In Him, All Things Hold Together

I once heard an address by the president of one of Canada’s largest universities in which he announced that the idea of the university must yield to the emerging reality of the “multi-versity”. The idea of a unifying ideal, underlying the notion of a “uni-versity”,  had essentially faded into oblivion.  No doubt he was being pragmatic and describing the way he saw institutional realities.  But to my mind he was surrendering to the fragmentation endemic to the spirit of our age.

Against this backdrop, our theme from Colossians rings with fresh relevancy. Is there a unifying core to reality? Is there indeed Truth that brings cohesion to all of the many and various truths we encounter?  Is there unity that underlies diversity?

At Redeemer, we affirm that there is. And that unifying core, that Logos that underlies things visible and invisible  (John 1, Hebrews 1), is not only personal, but it is a Person.  And in Him, all things hold together.

There is a wonderful tension to embrace, here:  the tension of unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation.  In Christ, we can celebrate both. We do not need to lose sight of one for the sake of the other.

As you observe the way you experience our culture, where do you see the dark side of the “Multi” as it is unhinged from the whole?  We, like our culture,  are fragmented, compartmentalized, broken, lacking  and in desperate need of wholeness. Isaiah describes this powerfully:  We, all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way (53: 6).

Isaiah is really describing the history of ancient Israel:  a cycle of integration and disintegration.  As God’s people drew close to Him, they experienced Shalom. Shalom has been whimsically defined as “Nothing Broken, Nothing Missing”. Shalom is not merely a peaceful feeling but the presence of God’s integrating Wholeness. As Israel would draw away from Him, they experienced dis-integration, fragmentation, brokenness, emptiness, lack, multi-faceted poverty.

As Christ followers, we know this Shalom, this peace, came at infinite cost.  Consider the words that preceded the previous quote: 

the punishment that brought us peace (Shalom) was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.  (Is 52:5b)

Last night I attended an International Celebration by Portico Church in Mississauga. It is a massive multi-racial, multi-cultural church that embraces some seventy-plus nationalities. Each nationality not only dressed in their native clothing, but they each served a feast of their national dishes. It was wonderful. As I sampled and watched, it struck me:  where else in all of the earth, but the Church of Jesus Christ,  would we see such a celebration of both unity and diversity?  What a taste of heaven!  It is only possible in Jesus. It models Jesus.  It is in Him that the celebration of diversity is possible with such a spirit of shalom.

So, connect the dots with me. Jesus makes people, institutions and societies whole.  At Redeemer, we need His integration at personal and institutional levels.  Yes, we may be jumbled inside and, yes, we have more than fifty-five Christian denominations at Redeemer, but there’s a much deeper reality.

It is, in fact, in Him that all things are held together.