State of the Church: The Celtic Revival (20)
Let each maintain what he has grasped; but let all maintain the gospel, and both parties, like single harmonious members of one body, follow Christ the head of all by His own commands…If ye love Me, keep My commandments, and, This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I also have loved you…Thus unity of minds and peace and charity then can be assured, spread abroad in the bowels of believers by the Holy Ghost, when all alike long to fulfill the divine commands…in [Him] let us love one another, praise one another, correct one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, that with Him in one another we may reign and triumph.
– Columbanus, Letter to Pope Gregory
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4.1-6
Disunity
The differences between the Irish missionaries and the Catholic clergy of Gaul were of two kinds. The most visible were the outward ones—the time for celebrating Easter and certain ascetic practices. The inward differences, however, were the most troublesome, for they led to animosity on the part of the Catholic clergy toward Columbanus and his team.
Columbanus did not try to make the Catholics practice their faith in the same way the Irish did. He was perfectly content for them to celebrate Easter as they thought best and to practice the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and meditation according to their customs. These external differences, Columbanus urged the pope to understand, must not be the cause of disunity. We can agree to disagree and still keep our unity intact and growing.
But, as we have seen, the deeper, inward differences were the real reason the Catholic clergy would not accept or encourage the Irish missionaries. Self-love and self-advancement, with all the perks and privileges these conveyed, were what kept the Catholic clergy from embracing the Irish mission. For years before the Irish arrived in Gaul, the bishops and priests had abandoned the Church’s mission of making disciples and were supremely focused on making themselves comfortable. Self-love was the real issue.
The Irish missionaries, by their devotion to the Word and ministry, threatened that comfortable status quo.
Key to unity
But Columbanus appealed to the pope to remind his charges of Christ’s commandment that they should love one another. If they would, Columbanus argued, grace would spread to more and more people and love would direct all the mutual interests of the two camps. Then, when unity was achieved and love was abounding within the household of faith, the work of the Gospel would go forward with greater success.
As Paul reminds us, maintaining Christian unity is hard work. It must be daily renewed, within churches, between congregations in a community, and, by some means, with the worldwide Body of Christ. Jesus had prayed for such unity, for He knew that this would be the one token that would convince the watching world that the Father had sent Him from heaven to bring salvation (Jn. 17.21). Jesus prayed for unity. Do we? Jesus gave of Himself—in the Person of the Holy Spirit—to achieve a unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What do we do, and what do our churches do, to develop, maintain, and improve the unity of the one Body of Christ in our community?
It seems to me that if we loved Jesus more, we would love what Jesus loves. Jesus loves to see His Church as “one body and one Spirit…one hope of your calling; one Lord one faith one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Do we not want what Jesus wants?
What will it require of each of us in “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”? Are we content to keep up the dividing walls between us and our fellow Christians? Our church and all other faithful churches in our community? Or will we accept Paul’s challenge and take up many endeavors to bring more visible unity to the Body of Christ as far as we can reach?
The Irish missionaries sought to preserve oneness in the Gospel and to let nothing get in the way of that. It was the self-loving clergy of Gaul who refused the initiative and rejected their Christian brethren.
For Reflection
1. What is your practice of seeking unity with the Christians in your life sphere?
2. What does your church do to work hard at being one with other faithful congregations?
Psalm 84.8-12
Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
LORD of hosts, my prayer receiving, hear me, help me by Your grace!
In Your courts I stand believing; turn to me Your glorious face!
LORD, our sun, our shield, our glory, no good thing will You deny
to those who proclaim Your story, and who on Your grace rely.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
For a good complementary study to this, check out Pray for Your Church. It’s free in The Ailbe Bookstore. And download our ReThinking Church Appraisal Tool by clicking here.
Other columns of interest: This week: In our ReVision series on “The Church” we consider the question of how to “church”. Our Read Moore podcast is working through our book, The Kingdom Turn. The focus of our Scriptorium daily study is on “Matthew: The Coming of the Kingdom.” Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
