A Brief Contemplation of Unity in Love and the Mingling of Magic with the Gospel of Christ.
ARC GUIDE LEVEL 4
Ideal for those well acquainted with our thought process at Ammi Ruhama Community and with other Christian Communities.
If we become what we measure then whatever we measure becomes our basis for unity. We are not, however, called to a baseless unity in whatever we choose to measure. In fact, given the chance, we always unite in the strictest measure we can think of and immediately try to push out those who rate low on that measuring stick.
Blue and Red Shirts
The exclusive nature of unity suggests that some are united while others are not. The blue shirt camp is easily definable from the red shirt camp. Anything else they are one in is coincidental and irrelevant because we don’t measure it due to the fact that they are wearing opposite colours and that someone decided that this matters and that a blue or a red shirt is better than the other and is shorthand for all kinds of qualities that have nothing to do with wearing a specific colour but have become historically synonymous.
Sorting Hat Conundrum
We sort one another into our proverbial houses, but the question is; am I brave, loyal and selfless because I’m a Gryffindor or am I a Gryffindor because I’m brave, loyal and selfless? I’m not a Gryffindor, although I value the qualities of a Gryffindor, that does not mean that I am not occasionally brave, loyal and selfless; it means that I don’t measure those qualities in myself or other people on a regular basis. The point is that we love a good sorting ceremony. Sorting helps us believe that we now finally understand who we are and why we are the way we are. Unfortunately for our pride, measuring “personality,” doesn’t actually make us any better people it just puts a positive spin on the characteristics we already possess, and, because we have measured them, we will only ever produce those characteristics and reinforce our initial sorting, at least until we take another personality or ‘spiritual gift,’ test.
The Prime Unifier
It is therefore essential that what we measure and therefore unite in be something that unites all of the people God has called us to be one with and which ought to characterise all Christians–that quality is love. Pay attention! The assent of the message of the gospel alone does not suffice. The gospel is the prime example of love; God laying down his life for his enemies, and being raised back to life by an equal measure of that love but we have twisted the message of the gospel into a talisman we believe in and speak with an incantation we imbibe with the power to save. This puts unity on our terms–anyone can assent to the historical gospel and speak the incantation, and therefore we put whatever sorting ceremony we want at the other side of the door. We might admit someone’s salvation, but not their spiritual health if they are not wearing the appropriate shirt.
The fact of the matter is that the act of divine sacrificial love itself opened the door the possibility of salvation. To willingly walk through that door, to know and be known, to imitate that love is to know, love and imitate God. This is what unites us, not mere assent of historical fact, nor indeed the measuring of the things of God that come by no other means. There is no sorting ceremony; no pre-judgement to the Day of the Lord, and so the all inclusive nature of the gospel of Christ via the knowledge, love and self identification with God is what unites us as one body.
Ammi Ruhama Community 