Grace Notes 2025-03-26

Beloved in the Lord, this week I feel compelled to write to you about Christian unity. What compels me? I’m not sure. Hopefully we all know how dear this is to our Lord Jesus Christ. And at the same time, we are well aware of the lack of such unity and the damage this causes.

Jesus made unity an important part of His prayer in John 17. The context for this prayer is His soon departure by way of the Cross and later Ascension into heaven. He prays for our protection from the evil one, and for our sanctification. And importantly He prays that we might be one just as He is one with the Father.

The Apostle Paul indicates that this unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit and is enabled when by baptism we were joined to Christ (cf. Ep 2:11-22; 4:1-7). He further indicates that this unity is reflected in being of the same mind on what our Lord has taught us (cf. 1Co 1:10; Ph 2:2).

It is important to note that true Christian unity is a gift, and something enabled by our Lord. Our flesh (fallen, sinful nature) is not capable of it, but instead produces divisions. The divisions among confessing Christians from early on is not the fault of the Holy Spirit, but of our sinful nature. And the overcoming of these divisions is not something we are capable of apart from God.

There is a grave danger today of trying to effect and declare a unity that sadly and unfortunately is not being reflected as it was intended. That is when Biblical doctrines are deemphasized or minimized, and unity is celebrated at the lowest common denominator. A more faithful path forward is to emphasize what we genuinely hold in common, work together where we can with integrity, and agree to disagree as humbly we pray that the Light of day would prevail in making us of one mind. There is, after all, such a thing as false teaching…

Since You Asked

What is an Alb? And why does our Pastor wear one? 

Alb (from the Latin “white”): a white ankle-length vestment with sleeves, often gathered at the waist with a cincture, worn by all ranks of ministers, ordained and unordained. The classical tunic became a specific church vestment about the fifth century. One of the functions of an ordained minister in our tradition is for that person to represent Christ to the people. Christ is pictured in the Book of Revelation with a white robe. The white robe is also a symbol of his righteousness. For this reason, the alb is a proper covering for the presiding minister with the function of representing Christ to the people.  (from “Manual on the Liturgy” companion to the LBW, from Augsburg Pub.)