Scripture Reflection, January 18: That all may be one!

Scripture Readings:
1 Samuel 3: 3b-10, 19
Psalm 40: 2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
1 Corinthians 6: 13c-15a, 17-20
John 1: 35-42

This Sunday gives the starting signal for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an expression of the ecumenical movement – a worldwide movement among Christians. Its goal is to heal the divisions within the Church, to promote dialogues among churches and Christian communities and to encourage Christians everywhere to better understand and reflect the implications of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." Each year from January 18 – 25, Christians are encouraged to pray together as a sign of the unity that is already theirs in Christ, so that this unity will become complete.

Coming from Germany I know well what it means to live in a culture that has almost lost its Christians roots. For most of the people in Europe, religion has lost its impact into society. Only 60 years ago, when my grandparents got married, being Catholic or Lutheran had a big meaning. Belonging to two different denominations and living in a small town in the South of Germany, my grandparents decided to celebrate their wedding only with very close friends and family members to avoid hostilities from the side of their neighbors. They ended up not going to Church at all. I remember only two days during the year when they participated in the Liturgies: My grandmother, who is Lutheran, went to Church on Good Friday and my grandfather came to Christmas Mass with us. Nowadays, they wouldn’t encounter hostilities, but indifference. Most of the younger generations can’t really understand the differences between the different Christian churches and communities. I think the modern Europe is a good example that the Church can’t fully witness the Christian faith as long as she is divided.
Coming to the U.S. the diversity and variety of Christian churches is even bigger than in Europe. It is hard to get to know them and many people are confused when they have to decide which faith community to join. The whole question is so complex that we could be tempted to leave the problem of Ecumenism to the theologians and church leaders. But there is something we can do, something everybody, who professes our common Christian faith, can do.

Jesus prayed in his final prayer: “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (Jn 17 : 21) Jesus asks for two things as conditions to bring the faith in Him to the world: that “they all be in us” and “that all my be one” which seems to be the same thing, seen from different perspectives.

This Sunday’s readings bring us really close to what it means to BE in God and to BE one body.
The first reading is a call narrative about Samuels’ calling. Hannah, his mother, presented Samuel to the temple under the care of Eli, a priest of that temple. Samuel wakes up three times, thinking that Eli’s voice is calling him. But Eli understands that God is calling the young boy and helps him to find the right answer: “Speak, for your servant is listening”. To follow Christ, we have to learn to listen to God’s voice, but also to find the right answer. And sometimes we need the help of someone else to get our conversation with God started. The Gospel too, tells us a calling story: the calling of the first disciples, Peter and Andrew. In both stories it is obvious that Jesus doesn’t impose discipleship. He calls people into communion with him. He wants our free and loving response and asks: “What are you looking for?” Andrew’s and Peter’s answer is simple: “Where are you staying?” When Jesus replies “Come and see”, it doesn’t mean that he wanted to show them his house and where he lives, but the place where he truly belongs: his unity with the Father. “Come and see!” – “Follow me”, Jesus says also to each of us.” Come with me and I show you how to get into the same close relationship with the Father.” We need to renew our Yes to God again and again, like Peter. But this is our vocation: “may they all be in us”.

But what does it mean to follow Jesus and to share his mission? In the letter to the Hebrews the author applies today’s Psalm to the Lord: “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am (…) I have come to do your will, O God.'” (Hebrews 10: 5-7)
A body God has given also to us. And rather than bringing sacrifices and offerings we are called to live out God’s will for us as Jesus did. And in His new commandment Jesus tells us what is especially dear to him: “Love one another as I have loved you!” (Jn 13: 34) Jesus loved us to the point of dying for us on the cross, to redeem us. That was his Father’s will: he had a plan of salvation for humanity. And that’s the mission of the Church: to love one another and to spread this love throughout the world, until “all may be one”.

“Do you know that your bodies are members of Christ?” Paul asks the Corinthians. Do we know that we are members of Christ’s body which is the Church? Loving one another means to love not only our own faith community and our own Church, but to get to know better the other churches and denominations. What Paul says to the Corinthians is valid not only for individuals, but also for our groups, associations and communities: We are all members of Christ and if we hurt one another we hurt ourselves. It is the same Holy Spirit that makes us one and can make us be that one Church that is the body of Christ. The Church truly is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If we love one another the Holy Spirit will give new light to our faith and help the church leaders to find the right paths towards unity. Unity is a gift from God. Jesus commanded us to love one another, but he turned towards the Father to ask him, “May they all be one”. Only the Church who is one can fully witness the presence of Christ and we’ll be able to say with Christ: “Come and See”! Come and see where Christ lives, where God is truly present in this world and people will come and recognize the Messiah.

Birgit Oberhofer

The theme for the 2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was selected by a local ecumenical group from South Korea. The text they chose for the 2009 celebration is Ezekiel 37:15-19, 22-24a. The theme will be “That they may become one in your hand.”

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2009 is rooted in the experience of the churches in Korea. In their context of national division the churches have drawn their inspiration from the prophet Ezekiel, who also lived in a tragically divided nation and longed for the unity of his people. In an apparently hopeless situation during the exile in Babylon, Ezekiel did not despair but proclaimed a message of hope: God’s original intention for the renewal and the unity of God’s people can be realized.

According to Ezekiel the division of the people reflected their sinfulness and alienation from God. They may become again one people by returning to God. Yet ultimately it is God who unites God’s people by purifying, renewing and liberating them from their divisions. For Ezekiel this unity is not simply the joining of previously divided groups; it is rather a new creation, the birth of a new people which should be a sign of hope to other peoples and indeed to all of humanity.

(Resource: http://www.ecumenism.net/wpcu/2009/2009_wcc_pcpcu_wpcu_en.pdf)