24 - One Family of God

                                 ONE FAMILY OF GOD

                                    (INTRODUCTION)

We are one family of God. One in existence with our common heavenly Father. One in existences as common siblings through Christ. In addition, we are one in existence through the prayers of all believers (on earth & in heaven. We are family, a Christian family.

                         (BLOOD BROTHERS & SISTERS)

Once I receive in the mail a 1981 police photograph of a racial murder. A 19 year old teenage (named Michael Donald) was killed by the Klan for being black. There was an abduction, then beating, then strangulation and finally his dead body was hung in a tree. Seeing his body hanging from a tree reminded me of Jesus. Michael was beaten (like Jesus), he was hated (like Jesus), he suffered (like Jesus), he died and was hung up high (like Jesus) for the sins of others - not his own.

Civil government will never be able to completely stop hatred, misconceptions and the suffering people receive because of the sins of others.

It is time to be one (not the same but one) through Christ. It is time for the greater Church to be the leading edge in reform of human thinking. Sunday morning has the most segregated hour in America - that is the church service hour. We are separated by race, by economic status, by the human reasoning process, and by our prejudices. What can we do?

It is time for us to be Jesus to one another instead of showing our selfishness to one another. Love your brother and sister in Christ (within your church and those within other denominations). Stop all the divisions that are based on human thinking and not the spiritual thinking of faith. Let us love and let our faith bond us through that love.

In 1997, sixteen years after the death of Michael Donald, Henry Francis Hays was executed in the Alabama electric chair as one of the murders of Michael. Up until two days before the execution, Hays denied involvement in the murder. Then Hays took a spiritual plunge into the waters of confession and repentance. Michael and Henry were no longer different - they became family through Christ. As Henry Francis Hays began to cry, he grabbed the arms of Rev. Bob Smith (President of the Alabama NAACP - a black man) and confessed his sins.  

I am now looking at the picture of the disfigured body of Michael Donald. I believe that in 1981 Henry Hays’ soul became more disfigured than the body of that young teenager. Sometimes, we do not know what we are really doing to ourselves or to others. This tells me what we are capable of doing (to a greater or lesser degree than Henry Hays’ actions in 1981). I hope God can always have mercy on our souls. We all are capable of serious sin but we also are capable of suffering (innocently) because of the sins of others. Jesus asks us: “How many of your sins will we cast upon the innocent” (MT. 16:6-7)? Sin is not fun but Christian love stops the cycle of sin (the cycle that starts with our selfish thoughts, then our sinful action, then the suffering and then it goes back to selfish thoughts again). Confession heals the soul from the damage done. The amazing thing is that Christianity (itself) makes us all blood brothers & sisters for an eternity because of the blood of Jesus and because we are all made in the image of God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and then love all your brothers and sisters as ONE. These simple words can prevent so many of our sins today. Let us step away from our self-interest to meet God - face to face - through the loving interactions of us as siblings (through Christ).

                               (ONE FAMILY IN SPIRIT)

St. Paul stated in Eph. 4:6 that there is one God who is over all and is all. The Moslems and the Jewish people are our strep-brothers and sisters who are not part of our direct Christian family but we have the same father (our God - the Creator). Christianity is not the same as these other religions (in other words “All religions that believe in God are not exactly the same”); however, we should love our step-siblings the same as Christians because we all are God’s children. Let us show them God’s spirit through us as love (not judgment or condemnation or hate or argument or misunderstanding). We should not wish to do any harm that will later prevent the Holy Spirit from performing its miracles within them or us. We have to remember what we do can help or harm another from being receptive to God at a later date.

                                      

                                  (CHRISTIAN SIBLINGS)

Jesus did not pray that we all become the same but instead He prayed that we become ONE (JN. 16:20-21a) - one family of diversity through one common love in Christ. Paul did not want us to use only one approach in human reasoning to reach the point of faith but instead He wanted us to be one in faith (with Christian love) through the bond of the Gospel of Peace and the unity of the Holy Spirit. I ask you, where is our Holy Spirit unity today? There are many approaches to obtain faith through reasoning (that we call denominations today) but when we come together, where is our common faith through Christ today? We must love together (as one) with all humility, gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:1-6).

                         (COMMON PURPOSE - COMMON FAITH)

 I understand that my church’s beliefs give me the fullness of the Christian faith; however, other Christians understand that their denominational beliefs give them the fullness of faith. This contradiction should not separate us as good Christian siblings or cause us not to love one another - but sometimes it does. Let all Christians remember our common sacrament (baptism) and reflect on the flood in Norah’s time. The flood (a symbol of baptism) washed away the evil sin within Norah’s life and the dove (symbol of the Holy Spirit) bought peace of mind. The dove also had an olive branch (a tree that bares fruit) within its mouth to indicate that Norah was saved from troubled waters (this wood was symbolic of the cross). As Christians, we all believe in the cross as the way to salvation and in the Holy Spirit to introduce peace into our lives and in baptism to cleanse us of evil sin. I truly pray that each local church will allow diversity of reasoning but also have a common purpose (faith through God, baptismal grace, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit).

You see, people think and experience life through different ways from one another. Some need more intellectual reasoning to increase their faith, others need to know their spiritual limitations (faith through the rules) to increase their faith, others need to be more inclusive with their love to increase faith, others need to serve to increase their faith and others need to be more spiritual (mystical & prayerful) to increase their faith.

Let us have common purpose but still respect the different ways faith can develop within their local churches and between denominations. Let us work with the Christian who is different than you. Christianity is in troubling waters. We are afraid of the huge waves of diversity within our religion. We are afraid of the unloving waves that we produce (thrashing around in disobedient of God’s will to love). We are all in the same Christian boat (together) trying to prevent us from sinking in our own baptismal waters. The love of Jesus calms the water, if we just learn to love one another.

Let us hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness together. Let us hunger and thirst for all humankind to love one another through Christ. Let us serve that love, know that love and be that love (forever).           D. Crone