Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter
One in Christ
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
It was the opportunity of my then young lifetime – I was chosen to be a youth delegate to the 5th Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, July 14 – 24, 1970.
The Lutheran World Federation is the international association of Lutheran churches – 148 Lutheran church groups in 99 nations with 75,000,000 members. The Federation meets in assembly, convention, every seven years.
And, not only would I get to go to that assembly, but those of us identified as youth delegates from all over the world, about 70 of us in all, those identified as youth delegates would gather first in Mexico City and then visit Lutheran congregations and ministries in Central and South America before meeting up with the “adult” delegates for the assembly in Brazil.
There were months of preparation and pre-assembly meetings of the twelve or so youth delegates from the USA and Canada. All pretty exciting for a 20 -year-old who had not yet traveled outside of the USA.
As the assembly approached, world events interfered with assembly plans. The military government in power at that time in Brazil was infamous for torture and imprisonment of its own citizens. Lutheran churches from around the world began to call for a change in the location of the assembly, saying that meeting in Brazil would somehow signal support for the Brazilian government and its terrible treatment of its own citizens. You will not be surprised that most of these calls came from Lutheran churches in Europe, then still the dominant churches in the Lutheran World Federation.
Finally, just five weeks before the assembly was to convene in Brazil, a decision was reached – the 5th Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation would no longer be held in Brazil, but, instead, moved to Evian les Baines, France, a small community on the French side of Lake Geneva not far from Geneva, Switzerland, the location of the Lutheran World Federation’s headquarters. And, a pre-assembly gathering of us youth delegates was moved to the next town over from Evian, Toulon les Baines, France.
Now, I already had my plane tickets to fly to Mexico and then on to Chile and Argentina for the planned pre-assembly youth visits to Lutheran churches in Central and South America, so I was relieved, and actually quite excited, when I was told that we would still be gathering in Mexico and visiting churches in Central and South America AND we would then all fly on to Geneva, Switzerland, to gather for the preassembly and assembly meetings in France.
Wow! My first trip out of the USA was going to be something special, not only Latin America but Europe as well!
The meeting in Mexico City was amazing and the visits to Lutheran churches in Chile and Argentina were wonderful and full of excitement. And, then, we got to fly on to Europe, for the meeting of youth delegates before the Lutheran World Federation Assembly, a meeting called the World Encounter of Lutheran Youth.
The WELY, as we called it, (World Encounter of Lutheran Youth) was an interesting, exciting and yet frustrating event. There were around 70 youth, many from North America and Western Europe, but also a large group from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, then still under Communist control. The youth event was held to bring the voices of younger people to the issues before the Lutheran World Federation and its assembly which followed our youth event.
From the very beginning of the youth event, there was a basic divide among us. Those from Europe and North America, the so-called “First World,” were anxious to talk about poverty, hunger, justice and all of the issues that were burning among young people in the 1970’s. Those from the so-called “Second and Third World” nations (Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America) were more interested in talking about more traditional topics – basic evangelism and outreach.
While our conversation was cordial and friendly, our group never really “clicked” as a community, we never could get past our very different backgrounds to find our common ground. At least not until near the end of our event.
I was one of the planners of the youth event closing Service of Holy Communion – I even got to purchase the French bread and wine for the service. At the time of Communion, we decided to ask each person to pray the Lord’s Prayer in her or his own language. We did not think about this too much, just seemed like a good idea.
You can call it what you will, but, at that point in the worship service, our community of young adults finally found its unity – each person prayed the Lord’s Prayer in their own language. The result was as cacophony of sound, 20 or 30 or more languages, all praying the prayer we all knew so well, but each praying in his or her own language. And the power of the Holy Spirit was so strong – finally, in the simple praying of the prayer that Jesus has taught us, our group found its unity in the Spirit and in our common faith in God. It all really reminded me of what that first Day of Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday, what that first Day of Pentecost might have been like.
These memories all came flooding back as I read today’s Gospel lesson from St. John’s Gospel, Jesus’ prayer for unity among his followers, even among all peoples, when Jesus prayed, “that they may all of one … that they may become completely one, so that the world may know … that the world may know that you love them.” Back in 1970, for at least that one moment during a remarkable youth conference, we had, I experienced, that true unity in Jesus Christ.
So, how are we doing since then, how are we doing in 2019 on the unity and oneness for which Jesus prayed?
You know the answer. There is little oneness in the Christian Church today. Quite the opposite. Divisions still prevail. Even among us Lutherans. When our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was formed in 1987, uniting three formerly separate Lutheran church bodies in the USA, there were high hopes for further Lutheran unity, but not only has that not happened, but a number of congregations have left our church since that merger. While our Lutheran church is still the largest in the USA, there are still some 20 different Lutheran church groups in our nation.
I am often asked about the other large Lutheran group in the US, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. There are Missouri Synod Lutheran congregations nearby us, Pilgrim Lutheran here in Santa Monica and First Lutheran in Venice next door.
We still are more similar to Missouri Synod Lutheran congregations than we are different from them, especially here in California, but the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as a national church body has moved in recent years to a much more conservative and even isolationist stance. Many of their congregations do not allow women to vote or serve in lay leadership. The Missouri Synod also does not ordain women and they are not accepting of gay and lesbian people generally. So, while our differences are not in basic beliefs, they are still major and becoming even more so as the years pass. It is all very sad.
We now have more in common with a number of other churches with whom we have what is called “full communion” relationship, an official agreement on our commonality on basic beliefs and the ability to share ministries and even clergy. We have these relationships now with a number of other churches – the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Reformed Church in America, and the Moravian Church in North America. These relationships are very helpful in rural and urban areas where we can share pastors among two or more congregations.
So, looking at the entire picture, so to speak, how do we look in 2019 in terms of the unity Jesus calls for in today’s Gospel? Just as my example from nearly 50 years ago shows, we are all so much more alike than we are different. As Christians we do have unity in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, even as we practice these sacraments in very different ways. And we are one in the love of God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In Christ we are one. That is the basis for our Lutheran relationships with other Christians. Christ died for us all. We have unity in that statement.
In God we are one. That is the basis for our Lutheran relationships with non-Christians religions. We have unity in our mutual understanding of God’s love for all people. God is revealed in so many ways to so many people.
Our unity is not in denomination or legislation. It is in and often only in our recognition of God’s love for humankind, the unity to which Jesus refers in today’s Gospel lesson, that we are one in God’s love for all of humankind.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, June 1 & 2, 2019
