|
|
|
|
Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection viii
Community and Unity ...
Thursday, June 23, 2016. If you are in a group with several people, there is usually a lot of diversity. There are different characters, different gender, different background, different talents, different languages, different personal history, different experiences. There can also be a lot of unity. Sometimes we have a sense of unity which is beyond reason, but strong and full of joy and excitement …
Diversity and Unity …
In the Christian faith, the topic of diversity and unity is of crucial importance. It is important on a very basic level, when it comes to God himself. It is important for the church, for the community of believers. And it is important for my personal faith itself, for my own relationship to the eternal God.
God is coming to us as the eternal creator and father. He is also coming to us as the son, as Christ Jesus, born human, true man and true God. And he is coming to us as the holy spirit, sent by his son, one with father and son, living in all who believe in him. They are one, the one God. You cannot separate them. They are also three persons, three ways God is talking to us. This unity in diversity is difficult to put into one image - yet it captures reality.
But the unity of God is not the end of the story. We are invited to become a part of this unity. We are invited to community with God, the father, and with Jesus, the son. It is carried out by the holy spirit, who comes into our body and our spirit. We are invited to be a part of the “body of Christ”, our bodies being his body. We do not give up our individuality, we are still there with our mind, with our decisions. Yet, we start to be linked to him in a deep and nearly unbelievable way!
One God …
The apostle John talks about this unity in many ways. And he invites us to this fellowship, to this community, to this unity. It is with the father and with his son, Christ Jesus. In his first letter he writes:
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
(1 John 1, 1-4)
It is joy to experience this unity with God and with Jesus. It also leads to unity with others in the church. With Christians everywhere on this planet. You will be able to experience it. It does not mean that there are no conflicts or that you will always have one opinion. But this unity is on a deeper level with all who believe and who started to learn from the Lord, to adapt his ways and let his love and his truth grow in their hearts. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts