Our Parish Blog

Our theme verse makes an astounding promise and claim: “we will all be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:51-58). Changed how? Changed when? Changed to what extent?

The key to these questions is found in the source of the victory: our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source and authority and reason for this astounding affirmation. It is His life, death and resurrection that is the source of any victory we experience in our personal lives and in our interactions with others. On our own we cannot conjure up the power to live in peace. With His power, the opportunities are beyond our imagining.

Too often we see this resurrection claim as a future promise, something that is for after we die; however, it has present power. The life of faith is to be a life of transformation, for as we encounter the living Christ, God’s resurrection power is available, not just for the future but also for life today.

If we really claim this promise, what a difference it will make in our lives and relationships. When we personally experience Jesus’ love and resurrection power then we are able to see others through Christ’s eyes. We will have a compassion and understanding that supersede our own resources. This is the path to true unity.

May we today and everyday humbly come before our Lord and Savior and ask, “Lord, what changes do you desire to see in my life, in my relationships? Lord, release your resurrection power in me today that I may be “changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Theology does not heal wounds.

Nor does argumentation. Nothing is accomplished by standing as alone on a smoldering ruin proclaiming, “See, I was right!”

Unity of heart and spirit – the kind of unity that heals divisions – requires no one to relinquish deepest convictions. Only one thing is required, to strive to understand the convictions of the other.

But understanding the other cannot happen unless one understands oneself.

A devout Muslim friend of mine never ceases to say that the greatest problem with Muslims today is that they do not understand Islam.

Can the same be said of ourselves as Christians? Do we substitute jockeying for position for self-understanding?

Shouldn’t our first priority in dialogue and understanding be to learn what is behind our own convictions? Could we then be more able to understand and accept the convictions of others without compromising our own?

The path toward unity in diversity begins by knowing and being comfortable with what we believe. Then we can engage each other in intelligent conversation, without compromise and without polemics, but with the understanding that gives birth to empathy.

The reality of God is infinitely greater than our capacity to grasp. Can we, accepting and upholding a wide diversity of perceptions of truth, join hands and hearts to stand before the Truth that will always elude our comprehension?

There is a world to heal. Can we together bow before the Mystery that we can each only see darkly – and get to work?

Ultimately, Christian Unity is not what happens between dominations or even in congregations such as we have in Beverly Hills. Christian Unity is something that happens between individual people.

In 1985, the average American had three people in whom to confide matters. In 2004, that number dropped to two. Even more striking, the number of Americans with no close friends rose from 10% in1984 to 24.6% in 2004. The sad commentary on modern times is that people are living without the benefit of deep, solid relationships. You may be blessed to beat the statistics, but a lot of people are not. As a counselor I know that a lot of seekers could be helped by a good friend. Many need someone with whom to talk things through and make sure they consider all the angles and bases before making a decision.

Here is where the church comes in by providing the source for unity. Church works only when there is a way to connect, to build relationships, to serve others and, in turn, be served. Church works when we discover that every person is important and has a vital role to play. Church works when Bible study becomes more than an academic exercise and people get a chance to learn how to live what they have learned. Church works when people can heal from the damaging blows of life. If today’s church is going to accomplish the mission Jesus gave us, then we must overcome this lonely, isolated, independent, friendless trend. We will only do that by purposely changing our ways, doing things that bring us together, and developing interest in one another.

The role that the church must play is in encouraging, providing leadership, and giving aid to those in need of a friend to count on or a shoulder to cry on. Then arm in arm with a trusted companion(s), we will all be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.