Hordern, William Edward

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 13Issue 2 Canadian Lutheranism, Yesterday andTomorrowArticle 611-1-1987The goal of Christian onenessWilliam Edward HordernFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationHordern, William Edward (1987) "The goal of Christian oneness," Consensus: Vol. 13 : Iss. 2 , Article 6.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol13/iss2/6The Goal of Christian OnenessWilliam E. HordernProfessor EmeritusLutheran Theological Seminary, SaskatoonText: John 17:20-26We Lutherans hold firmly to the conviction that the onething that will bring people to Christ is the proclamation of thegospel. In John’s Gospel Christ says that if he is lifted up, hewill draw all people to him. Our Lutheran church people havealways taken seriously the task of lifting up Christ, pointing toChrist and not to ourselves. Keenly aware that we are at oneand the same time justified and sinful, we have not supposedthat we could appear as such models of virtue that looking atus would win people to Christ. Therefore, our only hope is toproclaim the good news that comes to us from God throughChrist.In the passage selected for this service, however, Jesuspoints to something that we dare not forget. Looking at usmay not bring people to Christ, but looking at us may keeppeople from really seeing or hearing the message of Christ.This passage is part of an extended prayer of Jesus. Jesus hasprayed for his disciples who are to remain in the world whenhe is no longer with them. In our passage. Jesus moves outfrom the disciples to pray for the church that is to come intoexistence; that is, he prays for the church through the ages, heprays for us. His prayer is that Christians may be one even asJesus and God are one, and he gives the reason: “so that theworld may believe that you have sent me.’*This point is so important that after Jesus says it in verse21, he goes on in verse 23 to pray that Christians may be“perfectly” one and repeats the reason that the world mayknow that God has sent Christ. But this time he adds that70 Consensusthe world also may know that God loves it. Jesus is clearlyaffirming that Christians divided against each other, Christianslacking in love, are a hindrance to people hearing the gospelmessage.1 remember as a child hearing this little story. A young boywas visiting a Sunday School. As the proceedings were going onthe visitor began to feel more and more uncomfortable becausethe assumption of everyone around him seemed to be that theyhad a monopoly on Christian faith. Finally the teacher calledout, “Everyone who wants to go to heaven, put up your hands.”Everyone's hands shot up except for the visitor. The teacherlooked at him in amazement and said, “Don’t you want to goto heaven?” The little boy responded quickly, “Oh yes, I wouldlike to go to heaven, but I don’t want to go with this gang.”That story is a parable for the church. It reminds us that alltoo often people look at us in the church and decide that theydon’t want to go to heaven with this gang.One of the persistent reports that we get from missionfields is that a major barrier to bringing people to Christianfaith is the division of the churches. Non-Christians are be-wildered when they hear Christian groups differing from eachother, condemning each other and even declaring that the othergroups are not really Christian. We not infrequently hear fromthe mission fields of recent converts to Christianity being ap-proached by other Christians who tell them that now they areworse off than before because the group they have joined is notreally Christian at all. Is it any wonder that many confusedpeople on such mission fields find it difficult to believe thatGod has sent Christ? The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche,once said to Christians, “1 might believe in your redeemer if Icould see some evidence that you had been redeemed.” Thatis the way many non-Christians feel when they see Christiansdivided from each other.If the division of Christians in general has made it diffi-cult for many to hear the message, the division of Lutheransin North America has, for many years, made it difficult formany to hear the Lutheran interpretation of the faith. Luther-ans divided into many churches, Lutherans squabbling withLutherans, Lutherans unable to share the Lord’s Supper withother Lutherans; such actions have not inspired confidence inThe Goal of Christian Oneness 71the message we have tried to proclaim. We are thankful that,through the years, many of these divisions have been healed.Today, as we heal one more of the divisions of Lutheranismand thus of the church of Jesus Christ, we are acting in thespirit of Jesus* prayer. Those of us who served on the MergerCommission are keenly aware that we did not arrive at thismovement easily or without frustration and sometimes despair.But through it all we persevered because we had faith that wewere following in the spirit of Jesus’ prayer that we might beone. And today we celebrate that fact.But even as we celebrate, let us not forget that being oneas Jesus and God are one, is not the same thing as mergingtwo churches into one. Churches can be merged and still notbe truly one. During the United States civil war the Methodistchurch was divided into a North and South denomination. Dur-ing this century they reunited. And yet, after they were re-united, at the time of the civil rights crisis, a colleague of minefrom Garrett, a Methodist minister, was arrested for trying toenter a Methodist church accompanied by another Methodistminister whose skin was black. Uniting the headquarters oftwo churches into one headquarters does not necessarily leadto the oneness that Jesus and God demonstrate to us.The divisions of the church are not simply denominationaldifferences. As my illustration shows, the church is often di-vided racially. When the Lutheran World Federation declaredthat the South African practice of apartheid is a matter ofheresy, it recognized that some of the worst divisions of thechurch today are racial.The church is divided sexually. Women have not beengranted a place of equality in the church. There are manywomen in the world today who cannot hear the good news inChrist that the church proclaims because within the church it-self, it often seems there is no good news for women. Althoughwomen constitute at least half of the church’s membership,they have never shared equally in the places where the real de-cisions about the church and its life are made. The overwhelm-ingly male membership of our Merger Commission is just onemore example of this. Oh, we have made some progress; nochurch committee is now considered complete without a womanon it, but we are far from giving them an equal place.72 ConsensusThe church is divided socially. The poor, the oppressed,still are not comfortable in our churches. By and large we area rather nice middle class group of people and we like to keepit that way. And that is why we make it difficult for many inour society to believe that God sent Christ.And so today, as we give thanks that we have taken this im-portant step in fulfilling Christ’s prayer that we may be one,may we also soberly recall that we still have a long way to go.First, let us become truly one within our new church. Thatmeans being open to all races and particularly to the aborigi-nal people of our land, to women and to the poor of our com-munities. Also it means overcoming the persistent Canadiandivision of East and West within our church. In the MergerCommission, the East- West tension raised its ugly head manytimes. Before Christ’s prayer is fulfilled, we must overcomethat.But let us also recall that even if the Evangelical LutheranChurch In Canada is fully one within itself, Christ’s prayeris still awaiting fulfillment. When we started the discussion ofmerger, there were three of us and we dreamed of one Lutheranchurch in Canada. Today Missouri is not with us. I hope thatwe do not rest on the laurels of today’s achievement. I hopethat we let it be known that we are still looking for the time tocome when the dream of one Lutheran church in Canada willbe fulfilled. May the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod knowthat we earnestly seek a closer oneness with them.But even one Lutheran church would not fulfill Jesus’prayer. I recall back in the days of the Joint Commission onInter-Lutheran Relationships, Otto Olson said that there wasa danger in our inter-Lutheran discussions. For all of our dif-ferences, it was a comfortable family squabble and we coulduse it to justify ourselves in not seeking oneness with otherdenominations. I hope that our new church will be an ecu-menical church, for otherwise it will deny Jesus’ prayer thatwe be one. I do not believe that Jesus’ prayer means that wehave to amalgamate all denominations into one super church.Once the church was united in a single organization and itshistory was not a pretty picture of the oneness that exists be-tween God and Christ. True ecumenicity means that althoughwe have different organizations and headquarters, we recognizeChristian sisters and brothers in other denominations. Further,The Goal of Christian Oneness 73we strive to find ways to work with them in common Christianendeavors, we learn from them and hopefully we may teachthem.The goal of Christian oneness, held up in Christ’s prayer, isnot something that can be attained easily or by human effortsalone. Jesus knew that and so he closed his prayer by affirm-ing that he had made God’s name known to his followers andthat he had made known God’s love. No Christian can trulylove another person until she or he knows that they are loved.We love because God first loved us. That love of God needscontinually to be expressed to us—the love which accepts usas we are, where we are. And because we are accepted, we canaccept others.That is why it is fitting that we commune together at thishour. We are invited to this Lord’s table because God lovesus, seeks us and forgives us. In the bread and wine the loveof God in Christ comes to us to renew us and to embrace us.Because we have here experienced this love of God, we can byGod’s grace love others. And then we may be one, even asGod and Christ are one, so that we are no longer a hindranceto the world’s hearing the message we are called to tell theworld. The message that God so loved the world that Christwas sent for you and for me.

The goal of Christian oneness

Scholars Commons

Consensus
Volume 13
Issue 2 Canadian Lutheranism, Yesterday and
Tomorrow
Article 6
11-1-1987
The goal of Christian oneness
William Edward Hordern
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus
This Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Hordern, William Edward (1987) "The goal of Christian oneness," Consensus: Vol. 13 : Iss. 2 , Article 6.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol13/iss2/6
The Goal of Christian Oneness
William E. Hordern
Professor Emeritus
Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon
Text: John 17:20-26
We Lutherans hold firmly to the conviction that the one
thing that will bring people to Christ is the proclamation of the
gospel. In John’s Gospel Christ says that if he is lifted up, he
will draw all people to him. Our Lutheran church people have
always taken seriously the task of lifting up Christ, pointing to
Christ and not to ourselves. Keenly aware that we are at one
and the same time justified and sinful, we have not supposed
that we could appear as such models of virtue that looking at
us would win people to Christ. Therefore, our only hope is to
proclaim the good news that comes to us from God through
Christ.
In the passage selected for this service, however, Jesus
points to something that we dare not forget. Looking at us
may not bring people to Christ, but looking at us may keep
people from really seeing or hearing the message of Christ.
This passage is part of an extended prayer of Jesus. Jesus has
prayed for his disciples who are to remain in the world when
he is no longer with them. In our passage. Jesus moves out
from the disciples to pray for the church that is to come into
existence; that is, he prays for the church through the ages, he
prays for us. His prayer is that Christians may be one even as
Jesus and God are one, and he gives the reason: “so that the
world may believe that you have sent me.’*
This point is so important that after Jesus says it in verse
21, he goes on in verse 23 to pray that Christians may be
“perfectly” one and repeats the reason that the world may
know that God has sent Christ. But this time he adds that
70 Consensus
the world also may know that God loves it. Jesus is clearly
affirming that Christians divided against each other, Christians
lacking in love, are a hindrance to people hearing the gospel
message.
1 remember as a child hearing this little story. A young boy
was visiting a Sunday School. As the proceedings were going on
the visitor began to feel more and more uncomfortable because
the assumption of everyone around him seemed to be that they
had a monopoly on Christian faith. Finally the teacher called
out, “Everyone who wants to go to heaven, put up your hands.”
Everyone's hands shot up except for the visitor. The teacher
looked at him in amazement and said, “Don’t you want to go
to heaven?” The little boy responded quickly, “Oh yes, I would
like to go to heaven, but I don’t want to go with this gang.”
That story is a parable for the church. It reminds us that all
too often people look at us in the church and decide that they
don’t want to go to heaven with this gang.
One of the persistent reports that we get from mission
fields is that a major barrier to bringing people to Christian
faith is the division of the churches. Non-Christians are be-
wildered when they hear Christian groups differing from each
other, condemning each other and even declaring that the other
groups are not really Christian. We not infrequently hear from
the mission fields of recent converts to Christianity being ap-
proached by other Christians who tell them that now they are
worse off than before because the group they have joined is not
really Christian at all. Is it any wonder that many confused
people on such mission fields find it difficult to believe that
God has sent Christ? The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche,
once said to Christians, “1 might believe in your redeemer if I
could see some evidence that you had been redeemed.” That
is the way many non-Christians feel when they see Christians
divided from each other.
If the division of Christians in general has made it diffi-
cult for many to hear the message, the division of Lutherans
in North America has, for many years, made it difficult for
many to hear the Lutheran interpretation of the faith. Luther-
ans divided into many churches, Lutherans squabbling with
Lutherans, Lutherans unable to share the Lord’s Supper with
other Lutherans; such actions have not inspired confidence in
The Goal of Christian Oneness 71
the message we have tried to proclaim. We are thankful that,
through the years, many of these divisions have been healed.
Today, as we heal one more of the divisions of Lutheranism
and thus of the church of Jesus Christ, we are acting in the
spirit of Jesus* prayer. Those of us who served on the Merger
Commission are keenly aware that we did not arrive at this
movement easily or without frustration and sometimes despair.
But through it all we persevered because we had faith that we
were following in the spirit of Jesus’ prayer that we might be
one. And today we celebrate that fact.
But even as we celebrate, let us not forget that being one
as Jesus and God are one, is not the same thing as merging
two churches into one. Churches can be merged and still not
be truly one. During the United States civil war the Methodist
church was divided into a North and South denomination. Dur-
ing this century they reunited. And yet, after they were re-
united, at the time of the civil rights crisis, a colleague of mine
from Garrett, a Methodist minister, was arrested for trying to
enter a Methodist church accompanied by another Methodist
minister whose skin was black. Uniting the headquarters of
two churches into one headquarters does not necessarily lead
to the oneness that Jesus and God demonstrate to us.
The divisions of the church are not simply denominational
differences. As my illustration shows, the church is often di-
vided racially. When the Lutheran World Federation declared
that the South African practice of apartheid is a matter of
heresy, it recognized that some of the worst divisions of the
church today are racial.
The church is divided sexually. Women have not been
granted a place of equality in the church. There are many
women in the world today who cannot hear the good news in
Christ that the church proclaims because within the church it-
self, it often seems there is no good news for women. Although
women constitute at least half of the church’s membership,
they have never shared equally in the places where the real de-
cisions about the church and its life are made. The overwhelm-
ingly male membership of our Merger Commission is just one
more example of this. Oh, we have made some progress; no
church committee is now considered complete without a woman
on it, but we are far from giving them an equal place.
72 Consensus
The church is divided socially. The poor, the oppressed,
still are not comfortable in our churches. By and large we are
a rather nice middle class group of people and we like to keep
it that way. And that is why we make it difficult for many in
our society to believe that God sent Christ.
And so today, as we give thanks that we have taken this im-
portant step in fulfilling Christ’s prayer that we may be one,
may we also soberly recall that we still have a long way to go.
First, let us become truly one within our new church. That
means being open to all races and particularly to the aborigi-
nal people of our land, to women and to the poor of our com-
munities. Also it means overcoming the persistent Canadian
division of East and West within our church. In the Merger
Commission, the East- West tension raised its ugly head many
times. Before Christ’s prayer is fulfilled, we must overcome
that.
But let us also recall that even if the Evangelical Lutheran
Church In Canada is fully one within itself, Christ’s prayer
is still awaiting fulfillment. When we started the discussion of
merger, there were three of us and we dreamed of one Lutheran
church in Canada. Today Missouri is not with us. I hope that
we do not rest on the laurels of today’s achievement. I hope
that we let it be known that we are still looking for the time to
come when the dream of one Lutheran church in Canada will
be fulfilled. May the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod know
that we earnestly seek a closer oneness with them.
But even one Lutheran church would not fulfill Jesus’
prayer. I recall back in the days of the Joint Commission on
Inter-Lutheran Relationships, Otto Olson said that there was
a danger in our inter-Lutheran discussions. For all of our dif-
ferences, it was a comfortable family squabble and we could
use it to justify ourselves in not seeking oneness with other
denominations. I hope that our new church will be an ecu-
menical church, for otherwise it will deny Jesus’ prayer that
we be one. I do not believe that Jesus’ prayer means that we
have to amalgamate all denominations into one super church.
Once the church was united in a single organization and its
history was not a pretty picture of the oneness that exists be-
tween God and Christ. True ecumenicity means that although
we have different organizations and headquarters, we recognize
Christian sisters and brothers in other denominations. Further,
The Goal of Christian Oneness 73
we strive to find ways to work with them in common Christian
endeavors, we learn from them and hopefully we may teach
them.
The goal of Christian oneness, held up in Christ’s prayer, is
not something that can be attained easily or by human efforts
alone. Jesus knew that and so he closed his prayer by affirm-
ing that he had made God’s name known to his followers and
that he had made known God’s love. No Christian can truly
love another person until she or he knows that they are loved.
We love because God first loved us. That love of God needs
continually to be expressed to us—the love which accepts us
as we are, where we are. And because we are accepted, we can
accept others.
That is why it is fitting that we commune together at this
hour. We are invited to this Lord’s table because God loves
us, seeks us and forgives us. In the bread and wine the love
of God in Christ comes to us to renew us and to embrace us.
Because we have here experienced this love of God, we can by
God’s grace love others. And then we may be one, even as
God and Christ are one, so that we are no longer a hindrance
to the world’s hearing the message we are called to tell the
world. The message that God so loved the world that Christ
was sent for you and for me.


https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2083&amp;context=consensus

The goal of Christian oneness

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Wilfrid Laurier University

Scholars Commons