John 17:21 – Page 7 – Flourishing For All

Unity.

It’s like a shattered dream.

Yet, it still compels a certain kind of yearning:

“If only we were more authentically united, we would have more peace.”

That’s my summary of what I hear people say.

We are not wrong to want unity, nor in the wrong to make attempts to forge unity in a hope for peace.

It’s just that calls for peace in general, abstract speeches for unity ring hollow after awhile.

How many of us want the results of peace without the work of unity?

In my church world the prayer for unity by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is getting a lot of traction (again).

It’s a beautiful prayer, very personal, raw, emotional and grand in its vision for humanity and God.

For Christians in any given community, there is usually some kind of chronic conflict disturbing the peace.

The garden prayer reminds us that the unity God wants for us most is oneness with Christ Jesus and the other “little Christ’s” in our world.

Maybe because of our public role in the community we can have a hand in preventing further disunity or defend it from worse conflict.

But as a Christian, in both our public and private world, the unity that matters most and that has the greatest power for unity in the world is to be found in the garden prayer of Jesus.

Here is a key part of that prayer:

“Father, my prayer is not that you take (my disciples) out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be sanctified in truth.
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – so that they may be brought to complete unity.
Then the world will know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
[Jesus, in John’s Gospel, 17:15-23]

In the news media these days there is deep yearning for unity and peace to prevail between the people of Israel and Palestine.

Here in the USA there is a passionate desire for unity and peace to heal the racial divide.

How many families, how many friends have become painfully are separated in spirit, mind and body due to divisions over vaccines, election integrity, political ideology, and just plain drifting apart due to irreconcilable differences?

From whence comes any kind or real unity and peace in our world of suffering, chaos and disillusionment?

We as a global humanity have more scientific and technical answers for what disrupts unity and peace for a national society, tribe and culture than ever.

Same for tested theories of reconciliation and healing.

But, however abstract and principled these observations and theories may be, it is often not a matter of knowledge or information that keeps us from doing peacemaking and unification.

It is likely much more a matter of the will, of our desires, of what we want to choose.

We humans live through the heart, and too often merely use our head to justify what our heart feels, believes, sees, hears and experiences.

Jesus prays from the heart for unity within humanity: in particular those who will see him, hear him, believe him, and follow in his truth.

These humans in the first century were derisively called “little Christ’s” for their imitation of Jesus.

Despite the mocking and persecution they became a community, an embodiment of this prayer by Jesus for unity, truth, peace and love.

The current disunity in the world is mostly driven by incentivized envy and greed, insatiable lust and gluttony, lazy apathy towards others who suffer but bitter anger over ones own; mostly though it is wounded pride that drives ourselves, our tribes and modern societies to vengeful and “defensive” violence and madness.

This is generally true throughout recorded human history around the world.

For the past two millennia Christians have entered into almost these tribes and societies in the world, establishing the presence of Christ there through little communities.

What happens though is that these “little Christ’s” over identify with the culture and then too little with the presence of Christ Jesus.

Christ inclusively connects and unites his diverse followers around the globe, even when they come from warring tribes and societies pitted against each other.

For example, too many USA Christians over identify with the government of Israel and are mostly ignorant of the Palestinian Christians suffering in the Holy Land.

People inspect the rubble of a destroyed residential building which was hit by Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Or, here in the USA, too many White Christians are in denial of the racism that has wounded Black Christians in spirit, mind and body.

There is also the ecological crisis, of how wealthy Christians in the world despoil and degrade the land and cultures of poor Christians.

Of course there is rationalization and justification of intent and motives, of actions and consequences that blunts the conviction to repent, confess, lament, be sorrowful for the sinful brokenness and pride which is adversarial to Jesus’ prayer of unity.

Let’s not deny the truth of the experience of suffering, both of Jesus and those who through the past 21 centuries have also suffered at the hands of those with political, economic and religious power.

Jesus is the incarnation of God’s Spirit in the human spirit, mind and body.

Whatever Jesus prays and does, it’s an embodiment of God’s desire for the world he created and the people he loves.

When Jesus prays for unity, love and truth, it’s not an overspiritualization at the expense of material cynical reality.

It’s the wisdom of God for how he is at work in the world that he fashioned and still holds in his hands, so to speak.

The flourishing of Christians is an overflow from being united with Christ and each other.

It does not mean there is no more suffering.

But it does mean no more suffering alone, no more suffering without faith, hope and love.

In this world we will suffer. But will there also be any flourishing in its midst?

What sets apart “little Christ’s” in communities across the globe is there solidarity with those who suffer across the globe.

It is the way of the world to hate their enemy, to take an eye for an eye, and give help to only their own.

But Jesus embodies a different kind of way, truth and life in the world; those that follow it are set apart, are sanctified, and strive to love their enemies, heal the unthankful, turn the other cheek, and seek just mercy for all.

What’s the vision that empowers Christians to strive for this kind of unity and flourishing?

Jesus prays that we who are his followers would have union with each other like he has with the Father, and that we would have union with both Father and Son, through the life-giving, spirit, mind, body -saving power of the Holy Spirit.

Theosis is the theological word for this dynamic transformation, of our oneness with each other as we are made one with God in Jesus through the Spirit.

Somehow this begins in this life on Earth,

There is no movie-soundtrack that accompanies theosis, no awards ceremony to recognize the achievements, no social media promotions to highlight theosis.

Theosis is gritty, it can be grueling, it is forged amidst suffering, as we strive for just mercy for the neighbors we love and hate, for the fellow Christians whom we enjoy and those we don’t understand.

Theosis is fueled by imitation of Jesus, by submitting to the Same Spirit which energized his work, by a vision of God sustained through trust.

Theosis and flourishing go together, along with the suffering that comes from being fully human in this real world.

There is no utopia!

Theosis is not about perfection in this life, it’s not about convenience, efficiency or effectiveness.

Theosis is about the fruit of the Spirit bearing out in our lives as we follow in the way, truth and life of the Jew Jesus.

Theosis looks like God sending Jesus into the world, which we can read about in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.

Theosis looks like the apostle and disciples of Jesus being sent into the real world to proclaim the gritty gospel, preaching repentance and forgiveness of divisive sin – to the ends of the Earth.

Theosis requires love; this kind of love from Jesus to us that flows through us to fellow humanity is patient, this love is kind, it does not envy or boast in pride, it does not greedily seek its own at another’s expense, and like God is not easily angered.

Theosis is experienced through love that rejoices in the truth, a love that keeps no record of wrong, a love that does not delight in evil.

Our flourishing in theosis is experienced in God’s love for us and our love for neighbors, strangers and enemies; a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, a uniting love that always perseveres amidst the suffering and evil in the world.

Flourishing, theosis, love – it is all in the details.

Every day.

Being present, in the chaos and injustice, the mundane and boring, the busyness and hecticness.

It’s the courage to be, the courage to believe you are loved by God, the courage to desire unity, theosis, and flourishing despite observable inequities and brokenness all around us.

Shattered dreams are a crucial and painful moment that test our resolve to keep the faith, to keep hoping and loving (ala Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)

Jesus’ prayer for our unity and flourishing, our theosis, occurred while on his knees in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night of his betrayal where he begged God to take this cup of suffering from him.

With drops of blood on his brow he prayed to accept the will of God.

His shattered spirit, mind and body on the cross would seem to have rendered his prayers ineffective.

Yet…the union he had with God before and after that shattering were transformative, they were the opening up of a new kind of theosis and flourishing for all.

May your desire for unity and peace, may your yearning for theosis with God in Jesus through the Spirit, amidst the chaos and suffering of our world, bear the fruit of flourishing for all Creation.

This article was originally published in the Jan. 2007 edition of Perspective 33.

The symbol of the YMCA mission is the inverted red triangle.

It was put forth by Luther Gulick in the late 19th century as a summation of the mission of the YMCA and has been adopted worldwide.

**Historical Information**:
Luther Gulick was the first director of the physical education department at Springfield College. While at the college, he inspired James Naismith to devise the game of basketball and was responsible for the creation and adoption of the inverted triangle used by Springfield College and the YMCA as their seals and symbols. Gulick felt the inverted triangle was the perfect symbol to represent the whole man, denoting the perfect balance of the spirit, mind and body. After leaving the Training School, Gulick served as physical education director at the Pratt Institute High School in Brooklyn and later became first director of physical education for the New York public schools.

I came across the inverted triangle carved into stone one day on a walk on the Springfield College campus.

It was above the entrance to the Administration Building (one of the oldest on campus). The carving held a big surprise.

The triangle contained an open Bible; no surprise there.

The surprise was that the passage listed was Ephesians 4:13, not John 17:21.

What was Gulick trying to advance in selecting this passage?

I read Ephesians 4:13 – “until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Then I read on in the chapter where the author calls to having the “body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grow and build itself up in love as each part does its work.”

Still more, the author calls on all to be children of light and details all that means.

It was a call to fullness of life and being that the triangle symbolized and Gulick advocated, rediscovered and taught, and with the YMCA incorporated into its mission and being.

This is the tap root of all the mission statements of the YMCA.

It is where we came from and articulates a wholeness that is advocated and sought for all who enter the association.

There has been drift over the years. Let’s look at it.

There has been great concern about openness.

Some attack the word “Christian” in our name as a denial of openness.

Yet the Christian faith, is by its own documentation, open.

Listen to the words of Saint Paul: “In Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, bond nor free.”

That is universal, and that was the root of YMCA openness and of the most Christian aspects of the Movement worldwide.

There is a real danger to openness and that shows itself in some mission statements and drift.

It is far too easy for people to come to the YMCA with no knowledge of the organization or its mission and attempt to capture and /or redefine it.

It is easy to ignore one or more of the aspects of the fullness of life that the YMCA stands for and to emphasize only body or mind or spirit, although the latter two are not usually culprits in this mission distortion.

There is still another danger – the danger of selling the mission.

The YMCA puts its emphasis on buildings and plant far too often, and not on people, and what happens to people, in plants.

The results can be, and far too often is a distortion of mission for the sake of the marginal membership and the marginal contribution and source of revenue.

The temptation is to be all things to all people and winding up as nothing to anyone.

I have sat on YMCA boards that put people on the board that knew nothing about the YMCA or its mission (for them this was another form of compulsory community service to look good on their resume and to their employer), and who cared less.

They were on the board to raise money and only for that reason.

Their board attendance was marginal, and their lack of understanding the YMCA when they did attend meetings did little or nothing to further the mission or ends of the YMCA.

Instead, they often undermined the nature and very purpose of the organization and led it away from both the inclusiveness it stands for and the wholeness it attempts to bring to the lives of its members.

Here I bring out a fact that is basic to the mission and nature of the YMCA.

It is an association, a member association.

The members are the association.

This undermines efforts that you see to say that this is a community organization or to make broad claims which facts and realities do not and cannot support.

Since people and communities are different, YMCAs will be different and this leads to an important aspect of considering mission.

Each YMCA will state its mission and realize its mission in its own way in its own time and place.

This variety is both a strength and a weakness.

The strength is that this leaves room for mission interpretation, creativity, and experimentation.

The weakness is that we can lose sight of the great heritage in which we stand and the great mission that we inherit and pass along; to help people rise to the fullness of being children of God.

Tag: John 17:21

John 17:21 & Our Flourishing

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YMCA Mission Creep: Should It Be Cured? [by Rev. Harold C. Smith]

There has been drift over the years. Let’s look at it.

There is still another danger – the danger of selling the mission.

Each YMCA will state its mission and realize its mission in its own way in its own time and place.

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There has been drift over the years. Let’s look at it.

There is still another danger – the danger of selling the mission.

Each YMCA will state its mission and realize its mission in its own way in its own time and place.

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