Oneness is not Uniformity

Posted byLisa BattyePosted inUncategorizedTags:, , , , , ,
The following was published in the BLIMP (issue 103). BLIMP is the weekly newsletter for the ordinands and other students in Emmanuel Theology College.
This week’s editorial is written by one of our Chaplains, the Revd Canon Lisa Battye….

Jesus prayed: ‘I ask … that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’ John 17:20,21 NRSV

On July 5th (2024) the end of the General Election campaign will coincide with the beginning of the next Group of Sessions of the Church of England’s General Synod. We are likely to be feeling quite well informed about National Politics, but I wonder how many of us – even those preparing for ordination in the CofE – know what’s on the agenda of the latter?

One thing we can be sure of is there will be something about human sexuality on the agenda. The issue is taking Synod on a very long journey, and sometimes it feels as though Synod members are caught up in a battle between competing theologies. When humans feel embattled, they don’t think much about what it means to be ‘one’ in Christ.

Battles are painful. It’s no wonder people often expend energy distancing themselves from ‘the other side’! Less contact makes it easier to listen only to one’s own and near-by voices. But separating out to lessen the pain of disagreement is not what Jesus prays for in his final prayer.

At a time like this the experience of training side-by-side with people with whom we just do not agree is not only formational, but increasingly important for the future Church. There is a lot to be gained from seeing people that I think have ‘got it wrong’ being treated with as much respect as myself.

Theological colleges like ours provide an opportunity for us to foster the kind of oneness that Jesus prays for in John 17. This oneness is not uniformity. It is something that springs from each of us being ‘in Christ’ in the way that he and the Father are mutually within.

God is Love, so the oneness Jesus is praying for for us is more akin to the mutual flourishing of people who are ‘in Love’. And the point of this unity is in the prayer: It’s what our oneness says to the world about Jesus. He prays that we might be one ‘… so that the world may believe’ that he is who he is.

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