Being of One Mind
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 2:1-14
A friend of mine told me a story about a Methodist pastor's experience in a Northern Pennsylvania church fifteen years ago. It was the pastor's first worship service as the new pastor of a church. After he finished his sermon, he went to the back of the sanctuary to shake everyone's hands as they walked out. This was a church with a large center aisle leading to large double doors. There were also doors leading out of the sanctuary at the back left and right. He stood at the center door, waiting to shake everyone's hand, but only about ten out of the 80 or so in attendance came to him. The others went out the doors on the right and the left.
What had he said that was so bad? He thought that it was among the least controversial sermons he had ever preached. Did he do something wrong? Finally, he asked one of the members what was going on. “Ah, the big butter controversy,” replied the man. “The big butter controversy? What's that?” asked the pastor. The man then proceeded to tell him about something that happened a long time ago.
Fifty years before, the church had had a big dinner. Since it was a farming community, many brought food from their farms. One woman (we'll call her Maybelle) churned a lot of butter, bringing it to share. After the dinner was over, everyone cleaned up and left. The unused butter was left behind. Another woman (we'll call her Kelly Sue), worried that it might spoil since the church didn't have a refrigerator. So she took it home with her. A little while later, Maybelle came back to get her butter, but it was gone. She was convinced that Kelly Sue had taken the butter because she was always jealous of her butter-churning skills. So, she complained to her relatives in the church about what Kelly Sue had done, and everyone in her family took her side. Kelly Sue's family, seeing that she was being attacked, took her side against Maybelle and her family. The church became split, but being a family church they weren't willing to leave and go somewhere else. So they came up with a solution. On Sunday mornings, the family and friends of Maybelle went out one door, and the friends and family of Kelli Sue went out the other. Fifty years later the split still remained, even though all the original people were dead and no one really remembered the reason for the feud anymore. They weren't even fighting anymore. But the remnants of the fight still existed. It's amazing what can divide Christians against one another. It's amazing how easily divided we are by things big and especially small.
Why are Christians so divided? I look at our denomination and divisions are tearing us apart. We've been fairly good here at Calvin Church in avoiding the splits. We're bucking the trends. But nationally the PC(USA) is a mess. For instance, it's this problem of division and fighting that causes me to hate being involved in our presbytery. For the whole 12+ years I've been here our presbytery meetings have been filled with fighting and rancor. Just this past week I was at our presbytery meeting, and yet again another potentially divisive issue was brought up. Several pastors, who believed that actions taken by our General Assembly this past summer were horrendous, created a document to be sent to the national church, criticizing them for their decisions. One decision in particular that galled them was a statement from the General Assembly encouraging Presbyterians to hold joint worship services with Jews and Muslims as a way of overcoming our differences. These pastors believed that the idea of Christians worshiping with Muslims and Jews was a horrendous one because Jews and Muslims don't believe in the same God as us. They don't recognize Christ as God, and so they consider it to be blasphemous to worship with Muslims and Jews. This despite the fact that Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 9 about becoming a Jew with the Jews, and a Gentile with the Gentiles, and basically adjusting himself to how others are. This is despite the fact that in chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians he tells us that it is okay to eat food sacrificed to idols in chapter, except when it offends those of a weaker Christian faith. From my reading, Paul is encouraging peace and exchange with others. In other words, this issue just brings up our divisiveness again, pitting one Christian against another, despite scripture that teaches us to hold fast to our faith while having healthy relationships with those of other faiths. Why are we always dividing in our denomination today?
Whether you know it or not, these division are nothing new. Presbyterians have been fighting since the beginning of Presbyterianism in the 1600s. For example, we've been fighting in our present denomination ever since the southern and northern strains of the largest two Presbyterian denominations rejoined in 1983. The reunion of 83 actually repaired a split that occurred in 1860 over slavery, with the northern church against it, the southern church in favor of it. That issue obviously doesn't divide us anymore, but we've found others to take their places.
What may surprise you is that the split of 1860 wasn't a rare occurrence. Presbyterians have been splitting since the begging. Look at the chart below. It's a chart of Presbyterian schisms. It reads from left to right, and shows that even in the beginning there were three strands of Presbyterianism that had already split back in Scotland and northern England between the 1600s and 1700s. The chart itself looks like some sort of engineering schematic, perhaps diagramming an intermittent windshield wiper or something like that.
All of these Presbyterians split over issues that seemed so important, so earth-shattering at the time, and that we don't even remember now. What was the Old School/New School split about? What was the Old Side/New Side split about? Why did the Cumberland Presbyterians split from us? What was the Old Light/New Light split about? I have no idea. Presbyterians traditionally have gotten so angry at each other that they split. Then, generations later,we forget what the split was about.
(Chart 1)
Looking at this chart, and knowing the history of Presbyterians, the obvious conclusion is that to be Presbyterian is to be in conflict. There must be something about us that creates division, right? Actually, it isn't just Presbyterians who split. Christians have been splitting since the beginning. Take a look at this next chart—a chart of Christian schisms since the beginning of Christianity:
(Chart 2)
Looking at this chart, it probably makes sense to think that Christianity is a religion of conflict. Certainly a lot of non-Christians would say that. How can you look at that chart and not think that we encourage division? Isn't division part of our blood? Certainly a rational person would conclude that Christianity causes conflict? I mean, think of how many wars seem to have been caused by Christianity?
The problem with this line of argument is that if you look at every other religion, you'll see the same conflicts. In Islam there are Sunnis, Shiites, Sufis, and numerous other sects that have divided against each other. In Buddhism, a religion that many see as conflict-free, you find Theraveda, Mahayana, Zen, Hinayana, Dharmaguptaka, Mulasarvastivada, and numerous other sects of Buddhism that have split from each other. Judaism has Reformed, Orthodox, Hasidic, and numerous other conflicting schools. Every religion has its splits. So, the rational person would conclude that it's religion that causes conflict. Certainly there are many atheists and agnostics who will gleefully point out that religion has caused more wars than anything else. They are wrong, but the love to point that out.
To say that religion causes war is to be ignorant of the real causes of conflict. Why do humans fight? Not because of religion. We fight because to be human is to be in conflict. Where do you see an absence of conflict in the world? Wars rage all over the planet, abetted by conflicts great and small. What company, organization, political body, community, or even family is conflict-free? Humans don't need religion to create conflict. We do fine without it. In fact, what happens brings religion into conflicts is that people misuse religion to justify conflict. I believe that all our conflict is a remnant of our animal nature, trying to create security for ourselves at the expense of others. Conflict comes about because of the need for rightness. We have this survival need to be right, to be in charge, to seem to be in control because those feelings make us feel safe. Conflict ensues when we don't feel safe and feel the need to gain security, even at the expense of other people's security. So we lash out. Religion tries to overcome these impulses.
Look at our passage again. Read what it says. Paul isn't advocating conflict. He's helping people overcome it. He knows that the church at Philippi is rife with conflict between Jewish followers who believe that the Jewish traditions should reign in the church, and Gentile followers who believe that Gentile traditions should reign. They are fighting. What's Paul's answer: “ be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
Christianity recognizes this basic human tendency to fight and tries to overcome it. Looking at our passage, Paul basically said that there is one way to overcome the basic human need for conflict. First, he says, treat others as better than yourself . In other words, if we work on being hospitable, caring, compassionate, and loving as we raise others up, we eradicate conflict. Conflict comes about from treating others with disdain, indifference, or denigration.
Second, he tells us to look for places of connection, not conflict. So often we look for what divides us, not what connects us. We look for what's different, not what's the same. We have to train our minds to see what we share.
Third, we need to care about others and make that our focus. It's hard to be in conflict when we care for another, especially when we act out of care rather than out of irritation, coercion, or a demand that another do our bidding.
Finally, he says that we should take on the mind of Christ. The natural thing to say to that is that we can't because Jesus was special and different. Paul would never accept that answer. He believes we can and should work to think in Christ's way. He would say that we take on the mind of Christ any time we do what Christ did, which is to seek ways to bring about unity with the Father, with each other, and with him. All it takes is a willingness to see with Christ's compassion.
Ultimately the lesson here is that we live in a world of conflict, but we don't have to be of a world of conflict. There is another way, a way offered by Paul. The question is whether we are willing to take that way.
Amen.
