Reflecting Christ: Putting Unity First

 

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  Ephesians 4:2-3

 Seeing this passage transports me back in time to February of 2019. At that time, I was a part of a beautiful ministry at our church that had brought hundreds of people that wouldn’t have darkened the door of a sanctuary into a space where they heard about God’s love. The thing is, we have an enemy that doesn’t like such ministries and so he sowed seeds of discord in our church over it. A small, but vocal, group decided that what we were doing in the ministry (Christian Yoga) wasn’t in line with what they thought the church should be doing, and they actively, vehemently, went about seeking to destroy it. I talked with them, shared my teaching and lesson plans, invited them to sit in on classes, and at every step they agreed that what I was sharing was completely Biblical, and yet they continued to try to end the program. The pastor sat down with them and attempted to reason with them about the validity and Biblical basis of the program, but they wouldn’t hear it. Things even got ugly with yelling and name calling. Eventually, the pastor and I decided that for the health and unity of the church, we needed to end the program. This devastated me. I had really believed that I was doing what God had called me to. I had seen so many lives transformed by Jesus and people hearing about His love in a real and powerful way. And then it was all over.

 They say hindsight is 20/20, and of course 2020 followed 2019. If the ministry hadn’t ended when it did, it certainly would have been when the church closed its doors because of COVID. But it’s not so much that the ministry ended as how it did that makes it stick in my mind. During that time, my pastor taught a lot on today’s passage. He emphasized the importance of the unity of the body. I got it. I realized that the unity of Christ’s people was far more important than my ministry. I humbled myself and laid down my “rights.” But I’m not sure I ever saw how it healed or brought unity to the congregation. The people who opposed the ministry were never reconciled to me in relationship. I tried, but there was a wall there that didn’t seem breachable.

 Perhaps part of why God allowed this ministry to end when it did was for my health as my then-unknown genetic condition (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) was wreaking havoc on my body because of my yoga practice. I was incurring connective tissue tear after connective tissue tear with no end in sight. Perhaps it was a mercy that it ended before COVID when things would have been a different battle altogether. Really, only God knows the reasoning behind what went down, and what was right and wrong about it. 

 I’ll tell you what I do know for certain, though. I believe that the unity of the body is far more important than any individual ministry. I believe that unity in Christ is far more important than any doctrine or liturgical difference. We are called to be One Body, One Church. Our point of unity? Jesus. That’s it, pure and simple. That’s where we find our true north, our absolute truth. Am I sad over how the ministry that I had invested so much in ended? Absolutely! I was devastated emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Do I regret my choices? Not. For. A. Minute. I absolutely, unequivocally believe that God directed me to Christian Yoga and taught me so much through it. I believe that He used it, and used me, in so many other people’s lives to draw them closer to God and teach them about His love. But I also believe in the importance of the unity of the Body and I believe that I worked with God’s direction in seeking that above my personal desires. I will probably question the logistics and details of that season for the rest of my earthly life, I have a long-standing habit of questioning my choices, but I don’t doubt for a minute my heart or that I laid it all down before God with open hands and trusted that He would bring about His will. Did I say the right thing at the right time in the right way to the right people? I don’t know. Did I allow hurt in my heart to hinder relationships with others because of this rift? Probably.  I tried not to, but it was really, really hard. I still have pain in my spirit when I think of them. Not anger, just hurt. Yes, I have prayed about forgiving them, and done so in every way I know how, but it doesn’t take the hurt away. But what I did decide on and followed through with throughout this season of my life and after it as well was that even if I felt hurt by people, I would still love them. I would still treat them with love, pray for them with love, and think on them with love.

Here's the Thing: When it comes to unity, it’s not about me, it’s about us. Jesus calls us to lay our lives down and take up His cross, just as He did. He didn’t camp out on His rights or the fact that He was completely innocent, no, He did what was necessary to heal the hurts of the world and make a path for us to the Father. Now, I am not in any way comparing what I did to what Jesus did, but I do try to model my life after His, and because of this I could never have camped out on the rights of my ministry and its validity over the health and unity of my church.