Richard Hunt delivered this sermon on Sunday October 5, 2014 at First Presbyterian Church in Dade City, FL. Although written for World Communion Sunday, it is appropriate for today, too. We reprint it with his permission.
John 17:1-26
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war;
with the cross of Jesus going on before.
We are not divided, all one body we;
One in hope, and doctrine; one in charity.
Onward, Christian soldiers . . .”
That hymn has lost its political correctness and is out of vogue today. We don’t like to think of religion turned militant. We will leave that to the radically warped militant Islamists who decide who is infidel and kills them in the name of their god. We Christians are not out to militarily conquer those outside our faith, but to share with them the love of God. It is our God Incarnate who beckons us to love our enemies, seek peace, turn the other cheek, and to forgive.
Shortly after WWII, about the time I was first made confession of my Christian faith and joined the church, Onward Christian Soldiers, was among the most popular hymns sung in the church. I and countless others were attracted to its marching beat, rocking bass, and the image of serious discipline in being followers of Jesus Christ. Our American soldiers had returned after years of hardship and sacrifice, and they were our heroes. In the trenches they had prayed for their loved ones back home. Ammunition cases served as communion tables as they were led in worship by their Chaplains. Their nation and their families prayed for their swift and safe return. We owe a debt of gratitude to them and to the Chaplains who gathered them for nondenominational worship, counsel and prayer.
Our returning men and women had learned that the specific denomination of the Chaplain or of those who shared a bunker was not that important. They were united in common causes, fears, and hopes. They were “one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.” Missionaries of various denominations working under hardship in foreign lands were led to the same conclusions.
As they returned to their home towns and churches that spirit and bond was infectious. Friends in other churches were not thought to be so different and the fragmentation of the Church seemed out of touch.
It was during this time that the World Council of Churches, and the National Council of Churches, and local Councils of Churches were formed and ways to unite behind common concerns and celebrations was born. In my hometown, Boone, NC, special joint services of worship, and interdenominational study groups were organized.
I remember our First Presbyterian Church hosting services and attending with my family, worship services in other church facilities. The services included the reading of Scripture, the singing of hymns (including “Onward Christian Soldiers”), sermons on unity in Christ, and prayer. When we prayed together, “The Lord’s Prayer,” the “debtors” would pause and wait for the “trespassers” to finish “trespassing” before continuing the prayer together.
Out of these endeavors, Church World Service, and “The One Great Hour of Sharing,” was born to help feed and clothe the world in need. A new common ecumenical translation of The Holy Bible was born. I was at the joint ecumenical worship service when it was introduced and my parents bought me a copy of the Revised Standard Version. Observing a World-Wide Communion Sunday was also begun. Ideally, all Christians would in oneness come to the table of the Lord on a single day. It was to be deemed an act of Christian solidarity.
Even though the Presbyterian Church itself was fragmented, it took a leading role in the ecumenical movement. We had the Presbyterian Church in the United States, The United Presbyterian Church of North America, and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, which have subsequently become our present PCUSA of which this congregation is a member. There were other regional branches, like The Cumberland Presbyterian Church. A Civil War split in the Presbyterian Church was healed. The United Methodist Church is the product of similar unions and healing, as is the Evangelical Lutheran Church, for Lutherans. It was a time of being brought together and healing.
I was almost born an “ecumaniac.” I grew up in the PCUS (commonly called “Southern”, when I worked as an Engineer at Buick Motor Division in Flint, MI and met Julie, I joined her church, a PCUSA or “Northern”, when I decided to take a leave of absence from GM and go to seminary, I went to a Reformed Church in America one during the time it and the PCUS were exploring unity. My first call was to an Assistant Pastorate in a strong former United Presbyterian of North American congregation. My longest Pastorate, 11 years, was of an ecumenical nondenominational community congregation in Gurnee, IL. During the winter months I participate in the Traveler Rest Resort Church Association which organizes nondenominational worship and service opportunity for the residents. Over the early years of my ministry I have celebrated when the denominational lines dividing us were diminished.
On another front, early in my ministry, Pope John XXIII opened the door of ecumenicity with the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant/Catholic Dialog, study, and worship were experimentally shared. As Associate Pastor, I helped implement a joint Vacation Bible School by St. Mary’s Catholic and First Presbyterian, Racine, WI. We used Lutheran Curriculum materials. Subsequent more conservative Popes, backed off from ecumenical endeavors, but there has been new hope of greater unity with Pope Francis. In my last Pastorate I met weekly in an ecumenical lectionary study group with Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, and Catholic clergy. We did sermon preparation together based on texts of the common lectionary of Holy Scripture.
The theme chapter and verses for all this questing for unity were the words of our Lord Jesus Christ given in his high priestly prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. As Jesus prayed for his followers, he did not pray for their prosperity and success. He did not pray for their ease and comfort. Of all the things for which Jesus could pray for his followers, at the top of the priority list was “that they may be one.” As he and the Father are one, he prayed that we might be one.
So, where has all of this questing for unity lead? As an institution, the Church is more fragmented than ever. Newer, less formal and more contemporary churches have been formed, outside of the confines of mainstream denominations. Reaction to greater inclusiveness among Presbyterians, has led to the formation of more conservative Presbyterian denominations, for which many of our congregations have broken away. Today, even these newer conservative break-off groups have divided over issues like the ordination of women, and adherence to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Shorter Catechism. So we have in addition to the PCUSA, the EPC, PCA, and, most recently, ECO (Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterian).
World wide, there are over 33,000 different Christian denominations! Even in individual congregations we find issues that split and divide us. It has been said that no fight is so hurtful as a “church fight.” They can split families and long time friends. So much for “We are not divided, All one body we, One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.”
So where and how may we find the “oneness” for which Christ prayed? It is in we Christians setting aside our differences and sitting side-by-side at the table of our Lord Jesus Christ. Holding our trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is so much more important that anything that would divide us.
I go back to when I appeared as a boy, before the Session of the First Presbyterian Church, Boone, NC, shortly after WWII. The meeting was before the Communion Service on a Sunday. I was apprehensive about what was going to happen. The Elders did not test me on my knowledge of the Bible, or the Shorter Catechism. They did not ask me about my politics or social cultural views. They didn’t make me promise to give money to the church. They did ask if I knew myself to be a sinner, and if Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. After a vote and a prayer, we went out to the table of the Lord and I was offered the elements of diced white bread and Welch’s grape juice for the first time. (It was before children of the covenant were recognized as such at the table.) I was given the image of Jesus loving me, caring about me, and accepting me. I was given the image of Jesus calling me to love him back by serving and sharing life with others. Jesus can make of all our many TV tray tables, a common table large enough for all to be welcomed and included. This is the one common table from which the Lord feeds us all of himself.
Friends, on World Communion Sunday, at this table . . .
“We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord. We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. And we pray that all unity may one day be restored. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they know we are Christians by our love.”
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