lines in the sand...

** Taking a short break this week from my series on masculinity to participate in this: http://rachelheldevans.com/rally-to-restore-unity"

 

I often describe my heritage as contentious. It wasn’t the only ingredient in the soup but it was the broth everything else stewed in. Sure, I am a jaded product cranked out from the assembly line of Modernity Church Inc., but it is what it is, eh?  I’m past it, but the residual odor of it fills my nostrils frequently and sometimes it is coming form my own pits.

In Iron John by Robert Bly, when describing a particular type of “man” he writes, “Unless he has an enemy he isn’t sure that he is alive.” (page1) Too often we are defined by our enemies or what we are against. To be fair, that is unavoidable to some degree, but so often in the past when someone would ask about my heritage, my response was often about how and why we are different from other “churches”.  Our tag line was “defending the faith.” Unity exists in my heritage, but it is often only possible in conformity of thought and doctrine. Yet, even that unity was fragile. The unity ship could quickly find itself at the bottom of the sea, a sunken victim of the smallest torpedo of diversity (and by diversity I mean diversity undetectable to the naked eye) leaving a few in life boats and all the others out of luck.

I investigated a little of what Jesus had to say on the topic and found some over the top ideals. Imagine that. His prayer in John 17 is full of “are you serious?” type statements with one of the best ones being a remark about  his disciples not being of the world even as He is not of the world (verse 14 and 16) He puts them on the same level of non-worldliness as himself!  Really? He moves on to pray not only for the disciples, but for those “who will believe through their message” (20).  He prays for “oneness” which sounds a bit more intense than how I typically hear the word “unity” and more than that, he asks for the same type of “oneness” he has with the Father. Impossible! That cute little idealist.  This “oneness” is not the type of default unity we sometimes claim. You know the type. “Well we already have unity whether we like it or not. We are all unified in Christ by default even if we don't recognize it or even want to be.” I don’t think that is the unity Jesus prayed for. That sounds less like unity and more like an arranged marriage.

Why does he ask for this? Two simple reasons; one to let the world know that the Father is the one who sent Jesus and two, to let us know that God loves us AS MUCH as he loves Jesus (23). But, let’s face reality. Don’t we even argue about what those two things even mean and how they play out or who “us” even is? Yes. Yes we do.

He says something else that is even more elusive than the idea of oneness. “I have given them the glory that you gave me.” (22) From what I can gather this word "glory" means a good opinion or estimate of, most exalted state, magnificent, splendor… Wow! He shared His glory with us? Are we fitting of that? And if Jesus claims to have “given” it to us, should we be mindful of whether or not we are making him seem naïve? Maybe before we speak, act or write we should hold up a minute and remember the esteem that Jesus holds us in and ask ourselves "Is what I am saying or doing something Jesus would give me a smile, nod and  thumbs up for?"

I have no answer on “how to restore unity”.  Isn’t that typical of us mystery loving, post-modern wishy-washers? However!!! Even though I am not smart enough to figure out how to "restore" it (did we ever have it?), Jack Johnson told me one sure way to destroy it.  A lyric he wrote says “You draw so many lines in the sand, lost the fingernails on your hand." Brilliant! Maybe a place to start would be to cut down on the amount of lines we draw. But, I can hear the response, “we must stand up for truth!” Indeed. The Pharisees thought the same thing until one day they found themselves on the wrong side of a line drawn in the dirt with Jesus and a promiscuous woman standing on the other side. That’s right. I have figured out that mysterious mystery of mysteriousness about what Jesus wrote in the dirt; a line. And I think it is the only one he ever drew.