AdventWord 2019: 7. Unity
Advent confronts us with a comforting truth that in spite of seemingly insurmountable challenges we have at a personal, family, national, ecumenical, or interfaith level, or within the Anglican Communion, God’s unshakable promise that He will be with us does not depend on these decisions or challenges.
God is waiting to be born again or to be re-discovered again in our lives. In the Pauline corpus, unity is not sameness. Unity is about parts of the body, each contributing to the whole. Unity is a Godly judgment on the policies such as apartheid – apartheid meaning racial, social, ecumenical apartness that presumes others are not made in the image of God.
So, unity in Advent is a call to re-align our compasses as the body of Christ to know that through our baptism, we are heirs of His rule (Kingdom) and our vocation is to be seen in loving service, in uprooting unjust structures, in proclaiming His love, in respecting human dignity, in hearing the loud cry of creation, which is groaning because of our greed.
Unity in this Advent journey invites us to participate with God in His work of reconciliation between our nations and within our Communion (Makgoba 2019: Faith & Courage, p 189).
Let me end with a prayer adapted from Bishop Michael Nuttall:
Lord, heal our land,
Heal our leaders,
Heal our church,
Heal our nations,
Heal our creation, but begin with me.
Amen.