Unity and Gift-sharing

Ephesians 4:1-16

The theme of unity has come up a number of times in conversations I’ve had recently.

And it’s certainly an appropriate theme given the fact that we are remembering this summer the fiftieth anniversary of this church being the United Church of Acworth, merging the First Baptist Church of South Acworth and the Acworth Congregational Church.

50 years ago there was a uniting.

But I mentioned a few weeks ago that I think it might be more accurate to say that we are a uniting church of Acworth rather than a united church.

Oneness is something that we work at and maintain through our life together by tending to relationships and having conversations about our differences of opinions with respect and patience.

In today’s reading from Ephesians, Paul gives us a great phrase:

“speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ”

in Paul’s terms, as believers and those who share in one Lord, one faith, one baptism, who share in the work and movement of one Spirit,

we are yet still in the process of growing into Christ.

We are the body of Christ, and yet we are also growing into maturity as that body.

Bodies as many of us know from first hand experience –

can be quite dysfunctional sometimes. 

I witness all manner of bodily dysfunction in the hospital.

Oneness, unity, and the harmony that supports it take care and time

and require commitment from individuals in the community

to share life together with love and intentionality.

“Speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ.”

What are the resources that we have for the ongoing work of uniting together?

In Ephesians 4:2-3 Paul describes the kind of character that follows

from the calling we have been given in Christ.

He writes to them: “Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.”

I think our society has a tendency to conflate unity and uniformity.

This leads people to disassociate from all of those who are of a different opinion, who follow a different political or aesthetic paradigm.

What we have in 21^st century America is a multiplicity of cultures and subcultures.

We are a culture of the Coca Cola Freestyle Machine™

The new soda fountain which enables the dispensing of over 100 different flavors of soda.

When you push the Coke button, you get another screen that presents seven options.

You could get regular coke, or you could get cherry coke,

Or if you’re daring, orange coke, or raspberry coke.

Of course we don’t divide over coke flavors.

At least I’ve not heard of that happening.

But this is a picture for the way that the modern lifestyle presents more and more options, more and more ways to uniquely tailor your life to your own preferences and desires.

And there’s a lot of good that comes out of this.

Technologies enable more efficient use of time

and make possible creative new ways of living.

But they also enable a splintering of our lives, an individualizing of our days and weeks that can undermine the integrity of a community of people from different lifestyles.

Wendell Berry writes about the dangers that have become possible after the introduction of new technologies in farming but goes on to say: “We would be wrong, of course, to say that anyone who farms with a tractor is a bad farmer.  That is not true.  What we must say, however, is that once a tractor is introduced into the pattern of a farm, certain necessary restraint and practices, once implicit in technology, must now reside in the character and consciousness of the farmer – at the same time that the economic pressure to cast off restraint and good practice has been greatly increased.”

In a similar way in light of changes introduced into our community life –

New possibilities of individualizing our days and weeks, new options for differentiating and uniquely tailoring our lives according to our personal preferences --

the necessary restraint and practices, once implicit in the ways of life of a community

(for instance the fact that your literal neighbors with whom you shared the place

were those with whom you shared life and needed to learn from listen to and generally get along with – there used to be no option to find a more finely tuned subcommunity in another place [although folks certainly did become recluses for similar frustrations with community life) –

the necessary restraint and practices reside more and more in the character and consciousness of the members of a community.

We have 100+ ways of having a coke, and more than that of ways to occupy ourselves during the week.  We can custom design our lives in a way that previous cultures have never imagined possible.

We live in a time in history when more and more people are splintering off into smaller circles of like-mindeds, inhabiting very particular lifestyle niches. 

One of the unique legacies of the life here in Acworth has been how people are brought together, united by a common interest in the well-being of this place.

I think this is reflected in the uniting of the churches.

We don’t always agree with one another or see eye to eye.  We have differences in aesthetic preferences and political positions, in theological beliefs and in priorities for ministry.  Often in our world, and too often in the wider church these differences become flags staked deep in the ground dividing communities and preventing cooperation.  And we in Acworth are not immune to these pressures to divide from and dis-fellowship those who are on the other side of an issue from us.

I think of a spiritual community like this one as something like a garden or a farm.

It needs gentle cultivation year after year – it can’t be treated in any other way if it is going to last sustainably for the long term.

How will we cultivate community in light of the culture of the Coca Cola Freestyle Machine™?

Paul’s words show timeless wisdom:

Humility, gentleness, and patience.  Tolerance. And seek to preserve unity by means of the peace that binds us together.

And he doesn’t stop there but shares with us how this unity is cultivated.

And it’s not just in gentleness and patience, listening and seeking to understand.

But it’s also in gift-sharing.

The sharing of ourselves with one another that binds us together in mutual care.

Christ’s grace is the first gift to us,

And inspires us to give with gratitude for the building up of the community.

When I attended an Anglican church for a time every service would culminate in the presentation by the presider of the bread and the cup saying, “the gifts of God for the people of God.”

At this symbolic meal, we eat together at one table, receive together one grace

A symbol of our unity in the grace of God.

The grace of Christ is the gift at the core of our spirituality.

Grace is the foundation of our life together.

I like what I’ve heard about First Baptist church in Lebanon:

I’ve never visited that church but I’ve heard that they begin every Sunday morning worship service saying, “Not a perfect church ... not a perfect people ... just a simple desire to follow Jesus.”

How different to think about our life together not as a list of behavior and lifestyle expectations and restrictions, but about recognizing our imperfection and knowing that Jesus loves us and calls us to follow him just as we are. Grace is liberating.

And grace frees us to realize that we have gifts ourselves –

Ways of showing grace to one another. 

Some have gifts of teaching, some have gifts of hospitality,

some have gifts of leadership, some have gifts of making coffee.

It’s a joy to read Pappy Craw’s Pastors reports from the 70s

and one of the things I really admire in him

is how he spends a good bit of the report

in a litany of thanks for the work of people in the church. 

And it’s clear that the church then even as it is now

was built up by people sharing their gifts of time, talent, energy, and resources. 

He mentions a man named Don Sprague who I don’t think I ever met, but many of you might remember:

He writes:

“Don Sprague is the unsung hero of our staff. 

He builds the fires, makes the coffee and serves it,

and carries over the pot of Kay’s delicious beans for the Friday Night Suppers. 

He is always on hand to be quietly helpful and we appreciate his services and his spirit. ‘Things go better with Don.’”

Sharing our gifts can be as simple as making coffee.

And all of you who volunteer for coffee hour do a great service to this fellowship, because there is so much good building of community during that time.

Our gifts will not be perfect. 

But if they are given in love,

they are a true grace to all of us,

building up and cultivating a community of care.

Cultivating a character and consciousness of gentleness and patience,

of intentional care for the people with whom we share this place

In light of the Coca Cola Freestyle pull of our culture is not easy.

But there’s a great joy in the unity born of grace and love.

We share our gifts for the building up of one another personally and the community together.  And we become more connected the more we engage in the mutual giving and receiving of gifts.

Each one of us has received gifts by the grace of God.

The Spirit is alive in each one of us individually just as the Spirit is moving among us.

How has God inspired you? What gift have you been given that you might share for the building up of this community?

May God give us the freedom by God’s grace to give freely of ourselves to one another that we might cultivate good community in and for this place. Amen.