Unitive.

First there is the fall, and then we recover from the fall. Both are the mercy of God!

~ Julian of Norwich, AD 1400

I’d like to take you to two biblical scenes today and talk about them in a way that, I suspect, you’ve never heard before. First, the tower of Babel…

Not long after Noah and the flood, a unified humanity has a vision to build “a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens.” God questions their motives and intervenes. Their one language gets fractured into many, and the endeavor grinds to a halt. The resulting tribes scatter, each to their own, and the vision for unity collapses. You know the story.

God seems to think this is a mercy, because “if as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” There is indeed a power in unity, a power that can be used for good or ill. I think this scattering is also a mercy because, once the knowledge of God is distributed across a host of cultures, now we need one another in order to see the fullness of God. No one person, tribe, or even religion “owns” God.

This helps protect us from the arrogance of being the one group that’s right, as opposed to all the other groups who are wrong. We can carry the richness of our experience with God while also learning from the divine deposits in other groups. This is the “mercy” of the fall. And then the next biblical scene shows us the recovery: Pentecost.

In this mystical outpouring of the Spirit, the effects of the fall are actually reversed, and the languages of the known world are once again united in understanding and worship. Instead of pride, now there is humility: “Bewildered… amazed… perplexed… awed….” These are the words used to describe people’s reaction to the reunification of language.

Today, we say, “I hear you, I get you” to communicate that we have crossed the bridge of separateness and foreignness and built understanding. The “tribes” have reunited.

Mystics have a term for this—unitive consciousness. In other words, we have become conscious of our fundamental connection as humans, as children of God. And if there were ever a time when we needed to see our commonalities more than our differences, is that time not now? Our world has become a new Babel, fractured and alienated from one another. Even within our nation and faith, we are more separated from one another than ever. Is it not time for a new Pentecost? What would that even take?

For our Upper Room brothers and sisters, it took a surrender to the unknown and a yielding of control. They had no point of reference for a mighty wind, tongues of fire, and strange words in their mouths. They didn’t hold onto their past certainties and tribal allegiances; instead, they trusted that God was big enough and good enough to enlarge their community. That they could include, not fear, the stranger. That together, they could experience God in ways absolutely foreign and glorious!

How about now? Can we surrender to the Spirit once again?

growing the soul

In these days of polarization, let’s learn how to respect and fellowship with one another despite differences. Let’s stop over-identifying with our beliefs and perspectives so we can enter into our shared humanity with love.

serving the world

See above! This movement toward unity will both grow our souls and serve the world simultaneously.

takeaway

Go unitive.