Unity Begins with Christ in Me
Dan (from “The Ekklesia in Southern Maine“) wrote an excellent post called “Unity in My Terms.” Dan describes how easy it is to seek unity on our own terms, instead of accepting people as they are.
But, as good as Dan’s post is (and it is good – read it), his wife Stephanie (from “Dead and Domestic“) stole the show with her comment on Dan’s post. Here is part of the comment:
If we’re going to BE the Church, then we have to tear down the walls we’ve built. We have to wash the bitter taste from our mouths and LOVE our brothers and sisters regardless of our beliefs or interpretations of scripture. Our SOLE focus should be Christ and our goal should be growing in Christ together.
So, according to Stephanie (and I agree), the picture that I’ve attached to this post does not show unity as Scripture describes it. Instead, it shows people finding unity on their own – linking hands with one another. To show true unity, we would need a picture of everyone holding tightly to Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Alan
My wife is eating up your “his wife Stephanie … stole the show” remark so thanks for that! But seriously, I think when I first started thinking about this stuff I didn’t realize how much it is all about Christ-centeredness, I mean we like to use simple/house/organic church terminology that promotes the idea of community and all that and its great, but really I want to be part of a Christ centered church more than a traditional or organic church. I mean there can be problems and disunity in organic environments or institutional environments, but as true as we are to Christ-centeredness we will have unity.
Thanks for the link and the great thoughts!
-Dan