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One of the traditions in the Ministry Association when I was serving at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Greensboro, AL was holding twice-a-year Sunday late afternoon services. One was before Thanksgiving. The other was around Palm Sunday. The service was led by whoever the newest pastor in the area was at the time.
My turn rolled around at Palm Sunday, which meant planning a service, asking various ministers to help out reading or praying, and preaching the sermon for the day.
One of the great things about being in a liturgical denomination is that I could simply take Evening Prayer and slightly tweak it to make it work for this setting. After all, no Christian can object to a service that is filled completely with Scripture and a bunch of prayers.
Now our history with racial injustice in Alabama is better known and documented than many other parts of the country. Knowing this, it was important to me that our ministers represented diversity in denomination and race. I had gotten to know many of my colleagues in that area at that point, and I’m happy to report that I was able to get the vast majority there to help with the service, some who had not been to a Ministry Association service in a long time.
It was a wonderful time of worship for all of us. My colleagues and their congregations enjoyed how much prayer and Scripture we included. I enjoyed having a lot of good and powerful vocal response during my sermon, something I had not experienced a lot before and hope to one day experience again. Especially for my first time setting up a multi-denominational service, it was a great success.
Even with the history of racial injustice in the state, there was no animosity experienced before, during, or after the service. In fact, everyone I talked to in our congregation was overjoyed at the opportunity to have so many in our community come together, many who might not have connected otherwise. It also opened the doors for our letting others to worship, both from Greensboro and from without.
At the end of the day, it’s really all about Jesus. That’s all that really matters. And if we can come together for Jesus, we can do amazing things.
It’s nice to see some positive stories of Christians working together regardless of race or denomination. Unfortunately, we see too many examples of denominations and even parishes that refuse to play nice with others, even those of the same Faith.
This is not the action Jesus calls us to. We see this in the Gospel today. Jesus doesn’t call us to oppose one another. Instead, He calls us to work together.
We see that in the very start of our Gospel today. There, the Disciples tell Jesus some news that has rocked them to their core. Others are going out, not part of their group, who are casting out demons in Jesus’ Name.
They are expecting Jesus to be just as distraught as they are over this. They are expecting Jesus to do something about this. They are expecting Him to chastise these others, or even do the 1st Century equivalent of a copyright infringement suit.
Instead, Jesus says that “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
How often we forget this truth. It doesn’t matter if they go to a different church or denomination. If someone is sharing the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ, then they are on our side. Whether we know them or not, if they are acting in Jesus’ Name, then they are our fellow siblings in Christ.
The point isn’t whose tribe is better. The point is doing God’s work. This is the theme we see in James and Mark this morning. The author of James puts the focus on bringing others back to Jesus. Jesus, in turn, warns us not to be a stumbling block to any trying to make the path to Him.
All that matters is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and sharing that Good News with all that we meet. Nothing else matters.
There is great hope when we can work together to serve our Lord Jesus. We see that in the examples of Christians who have set aside differences and come together to do the work of the Lord. If we are to serve God, our differences shouldn’t matter. We should be willing to work with any and all that are just as willing as we are to love and serve the Lord.