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Greensboro, NC

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© 2007 First Moravian Church
Greensboro, NC

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October 1, 2006 Worldwide Communion Sunday

We as Moravians declare in the Ground of the Unity: “It is the Lord's will that Christendom should give evidence of and seek unity in Him with zeal and love. In our own midst we see how such unity has been promised us and laid upon us as a charge. We recognize that through the grace of Christ the different churches have received many different gifts.”

To illustrate this last point (begin walking down the center aisle) I want you to imagine for a moment that I represent what God has revealed of Godself through Jesus Christ and scripture. Now I know that's really going to stretch you to imagine that, but just bear with me and trust that God isn't going to strike us dead for imagining for just a moment that I represent what Christians know about God.

Okay those of you who can see me take a good long look at me.

Now just as you cannot fully know me by what you see of me today, we know that no matter what we know about God we cannot fully know everything there is to know about God.

How many of you see what kind of pin I'm wearing today?

How many of you see that I have one ear? Two ears? How many of you have learned my left eye is an artificial eye?

How many of you can see I have two legs? How many can tell I'm wearing hose and have actually experienced wearing hose? How many of you can hardly see me at all?

How many of you can hear me without my using a microphone? How about hearing me now?

(begin walking back to the pulpit)

The point I'm making here is just as no 2 people in this sanctuary had the exact same view of me—none of us, and no denomination has the exact same relationship or understanding of God. But if we talk amongst ourselves, if we are open to learning from one another, then we gain a fuller understanding and appreciation for what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

But we have to be first open to listening to and discovering the views and perspectives of other Christians who also value being in relationship with Jesus Christ. Especially Christians whose views are most different from ours. In my analogy that means the folks in the balcony and the folks near the center aisle need o dialogue with one another.

Of course isn't what often happens is that to believe something so far outside our experience—what she had 2 ears? What she had two legs? And because I don't see I can't believe she has ears to hear with, or legs to walk that must mean she can't hear or walk.

God is always bigger, God is always more than we can imagine. That is perhaps why I think there are so many Christian denominations and why we seem to keep splitting. The view some folks now have of God doesn't match where they once were in their faith journey. They have come to know God from a different angle, a different perspective of life.

This is not to say all views, all perspectives of God are equally correct or valuable. Those that are closest to God through regular and frequent prayer, through living every minute of our lives as faithful disciples, these folks see and understand more of God than those cutting up in the balconies and back rows of life, content with their limited vision and contact with the One for who we are meant for relationship.

We go on to say in the Ground of the Unity: it is our desire that we may learn from one another and rejoice together in the riches of the love of Christ and the manifold wisdom of God.

How well the love of Christ and the manifold wisdom of God is manifest in the different views and perspectives of other Christian traditions is my measuring stick for valuing the contribution each denomination makes to giving a fuller richer understanding of discipleship.

The Ground of the Unity also states: We are all pilgrims on the way to meet our coming Lord. Christ invites us to communion in his supper, and through holy communion Jesus leads us toward the union he has promised. By means of his presence in the sacrament Christ makes our unity evident and certain even when much divides us.