The church's one foundation

is Jesus Christ, her Lord;

she is his new creation,

by water and the word.

-The Church’s One Foundation, ELW #654

Last Sunday, we used a healing liturgy in our worship service. It’s the same one RLC has used for many years, about three or four times a year. We name everyone on our list of members, friends, and family the church has been asked to pray for. We pray for medical providers, direct caregivers, and loved ones affected by disease of any kind. We light candles. We invite anyone who wants to be prayed for and anointed individually to come forward and receive prayers.

It was as we began the time of anointing at the first service that I made a mistake. I dunked my entire thumb into the dish of oil, and as I went to smear it on the first forehead in front of me, oil started running down my hand onto the cuff of my alb.

Oil was used for all sorts of things in the ancient near east– cooking and eating, making offerings to the Temple, trading (its long shelf life made it perfect for bartering), and lighting lamps, to name a few. Its versatility made it ubiquitous in everyday life, from worship to mealtime to economic interactions. Oil was particularly used by the priests of ancient Israel to signify God drawing near to the people, whether in joy (see Psalm 104:15) or sustenance (see Psalm 23:5) or protection (see Psalm 92:10), or to show God’s divine call, as when kings or prophets were anointed to lead.

I didn’t think about any of those things as the olive oil dripped. As I finished praying for that first person, my first thought was worry that the oil was going to get everywhere. The very next moment I thought of Psalm 133: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.”

 In the third moment, my thought was a prayer: “God, let your Spirit overflow in us like this oil on my hand, for goodness and unity.”

It is both convenient and natural that our minds divide people into groups: old and young, male and female, rich and poor, black and white, democrat and republican, straight and gay, neighbor and stranger, us and them… the list could go on and on. Natural because our minds like to organize our lives, including the people in them. Convenient because our brains don’t have to work so hard to decide how to act if we already have a script for how to behave toward a new person who fits into one of our existing categories, and because our brains and our society reward us for being in relationship with people who are “like us.”

Inevitably, what is convenient and natural also gets us into trouble. (The theological term for this is bondage to sin.) Imagine yourself earning less than the median income for your community (in Polk County, that’s $31k for an individual or $58k for a household) and assuming that everybody with a six-figure household income (that’s the top 25% in Polk Co.) has no worries, only to learn that they fret about paying bills, too. Do you keep making judgments about those wealthy 25%, or do you broaden your worldview beyond your experience? Or imagine going through life assuming everyone 20 years younger than you is just a kid and then realizing that all your doctors are more than thirty years your junior. Do you go on assuming they’re too young for their work, or adjust your assumptions to recognize their training and experience?

Unity doesn’t require us to be the same. It doesn't even require us to agree about everything! (If you don't believe me, read the book of Acts.) It does require one kind of work and one kind of agreement, however: the work of seeking understanding, and the agreement that the only agreement needed is the foundation: Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, who gives us life.

Disagreement is no threat to unity. Difference is no threat to unity. At least, neither has to be a threat. Just as our bodies differ in size, shape, color, age, ability, and so much more, the Body of Christ is made of diverse members. Our unity comes from Jesus Christ.

So I’ll keep praying for overflowing unity, like oil dripping everywhere, trusting that the Holy Spirit is in the business of overflowing among us, bringing unity where division seems stubborn. Even the most entrenched split cannot stand up to the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the foundation. In him we find the unity nothing can shake.