June WitW

Wow, its been a while since I posted anything. Amazing how time flies by when you're having fun. So, I think I'll post two, just because I've had so much running through my head lately. Here is my newsletter article from this month. I already blogged about it, but this article has gotten me more comments than anything I've written so far.

You know, unity is a funny thing. We sing about it, we pray for it, and we hope for it among Christians and fellow citizens of this country and the world. I recently had a parishioner come up after mass and comment on the inappropriateness of one of our songs because it was too “Baptist.” We may not be in unity with other Christians in our doctrine or structure, but can we be unified with them in the Spirit?
The early Church struggled with the same questions. They were faced with quite a few non-Jewish people wanting to follow the teachings of Jesus in community, but some people would have nothing to do with it unless they followed the “right way.” They struggled over issues ranging from following the Jewish calendar or prayer styles to circumcision. We have many of the same questions today. For example, how do we deal with a non-Catholic person who wants to teach in a Catholic school? How do we feel when a member of our community decides to leave the Catholic Church and go to another?
Jesus talked about one faith, one God, and one Spirit. One image I’ve always liked is that of the “body of Christ” with a body, a mind, and a spirit. The body is the structure – a particular denomination’s buildings, rules and specific rites. The mind is the doctrine – the teachings and beliefs. The spirit is the Holy Spirit – the animator of our faith life and inspiration for all holiness. If we can’t be unified in the first two areas, maybe its best to work on the latter, and most important, one.
Of course, to even begin to imagine a unified Christian church, we need to work on unity among ourselves, person-to-person. If we can succeed at connecting with each other one-on-one, then maybe we can show the world the power of Christ still present after all these years. I think that working and praying together in a faith community is exactly what Christ had in mind.
I’ll leave you with the lyrics to one of our most well-known songs here at Good Shepherd, “One Bread, One Body.” My favorite line is “and we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.” Let’s continue to strive for unity among ourselves as a faith community, and therefore witness to the world that Christ is alive and thriving here.