Fellowship will lead to unity

BY REV JOHN DAVIS

Rev John Davis

Ongoing, meaningful fellowship between Christians is the key to unity. Only, it demands a price—the setting aside of time and money to host and to be with others. This, though, is merely the beginning; fellowship across the barriers, meeting regularly, acknowledging our common unity in Christ and getting to know one another is so important. We know this, but find it difficult to put into practice for a variety of reasons.

Jesus—the eternal, compassionate Son of God—sees the potential of his divided, fragmented Church and must be both gladdened and saddened at the response we give.

In Our Lord’s high priestly prayer offered in Holy Week (Jn 17:11,20–23) there is a deep, divine longing for the glory of unity, which Jesus himself is experiencing, to be shared with his friends, disciples and loved ones: “I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (17:23).

Once the Spirit has cut us to the heart with her double-edged sword (Holy Spirit is feminine in the Greek), leading us to repentance, we need on-going inspiration to know what each of us must do to fulfil that prayer, for it is offered so powerfully and so lovingly that it requires an perpetual response from the Spirit-filled community, holding long-term implications for those who dare to take their faith seriously.

Members of an inter-denominational choir sing at a Christian unity event in New York. (Photo: CNS)

My wife and I had made friends with many youngish Catholic clergy in the 1960s, so it was no surprise when a group of them attending a conference in Grahamstown rocked up at our home out of the blue, and we had a wonderful party together. I have never forgotten that—a sign of the unity which is Our Lord’s divine will for his Church.

In my less charitable moments I imagine the young, vital Lord sending the angel Gabriel to admonish the leaders  of the Church—Catholic and Protestant—for their astonishing luke-warm attitude towards their birthright in the Body—Unity.

“Listen carefully,” he warns in my musings, “the Lord of the Church is losing patience with the foot-dragging attitude of so many leaders preventing the Spirit from cementing unity amongst his people. I have been sent to warn you that two full years is all you have before the Divine Patience ends. At that time he will act unilaterally and set new, fresh goals for his Church which no-one will be able to ignore or set aside.”

Exciting, exacting words, or “garbage”?  Since it is true that we have the mind of Christ, we need to tread gently upon this holy ground.

The Church, as we know, is divided both geographically between East and West and also between those who love a centralised unity and those who love the freedom of a more flexible, democratic church system.

Believers without bishops or leaders exercising oversight often discover that fragmentation is their lot. How we are going to be one in Christ (even in a so-called spiritual unity) is Our Lord’s closely-guarded secret but which he whispers from time to time to his loved ones.

For me it is important to challenge the Church at the local level to discover what we hold in common and not allow differences to divide us.

One important principle I have discovered is that Jesus cannot keep away when two or three believers meet in his name (Mt18:20). Since this is an important, divine principle, Holy Communion can no longer be judged, in my view as an Anglican cleric, as being “valid” or “invalid” depending on whether the presiding clergyperson has been “properly ordained” or not (also, whether they be male or female). If Our Lord sees fit to accept what sometimes or often is termed an “irregular” ministry, and to be with his very own baptised flock in person, who am I to argue?

But we do argue and can so easily be offended by challenges to our well-nurtured and orthodox upbringings;  this is where we need the gentle annointing of the Spirit to guide us into all truth. The sacrificial, agapé love of Jesus is going to have his way, long-term, and build up the Body of Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Ongoing, meaningful fellowship between believers is the way forward.

Let us thank God for helping us to know his mind as we move together into his carefully-prepared divine plan for the Church, his kingdom and his world.

John Davis is a semi-retired Anglican priest in Kenton-on-Sea, Eastern Cape