Experiencing God - Unity vs Uniformity 120

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."
Gospel of Mark

Rick Warren wrote a best selling book called "The Purpose Driven Life".  Many of you have probably read it.  In this book, Warren presents all kinds of sayings and expressions which could be easily memorized.  One that caught my attention when I read it was:  "God does not want uniformity.  God wants unity". 

What is this uniformity that God does not want?  In simple terms, it means not turning everyone into a carbon copy of ourselves.  That would be unhealthy for oneself and the church which needs a diversity of gifts and strengths to build Christian community.

But unity is different.  To be united would be life giving.  To be united is to share that commonality of faith in Christ.  To be united is to share in Christ's purpose, mission, and service.  When people are united around a common faith in Christ, and fulfilling Christ's mission, there is a willingness to overlook differences in views, differences in personalities, differences in weaknesses and strengths.  There is a desire to work together and bring to the table that which can be used to fulfill the intended purpose.

When does this not happen? 
1.  When there is competition in the performance of certain roles
2. When there is insistence that everyone have my point of view
3. When everything has to be done a certain way which is usually my way. 
When these conditions exist, disunity will result.

In the letter to the Corinthians, Paul observed disunity.  He accuses them of "still living by the flesh". 

"For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving according to human inclination?"

Does this condition exist in the Church today?  I think we can all agree that, to some extent, it does.  What can we do to encourage unity?  For an answer to this question, I was impressed by Pope Benedict XIV statement on his visit to the United States. 

"We can only move forward if we turn our gaze together to Christ.  In the light of faith, we will then discover the wisdom and strength needed to open ourselves to points of view which may not necessarily conform to our own ideas or assumptions.  Thus we can value the perspectives of others, be they younger or older than ourselves, and ultimately hear what the Spirit is saying to us and to the Church."

To facilitate this sense of unity by turning out gaze to Christ and His mission, we also must do what Jesus Himself did in the Gospel of Matthew; to find our way to a place where we can be alone, so that we can pray to the Father for help and direction as to how to respond to the many situation we find in our lives.  In this way, we can learn to respond with love to the differences we encounter.  We can discover Christ's love in the brother or sister we are at odds with.  We can seek forgiveness and reconciliation with those we have hurt or with those who have hurt us.  We can discover that both we and the other are, as St. Paul says; "God's field, God's building, working together with the same purpose in mind."