Where do you encounter the most “dis-unity” in the world today?
Jarrett said, “Being right without being loving is wrong.” What does it mean or look like to be “loving”, especially when it comes to those we disagree with?
What are some practical ways that you can help create more ONENESS is your community?
Jesus, we echo your prayer today for all God’s people
Make us ONE
For the sake of our country in these divisive times
Make us ONE
For the sake of our humanity, so we may see people over issues
Make us ONE
For the sake of the vulnerable & marginalized, who are in need of justice
Make us ONE
For the sake of the proud & powerful, who are in need of humility
Make us ONE
For the sake of the world, that is in desperate need of love
Make us ONE
For the sake of our witness, to a world that is watching
Make us ONE
For the sake of your Name, your Honor, and your Glory
Make us ONE
The Apostle Paul, and the other early church leaders clearly took Jesus’ call to ONENESS seriously. The early Christian church faced plenty of divisive disagreements around any number of topics from food to race to social and cultural engagement. This is why the vast majority of the New Testament Letters include significant sections where the writer is encouraging the believers to cling to greater unity with one another, even in the midst of their differences…
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
In his teaching this week, Jarrett challenged us with…
Don’t let your RIGHTNESS ruin your ONENESS
Don’t let your RIGHTNESS become your BLINDNESS
Don’t let your RIGHTNESS ruin your WITNESS
Below, you will find three reflection prompts. Find a comfortable, quiet place to meet with God, take out a journal or piece of paper and respond to the prompts below…
ONENESS – Prayer
Write a prayer for unity within the church, in your family/community, and within our country…
BLINDNESS – Confession
Confess where you have become so committed to being right that you’ve become blind. Where have you lost sight of other people and only focussed on your view of the issues?
WITNESS – Practice
How will you allow unity to be a witness to others this week? What practical steps will you take to seek the oneness that Jesus prayed for?
When she was only a schoolgirl, Yu Gwan-Sun became a nonviolent freedom fighter. Yu was born in a small town in Korea to parents who taught her about Christ and also instilled Confucian values like civic responsibility. From an early age, she understood the social implications of her faith and believed in a world marked by freedom, peace and justice.
Her family attended a Methodist church where it is remembered that she committed many Bible verses to memory. An American missionary, Alice J. Hammond Sharp, encouraged Yu to attend the first modern school for women – Ewha Haktang in Seoul. On March 1, 1919, Yu rallied her classmates to join her on the streets and protest against Japanese colonial rule.
These small marches grew and grew. When the government closed her school, Yu smuggled a copy of the Declaration of Independence and went from village to village near her hometown educating and rallying people to join her in peaceful protests. At the next march – which drew around 3,000 people – she distributed homemade flags and made speeches for Korean independence. But when the Japanese military arrived, they killed 19 people, including Yu’s parents.
The movement continued – eventually drawing an estimated 2 million people (out of a population of 20 million) – to participate in peaceful protests. Yu, convicted of sedition, was sent to prison where she died in 1920 at the age of 16.
She did not live to see the liberation of her people (Korea would not gain freedom until 1945). But the March 1 Movement unified Koreans and was a catalyst for the independence movement. Yu’s faith was intertwined with her hopes for restoration and a just society. This drove her to advocate for the world God calls us to build, and to do so using measures of love and peace. Her legacy of nonviolent protest precedes that of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she deserves to be remembered as a woman of God who modeled Jesus in fighting oppression with love.
A quick message for those joining us in person this weekend:
Recently, the CDC shared new guidelines for wearing face masks in public and in indoor settings to promote safety in areas with substantial risks of transmission. Therefore, we are requiring that masks are worn while in the building on Sundays.
We are continuously reviewing the CDC guidelines and what our next steps will be – as your safety remains our priority.
