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Blind Faith (No. 14, 200

A news conference photo line-up this week was so extraordinary

that it prompted an April Fool’s disclaimer from one of the

participants. A rare coalescence of Senate Republicans and Democrats

assembled to announce a bipartisan package of bills designed to help

millions of homeowners at risk of foreclosure. Given the intractable,

acrimonious partisan divisions characterizing almost every issue faced

in Washington in recent years, eyebrows were raised at the April 1

announcement. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid felt compelled to

assure reporters, “This is not April Fool’s. This is serious business.”

Of course, serious business is what the American people expect their

Senators and Congress members to do all the time. Unfortunately, much

of the hyper-partisan bickering and deadlock seems far too much like a

prolonged April Fool’s joke, although a joke that is not funny at all.

A constant hope is that legislators might remember that they are

American public servants first, and Democrats or Republicans a distant

second.

Political divisions that inhibit working together to assure the

values expressed in the Constitution (and, by extension, the

Declaration of Independence) are hard to understand. Yes, differences

of opinion always will exist about solutions to national and world

problems. National political parties represent different approaches to

realizing the American dream, but all parties ideally seek to enhance

the common good of America. Well-reasoned debate between parties can

elicit creative answers to shared problems, if the unifying ideals of

the country are kept clearly in mind.

If that kind of hope in the face of political schism is possible,

certainly followers of Jesus should be able to unite to accomplish his

mission. A recent Gallup poll indicates that denominational barriers

are not as entrenched as they were just a few years ago. The bad news

is that fewer adherents to a particular Christian denomination know

much of anything about the doctrinal distinctives of their church. The

good news is that more people identify with a particular church because

they find a rich community in which they can worship, learn Bible

truths, and serve God and meet human needs. But that hasn’t always

been the case. I grew up in an era in which a Baptist boy dating a

Methodist girl was thought to be running the danger of becoming

“unequally yoked together.” (See 2 Corinthians 6:14.) Many local

congregations were very hesitant to cooperate with any churches of a

different denomination, except for some “safe” community benevolence

projects.

My own Baptist family often made Democrats and Republicans look

like “kissing cousins” by comparison. I have attended national, state,

associational, and even local Baptist church meetings where the

partisanship, name-calling, and unwillingness to have anything to do

with the other group was as vicious as any party conflicts on Capitol

Hill. Fortunately, the New Baptist Covenant gathering in Atlanta the

end of January offered hope, as 15,000 followers of Jesus from30

Baptist denominations and fellowships pledged to work together to carry

out the mission Jesus announced in Luke 4:18-19. Baptists black and

white, clapping and classical, highly evangelistic and social justice-

activist, majority and scant minority in their communities, and most

other differences you can imagine came together around their commitment

to follow Jesus.

Divisions between groups of followers of Christ have been

around since the very first disciples. Mark tells about one of Jesus’

inner circle failing to see that the mission of Jesus was larger than

the group to which he belonged: ” John said, ‘Teacher, we saw someone

using your name to force demons out of a person. We told him to stop,

because he does not belong to our group.’ {39} But Jesus said, ‘Don’t

stop him, because anyone who uses my name to do powerful things will

not easily say evil things about me. {40} Whoever is not against us is

with us.’” (Mark 9:38-40 NCV) Jesus quickly chided John for his

exclusivity. Even though the others doing ministry in Jesus’ name

might have used different words, dressed differently, associated with

different demographic groups, or been different in many ways, Jesus

embraced them all as partners in his mission of demonstrating God’s

grace.

Paul addresses the problem of differences among followers of Jesus

in picturesque metaphors. He, too, strongly makes the case that

Christians are not to choose up sides against one another, but are to

unite in fulfilling the mission of Jesus:

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works

by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts–

limbs, organs, cells–but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re

still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ…. {14} I want you

to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A

body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all

the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. {15}

If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I

guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? {16} If Ear

said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t

deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the

body? {17} If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how

could it smell? {18} As it is, we see that God has carefully placed

each part of the body right where he wanted it. {19} But I also want

you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown

up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is

only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic

hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. {20} What we have is one body

with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part

is important on its own. {21} Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get

lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job

has been phased out”? {22} As a matter of fact, in practice it works

the other way–the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore

necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a

stomach…. {25} The way God designed our bodies is a model for

understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on

every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, {26} the

parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other

part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part

flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. {27} You are

Christ’s body–that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as

you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. (1

Corinthians 12: 12, 14-22, 25-27 The Message)

To extend Paul’s metaphors, each organ in the body serves an

important purpose, as different Christian denominations, fellowships,

and churches can today. When the intractable bickering or exclusive

claims of spiritual superiority break out, the body of Christ suffers

and is hindered from doing its work of showing the world how Jesus

loves all people.

Do you know someone who attends a different church? (An odd,

but serious question.) Invite that person or a group of Christians to

have prayer with you. OK, you can start with a blessing over a meal

together! Raise the bar a notch to pray for each other, a co-worker, a

neighbor, etc. Do you and another Christian from another church enjoy

similar ways of helping other people? Decide where you can work

together in Jesus’ name. You may find the place in one of your

churches, but don’t go into the shared mission with proselytizing the

other into your group as a hidden goal! A Bible study group involving

people from churches of different denominations can offer insights that

one group’s Bible scholars might have refined with special clarity,

adding to your understanding of scripture. For the body of Christ to

do its work, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal,

Catholic, Adventist, Church of God, Church of Christ, United Church of

Christ, and all kinds of other Christians are called to work

harmoniously together, energized by the same Holy Spirit.

A closing prayer Paul offered for the followers of Jesus in

Rome in the first century is a prayer Christians in the 21st century

should pray and work to fulfill: ” May the God who gives endurance and

encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow

Christ Jesus, {6} so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. {7} Accept one another, then,

just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (Romans

15:5-7 NIV)

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.