IV. “...That They May Be One In Us…”
Now, when I look out and see
Life growing and striving all around me,
Both in the city and in the open country,
I am sometimes subtly and secretly astonished
When I think of life’s immense history—
Building endlessly through time
Into groups of bodies and bodies of groups,
Into mosaics of mosaics of mosaics…
Always into greater and greater communities of cells
To construct the many vessels of God.
And I am beginning to see
The vast sea of faces
That lives within everyone
And that lives within me—
The faces of people who received the gifts of life
And poured them out again and again for others—
The faces of those that have laid down their lives
Both dramatically and habitually for their loved ones.
And I see glimpses
Of the work of salvation,
And the hope of Heaven
That inspires the worship within each of us
And gives us the direction, strength, and inspiration
To grow day after day.
All of these:
The journey of organic life processing through time,
The impressions of many that live within us,
And the hope of Heaven that we cling to—
All of these currents carry and define each of us.
Each person contains within them
An ecosystem and a metropolis—
A testament and an iconography—
A hope and a luminous dream of the future.
Who could ever fully know the depths that live in any one single person?
But we know that while we may contain worlds within us,
We, too, live as a creature within a greater ecosystem—
As a cell within a larger body.
It should come as no surprise then, that
Just as the cells within us work together to form one creation,
So, too, are we drawn together in unity throughout our world.
All of life is given the same idea
Towards a single-minded pursuit of unity,
Whether that life be within us or whether it be us ourselves.
So we are the ones who inherit
This great unifying work of life
And undertake it in the world around us.
Why else would we be
Incessantly huddling together,
Networking and nation building
All over creation?
It’s in our DNA,
Imbedded on our conscience,
And flowing in our blood —
To seek to be part of a greater wholeness.
And so we naturally form families, friend circles, churches, and communities—
And work to build up commerce, cities, nations, and make global alliances.
We hear the call of unity and answer it in the world abroad
As we design, engineer, and build
Systems of government and energy grids,
Along with vast transportation, trading, and communication networks
That span the entire planet.
And we answer the call to unity within
As we congregate in our temples and in our churches,
In every time and culture, under the grand hope
That the greatest themes of our personal testaments
And our spirits truest visions of Heaven are ultimately
Synonymous with one another's— sharing one heart.
And why shouldn’t they be? We all inherited them
From One Creator and one shared creation.
To be united as one body
That is the whole aim of life.
Whether it be in the biological forms of this world,
Or in the sanctuary of our souls,
Or in our communities and our nations—
Life looks to and longs for this one and only destiny.
In the heart of our Creator
And in the code of His creation,
Which streams from His imagination
And is given shape and breath with His power,
The movement towards unity refrains
Again and again and again.
And a unified body must also be of one mind—
Must feed on the same life-giving truth
And drink from the same life-giving wellspring—
And this water, bread, and wine of life that we partake in
Is offered to us by the Lord of creation
So that we may eat, drink, and become One people in Him.
Then, when the highest worship that takes place in the hidden sanctuary of our hearts
Is aligned with the hearts of our brothers and sisters
And this inner synchronicity is boldly expressed outwardly with one another—
Then, then we come to share one Heavenly dream and vision—then
We become one body with one mind under One name.
The Great Communion that we anticipate
Is the final union of the Lamb and His bride, our world,
When we and all of creation partake in and join
The united body of Christ.
And so, as we share in His eternal body and blood,
Let us pray with glad and confident hearts,
“Come union. Come unity. Amen and Amen.”
On the night before His death, Christ said these parting words to His disciples and friends: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
John 17:20-23
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