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| If I leave my desk too long |
SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION (May 5th) 1989
READINGS
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 14:23-29
“I have given them the
glory you gave to me,
that they may be one as we are one”
What is it, this mysterious and elusive unity that Jesus prayed
for before his glorification and agony on the Cross? Where is the answer to his
prayer? Why are we not one?
One of my few basic understandings of things scientific is
that there is a law that basically says, “if you don’t put energy into a system
then it degenerates or decomposes or fragments or generally becomes a mess.
It often seems to me to be true. If I leave a sausage in
the fridge too long it becomes green and furry. If I leave an apple on my desk
too long it does likewise. If I leave my desk too long without an input of
energy it becomes like it is at present: an atrocious mess.
Indeed, since today is the beginning of Marriage and Family Week,
one might say that the same is true of home life. Without an input of energy a
marriage decomposes to a waste land, and family life degenerates to frustration,
boredom, disillusionment.
It certainly appears to be true of the Church. Since our Lord
made his plea for the unity of the Church it has continually splintered into
fragments. The Jews and the Greeks fought bitterly within Christianity in early
decades. The East and the West formalised their split in the eleventh century,
but it went back centuries before that. The Reformers and the Catholics, the
Anglicans and the Presbyterians, Methodists, and other Protestant groups –
even today we see new division between Anglicans and so-called Continuing
Anglicans. In the Pentecostal churches I witnessed bitter divisions between
pre-millennialists, post-millennialists, mid-millennialists, even a-millennialists
(I’ll tell you one day what they all are!).
“I have given them the glory
you gave to me ,
that they may be one as we are one”
Yet it is true also that there have been signs of
improvement. No longer does the Catholic school kid cross the road sneering “protty
pig” as a Protestant kid walks to school. No longer does the sensible
Protestant presume that all Catholics are condemned to eternal fire unless they
convert.
The fruits of seventy years of ecumenical labour are easily
visible. Liturgies in Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist churches are
becoming increasingly similar. Our scriptures readings each Sunday around this block
of East Ringwood are almost certainly the same. We are being spoken to by the
same God and at last hearing the same voice.
“I have given them the glory
you gave to me ,
that they may be one as we are one”
But there is so far to go. Inter-communion is as yet far off,
though many of us long for the day when we may legitimately eat our Lord’s flesh
and drink his blood regardless of whether the Eucharistic rite is Roman, Anglican,
or Uniting. That day will come.
But we must continue to expend energy, to place our energy
into the system we call the Church. I believe that now, at Ascensiontide, the
message is abundantly clear. Our Lord has expended his energy in bringing us
salvation. It is up to us to continue the expenditure of energy to bring about
the unity for which he longs, and to bring about the proclamation of the gospel to which he has called us.
Next Sunday we shall celebrate the
coming of the empowering Spirit. There is, in other words, an input of energy
into the Church since the Ascension of Christ. But there is also a
responsibility on our shoulders to use our energy in the service of the evangel, the gospel. Or the gospel, too, may become green
and furry. Or cluttered and disorgan
ised. Or introverted and self-serving.
“Father,
I want those that you have given me
to
be with me where I am
so
that they may always see my glory.”
The Lord be with you.
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