Introduction & Part I
I must admit that I am a bit of a hoarder regarding thoughts, ideas, ponderings, and, might I say, flashes of brilliance that come my way. I am constantly putting pen to paper, sticky notes, and napkins, which at the time seemed like a monumental revelation. It’s an attempt to capture that whisper in the wind so that I may engage it at a later time. As I sit to put words to the page on this leg of my journey, I have uncovered one such whisper. Tucked away in my file of ‘great thoughts,’ the following from January 2006 makes me wonder a bit if this was merely a whisper that I heard or a divinely planted seed that has now come to harvest some seventeen years later.
“In a time when division is the root of every story on your local newscast, there is an intense need for some sort of unity.
But unity in the complete essence seems impossible, as it would require we all agree on everything all the time…or does it?
There is true unity to be had; it is more than believing what I believe, but knowing WHOM I know.
This is a look at the unity of the Church, Christ’s body of believers in this world.
Across racial, denominational, international lines, there is Unity of the body, and it is knowing the Trinity,”
“Unity In Chaos,”
The Heart of the Father
The Prayer of the Son
And the gift of the Holy Spirit
Kammy Schuppe
~January 2006~
As much as a piece of me would love to think that my great and beautiful mind is the sculptor of these words, I know better! But I admit I am excited about the unfolding of the words to follow. To see what this seed of thought looks like in full bloom. I pray you will join me on this journey as a child of wonderment, listening for the Still Small Voice in chaos and confusion. It’s beckoning us…can you hear Him?
Welcome to Part 1!
“The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.”
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy~
Romans 14:19 says “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building.”
It is peace in the church that we are to aim for, a peace that promotes one another and builds one another up, not tears each other down. It would be foolish to delve into unity without first tearing down the foundational definitions of the past to a great extent, continues to prevail today. Foremost it must be understood that:
unity ≠ uniformity.
The root word “uniform” is distinctive clothing worn by members of the same organization, not varying; the same in all cases always. It is an outward appearance of oneness that we see in the world, for example, at restaurants, schools, and hospitals. When we walk into these establishments, we can tell by immediate sight the significant players simply by their external covering.
There is a restaurant that I frequent that is a classic example of the purpose of the uniform. When you walk in the front doors, there is a host/hostess stand with gentlemen arranging tables on his erasable plastic floor plan. Dressed in a shirt and tie and is about the administration of the dining experience. With a warm greeting and smile, the number of menus gathered, and a mark made to secure our table. He leads us to our seat and announces that Greg will be our waiter this evening and he will be right with us.
It is obvious amongst the employees who are the wait staff and who busses the tables. They dressed the wait staff in black pants, a white shirt (tucked in), and a crisp white linen apron that is ankle length. Each waitperson has their official black book in which they record my requests and a pocket for straws, pens, and tip money accumulated during their shift.
The bus boys/girls have identical clothing with the obvious absence of the apron, which they have replaced with a nice white wet rag and a grey tub. In dining establishments, they design it for ease of customer identification. We know that when we see all the wait staff dressed alike—we can confidently assume that these people will be knowledgeable about their menu and attentive to our needs. Good food is an obvious must in any restaurant, but customer satisfaction is its twin—you must have both to succeed.
With today’s fashion trends where less is more, exposure is part of the fad, skin is the base wardrobe, and anything else that might go on it is just merely an accessory—distractions are everywhere. At the educational institution, the uniform provides an even playing field for all students and helps them focus their young minds on the academia they are to be absorbing. It also prevents people from expressing themselves inappropriately and causing disruption.
Currently, in our local school district, there has been a new “dress code” established at the Junior High and High School levels. We can make an argument for its necessity in time and place, and some, if not all, of its guidelines are understandable in theory. The problem that has developed is that the code is in the hands of what I could describe as a tyrannical authority, instead of providing the students with an atmosphere of academic focus, a developing palpable hostility brewing among students and parents. The institution’s goals of focused learning have instead become a battle of wills.
No other times in people’s lives do chaos and confusion rule than when they need a service that a hospital would provide. In the medical field, especially the environment of a hospital, the uniform divides, by definition, of rank and importance. Orderlies, nursing staff, physicians, and surgeons all seem to be intelligible to the eye of the consumer. As a patient, you rarely want to see the orderly to tell your symptoms. At the very least, a nurse in her pink printed scrubs and crocs is a welcome sight, second only to the white coat that holds the answers to calm your fears.
While uniformity may be a welcome practice to some avenues in our world, it holds no place in the walk of faith. People often demand uniformity amongst believers, birthed out of man-made doctrinal thinking that dictates the behavior and performance of the follower. However, like the restaurant—uniformity in the faith is about business, but Jesus said it “must be about My Father’s business?” it is not about the consumer, but the creator, and serving the individual based on their appetites is not what the Kingdom is about. Serving up what is palatable to the senses only brings dullness to our spiritual lives.
Like the school, as disciples of Christ, we are called to be lifelong learners; the word disciple translates learner. But our education in the LORD is anything but uniform—it is superbly UNIQUE. We walk a personal, individual, intimate path through our lives because it is a path walked with an intimate God. He is involved in our lives in such detail. He cares for us—guides us—teaches us, and is the only one who can because He “formed (your) inward parts; (He) knitted (you) together in (your) mother’s womb.”
The Prophet Jeremiah records,
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD”
He is a constant presence and the more time you spend with Him, the LESS you are like anyone else, He created you to be a unique expression of His House, His Kingdom, and by the working of Holy Spirit the more unique you become, the more inappropriate you become to the religious norm.
Like the hospital, our God is The Ultimate Healer. God does have a rank and importance among His people, but you can’t tell by their dress. The Wisdom of God working through the People of God is an internal light that shines in the darkness, not an external uniform advertised for attention. There is healing available through God’s people, but the true healers are at the mercy of the Divine in His timing, His plan, and His purpose. They do not carry a God complex, but they know they have a Complex God and can function at the whim of His Spirit, not by the hunger of their flesh.
End Part I.