A Prayer for Unity

 

John 17:20-26

Easter 7 / Year C

Jesus said, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Years ago, there was a man who operated an icehouse where, one day, he happened to lose a valuable gold pocket watch in the sawdust.  He posted a handsome reward and the men who worked there searched for hours but were unable to find it.  When they left for lunch, a small boy went into the building alone.  A few minutes later he emerged with the watch in hand.  They asked him how he was able to find it when all their efforts had failed.  “It was easy,” the boy replied, “I just sat down, stayed quiet, and listened.  Eventually I heard the watch ticking.” 

By my count in today’s reading, Jesus prays four times that his followers might be united, be one, saying unity allows us to participate in the fellowship enjoyed by the Father and the Son and becomes a witness to the world Jesus is sent by the Father.  Because Jesus prays for it, by faith we hold this unity abides in our midst.  While we all want it to be manifested in our lives and our faith communities so that one day it may be the norm throughout the world, unity remains elusive.  Like the soft ticking of the lost watch, it can be difficult to detect its presence in our midst.

One reason for this is we humans seem to be wired not for unity, but for division.  Just the famous theologian Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney’s character in O Brother, Where Art Thou) says, “I don’t want Fop, I’m a Dapper Dan man,” we are constantly separating ourselves: Coke or Pepsi, Hokies or Hoos, Rite I or Rite II, Republican or Democrat, Upper, Middle, or Lower Class, Christian, Muslim, or Jew, and on it goes.  Some differences involve little more than branding preferences.  Others speak of deep differences.  We face what Jesus contends is a spiritual choice: Will we allow ourselves to be defined by our differences or by the ultimate, unchangeable thing we all share – our invitation to dwell as one in God’s presence?

This choice is evident even in the entomological roots of the word unity.  It comes to us from the Latin word unus which means “oneness” from which we derive words such as union and unify.  Unus also has given us the words one (which makes sense in that one is a unity), only, and surprisingly alone (by oneself).    Isn’t it fascinating the same word root has spawned such different concepts - united and alone.  The two begin in the same place, but part ways going down completely different paths.  Jesus prays his followers who stand at the origin of these two paths will be one, not as individuals alone, but united as one in our shared fellowship with God (who exists in three distinct but united Persons).

Often the alone path of division is chosen for us, an accident of circumstance.  You do not choose your race, your nationality, your gender, the faith (or absence of faith) tradition into which you are born, physical characteristics, or a whole host of personal preferences many of which are hard wired into you at birth.  A good deal of the nurture which shapes you during your formative years is also beyond your control.  I didn’t choose to be right-handed or to grow up in the Buckeye state, but each (along with a whole host of other influences) was a choice made for me beyond my consent. 

This matters because it is human nature to associate with people who look like us and with whom we have much in common.  It is not by accident the people I feel closest to are either family members or Episcopalians!  While these accidents of circumstance (as I am calling them) help us to form bonds, they are not to be the ultimate source of our unity.  The unity for which Jesus prays is not the paring away of all the people who are different from us until we are left alone only with those who are like us. 

Over the course of this Easter season we have heard readings from the Book of Acts which detail how the Gospel was embraced by wider and wider circles of fellowship.  It begins with the small group who personally encounter the Risen Christ.  They then preach this news to the people of Jerusalem and proclaim it to those who sit in the seats of power.  Next, we learn how the Spirit falls upon a gathering of gentiles who Peter baptizes.  God directs Paul to cross into present day Europe where Lydia becomes the first non-Middle Eastern to embrace the faith.  This morning we read about the conversion of a Philippian jailer and his household.  From all of this we learn it is God’s desire for the Gospel to draw everyone into a common, united fellowship which obviously is not dependent upon the accidents of our circumstances.

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.  Tick.  Today we pause and listen for the sound of the golden watch that is God’s great gift of unity.  I invite you emerge from this place prizing it greatly and holding it up for all to see.