SEEKING UNITY AND ONENESS
A group of us met on Wednesday
evening to interact with the desire of Jesus that we experience UNITY and
ONENESS. As a group we read through a summary of texts about ONENESS and UNITY.
We discussed what it might mean to fulfill the mandate for ONENESS and
UNITY.
We can learn to
be generous in our assessments of
others.
Rather than
looking for places of disconnect, we can look for places of
connection.
We should
seek to understand others.
We are obligated to
seek ONENESS and UNITY with people who disagree with us and do not affirm our
perspectives on spirituality and other issues.
Seeking UNITY does not
mean loosing our distinctiveness. It implies being secure enough in our
convictions that we can engage confidently with others who do not see eye to
eye.
We should do all
that we can to keep an openess and generosity of spirit with extended family,
people we have journeyed with in the past, and people that come across our path
from other perspectives.
It is possible that
Jesus invites us to assume that we Christ in common with each person we
encounter until they make known a
distinction.
How we
talk about other people reveals the relative generosity or prejudice we exercise
in our assessment of others.
We can trust that God
is at work in the lives of people who have different views or perspectives than
our own.
We should do
everything we can to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace,
even with people who are clear with us about their disagreements and
disapproval.
We can
look for common ground with people who see things quite differently than us.
While their may be differences, for instance, about perspectives on War (and
specifically the war in Iraq) we can all agree that war is sad, painful, ugly
and grieves the heart of our creator.
Seeking UNITY and
ONENESS does not equate to having a lack in personal convictions. We must be
true to the path that God has revealed to us, while recognizing that other
people may be at a different place in their spiritual development. We can
celebrate that God is at work in many places among many different kinds of
people.
THE
EXERCISE:
Since our
ambition is to know AND obey what Jesus taught, we each committed to do the
following this week.
1. Think of the people
you feel distant from because of a difference in spiritual perspectives. Pray
for that person or persons each day this week.
2. Contact the people
you have felt estranged from as an effort in seeking oneness and unity. Call
them to see how they are doing. Send them a note or card. Meet with them over
lunch. Exercise listening for understanding, seeking to recognize the beauty of
God revealed in that person.
3. Journal about the
experience of seeking to be generous in your assessment of others. What was the
hardest part of this exercise? How did it feel to make contact seeking to bless
and understand?
4. Be
aware of how you speak about other people this week. How often do you talk in
terms of "us" and "them." Try to be honoring and respectful in how you speak of
people who are different than you, giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Posted: Fri - May 26, 2006 at 06:17 PM