God.

Remember that last week

we celebrated how all the differences in our communities reflect the richness of God’s being.

This week we celebrate the unity of that diversity.

The God we worship is a Trinitarian God—

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—

and yet, somehow, God is still one.

It is difficult to wrap our minds around a God who is three-in-one,

but even without fully understanding it,

we can appreciate that relationship and community are at the core of who God is, the God in whose image we are made.

In Ephesians 4:4-6, the author writes,

“4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”

This passage talks about each “person” in the Trinity

but repeats over and over again the oneness not only of God but of God’s people and all creation:

“one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”

Because we have been created in the image of the Triune God,

despite our sinful nature, God has deemed ALL who believe as inherently good and worthy and wants them to find the fullest expression of themselves in their relationships with others.

The world around us often sends misguided messages about the importance and role of unity and community.

On the one hand, we are told to work against each other,

given the impression that for us to win, someone else must lose.

On the other hand, when community is encouraged,

we often get the message that in order to be unified, we must act, think, look, and believe the same way

(and often in distinction from a real or imagined “other”/outsider/enemy).

Instead, God asks us to be a community that celebrates our diversity in the midst of our unity.

What does it mean to be a community that celebrates our diversity while also celebrating our unity?

Today’s passage describes a number of characteristics of such a community:

growing together with gentleness,

humility,

patience,

and “bearing with one another in love,”

and to do so by choosing to live in peace.

(Remember false/superficial peace is just as unhealthy as false/superficial unity).

The author tells us that we should make every effort to keep the peace of unity.

Along with telling us to “bear with” one another,

the idea that this will take effort tells us that we can expect it to be difficult and require work!

We may fail at times.

Unity is not easy, especially a unity that celebrates the connectedness of different people and communal growth in love.

But this is the task to which God has called us.

This community that we are called to be a part of is one of discipleship,

one that commits to growing and maturing with one another.

Notice the movement and growth language in verses 11 through 16. Let me read it again for you hear:

Ephesians 4:11–16 NLT

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Often, the appearance of unity and peace in a community is achieved by keeping things surface level

or not talking about difficult things.

Sometimes we don’t challenge others or allow ourselves to be challenged by others,

assuming that in order to maintain unity, we should just let everyone (ourselves included) do or think whatever they/we want.

But there is a difference between accepting and celebrating the differences that make us unique,

and remaining immature or stunted in our faith because we refuse the kind of change that comes with growth.

The author makes it clear that we are all different, just like the parts of a body,

but we all work together, again like a body,

and this body needs to grow over time and despite growing pains

(you don’t cut off the leg just because it’s sore!).

What This Means for You

Each of you belongs in a community that celebrates who you are authentically,

that is constantly pushing them toward growth,

and that supports them in failure.

How can you seek to live together with humility, gentleness, love, and in peace.

For instance, someone from that community might reach out to let you know that you are better than the way you’ve been behaving...

You could get angry, choose to leave the group and cut yourself off from growth and future support.

Or you can humble yourself, take the feedback and reflect on whether or not there is validity to it.

Regardless, you can also be more sensitive around the person, knowing the behavior upsets them.

Such an example shows us that people can be authentically themselves all the while allowing for that same authenticity in others.

What This Means for Us

Each one of us is searching to belong to a community in a deep and meaningful way.

We are longing to be celebrated for making a meaningful contribution to the world around us.

The Kingdom of God is built up by the community celebrating the movement of their connection.

How can your community celebrate this new understanding of unity?

How can we begin to celebrate the unity we have in diversity here at Newton UMC and our in the Newton community at large?

Reflect on this as your continue read today’s passage through the week.

Let’s celebrate unity as we unify in our diversity to spread God’s love and Kingdom through Newton and beyond.