————

FINDING OUR LOST UNITY

f oe +
Last

at the prayer of Jesus which he prayed at the

supper.

John 17:20-26

evening, at the service of preparation, we took a long look

goneius ton of the Last

In that prayer he prayed for the unity of the disciples; for

a right relationship with the world; for an effective witness in the

——————____,

world. \ put the final section of the prayer hepadees in scope, leawing

—<$<—_——_—————

the t+we rea bh j and e ding + } “We
the twelve behind and extending down through

—

all

rey)

believers of
il

i ages \ (“put it is not Tor

the eenturies to include

these alone that I

pray, but for those also who through their words put their faith in me;

ag thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, so also may they be in us,

that the world believe that thou

may

It is very significant that as Jesus

dids 't “t me. * )

conelluded his earthly

ministry and prepared himself to bear the

a —

ruture .\ The reason for this

that men might experience and

secondly--that the world might

Sas ipty and physical suféering

areest, trial and crucifixion, that which was uppermost in his

was the unity of his disciples and of all) those who would believe
recurrent ponrere was two-fold;
Sr

enjoy a new unity with other men,

the truith of the Gospe1.| In
er em

Chrilstianity--but also one

other words unity is one of the fruits
pases
of its teases of existence.

|

A unified Christendom would be the faith's

best advertisement in the world.\ Our Lord wag confident that men would

lieve when they saw the rare unity being experienced and displayed

by the Christian Community.

—_—_—

As we, this evening, gather within the same context as that which
— —

prompted our Lord's prayer, I think it
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this matter of unity;

find its;

tHat we consider again

well

what has hpppened to its and how we can g@gain

fs

Is there any better illustration of this tragedy than a burnt

8 y ter illust:
é
cross On 2 ministers lawn--a cross that once bore Gog's own Son., Or
3S 1 minist Sor
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letter I received this week from a very devout, man accusing me of
- \ — sibielti ~

Sl

treachery for speaking my mind in the matter of race relations?

al

Jesus Christ prayed for aoe they all may be one, ®ven

——————

as we are one.” lene Church has always claimed that the true and only

arena

/
unity of man is found in Jesus Christ and only in him,| At times, even

this seems to contribute to disunity.\ The exclusiveness of Christianity,
Te, —"

the claim that God has revealed himself in one way--and that all men must
travel that one way to know God,appears at first to aggravate the dis-

2 poDP &
unity betwean different nations, races, cultures and religions that

already exists.

I want to suggest this evening, however, that the very exclu-

giveness of Christiaity is the only basis for unity among nen | Had

God revealed himself to each individual--or separately and in a

self through the different _religions--men could find God without finding

each other .\ Unity would be unnecessary and impossible--and our Lord's

—

prayer, just a speculative thesis.|\ Let me read to you a papagraph from

John Baillie, a distinguished Scotch Presbyterians, which spoke to me

at this point: ("eo has so ordained things that men can find salvation
only by betaking themselves to one place; by listening to the same old,
old story; by being received into the one felldwship; by reading in the
same book; by praying the same prayers in the same name; by a bao-

tized with the same baptism and partaking of the same meal; and by

drwing their whole spiritual sustenance from the same unbroken tradi-

ion handed down from age to age across from one nation to another,

“In so ordaining things God has done all he coudd do, short of abrogeting

ee ae Pe ey ory an — “ 4 3: ‘ 4 ae an
tne PESComn Of FMS h CNOLGe, TC “OPiItEg, LORS Cae! Baa a 1
min oe Aas gem ag iim, if Ps ee sa Pere ae:

5 SO UTLEY OL Tite OME, Lamas

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