How are we to complete our work as one body, the body of Christ, all “Seeking to be Faithful Together?” It was a huge undertaking. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew this challenge and that there is a lot that has to happen in addition to simply being together. It’s so much easier to think about how “I” can be faithful then how “We” are faithful together. I mean what happens if we think differently about something…that never happens right? What if I disagree with you, strongly disagree with you? Can we still work together? What if I’m on a committee when 7 vote one way and 6 vote another way…oh yes, that being faithful “together” becomes even more challenging as certainly whatever decision is made some people will be very disappointed! The early church had to face these kinds of challenges…they had to wrestle with various interpretations of the stories they heard about Jesus. If the church was to grow, they needed to demonstrate that faith in Christ made a remarkable difference in their lives. A life changing difference in how they navigated conflict and differences of thought. So, how is one to become an example for others to see what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. People will be watching them, learning from them. Paul is telling the people in Ephesus that their lives should look different than those who don’t know Christ. Paul reminds them that there is “Unity in the Body of Christ.” And he gives examples of the characteristics of this “unity.” He uses words such as humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That is a high calling and as Paul urged the church in Ephesus to work toward this goal of unity, the same calling is for you and me.

We know that sometimes it is hard to have unity right here in the work our church does, think how much more challenging this goal is for 465 commissioners sitting together pondering and wrestling with 114 overtures. Most of the overtures were handled in the smaller committees and they did not get debated on the full floor. Why? By far the full Assembly trusted the work of the smaller committees. That is where the big wrestling happened! In my committee on International Engagement, we had 7 overtures to discuss and vote on and only 1 of our overtures went to the full assembly to be reconsidered.  The smaller committees had to do their work, with 35 or more people and it took great humility, gentleness, and patience to come to a consensus on each overture. But before we even began, the looming question was could we do this same unified work together and truly work together with the same goal in mind with the full assembly?

Our newly elected co-moderators of the General Assembly set the tone and practice of just how we would work together. When things seemed confusing, they stopped and asked for clarification, when there was an emotionally packed point of view expressed…we paused, and we prayed. Again and again, we were exposed to multiple points of view, multiple perspectives, not one voice was more important than another.

There was a particular moment that I still remember clearly. This happened when the overturn about divesting in fossil fuels was before the assembly. I was listening carefully to everyone who spoke in favor and against. One passionate speaker made a claim in favor of divesting, and I thought wow, he has an important point.  And next speaker stood up and spoke against divesting in fossil fuels, and he started by saying the previous speaker was “wrong.” What he said was not true. Who was I to believe? What was clear to me at this point is that the issue before us is very complex and I will not know in the moment who was right or who spoke the truth and I knew there was much more to this issue that would go unspoken. But I had to vote, that was my task. So, I listened to the advisory groups and finally when the time came to vote, I remembered a policy statement that was made years ago at the 200^th General Assembly, “God Alone Is Lord of our Conscience.” I voted and trusted that God was with me in that moment and that I made the right choice.

As I come to an end here, there was another moment in the whole assembly gatherings that I will never forget. It is a moment that speaks again to the goal of “Seeking to Be Faithful Together” while maintaining unity. One overture was very contentious, and many people came to the microphones to speak. There were amendments to amendments and much time had gone by when we finally voted. When the overture passed there was a handful of people that clapped and cheered. Like wow it’s done hurrah, right? Oh but no. Rev. CeCe Armstrong our new co-moderator loudly said, “no”, “stop”,  she was saying stop the expressions of joy, then she reminded everyone that there were people who had voted the other way, there are colleagues among us who right now are sad or disappointed or frustrated. We were to honor everyone on both sides of the vote. There were no winners or losers just faithful people making decisions that were each person thought was best for the church! Best for our calling to be faithful together in this world. The cheers expressed did not honor this reality. It was a holy moment of learning what it means to strive for unity even when we disagree. The early church learned from Paul that this unity goal was not easy, but the effort and the angst endured proved to be a beacon of light drawing others to Christ as the church grew. “Seeking to Be Faithful Together” while maintaining unity remains the same goal for us today. I’ve given to each of you a card that outlines the process that was given to us at General Assembly. I hope it will help you in your own quest to “Be Faithful Together” in whatever task you face.

Remember these words from Paul, “I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  Amen