The
lectionary epistle continues in Ephesians with this passage: I therefore, the prisoner in the
Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been
called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one
another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the
one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)
Bearing
with one another in love has always
been the tricky bit for me. I can manage
humility, gentleness, even patience, on good days… But it was a dark day in christendom when
someone, possibly American, turned the decent biblical noun fellowship into a
verb, and churches seemed suddenly to consist of compulsory fellowshipping,
which quite often, at any rate for ministers, meant dissembling with the
difficult…[1] I know that’s just me – my daughter thinks
fellowshipping is a really smart idea, the religious version of hanging out. She thinks I am the odd one. But it comforts me to realise that Paul also
found Christian fellowship to be a sore trial at times – and as his letters
show, there were occasions on which he was seriously impatient, and anything
but humble and gentle[2]. Yet he writes feelingly about …the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace… There
is, he says, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[3] That sentence is not about everyone in
agreement. It is about unity at a level deeper
than our personal preferences, our likes and dislikes and points of view.
There
is a poignant little verse in Paul’s Letter to Philippi – near the end he
writes: I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.[4] We have met Euodia and Syntyche before… two
women at odds with each other… we have no idea why. It may seem to them that their conflict is
beyond repair; perhaps there has been too much hurt to ignore now or set
aside. Paul urges them to be at peace. No matter how they may differ, Euodia and
Syntyche have the same Lord, the same faith, the same baptism. The realm of Christ is full of differences… but
we may not settle for disorder or alienation, disrespect or rancour.
Rowan
Williams points out that when Jesus commanded, Love one another as I have
loved you,[5] the
love he practised and exemplified was able to include some difficult people. Just as we learn to love ourselves (as he
commanded), despite aspects of ourselves we might devoutly wish different, so
we learn to love these people at this time in this place
in these conditions, understanding that they too have their mountains to
climb. The command to love is very
specific, not some vague general rule. It
may indeed take a lifetime to learn… but in the graces of stillness and
silence, we are getting there… One of
the gifts of contemplative life and prayer is that we learn how, in Paul’s
words, the one God and Father of all is above all and through all
and in all.
[1] eg…
the reaction of the vicar and the church ladies, in Keeping Up Appearances,
when Hyacinth Bucket arrived. My
Scottish grandmother colourfully advocated “swallowing your spittle”. The church does not always bring out the best
in people.
[2] eg.
Galatians 5:12
[3] The
Greek numerals have three genders, depending on the gender of the nouns they qualify. So we get one Lord (masculine), one
faith (feminine), one baptism (neuter) -- εἷς κύριος, μία πίστις, ἓν βάπτισμα. Very elegant
writing by Paul… the whole gender range in this unity.
[4]
Philippians 4:2. The Greek verb parakaleō
(παρακαλέω) is more than “ask”, more even than “urge” – Paul is requiring that
they reconsider, set ego aside.
[5] John
13:34-35; Matthew 19:19
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