Just how important IS Unity?

I don't think I have given Unity its proper due. All my life, I was taught that being right was way more important than being unified.

When our fellowship DID choose to talk about unity, we agreed that christendom should all be unified... as long as everyone unified around OUR way of thinking. My friend Brian Cobb wrote an entire sermon on the subject entitled 'unity, not uniformity' (http://www.campuscrosswalk.org/2006-spring-17.html), in which he discusses our habit of confusing one with the other... and it describes my upbringing perfectly!

When Jesus talks about unity, He commands that we 'make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace'. Our 'efforts' over the past half century have been lame... most of our time has been spent throwing rocks instead of extending olive branches.

We pick fights with people who believe, like we do, that Jesus is God's son... that He was born of a virgin, lived on this earth and was crucified to cover our sins... that He rose from the tomb on the third day and now sits in Heaven with our Heavenly Father and intercedes for us...

and what do we fight about? ...dire and critically important stuff like hand clapping and instrumental music and church organization and other equally unimportant things... (all of which, incidentally, deal with issues we have created out of Biblical silence AND deal with the stuff we do during a 2-hour period each week called 'church').

Now while there are lots of people and groups and factions in the world who do not believe that Jesus is God's son, or that he was murdered and rose on the third day, there are plenty of people with whom we can agree and seek common ground.

I am convinced that Jesus' command for unity is NOT a command to AGREE! It is NOT a command to find everyone and every group whose hermeneutic looks like mine and unify with them. It is a command that we 'MAKE EVERY EFFORT' to seek unity through peace.

We have wasted an entire generation fighting with the very people Jesus commands us to 'keep the unity' with... May God have mercy on us...

And may we have the courage to seek that unity in spite of the grief we will undoubtedly face as a result of our journey.