Midweek Lent, 2024 + Love One Another + Week 1: Agree with One Another
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Text: Romans 12:16-18, 21
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
A man was stranded on an uncharted desert island for 20 years.
When he was found, he took his rescuers on a tour of the island where he’d lived alone for so long. He showed them his hut, the place he got fresh water, where he’d planted food. They wondered how he kept himself sane all alone for so many years. He showed them another hut. “This is my church,” he said. “I pray here every week, and that gave me hope and kept me together.”
On the tour, they noticed another hut further away, seemingly abandoned, falling apart. They asked what it was. He said, “Oh, that’s my former church. I had to leave, there was too much disagreement.”
Now that’s a silly old joke. But there’s nothing funny about disagreement in church communities. The joke rings true because most of us personally know faith communities or church bodies that split over disagreements, even moving down the street and putting up another building.
Disagreement within a Christian congregation can destroy the life of the community and the faith of the people. If we’re commanded to love one another, agreeing with each other seems a needed starting place.
But you probably noticed today’s readings never said “agree with one another.”
When we imagined exploring the “one another” teachings this Lent, to help us embody Jesus’ great command to love one another, “agree with one another” stood out as a challenging one. It was from the last chapter of second Corinthians. But Romans 12 had more substance surrounding it that seemed to offer a fuller reading in worship.
Except the NRSV didn’t translate Romans 12 like 2 Corinthians 13, “agree with one another,” even though it’s the same Greek. We’ll get to that in a moment.
What you heard today was Paul’s literal phrase: “have the same thing in mind toward one another.” It’s important to understand that deeper root here. Because Paul’s Romans likely weren’t ever going to agree – in our sense of the word – on some very important issues. But Paul says that, in spite of that, they need to have the same thing in mind toward one another.
The Roman Church was divided against itself.
Paul’s people were a mix of Christians, some who were Jewish, some who came to Christ from non-Jewish peoples. And there were problems. The Jewish Christians still kept the Torah, considered themselves Jews, but also members of the body of Christ. For them, the two were inextricably joined. The Gentile Christians came to Christ from different religious and ethnic places, and cherished that they were welcomed and loved as they were, and made members of Christ’s body.
Paul is trying to get the two groups to realize that their disagreements and differences aren’t the important thing. Their identity as members of Christ’s body far outweighs their differences.
Paul doesn’t try to convince either side to give up their issues. Each can practice their faith as they do. But he pleads, encourages, demands, that they find that deeper unity in Christ that transcends their disagreements. That they have, as we heard today, the same thing in mind toward one another: no matter if one group still fully practiced their Jewish faith as disciples of Christ, and the other did not, they were one.
It was and is the love of Christ that joined them, not their agreement. Not even on issues both groups were convinced were deeply important. Paul believed they could thrive as a community of Christ with these differing points of view respected and tolerated and loved in each other.
Which brings us to the translation NRSV made of Romans 12.
“Live in harmony with one another,” our usual translation reads.
“Have the same thing in mind toward one another” becomes not “agree with one another” but “live in harmony with one another.” And that’s beautiful.
I love to sing in a choir. Multi-part harmonies where each section sings their own line but all come together in beauty are deeply fulfilling to sing. You know this joy when we sing all together but in parts and God is present here.
And it’s a wonderful model for Paul’s words. In music, there can be many parts that don’t agree as such. The tenors go one way, the altos another. Each needs to know their line, embrace it, love it, sing it. But ultimately all need to sing together. Harmony only happens when more than one part is heard.
No one part is “the right one.” Sometimes they may even seem to conflict. But the greater song is the important thing to keep in mind. Even as we weave around each other in our differences, we are singing the song of Christ together.
This is a challenging thing for a community to learn.
But Jesus didn’t create a community based on winning and losing, where some are “right” while others are “wrong.” And people leave for other communities where everyone agrees with them.
Jesus created a community through his blood and body that lives in harmony, that finds truth together, not in shouting and opposition. And with the song of the Triune God weaving amidst our harmonies, our different lines, the song we sing together as a community more and more becomes the song of God for the creation. A song that made all things and will heal all things.
Have the same thing in mind toward one another. Live in harmony with one another. And listen for God’s healing song to emerge for our lives and the life of the world.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
