Christian Unity
Many dream of a world in which people of different colors, cultures, and religions live together in peace, without conflict or prejudice. Yet, ironically, many pursue this dream by resorting to wars and violence. A good example of this irony is the on-going conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But how can unity and peace come from violence? It is true that we can sometimes end a conflictusing violence, but soon, another conflict erupts, undoing the fragile truce achieved through violence.
The Bible teaches us that lasting unity can come only by talking about things that matter most in our lives like God, Christ, the Spirit, life, death, love, sin and forgiveness. For example, Acts 5:4 tells us that the first Christian community was a gathering of people who enjoyed having such conversations together over meals. As they talked and prayed together about these matters, the Holy Spirit came upon them, making them one, giving them power to share their resources and possessions with each other, a rare thing in history that not even communism was able to achieve with a standing army.
This powerful conversation began with Jesus, who lived and ate with his disciples, sharing his thoughts about God, human nature, the world, and the Bible. Today, we call these conversations sermons. After Jesus’ death, the disciples continued the same conversation, remembering the wordsand deeds of Jesus, while praying and studying the Bible. As they kept sharing their thoughts together about the story of Jesus and what it meant for them and their world, they found themselves drawing closer together in a bond even closer than family.
We badly need such conversations today. Today, we live in a time of broken homes, social breakdowns, and dangerous ethnic conflictsthat often seem to take us to the brink of epic disaster, and everyone is aware that the key to solving these conflictsis dialogue, whether it concerns talks between North and South Korea, or between married couples facing a divorce, because we see that each time there is a failed relationship, there is also a failed dialogue.
The Bible teaches us that the most healing dialogue is a conversation about the story of Jesus—his life, his teachings, his death and his resurrection. Christian history is replete with evidence of the power of Jesus’ story, how individuals, groups, and even nations experienced renewal and healing by telling and retelling in various forms and settings what they had personally discovered about Jesus.
We, however, tend to prefer lighter conversations, like shopping, sports, politics, friends, colleagues, and family. These have their rightful placein life, as we need information of various types to navigate through this life, but these types of dialogues cannot build united and healing communities. We need deeper conversations.
Great revivals in history like the Reformation and the Great Advent Movement happened when young people came together in small groups to talk about the deep things of Scripture, its stories and teachings, and what they meant for their lives and their times. As they prayerfully talked about these things, they found themselves changed, their hearts burning with a new sense of God’s love and with a fresh understanding of Scripture.These youthful, life-changing conversations stand in stark contrast, for example, to the Medieval Catholic Church that tried to coerce unity in the church through the use of violence. The time is ripe today for another great blossoming of deep conversations about God that have always been the engine of change for humanity.
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Dr. Richard Choi is an Associate Professor of New Testament and Acting Department Chair of the New Testament at the Andrews Theological Seminary.