WE SAW YESTERDAY that “so we, though many, are one body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5). We emphasized the “one.” Now we must emphasize the “many.” This unity in Christ is not a unity of uniformity, but a unity of diversity. It provides for the many. It doesn’t read “so we being one are one body in Christ.” That would attempt unity only through uniformity, which would not be a living unity but a dead unity. Jesus prayed that “they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11). How is God One? Undifferentiated Being? No. There is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with separate name, separate entity, separate function, and yet profoundly one. He prayed that we might have His type of unity—a unity in diversity.
The only type of unity in diversity that I know of is Federal Union. Federal Union puts together two apparently contradictory urges—the desire for union with the whole and the desire for local freedom. It puts together union and freedom, and thus fulfills our very nature. Applied to the churches it would mean that we would have in America one church, “The Church of Jesus Christ in America.” Dr. Kramer, a theologian, says that the only valid name for a church is “The Church of Christ in.” We add “Jesus” to center it in the Incarnation and to distinguish it from local bodies which claim the name “Church of Christ.” Under that one body, that one church, we would provide for the many—many branches of the one church —“The Lutheran Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ in America,” and so on. In those local branches, there would be self-government, state’s rights—union with freedom.
There will be one church, many branches. Just as in a tree there is one trunk, but many branches all inhering in the one trunk, but forming a symmetrical whole by the very diversity of the branches, so it must be with the church.
O Christ, Thou art the trunk and we are the branches. We all inhere in Thee, draw one life from a common source. Then we manifest this one life in diverse forms. Help us to appreciate and love this diversity while being conscious of our oneness in Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Let me be grateful for the diversity of the various branches which help make a symmetrical whole.
