What is one of the most popular American events around the first part of the year? What is it that compels people to rent large screen televisions and buy bushels of chips and guacamole? What is it that draws a crowd to fill a stadium to capacity? Starting back in 1967 Americans began to gather around the Super Bowl. There are two teams who compete for “the ring” and it seems like the whole nation stops everything to see who will win. I imagine that during this time our nation is more unified than it is on any other day other than the 4th of July. And here are some statistics to prove it.
According to the Super Bowl Preview Fun Facts web site in 2004 53% of viewers would be 18-49 years of age and 14% would be women over 50. At Super Bowl parties across the nation there will be an average of 17 people at each party. There will be 8 million pounds of guacamole and 14,500 tons of chips consumed on this day. The increase in antacid sales on Monday will be 20 percent. In 1967 the television viewers ranged up from 60 million. The number of viewers expected in 2004 were around 135 million people. Now that’s unity! Or is it?
Around this time it is also Black History month. It is a time to remember what our nation has been working through for over two centuries now. At significant points in American history our nation has been radically divided—not by team colors, but by skin colors. When I hear the stories and watch the documentaries I literally get sick to my stomach. I watch as men and women of one color mock and sneer at another. People who might never be drawn together for any other reason have come together out of hatred. How can hatred be such a bond for random individuals and groups? Hatred is the opposing force to love. It is the work of Satan to twist and pervert love. Only those blinded by hatred can believe that another human being is less valuable than they.
For over two centuries now we have been wrestling with what our constitution really means when it says that “all men are created equal” and that each person is born with “inalienable rights.” Those constitutional phrases are meant to guarantee that every American citizen will have the rights to the same homes, the same neighborhoods, the same pay, the same, opportunities. But everyone of us knows that a piece of paper, considered to be a legal document, guarantees very little in actual living unless people let the Holy Spirit take over and let those constitutional words take root in their core values and belief systems.
It is often when hatred and injustice are put down that true unity begins to take place. Those whose hearts and values have been shaped by the Spirit of love and respect bind together to overcome evil with good.
It is that kind of goodness that prompted a white slave owner to take a young slave under her wing and teach him to read and write. Little did she know that this young slave would later become one of the earliest leaders in the anti-slavery and equal rights movement in the mid 1800’s.
A biographer of this man wrote: “Upon the death of his master, Frederick Douglass was sent to the country to work as a field hand. During his time in the South he was severely flogged for his resistance to slavery. After escaping to the North he worked as a day laborer. His fertile mind and unbending spirit prompted him to make “an extemporaneous speech before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and he became one of its agents . . . Douglass quickly became a nationally recognized figure among abolitionists . . . he spent his life rising into various roles in American government, speaking on slavery and women’s rights.” People from all walks of life followed behind this man of great mind and spirit. Under his influence a tide of unity rose to new heights.[1]
Many years later that tide of unity, defying hatred in the name of love and non-violent protest, came to a pivotal moment on a bus. In 1955 Rosa Parks, did not move from her seat on a bus because the bus driver demanded it for a white man. “Her case was the last straw for blacks of Montgomery . . . A city-wide boycott was organized to force the city to desegregate public transportation. A young, unknown minister by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. became involved, and lectured the nation on the injustice of it all. Blacks and a few whites, organized peacefully together to transport boycotters to and from work, and they continued despite opposition from the city and state governments, for 382 days.”
Rosa Parks and her husband Raymond were active leaders in the Civil Right movement the rest of their lives. They too made inroads into American government and worked peacefully, with Americans of many colors in solidarity with them, to bring about the kind of unity that our constitution guarantees.[2]
An historical exploration of the civil rights movement encapsulates the struggles of all people of color in America proving to us that we are not yet perfectly unified. There have been colorful partners in the evolution to unity. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver and Chesar Chavez, Rosa Parks and so many others all worked, and continue to work, for unity in our nation, hinged on the core belief that all people are created equal.
What is unity? Is it just solidarity against oppressors, or marching in a street for a cause or having an ecumenical religious service? No, I think that unity runs far deeper than any of these things. Perhaps it’s “one nation under God,” or a group of people committed to holding a community together through its diversity. Maybe it’s just one Sunday a year when people gather around a big screen television. Still, I’m not quite sure that any of those things are real unity.
What is the core or source of unity? Webster’s Dictionary defines unity is several ways: 1) the quality or state of not being multiple—oneness, 2) a condition of harmony—accord, 3) the resulting singleness of effect or symmetry and consistency of style and character.[3] What I see in these definitions is a kind of falling away of some individual goals and objectives into a greater objective or outcome. That greater objective or outcome, it seems to me, comes from something other than ourselves that calls to a greater good and balance.
Some humanistic philosophers tell us that we will be truly unified by just finding ourselves inside. But, I don’t believe that’s the whole truth. Inside of each of us also dwell selfishness, unforgiveness and hatred. There’s got to be Something outside of us that causes those things to fall away and brings us to true unity.
I already know the answer, and that answer is revealed in the Scripture. Maybe, just maybe, God has something to do with this illusive thing called unity. Maybe, just maybe, it was his idea in the first place.
Let’s make sure we remember the context of the passages we are about to read. If you remember from our last reading all the disciples, both men and women, who had been gathered for prayer after Jesus ascension into heaven, had been filled with and touched by the Fire of the Holy Spirit. Their hearts had come filled. In turn, people from many, many nations were able to understand them. There was an astounding sense of unity that day.
Three thousand people responded to the work of God in their hearts. They saw, for the first time perhaps, their great need of a Savior—the very one they had stood away from and watched die. After Peter’s sermon and the testimony of those who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, thousands had come to know that Jesus was alive and able to save them. Once they accepted this, the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit began among them. And that’s when true unity began to take root.
Read carefully how that Holy Spirit power unified them.
Acts 2: 42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Jump quickly over to Acts 4:32-37 and see more demonstrations of unity.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
This is a remarkable description of a community of love. They were not bent on the de-struction of anyone else. There was no opposing team. They were bent on the con-struction of everyone else, even to their own sacrifice. This is the evidence of a Source of Unity far beyond themselves. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us to overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
Review the list of the characteristics of Holy Spirit filled people found in these two passages. As I reviewed this I wanted to know for myself how I found my response to the Holy Spirit’s call for unity. So, I put these into forms of statements we need to respond to. Check off the ones that you feel you already put into action.
· I want to learn more from God and his Word.
· I seek out ways to have fellowship with other believers.
· I initiate sharing meals/going out with other believers.
· I pray every day.
· I am open to being awe-struck by God’s acts among us.
· I expect and anticipate God’s miracles among us.
· I am willing to give of what I have to help someone in need.
· I find ways to praise and thank God.
· I am aware of how my behavior affects other people
· I seek to find ways to get along with others.
· I am willing to give my testimony to a non-Christian.
· If God asks me to make a material sacrifice for the church or others in
need, I am willing to do that.
· I want the Holy Spirit to teach me what true unity means in my daily life and in the church.
Did you notice what is not on this list? There’s no grumbling. There’s no backbiting or gossip. There’s no selfishness. There’s no division or competition.
It is the work of God to bind us together with love in his unity. He is always very clear about what he expects of us, and he is always fulfilling his promise to love us and to provide the Source of hope and unity—the Holy Spirit.
It truly is a wonder to me how groups of people, so different in taste, socioeconomic status, education and ethnic background can be part of one body of Christ the Church! Isn’t that astounding to you?! We don’t have to hate the same thing, dress alike, come from the same ethnic group, speak the same language or be educated the same way in order to find true unity!
I’ve got to be real honest with you folks, if local churches are full of division, I wonder at the source of unity there. If our homes are full of strife and bitter fighting and we say that Christ is the head of our home, I’ve just got to wonder if he really is. If we call our work place a place of peace and it really is a place of hatred and bitterness . . . well, why not invite the Holy Spirit in and find that peace and unity can exist.
Church leaders have tried to hang their hats on Acts chapters 2 and 4. They have told us that churches should be like this all the time. Well, God, in his wisdom, permits our human frailties to stay with us until we reach heaven. But the Holy Spirit also gives us his power to continually work out his unity. We are given a very big challenge to keep the unity. Just as the challenge still prevails for perfect unity in our nation, so the challenge prevails in our churches and families. As we continue to study the book of Acts, we will read where the church has had on-going struggles with this issue.
But a struggle is never a sign of surrender. We will also read in the rest of Acts how the Holy Spirit has dealt with and helped each one who has remained under power. We must humble ourselves, give of ourselves to the work of the Spirit and always being open to new infilling. We must remain forever open to the Source of Unity. In this way, destruction, division, terror and darkness can never have the last word. And God’s Spirit can dwell among and in us.
This incredible moment in Christian history—when 3,000 were added to the church in one day—birthed a movement of sharing love, sacrificial giving and common learning. It is truly a standard for the kind of true unity that is possible and alive wherever believers are open to the Source of Unity.
May unity prevail, because the Spirit is permitted to come into our lives and into this church.
Here are two statements that I want you to consider. If you can agree to these, then mark this date in some way that you can return to it. If you will not yet agree to this, then consider putting it in a place where you can return to it in prayer when you are willing.
—I will be genuine and ask God to help me in my weak areas and sustain me in my strong areas.
—I will be a life-long learner and seeker of the Holy Spirit’s unifying presence in our lives together.
Amen
Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment