Unity in Futility

Among the simple gatherings, a lot has been said and a lot has been written about unity regarding what it is, how it is achieved, and its priority.

I'm going to overturn a table now.

We have two components to our unity, a visible component and an invisible component. And these components are the polar opposite of how we think and how we operate and what we say to one another.

We tend to unify around visible righteousness and invisible unrighteousness. But our real unity is in visible unrighteousness and invisible righteousness.

That is, we tend to gather around good things that are publicly regarded as reasonable and correct, whether doctrines or practices. And we shove all the crap into the closet. When we're outside of the house, we say the same things and do the same things, and hide the same things. We're all together in this, all in lockstep. That's how unity has been working.

But the truth is that we're really and truly united in our weakness and our need. Though we strive to hide it, we're not fooling anybody. This is what unites us with the rest of the human race, that we collectively all fall short. But when we try to cover this fact up by wearing our religious heritage in order to distinguish ourselves from the world, we become an inverse parable. The world knows the truth. We mean for our religion to show forth our God by what we are, but it causes the world to understand God by what we are not. They can point to us and say, "Whatever God is, He is not like that". In truth, we are united in our visible crapulence (which is a good starting point for a parable), not our visible righteousness (which becomes an inverse parable, a cautionary tale). Thus the visible component of our unity is not what we think it is.

The true and invisible component of our unity is the spiritual component. We might attempt to somehow fashion this invisible component into the visible banner of our unity. But in our attempt to promote the true and invisible things as rallying points, we instead produce philosphies and practices that can be set alongside all the other doctrines and laws of this world. Unification contains the seeds of its own destruction. Once we crystallize our invisible unity into visible forms, they become tangible opporunities to show ourselves approved, to divide from one another.

Unity begins in the mind of God. Confronted by God, we're all subjected to futility, so that He can have mercy on all. My futility is my connection to you. Whether you are a believer or not, I don't have to know you very well to know that we have something in common at the very pit of our existence. You and I, we're bumping our heads against the same barriers of ignorance and death. No man has seen God at any time. We are in the same boat, this is visible and evident.

If you're a believer, I'll gather with you in our shared need, in our shared impotence, in our search for the things which are not visible or knowable apart from revelation from the Unknown God who (we believe) becomes known to us through the Son, who speaks in parables through a glass darkly.