Do you believe this?
Let me begin with an oldie but a goodie you may have heard before…
Once I saw this man on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"
He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What denomination?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"
Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.
We live in a world where difference threatens us or we pretend difference isn’t there. Just look at the world this weekend. We have a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza beginning today but do we trust it? Then next month is the third Anniversary of the war in Ukraine and then there’s tomorrow and the inauguration of President Trump which some people think is scary. His official picture, did you see it – is scary whatever! I have distant cousins in America I’ve found on line. Two of them live in Texas and think Trump is Jesus returned to save them. Another lives in Minnesota and wants to emigrate to Canada – soon!
We see difference in where we live not near that sort, not mixing with people not like us and never ever supporting the wrong football team.
I did a funeral in Ripon last year and the man was a passionate Liverpool supporter. His brothers told me we want you to say he supported Liverpool, Liverpool reserves and any team that isn’t Everton!
A Christian was stranded on a desert island by himself for many years. He was rescued, and the rescuers were confused to see that he hadbuilt two churches. They asked him why.
Pointing to one of them, he says, "Well, that's the church that I go to." And pointing to the other, "And that's the one I don't go to."
The story of the church has had its sad moments. We’ve highlighted our differences and suspicions of each other rather than celebrate that which binds us together. I’ve been a minister in the Methodist Church for the last twenty-eight years and it used to be we were very separate and we were almost proud of our division. One of my first churches was in Stalybridge in Greater Manchester. There were two distinct groups in the church. One sat one side, and one sat the other side and the atmosphere could be a bit frosty. When I commented on this I was told “they are Wesleyan and we are Primitive!” Methodist union was in 1932, the Primitive chapel round the corner had closed in 1951 and this was 1997!
How do we come together? I’ve seen a shift,and I hope this is true for your context here that we are thinking less about where we are different and we are thinking about what we agree on and what we can do together. I’m seeing groups of Christians praying together, worshipping together, doing mission together and making friends.
Imagine you were around in the fourth century and you were invited to meet with other Christians to discuss matters of faith and doctrine. You are invited to a gathering with others from all over the world to thrash out what you believe. This is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 325 which gathered at the invitation of the Emperor Constantine Christian communities from around the world there to strengthen their relationships as the Church of Jesus Christ.
The first Ecumenical Council in 325 was a gathering of Christian bishops in Nicaea, now Iznik in present-day Turkey, as the first attempt to reach consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, and to affirm the Christian faith in the triune God.
In Nicaea, Christians who only recently had been persecuted in the Roman Empire were able to gather under the patronage of the Emperor to affirm their faith and witness to the society around them.
Then, as now, the call to unity was heard within the context of a troubled, unequal, and divided world.
As I’ve said already, we easily focus on what divides us, we should concentrate more on what we agree on, and it is our common life in Christ and our belief in a God revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. That call to unity is as urgent as it was 1700 years ago as we live in an equally troubled, unequal and divided world today. I find it mind blowing that we’ve been saying words we agree on since the fourth century as the Nicene Creed was the result of our forebears discussion and another council in Constantinople in 381.
All sides stayed at Nicaea for two months, through May into June. In our frenetic lives, we rarely give each other the space we need to listen and understand each other …And then discover after we’ve shared time together really listening to each other a new trust and a commitment to work together.
So around our county we are beginning to see Christians making covenants to walk together, we are beginning to see deeper trust between clergy and rules long held being bent to enable better sharing of resources and we are beginning to see Anglican priests serving as Methodist ministers. Go to Helmsley and talk to Melanie the vicar. It’s exciting!
Jesus told Martha in John 11 he was the resurrection and the life. He’d come to bring life to her grief by raising her brother and his friend to life. He asks her if she believes. In the end authentic Christian presence in your town will not be judged by how you do things in your separate churches although it’s good we have different ways of worship and spirituality as we can learn from each other, it will be how we are judged on what we believe and whether we can share it. Later in our service we will say the Nicene Creed and as we say it we celebrate our partnership in the Gospel, our common life in Christ and our responsibility to be the Church in Bedale today and tomorrow.
A man arrives at the gates of heaven. St. Peter asks, “Religion?”
The man says, “Baptist.”
St. Peter looks down his list and says, “Go to Room 24, but be very quiet as you pass Room 8.”
Another man arrives at the gates of heaven. “Religion?”
“Lutheran.”
“Go to Room 18, but be very quiet as you pass Room 8.”
A third man arrives at the gates. “Religion?”
“Presbyterian.”
“Go to Room 11, but be very quiet as you pass Room 8.”
The man says, “I can understand there being different rooms for different denominations, but why must I be quiet when I pass Room 8?”
St. Peter tells him, “Well, the Methodists are in Room 8, and they think they’re the only ones here.”
To give a different Methodist view we’d better throw in some John Wesley. John Wesley described religious liberty as the “liberty to choose one’s own religion, to worship God according to one’s own conscience.” He insisted that every person living had a right to do this. Wesley’s essay, The Character of a Methodist, says this “from real Christians of whatsoever denomination they be, we earnestly desire not to be distinguished at all. Dost thou love and serve God? It is enough. I give the right hand of fellowship.” In his sermon on the Catholic spirit he wrote “if your heart is right with my heart, give me your hand.”
So where are you as churches here? Let me tell you a final story. I had a little chapel in Somerby in Leicestershire. A Friday fellowship met which had Anglican and Methodists in it. The Anglican Church was freezing and our multi purpose refurbished chapel was warm. They would have tea at the end of the meeting and they’d always had two trifles, one they’d call church trifle and the other chapel trifle. Of course Methodists were meant to eat the chapel trifle because church trifle had quite a lot of sherry in it, about half a bottle. What happened? The Methodists wanted to try something out of their comfort zone and they found what the other church offered inviting and lovely.
Friends, this isn’t 325, it is 2025. Do you need an ecumenical council? What do you believe? Jesus offers your churches life, a journey out of a tomb, a creed and a future. “The unity of the Church” wrote William Temple, “is a perpetual fact; our task is to not to create it but exhibit it.”
Do you believe this?
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