Sermon: Seeking unity in a divided world (May 8, 2016)

Easter 7C

May 8, 2016

John 17:20-26

            Our country is never so divided as during a presidential election year. This year especially, it seems like people are just so passionate about their love or hatred for the now three different candidates, that the division appears even more pronounced. People are doubling down on their choice, and expressing their opinions more ardently. And, it seems, people are getting less kind along the way.

            Of course it isn’t just the presidential election that divides us. Any number of hot button issues divide us as well. One issue that had been on my mind and in my prayers this week especially is racism, and specifically, our criminal justice system. As you know if you’ve read your newsletter, at this year’s Upstate New York Synod Assembly, which takes place next month, the focus will be on

the Church’s role in responding to racism in this time and place. To that end, every participant in Assembly – and indeed everyone across the synod – has been invited and encouraged to read the book, The New Jim Crow: Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The book, written by civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander, takes a look at the prison and criminal justice systems in America, and considers, among other things, why America has more incarcerated people per capita by a long-shot than any other developed nation (the United States has more than five times as many people in prison per capita than any other country in the world, even though our crime rate is comparable). Furthermore, those who are incarcerated in America are far more likely to be black or Hispanic, even though this group makes up only a quarter of the population and the rate of crime among whites and people of color is comparable, if not higher among whites. The disparity is especially true among those convicted of drug crimes. The book highlights these realities, boldly calling this system the “new Jim Crow,” in other words, the new, legal way or enacting racism in the 21^st century. In effect, it separates, divides, “them” (criminals, black people, whatever) from “us,” first by putting them in prison, then by making it difficult to get their lives back on track with a felon label hanging over their heads. Though thoroughly supported by facts and stories, the author’s claim, that incarceration is the new Jim Crow, is a hard one to swallow, and makes many people very uncomfortable – to think that racism could still exist in a country with a black president! The result is even further division, as we voice our disagreements with the other side as to whether the system is racist or not, and whether we have any role in it.

            These are large scope issues, but I’m sure we all experience painful divisions even in our personal lives. Today, Mother’s Day, is difficult for some people for a lot of reasons, but one is because it is reminder of their difficult, divided relationship with their own mother or child – and of course there are any number of other ways our families experience division, and it is always painful. Division is hard, no matter how you cut it.

Perhaps that reality makes it even more startling to hear Jesus’ words today – a prayer for those gathered with him, and for us as well, “that they may all be one.” It’s a nice prayer, Jesus, but

really? Is it even possible? With so much to disagree on, in our families, communities, country, and world, could we Christians really all be one?

            Perhaps the first question to ask is, what would being “one” even look like in today’s world? I think we have this image in our heads that if God had answered Jesus’ prayer for unity, then we would all be one big, happy Church with no variance of belief or practice, and we would all agree on everything and we would all get along all the time. We’d all get behind the same causes for good in this world, and all agree about how that should be done.

The problem with that vision is, we are all different people with different experiences. We bring our varied perspectives to scripture, to faith, and to life – and this isn’t to our detriment, but is indeed one of our strengths as the Church! The Spirit gives us many and varied gifts, after all, not all the same gifts. But how can we “all be one” if our disagreements cause so many divisions among us – disagreements on everything from how to worship and how to interpret the Bible, to how to vote for president, to how to manage family conflict, to how to engage in public life and respond to issues like racism, poverty, or even transgendered bathrooms? With so much disagreement and conflict, how can we all be one?

            But what if… hang with me here, what if it were because of our divisions and our conflicts that we are able to “be one”? That’s the argument theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes in his

famous little book, Life Together. Bonhoeffer wrote this volume when he taught in an underground seminary during World War II. In a time when the world was in turmoil, riddled with hatred and suspicion, Bonhoeffer lifted up the possibility of living in a Christian community of love. But his image of Christian community rebukes the idealistic dream we have in our heads, calling it unlikely or even impossible. His description indeed requires that there be conflict, because conflict with one another is what drives us toward Christ, and specifically, toward recognizing that Christ is the thing and the only thing that unifies us all. Our divisions help us to recognize and be grateful for the fact that Christ died for each and every one of us, and Christ rose again to bring new life to every last one of us. With all of our warts and shortcomings and all the ways we hurt one another or are hurt by one another, this is the place, the community, in which God placed us, and these are the people from whom we can learn and who can help us to grow, if we let it be so.

            Suddenly, we are “all one” after all. We all share the title, “Child of God.” What happens, then, when we start to view others this way, when we avoid labels like liberal, conservative, black, white, racist, gay, old, young, thug, transgendered, American, Latino, African, European, weirdo, freak… and instead place on every person we encounter first of all the label of: “Child of God.” Could we all be one?

            What if we viewed those who are different or who disagree with us not as the enemy, but as someone who has been placed in our path to help us to grow and learn, and grow closer to Christ? Could we all be one?

            What if whenever we encountered someone who challenges us or makes us uncomfortable or simply enrages us with what we deem to be wrong, ill-informed, or offensive opinions, we took the time to ask ourselves, “Why do I respond that way to this person? What’s going on with me, in my heart, and what does this bring up in me, that makes me feel this way?” And then we took the time to pray about it – pray for ourselves and for the person who has been put in our path? Could we all be one?

            Jesus’ prayer is not a pipe dream. But the answer to the prayer does not come easily. There are so many divisions in this world, and they are painful to recognize, to live with, and to resolve, whether it is listening to the rhetoric of a presidential candidate you despise, or being confronted with the possibility that racism is still alive and well and compromising the rights of many of our fellow Americans, or simply arguing with your spouse or your mother about the same old family issues. But Jesus prayed and believed – and I do, too – that unity is still possible, despite or even because of those conflicts, if what finally drives us is not that division, but Christian love and the hope of unity. If we can view each and every person we see as first and foremost a beloved child of God for whom Christ died, just like he did for you and me, we will be well on our way there.

            Let us pray… Holy One, we are riddled with division and conflict, and it is often hard to see beyond that. Be with your Church, and help us to view each other not by divisive labels, but by the name you gave each of us in baptism: Child of God. Let all of our thoughts and actions be guided, above all, by love. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.