Ephesians 4:1-6: Brethren: I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we enter this period of the Fast, in today’s first Apostol reading, Saint Paul, charges us to struggle for peace and unity, united in our Christian calling and in a singular hope in ONE Lord, ONE faith and ONE baptism.
Calling us to be humble and patient with one another, the Apostle calls us to endeavour to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”, and in that very word ENDEAVOUR, he acknowledges that this pursuit and maintenance of unity may sometimes be a challenge, but it remains a challenge that we must always pursue, for if we reject the need for that unity, let alone attack that unity, we REJECT one Lord, one faith and one baptism. We essentially cut ourselves off from the fellowship of the Church.
In his experience of human nature, St Paul was a realist, and in the infant Church he battled against disagreement and division, with his travels and letters not simply being to preach the Gospel and strengthen the local churches, but as part of the struggle to preserve, maintain and – when needed – restore unity in the local congregations, making it clear to the first Christians that in Christ, division was NOT a choice or option, given that we indeed, have one Lord, one faith and one baptism.
St Paul began his letter to the Church in Ephesus by calling himself “the prisoner of the Lord”, a motif he echos in other places, making clear that as a willing captive for Christ, he is not the master and he does not make the rules. Rather, as a prisoner for Christ, he willingly obeys the Lord’s commandments, and subjects himself to the orders he receives from the Saviour, and for Christians to live in harmony, peace and unity is one such order.
In this Apostol, he is writing to the Church in Ephesus, but he also addessed fractious Christians and local Churches in other parts of the ancient world.
He encouraged the Church in Corinth, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” 1 Corinthians 1:10
It is striking that later in the same letter to the Corinthians, Paul is very blunt (something we know him for), calling them immature in strong terms: “I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ” before a very direct correction: “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”
St Paul tells them to stop being babies and grow up, and start living according to their Christian calling, to stop being willful and worldly, and that fractiousness, jealousy and quarrelling is not worthy of a Christian.
He speaks in such strong terms, because unity and peace are essential qualities and characteristics of the Church, which is not simply an earthly institution, but also a divine one, called upon to be the theandric (i.e. Divine-Human) Body of Christ in the world, and this unity finds its origin in its founder in Whom was united both Divinity and humanity.
Starting from the Holy Mystery of Baptism, each of us called to unity – be one with Christ. Through that same baptism, each and every Christian believer is called to not only be united to Christ, but united to one another in Him: Christ not simply as our hope, but as our identity, because having been baptised in Christ, we have put on Christ. If we share this identity in Christ, we should be one.
In baptism and Faith, reflecting the Cherubic Hymn, each of us is called upon to have put aside worldliness, and to have put on Christ, so that the division, jealousy and quarrelling of which Paul speaks can have no place in the Church.
How can we be one in Him if we argue, judge, gossip, condemn, vie for power, influence?
When we argue, cause division and militate against the unity of the Church we reject the vocation to which the Apostle refers at the beginning of today’s Apostol: “I… beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called…” and we show that we are not prisoners for Christ, but prisoners of the world and its passions, ambitions, and agendas. We show that our baptism has no meaning. How can this be squared with hope in ONE Lord, ONE faith and ONE baptism?
The foundation of our essential unity must be peace: peace with God, peace with our own conscience and peace with one another, and the theme of peace and unity present themselves at the very beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the most important expression of the Christian life, and our relationship with God.
In every Liturgy, the deacon calls us to pray in peace, something which is totally impossible of we do not strive for the peace and unity of the Church, and without peace of mind and heart, and without peace with our brothers and sisters, we are not worthy to stand before the Altar of God, as the Saviour Himself made clear in Matthew’s Gospel, commanding us, “Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”
It is in unity with one another, with peace of both heart and mind that we must not only attend the Divine Liturgy, but even stand before the Lord in prayer, for only then can our prayers have meaning.
The creed is the liturgical sign of the unity of which Saint Paul speaks, and for which he laboured among those who were divided, but liturgical statements sung by a congregation led by its deacons will have absolutely no spiritual currency and meaning unless we have first heeded the deacons words before that first, “I believe…”
“Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess…”
In the bond of love and unity, we are called to no longer be individuals, but to confess the Symbol of Faith as the Church, doing so not simply with one mind, but with one mouth, as we say not “We believe…,” but “I believe…”
Having prayed together, chanted the creed together and offered and shared the Holy Gifts together in our first parish Liturgy of the Advent Forty Days, we begin this journey to the Nativity as a community, and must do mindful that not simply peace and unity, but reconciliation is the very meaning of the Nativity of Christ. The appearance of God-Made-Man was to bring the greatest unity other than His own Incarnation in the union of His two-natures: the reconciliation of heaven and earth, and God and man, but also in our shared identity in Christ to bring this unity to redeemed humanity in the Communion of Saints.
If we cannot heed the Apostle Paul and struggle for spiritual unityduring our earthly lives, then what relevance can either the Nativity Fast, the celebration of the Nativity, or even the Christian Faith have for us? What can Christ mean to us if we fail to work for the peace and unity of the Church
St John records the prayer of the Saviour before His betrayal, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…”
By trying to live in love and peace with one another, being compassionate and merciful to one another, forgiving one another, seeking to understand oneother, struggling with our differences, and endeavouring – as St Paul says – for unity, we will be saying “Amen” to this prayer of the Saviour, even if our labour for unity is sometimes difficult.
Let us abandon ourselves to be prisoners in Christ, that He may work in us and through us, and that in our weakness, He may be our strength, and our unity.
Amen.