Unity Matters

Yesterday, on Facebook, someone told me I was living in sin because I was Catholic.

Things like this happen all the time. 
BOTH directions, by the way. So I am not accusing any one church. 
I’ve been told by a preacher my church is dead. AND I’ve heard a priest make fun of Joel Osteen… in a homily… right there near the altar. Two small examples. Both directions. All the time. 
And this is the anthem I’ll die singing: UNITY MATTERS.  
Right before Jesus went to the cross he prayed for us to respond to what we have become in him— ONE. And Jesus prayed that IF we do THAT, become one, THEN the world will know. His last prayer. This is what he prayed.
And as a starting point, do you know what I wish?
I wish that we would go ahead and keep our doctrines. Keep em! Get into the weeds of them on Sunday with people who think like us. Fine. Great. But Monday through Saturday? I wish that we would come together and celebrate that Jesus came and Jesus died and Jesus rose and Jesus lives and let his love trump EVERYTHING ELSE. I wish that we could let his love become so big that EVERYTHING ELSE shrinks to it’s proper proportion. I wish we could link elbows and turn this world inside out and upside down with the radical kindness of our Savior while we work with and for people who are different than us. That’s what I wish. 
Because the world needs Jesus. They need hope and forgiveness and mercy and redemption and to know of a God who understands. They need their shame taken, their hearts healed, and their wounds bound. They need a reason for living and a promise in dying and a seat at his heavenly table. We cannot keep our Good News to ourselves. We have to share it! But we need each other to do it well.
We need each other to answer the call. We aren’t strong enough on our own! Your church is good at this and my church is good at that.  We need each other! And by the way, there is NOTHING supernatural about standing inside our smallest concentric circles we think are the most right and only communing with the people who affirm who we already are. We can do that on our very own strength. (Yawn.) We will NEVER grow that way and the world will never be set ablaze. We will never be the city on the hill. We will never be known by our love. 
We will never light up the dark corners of this world. 
And we need to! Because who’s going to? 
Our government? Is our government going to feed the hungry, save the sex trafficked, take care of the orphans? Please. IT IS HIS CHURCH! Come on, Church! Let’s do better. Together. 
When I think about how sin has snuck in and divided us, when I think about a crafty enemy who often manipulates good things against us, I know it’s true in my life. I see it. I see how I have been judgmental. I see how I have let my own beliefs about what I think is or “pure” or “Spirit filled” allow me to look down on other Christian groups. I’ve done it. And I have developed a pride in my church’s “distinctiveness”. Maybe you have too. And maybe that’s not SO bad. Feeling proud of our church. But if we can feel ourselves looking down on other believers, wondering why they aren’t doing things exactly our way? Prideful, so prideful. 
And our pride should be in JESUS CHRIST and the Spirit working freely in our midst. When we glory in JESUS CHRIST, that’s when true humility happens. THAT’S when we can appreciate each other fully and ask REAL questions TRULY interested in the answer. “Will you tell me more about why you take communion that way?” “I’d love to.”
I usually avoid interactions like yesterday’s. It’s not hard to do. But this time there was something about walking away that felt weak not prudent. So I did my best and I know it wasn’t enough. In fact, by the time it was all said and done, I told him his cymbal was clanging. Even though I think it was and still do, I don’t think God intended for His children to use His Word to hurt one another. I can do better. Church, let’s do better. We need each other. And UNITY MATTERS.