Mission and Unity

Something very important happened in 1910 in Scotland. An event happened that was the birthplace of one of the most important movements in the modern international church.

In 1910, in Edinburgh, there was a World Missionary Conference. Christians from around the world met to think and talk and pray about how God was calling them to share the good news of Jesus around the world.

One of the most important results of that conference was the realisation that Christian mission was, and is, profoundly disrupted by the scandal of Christian disunity.

Christian mission is profoundly disrupted by the scandal of Christian disunity.

As people were following God’s call to tell people about Jesus, they found that they were sharing about Jesus who came to earth, lived among us, died for us, was raised to life and glory so that people could live at peace with each other and with God. They were then having to explain that for some reason Jesus’ representatives on earth, who were meant to live like him, were divided amongst themselves.

I experience this quite often when I go and talk to families who are thinking of bringing their children to baptism. Maybe one of the parents was bought up in a Roman Catholic household, and the other in a Church of England household. They want to know what the difference is, and how come there are two churches when there’s only one Jesus. To be honest, it is embarrassing to have to explain and it saddens me that over the centuries Jesus’ followers have failed so spectacularly to love each other as Christ loves us.

From this realisation, the modern ecumenical movement was born. People devoting time to listening to each other, hearing each others stories, and determining that unity between Christians and churches should be built up so that the voice of the church could speak of Christ without compromise.

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It's Just so Rich

There is something fantastic about fudge shops. When you go to your local Tesco's you know that you can buy fudge, but it's likely to be own brand, mass produced, only one or two flavours available. We went to the Lake District for our holidays and we stayed in Ambleside. In that town there are a couple of fudge shops. All they sell is fudge. You go in and there are wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling shelves, all stacked with locally produced fudge. Every flavour you can imagine. The choice and the richness of the food is paralysing. You know that you can't try every flavour quickly, it would be self-defeating, you'll be sick. You have to have a little at a time, trying different types on different days.

As we come to this next chunk of Paul's letter to the church in Philippi, I think that this is a good image to have in our minds. This poem is scripture at its richest, with layers of meaning and depth. All I can hope to do tonight is invite you to taste some of the flavours that have struck me as I have chewed over it during the last week, and encourage you to keep on soaking in it over the coming week.

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