As I am in you and you are in me and I am in them, may they be in us, that we may all be one.
Did you get all that? It’s like one of those transitive math problems: If A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C. If God is in Jesus, and Jesus is in his followers, then God is in the followers, too.
For those of you here in the pews, find a hymnal. Take a look at the colophon, the printer’s emblem, on the spine. Can you read that tiny print? Someone read it aloud. “That they may all be one.” As much as this passage in John sounds like Jesus doing some verbal gymnastics, it is so important in the United Church of Christ that it is part of our logo. “That they may all be one.” When our denomination was formed in the 1950s, five denominations all threw in together. That doesn’t mean they were all the same, but it means they identified, in their diversity, as one body. So this scripture about all being one resonated in this grand union.
There must have been many long conversations leading up to the merger: much deep listening, many negotiations about differences in theology and in practice. Out of all that deep listening came a denominational structure that allows for great autonomy of each congregation to practice its faith as best suits its own people. But also there came a sense of being part of some greater whole beyond the congregation and having not just connection but accountability to that greater whole. So every few years a bunch of us gather for a general synod, pass resolutions, talk about the big issues, listen to each other. Because we understand that we are not complete as a denomination—as a body of Christ—without all of us.
Paul also picks up this concept of many being one in Christ, using the metaphor of the body. I’m going to read that passage again, making a few substitutions:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Palestinians, Democrats or Republicans—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the girl would say, “Because I am not a boy, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make her any less a part of the body. And if the immigrant would say, “Because I am not a citizen, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make them any less a part of the body. If the whole body were teachers, where would the students be? If the whole body were white, where would the sense of color be?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as God chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body. Those who eat cannot say to the farm workers, “I have no need of you,” nor again can those who wear clothes say to the garment workers, “I have no need of you.”
On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
We are not complete without everyone.
Think about the breakfast you ate this morning. Let’s say you had a bowl of corn flakes with milk, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. We might be tempted to think we made our breakfast ourselves, or perhaps a spouse made it for us. Look at that breakfast in your mind’s eye. And as you say a little grace before eating, perhaps you give thanks for the corn that grew in some field, for the soil and nutrients that fed it, for the bees that pollinated it, for the farmer who planted it, for the rain and irrigation hoses that watered it, for the migrant farm workers—who may or may not be U.S. citizens—who harvested it, for the driver who trucked it to some corn silo, for the workers who processed it into corn flakes at the cereal plant, for the clerk who put it onto shelves at your store, for the cashier who sold it to you.
That’s a whole crowd of humans and others just to bring you corn flakes. And we haven’t even gotten to the milk and the orange juice and the coffee.
We don’t make our own breakfast. We need an entire planet to make our breakfast. We need all of creation. We are not complete without all those workers, all those pollinators, all the nutrients in that soil, all that water. We are all one, connected through the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive—everything. We are not complete without everyone.
Our president recently called Portland “war-ravaged” and is trying to order the military to invade that city as he has ordered it to invade other cities in his own country. He has proposed that U.S. cities could be training grounds for the military. I hardly need to tell you that this is not normal. Nor is it legal. Perhaps he thinks this nation could be complete without the cities that voted for his opponent in the last election. No.
Fortunately, there are people like our guest preacher last week, Brigitta Remole, who lives in Portland and who joined with 300 clergy and lay people for a peaceful demonstration at the ICE facility. These protestors are being characterized as dangerous. No. Truth-tellers, yes, and perhaps in that sense dangerous. But they recognize that our body is not complete without the immigrants, and that we need to treat them right. And apparently our body is not complete without the emergency nude bicycle protestors, too. Because, well, Portland.
This week some protestors reminded us that we are not complete without Palestinians in Gaza, who really are living in a war-ravaged nightmare. The protestors tried to bring food via a flotilla of boats. They were harangued and threatened by Israeli military and finally stopped from achieving their goal of delivering the food—but not stopped from highlighting the completely inhumane treatment of the Palestinians. These peaceful protestors were willing to risk their lives, their safety, and possible prison time in order to treat the other members of the collective body—their Palestinian siblings—with honor. With the basic necessities for life. As we mark the second anniversary of the start of this horrible conflict, we pray that the proposed peace plan will treat all with honor and respect and will bring relief to both sides.
We live in such divisive times that it seems impossible to contemplate all of us being one, or all of us honoring each other as members of the same body. But these aren’t just pretty words. They are really hard. In fact, sometimes they are unimaginable. When Jesus said them, he lived under Roman oppression, where soldiers could compel Jews to carry their gear for a mile, where the emperor was taxing people right off their land. And yet Jesus went to the home of a soldier and healed his daughter.
Israel and Palestine will never sort things out until they recognize the humanity in each other, and that they are all members of one body. That’s a tall order. I give kudos to all who are trying to bring these two sides together.
Right now, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are so divided that the government is shut down. Both sides have dug in their heels. Both are pointing fingers of blame across the aisle. And yet the key to their success will come from sitting down and talking with each other, listening, working things out with some give and take. In September, a member of the Arizona state House of Representatives called for Rep. Pramila Jayapal to be “tried, convicted, and hanged” for her work on nonviolent resistance. When I delivered our Climate Hope cards to Jayapal’s office, we took a few photos, and I asked for the name of the fellow in the picture. He said just to say he was a staff person in her office. They’re all a little jittery right now. This extreme language and bodily threats to people of the opposite political party is dangerous and over the top. It does not pave the way for meaningful dialogue and collaboration. So how we get there in the face of this behavior, I don’t really know. But Jesus and Paul call us to recognize that we are all one in Christ.
On this World Communion Sunday, we will celebrate communion recognizing that this sacrament is also being celebrated by Christians all over the globe. We don’t agree with all of them on theology. Our worship services may not look just like theirs. And yet we are all one in Christ. This is our slogan in the UCC: “That they may all be one.” We need to figure it out. That is our call, and if we get it right, we will be known as peacemakers, as community builders, as healers of nations. Not easy. But this world is crying out for such unity. Our work is cut out for us. Amen.