Promoting Christian Unity

by Jane Bernard Hanson

Theologian Margaret O’Gara author of the Ecumenical gift Exchange, describes the ecumenical dialog among Christians an act of exchanging gifts. This ecumenical conversation is a special kind of gift exchange in which the givers and receivers get to keep and treasure the gifts they bring to the dialogue. One of the gifts that all Christian churches hold as a common treasure is baptism. All Christians are welcomed into the Christian family through the waters of baptism. All Christians believe, ". . . in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins."

When I moved to Minnesota from Delaware eight and a half years ago, somehow I managed to lose our family’s baptismal gown. I cannot find it here. My kids cannot find it in Delaware. My sister and brother cannot find it anywhere. I am heart sick that it is lost. Everyone in my family from my maternal great, great grandfather to my own two sons were baptized wearing that gown. It is part of my family’s symbol-system. It speaks to us about the sacrament of baptism, our membership in the family of faith and the continuity of our own family. It tells us we have a place in a picture bigger than our own little slice of existence. And now that my son and his wife are about to become parents, my heart is even sicker about the loss. Not having that important family symbol does not diminish us so much as it somehow abridges us. Grandbaby will still be baptized as a Catholic in the Christian family with great joy and deep love. But something will be missing. It won’t quite be the same.

In a real way, the divisions in Christianity are like losing our family’s baptismal gown. We all still get baptized. We all still are incorporated into the Body of Christ, cleansed and given our identity as sisters and brothers in the Lord Jesus. But its not the same. It’s not full and complete and robust. We are, as Christians truly diminished and abridged in our identity and in our relationship to one another. And ultimately, our witness to the world is compromised.

I think my family’s baptismal gown is probably lost forever. But I believe firmly that our unity as Christians is not lost, diminished and abridged for now, but not lost. During this season of Easter, the season of baptism, as we renew our baptismal promises and are sprinkled with holy water, let us be mindful of our call to work and to pray for the restoration of full communion in the Christian church. It is our duty and our privilege as sisters and brothers in the Lord Jesus.

A prayer for unity:

Almighty and eternal God, you keep together those you have united.

Look kindly on all who follow Jesus your Son.

We are consecrated to you by our common baptism;

make us one in the fellowship of love.

We as this through Christ our Lord.

(Opening Prayer from the Mass for Unity of Christians)

Jane Bernard Hanson is director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life for the Diocese of New Ulm.