This past week I have spent
a lot of time with our ecumenical siblings, attending Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity events, all reflecting on the 1700th Anniversary of
the Nicene Creed. Each get-together offered new incites into the Nicene Creed
and why this creed is important this long after it was written. The answer is
unity.
1700 years ago, Constantine
called together 318 bishops to air their differences and settle a squabble
about the divinity of Jesus and how God the Trinity worked. Constantine really
didn’t care about which side of the argument was accepted, he just wanted Christian
leaders to decide on a common statement. You see, Constantine’s purpose was
unity of this growing group of Christians, because unity in this group would be
good for the whole Empire. It didn’t matter what was believed, but that there
was unity in the belief.
I was asked by someone, what
I would say this Sunday, them thinking I would address American politics. My
response was ‘nothing specific to this week’s news from South of the border.’ That
is nothing in addition to what I have been preaching for months, what
colleagues have been preaching, what Anglican Bishop Budde said in the presence
of the president - the gospel.
For me this week was framed,
by a profound sense of ecumenical unity amidst beautiful diversity.
I was encouraged by actions
of faith – it is no small matter that in such a busy world, time was taken to
learn and worship together, that churches around the world strengthened faith by
being in relationship with each other.
I know the church hasn’t
always gotten things right, in fact the church often fails, the church forgets
to preach the gospel. But sometimes – in times like these- the church boldly preaches
and demonstrates the gospel. Often as Lutherans, we turn to examples like Luther
or Bonhoeffer, but there are many stories of local pastors, bishops,
congregations, people like you who act in faith and stand for the gospel.
This week a colleague passed away. I did not
know personally know this colleague, who had pastored for a time in Ottawa and
Montreal. Pastor Maris Kirsons was a boy when fleeing Latvia with his parents,
to be a Displaced Person in Germany, and then coming to the United States. After
becoming a pastor, he came to Canada to serve Latvian congregations. Maris was faithful
in action and preaching. His obituary says, he will be remembered by the
many people whose lives he touched serving in the ministry of Word and
Sacrament, teaching youth with relevance, and advocating for liberty for the
captive nations during the oppressive occupation of the USSR. Perhaps the most iconic
portrait of him is a photograph in which he is standing, arms outstretched and
bleeding on a Soviet flag as a means to speak up for the millions held as prisoners
under Moscow’s regime during the Helsinki Accords 1982 human rights conference
in Madrid, Spain. He was arrested for this act of protest.
Unity – it gives the church courage
to preach and be about the gospel. Latvian speaking Lutheran churches around
the world are connected to the Lutheran bodies in the countries where they are,
and together are part of the Lutheran World Federation – who work with Anglican
and Roman Catholic bodies, study with and have relationship with Moravians and Mennonites,
belong to the World Council of Churches, and so on.
Together important work is accomplished
– the care of displaced persons and the organization of refugee camps and
resettlement projects, the feeding of millions who are suffering from famine, and
advocacy and development to address climate justice that affects the poorest on
the planet. Unity allows for these gospel actions of compassion and mercy, the
bearing of fruit for the benefit of the whole world.
This idea of creating unity through
the faith identity of a people is not new – Constantine didn’t come up with a
revolutionary idea. Identity – unity - is the theme of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
In 538 BCE, Persian King Cyrus
authorized the return of those who were exiled in distant Persia cities back to
their homelands. It was not an on mass all-at-once return but rather undertaken
in waves of returnees that extended over years. Each wave of people took part
in the long process of rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
This period of time was one
of figuring out how to start again. Rebuilding the Temple and the city was fraught
with argument and tension. There were so many groups of people with not only differing
ideas, but fundamentally different perspectives. There were people living in
the land who had not gone into exile, people who continued to work the land,
there were waves (different groups) of returning exiles. Those identified as ‘outsider’
– kept changing and it depended on whether you were an exile returning or one
who had remained in the land. By Nehemiah’s time we are in the third stage of
resettlement. The Temple has been built. An ‘outsider’ is now considered those
who are foreigners, other people, nomadic Arabs.
Third stage of the reconstruction
of Jerusalem, 445 BCE under Nehemiah’s leadership, was focused on the building
of the walls of Jerusalem and repopulating the city. But it was also a time
when leaders - Ezra and Nehemiah- saw the need for identity making; where different
groups who have been at the same task, people loosely associated with each
other, are once more knit closely together with common purpose, ideals, values,
and ethics. A strong thriving people requires unity.
And so, Nehemiah returns to teaching
the story and reading God’s covenant made with the people following the exodus
from Egypt. The Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) gets
read, religious practices are reinstated – easier now that Temple has been rebuilt.
Much time is spent encouraging a renewed commitment to live the life of
covenant, making this whole group a distinctive people from the polytheistic
and multi-cultural Persian Empire that is around them. Ezra and Nehemiah held a
service of dedication that included celebration, purification, procession, and
separation. The point was unity.
Neh. 8: 1 reads that all the
people gathered. There was unanimity; they gathered as one (men, women, those
who could understand, and those with ears attentive to the reading of the book
of the Law). This attentiveness and oneness stood in contrast to arguments regarding
the building of the wall and the repopulation of the city. They stood
side-by-side to hear from the book of the Law of God. Emphasis was on oneness!
More than that – the reading
of the Law happened outside the gate – in the public square. This means that anyone
who wanted to listen was welcome to do so, whether they were considered an
insider or an outsider, a generational farmer, a naturalized citizen, a returnee,
a descendant of the 12 tribes, a Persian, a foreigner, a traveler passing
through.
About this passage, Prof.
Helen Chukka of Wartburg Theological seminary in Iowa writes that, “in
listening to and receiving the Torah, the people were invited to dwell in the
feeling of trust and the expression of hope.”
At the end of the week, this
is where I rest - in Christian unity, dwelling in the feeling of trust and the
expression of hope. The theme verse at each service was from John 11: Jesus
said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will
never die. Do you believe this?
United the response was WE BELIEVE.
We believe in God, the Father, the Almighty…We believe in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the only son of God…We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver
of life…
This statement reverberated
around the world as Christians shared and focused on one expression of faith,
trusting in God who is the unifying agent. 1700 years of this statement of
faith continues to bring unity, a unity that on any given day turns into faithful
gospel-filled actions, that are supported and repeated by the whole body of
Christ. Unity. We believe. May this continue to be so.
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