A lot of political people and talking-heads keep saying the word unity.
Talk is cheap. Actions speak volumes.
Unity appeals to us all…living in peace…a warless world…a strife-less existence with no evil to accost us…heaven on earth. Harmony soothes our hearts.
Be wary of what you seek. Most of us hold a deeply naïve understanding of unity. Even those that seek to disrupt and destroy are grasping and clawing to find a homogenization point for society to embrace their perception of life as it ought to be.
Unity by force is oppression. Unity by fiat is an oxymoron. As the absence of violence is not necessarily peace, the absence of argument is not unity.
Emotional unity is a farce. We profess that our emotions deserve validation. Unity requires steadfastness. Our emotions run the gambit every day and no day is completely the same. How can our emotions be validated and unity reign?
How often does accepting another’s individuality require the swallowing of any number of emotions? That takes practice. That practice, otherwise known as tolerance, is the fertilizer for our maturity and wisdom—and our tolerance grows into acceptance. Unity, as many of us understand it, won’t wait that long.
Reason is unable to produce unity, though many of us wish that it could. Reason is built on facts and logic. To produce unity, all minds would need to distill all the facts and logic the same way. We know that’s not how the world works—it is ‘reasoning’ (the distilling of facts and logic) that breeds much of our dis-unity.
Common cause can unite for the moment or movement. We can unite to fight human trafficking. We can unite to rebuild a community ravaged by a flood. To do something in unison does not create the depth to reach beyond emotion and reason.
Unity comes from outside of self. Unity has little, if anything, to do with uniformity. Unity is a thing of the spirit—your spirit and my spirit. Beyond a chi or life-force—that essence of ‘me’ which only you can be—that is what lets us see past our self without losing what is uniquely our self.
Christian and non, cultured and non, skilled and non, we all have a spirit. We pay little attention in these days to our spirits. Yet, it is only in the nurturing of our spirits that we actually can become who we are created to be. Teachers, coaches, parents, friends and an almighty God call to our core—that essence of ‘me’ which only you can be—all the time. It’s what love does.
God, the one supreme Spirit, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, created us in His likeness.1 Our intelligence, our emotions, and our conscience…that trinity is made one in our spirit.
Jesus, though remaining Divine, came among us as fully human. He sighed deeply in His spirit at our hard-headedness.2 He knew things in his spirit, just like we do when we know something to the core of our beings without really knowing how we know.3 He knew our difficulties with our spiritual selves.4 Jesus’ spirit became gravely troubled as His death on the cross approached.5 And finally, He yielded—that essence of ‘me’ which only you can be—as he died.6
If unity is what one truly seeks, it is our spirit that needs to seek it. Because unity is a oneness of our spirits, it must be in something outside of ourselves. Unity in a cause ends when the objective is met. Unity in a fellow human being inevitably fails or dies.
As imperfect and inept as many Christians are, unity is one of our strong suits. Christian unity is in the Holy Spirit—not other believers. Believers enjoy fellowship with each other because of their unity in the Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that we hold fast to our faith: Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins; He rose from the dead to give us eternal life.
St. Paul told us to make clear efforts to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.7 Over the centuries, Christians have worked diligently to keep their unity in the Holy Spirit. How many denominations, not to mention types, of Christians are there? How many questions remain debated through these centuries? How many in-house upheavals have tried to tear the cross from our hearts? How many sins has Jesus forgiven? Yet, to this very day, we make every effort(as paltry in reality as they might be) to remain united in one God, one faith, one baptism through our unity in the Holy Spirit.
Ever notice that all these things we say we want: unity, justice, peace, joy require the one thing that we human beings have a terrible time doing—self sacrifice! Without bowing down, without giving of our whole self—that essence of ‘me’ which only you can be—to something outside of our self, all these noble desires of ours are but hallucinations and dreams dancing within our heads, our hearts, and our scruples.
The question is: what shall we approach on bended knee? What can bring what is noble and beautiful into our spirits and our lives? What is it that is outside of our human spirit that can bring unity, justice, peace, joy?
Truth. Like the knowledge of right and wrong, Truth emanates from outside of self. Has the world not experienced, over and over again, what happens when what is right and what is wrong is determined by human beings? Do we not see all around us the ravages of “truth” emanating from within self?
Truth is more than the compilation of fact. Truth, my friends, is the spiritual whole. Our spirits yearn for the whole. Do you not? Is there not craving at your core for ‘more’? A need for purpose and worth? An ache that permeates your very bones?
Without Truth as the entity to lead us and guide us, there is no unity, justice, peace, or joy.
Disunity, oppression, and all the other ills we rail against come from within human beings. Our brains are adept at quashing our conscience—rationalizing our desires and over-riding our scruples with emotion and physical satisfaction. Our hearts despise the Truth because Truth puts us in the backseat—and we would all prefer to a least ride shotgun if not drive. It is the most difficult of self-sacrifices, to give up control.
Truth’s enemy, Deceit, has shaded things so that what is noble, splendid, gracious appear to be had without self-sacrifice. Deceit is adept at putting blinders us. Deceit is the master of the bait and switch. A virtuoso at playing our emotions, Deceit delights in making a jumbled, knotted mess of our heads, hearts, and souls.
So, how does one relinquish control without losing one’s self?8
The Christian understanding is that by giving ourselves to Christ we find ourselves—the self that He created in His likeness.1 We—believer and non—have source material for all the questions life throws at us, the Bible. For those that do not revere the Bible, you will find it amazing that the truth it holds transcends your disbelief9—and is an ever-present help for my unbelief!10
It is in the human spirit that non-believers may find solace. The human spirit recognizes Truth with or without belief in God.9 The human spirit is keenly aware that giving of self is the only option for nurturing unity, justice, peace, or joy. Your spirit knows beyond all certainty that taking will never feed the entirety of the essence of that ‘me’ which only you can be.
For the light of Truth saves us and gives our spirits the only thing in which unity, justice, peace, and joy can survive—hope.
1. Genesis 1:26a Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. …”
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
2. Mark 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.
3. Mark 2:8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hea
4. Mark 14:38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
5. John 13:21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
6. Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Matthew 27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
7. Ephesians 4:3 …eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
8. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9. Matthew 5:45 “…so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
10. Mark 9:23-24 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Scattered Verses 