Unity

December 2008
Unity
D&C 35:2

The holiday season seems to make us reflect upon the many blessings that we have. More particularly, I think, we reflect upon family.
This time of year I often remember those family get-togethers of my childhood. I think of the all day basketball on Thanksgiving Day, and all of the guys watching football. The girls in the kitchen and the children playing. I remember the great food prepared by aunts who I thought were masters at that sort of thing. I remember my parents sitting at the dinning room table discussing the gospel with my aunts and uncles, or playing cards, and enjoying aunt Jane’s ambrosia, and the endless hours of pure joy we had as children playing as hard as we could for fear that it would end too soon. To me, it was all as wonderful as anything could be. Only good memories have stayed. I know that there were struggles within the family, and hurt feelings that went on for years, but as children, we didn’t much care about such things. We only new the love and friendships that we enjoyed. We looked forward to every reunion with great anticipation. Little wonder then that we must become as little children to enter the Kingdom "family" of God.
Family is the classroom of Celestial relationships. Learning to love and serve each other, becoming one, is best done in the family setting. Furthermore, unity in the Kingdom of God is not without unity in the family.
The origin of the word unity is the Latin unitas or unitatem meaning oneness, sameness, agreement, and from unus meaning, one (Oxford dictionary). It’s interesting that it was from this word that the word unit comes. Unit, meaning a single undivided whole. In mathematics the word unity means the number one (Online Dictionary of Etymology). Any other number would not be unity for the simple fact that any other number represents a division. The number one cannot be divided and remain a whole number. In contrast the word digit comes from the Greek monas, a single thing regarded as a member of a group. The gospel writers could have use either word in describing the relationship between the saints and with God, but chose of the two, unity to be doctrinally clear. Unit and digit have similar meaning with this difference; a unit is an indivisible singular of one, not a group, while a digit is characterized as a single entity or individual within a group. It is important to understand the reason why the word unus (unity, one) is used throughout the scriptures rather than monas (a part of a group). The followers of Christ cannot be a gathering of digits with a diversity of purpose, but must be one. One heart, one mind. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you(1 Cor.12:12-27). It’s sort of like saying that I am your foot, but I choose not to be attached right now. Either you are part of the body, or you are not. Either you are alive in Christ, or you are dead. There is no life in detachment. While each member has a distinct purpose and quality, it is nonetheless one and the same. Thus the followers of Christ are called the body of Christ, one in Him, as He is one in the Father (D&C 93:3; 35:2; 50:43). Here we see the clarification in the use of the word in, rather than with, when describing our oneness in God. Again, not a uniting of individuals into a group, but rather, a becoming one. This condition must exist with the followers of Christ.
A further analogy. Suppose we see ourselves as so many electrical appliances. If I am a blender on the counter I may have a number of uses. The blender pitcher could be used for serving. The blender base could be use for storing the pitcher. If I were a microwave oven I could be useful as a place to store things out of sight or to keep flies off of the food. An electric drill might be used as a bulky screw driver (who hasn’t resorted to that before?), and a reciprocating saw could be used as a hand saw, but plug them all in to a common power source and you have a new and greatly enhanced usefulness. Even though each is a very different tool, they all become one in the common power source. Each is connected. That same power source connects appliances in California to appliances in New York. Likewise, there is a uniting power throughout the Kingdom of God that we can all plug into, bringing us to a state of oneness with God, and with each other.
Becoming one does not make us alike, or deny us our individuality. On the contrary, we are able to better express ourselves and utilize our abilities than we ever could otherwise. A hand may be impressive with incredible potential, but without being attached to the body it is useless. The same hand that signed the constitution, mapped the lunar missions, saved a child from a burning building, or made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, could do nothing without being attached to a body. The hand may think itself quite important and useful, but that would not change the reality of the situation. Man achieves great things and gains great power, but all things have an end when men die. Eternal value and fulfillment are maximized through exaltation. Therefore we can only find complete and limitless opportunity as, or in, the body of Christ.
The next question might be, how is this state of one achieved? First of all, there is a very interesting metaphor for this in the New Testament.
Jesus said, "But I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.....Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I shall raise him up in the resurrection of the just. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." Some were confused of course. They said that this was a hard saying. Jesus then clarified himself a bit, "It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:51-57,63)
The partaking of the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is a symbolic representation of becoming one in him. To take his flesh and blood into our bodies, digesting it and assimilating its DNA to make it part of our very beings makes us him. We become one of His members, like an eye, or hand, or head. In a way, all that Christ has created is a part of his body. It is all one organism. The catch is this; we came to a fallen world, which is dead to Him. It is as a severed member, like an offensive hand cut off. He came here to redeem it, to sew it back on so to speak, or to give it life again, and to restore it to its former place, for He is the resurrection and the life. So it is also with each person who comes here. This restoration to life is done through a process that He described as eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The restoration to life also restores us to the body of Christ, making us once again, one with him and therefore, one with the Father.
The eating of his flesh, and the drinking of his blood is symbolized of course in the Lord’s Supper. But this paper is not about the Sacrament, it is about being one. However, one can hardly escape a conversation about the Sacrament when exploring this topic, for the sacrament is about the at-ONE-ment. It is by reason of the at-ONE-ment that we can become one in Christ, therefore one in the Father, and therefore one in each other. In the blessing of the water we see an invitation to repent. The blood of Christ, spilt in Gethsemane, we drink to remind us of the forgiving power of Christ, and in repenting we find an open door to reunite with Him; this is the baptism of fire. In the blessing of the bread we see a covenant with a promise. If the covenant is kept, then we are made one in him through the constant presence, even baptism, of the Holy Ghost by whom comes the "record of the Father, and of the Son" (see 3 Nephi 11). Thus, through the keeping of these terms, called by Joseph the "articles of adoption", we become Christ, he becomes us, we become the Father, all one. This process of becoming one begins with the administration of the Holy Ghost at the gate and is completed in the receiving of the Second Comforter.
Chapters 15, 16 and also the17th chapter of John, known as "the great intercessory prayer" are a wonderful unfolding of this doctrine. Jesus teaches his apostles that it is through the administration of the Holy Ghost that we become the children of Christ, and continuing that course we leave the status of children and become his friends. Jesus pleads with his Father in prayer; "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory (or power) which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; " (chapter 17 verses 20-23)
It is by surrendering ones will to God, and by the power of the Holy Ghost that one can become united with God, and it is because of this union that one can be united with his fellow men. So then, to be united as a family we must first be united individually with Christ.
Let’s explore some of the things that we might need to do in order to begin this process.
First, believe. I have found in my conversations with people that this is the biggest and baddest of all hurtles. Many of us just don’t believe that we need this kind of change. We want to believe that God loves us just the way we are and will appreciate us for whatever effort we make. Or we believe that we are beyond help and that we should be happy that God would give us anything, and that we will just be content with whatever we get. We don’t talk this way of course. But think about it. If I am not working tirelessly to change my ways to be more like Christ, then I must have some excuse for it. If I am not willing to give up some bad habits right now, today, then I must have some reason for it. It’s not that we are not capable, for the Lord will give us no task that we are not able to complete (1 Nephi 3:7). It must be then that we are unwilling to do it. We just don’t believe that the reward is worth the effort, or that we could actually succeed at it. This is really short sighted. So we need to ask ourselves: Do I really believe in Eternal Life? Do I really believe in God? Do I really believe in a judgment? Do I really believe that Christ is able to wipe out all the stupid things I’ve done? Do I really believe that He wants me? That He can change me? Do I really believe that He will? Is that what I really want?
Be not doubting, but believing (Mormon 9:27). Belief leads to hope, "the revelation of the outcome of our faith." And hope comes by way of asking. We will not get what we do not ask for. Asking is a demonstration of sincere desire and belief. Hope is the answer to our heartfelt belief. One must have an idea about what their faith will result in if they are to take any action at all (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith), and that idea is called hope. Hope empowers us by making our dreams an attainable reality. God will reveal to the inquiring subject the possibilities made available by the at-ONE-ment. Would not this increase our faith? So, belief leads to hope and hope to faith, and faith to greater hope, and greater hope to greater faith, and so on.
Once we see the possible outcome of our faith we can choose to move forward. We are led forward, not knowing beforehand what we should do (1 Nephi 4:6), but, being led step by step in the very act, or the very hour in which we act. This is what we really mean when we say that faith is walking to the edge of the light, or in other words, the edge of our knowledge or understanding. We don’t really mean that faith requires us to wander around in the dark until we stumble across an answer. We walk to the edge of our "beforehand" knowledge and proceed led by the spirit a single step at a time into a previously unknown territory. Faith, therefore, is an exercise in complete surrender. "Thy will not my will" becomes the motto of the disciple of Christ.
The complete surrender of one’s will is a topic that has been met with mixed response. It sounds like a surrender of agency. It is in fact the very opposite. It is the most empowering act of agency. The blender that plugs itself into a common and shared power source has not given up agency, but has found instead an even greater capacity to act. To understand it better we need to have a clear picture of what agency is really all about. There is some confusion about this principle, mostly because of Satan’s success in redefining it. To most, agency can be defined as the freedom to choose my will to do what ever the heck I want to do. While this is correct, it is also incomplete. Agency is the freedom to choose, but to choose what? Lehi said it like this, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil;"(2 Nephi 2:27) Now I’m sure that we don’t go around saying, "I think I’ll choose "death and captivity" today. So let’s put it into words that we can all relate to better. We are free to choose the will of God, or the will of Satan. Simpler yet, we are free to choose the prompting voice of the spirit, or the will of the flesh. The choice is a simple "this or that", no degrees, no levels, no grey. We choose the voice of the Spirit of God, or we choose the voice of the adversary, and this, in every decision. It’s not a choice between blue jeans and khakis, but rather, a choice to follow the still small voice. One leads to greater agency, while the other leads to the loss of agency. Satan has led us to believe that the surrender of will is a loss of agency. Nothing could be more untrue and deceiving.
"Having our wills increasingly swallowed up by the will of the Father actually means an enhanced individuality, stretched and more capable of receiving "all that (God) hath" (D&C 84:38). Besides, how could we be entrusted with His "all?" Nor could His "all" be fully appreciated by the partially committed.
Frankly, it is our prospective selves we betray by holding back whatever the "part." No need therefore to ask, "Lord, is it I?" (Matthew 26:22). Rather, let us inquire about our individual stumbling blocks, "Lord, is it this?" We may have known the answer for a long time and may need resolve more than His response.
The greatest happiness in God’s generous plan is finally reserved for those who are willing to stretch and to pay the costs of journeying to His regal realm." (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, pg. 30, Dec. 2008)
Surrendering our wills to Christ will insure our safe passage through mortality, whereas surrendering our wills to Satan will result in captivity and destruction. While crossing the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, and the unknown waters of the Pacific Ocean, had Laman and Lemuel been able to get their way the trip to the promised land would have ended in disaster and death. Their ability to choose would have ended. It was only by choosing to follow the Liahona that the group was able to continue making choices, which choosing led to even greater agency in the promised land.
By surrendering one’s will to God, an individual is transformed into one, they are "plugged in." Thoughts and actions become an extension of the will of the Almighty. It is His will that we be one. Therefore, when we as a family can successfully surrender to Him, we will find that we as a family are one. The presence of disputes, arguments, hurt feelings and competition between family members is the indisputable evidence that our hearts are not surrendered to God; that we are not one. Granted, such a lofty goal seems afar off to say the least, but the challenge remains, and becoming one must be our primary objective. To be of one heart and one mind, to dwell in righteousness, to no longer have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably one with another, to no longer have a desire to sin, but to do good continually, to serve one another (see Mosiah 5), in fine, to be filled with charity. This is our hope, our vision for this family. Such a glorious state begins with the surrender of one’s will. May we say as Lamoni’s Father, "I will give away all of my sins to know Thee."(Mosiah 22:18)
Charity is the most apparent outward evidence of a changed heart moving toward unity in Christ. Those who have been spiritually born again are not likely to brag about it,
or carelessly mention it as you would something that happened at the mall, or on the job. But rather, the personal nature of the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost which includes the very intimate cleansing of sin through the application of the at-one-ment, is a sacred and reverent experience to the new son or daughter of Christ. Therefore, the evidence that such has occurred is made manifest by what is observed rather than what is said. The willingness to give of one’s self, thus one’s will, to the will of God shows itself in our treatment of others. The "record of the Father and the Son" (see 3 Nephi 11) bourn by the Holy Ghost begins a transformation of the host that results in the very likeness and nature of the Son of God. Charity being the divine nature and endowed upon those of the second birth causes within us a change, and a desire to love, and a willingness to serve and to suffer for and in behalf of others, in a participatory way with the suffering in Gethsemane. Therefore the Lord has instructed, "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."(3 Nephi 27:27)
In the D&C we have the words of the Lord, "And let every man esteem his brother as himself, and practice virtue and holiness before me. And again I say unto you, let
every man esteem his brother as himself. For what man among you having twelve sons, and is no respecter of them, and they serve him obediently, and he sayeth unto one: be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there – and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just? Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one, ye are not mine."(D&C38:24-27) Again, "Let every man deal honestly, and be alike among this people, and receive alike, that ye may be one, even as I have commanded you."(D&C 51:9)
True oneness shows itself in mutual concern for each other. I should be no more concerned about cutting my hand off than offending my brother. But we find ourselves more concerned about our own welfare, than we are about others. Self preservation is a strong and commanding instinct, one that has been given licence in our society. "Preservation of the fittest," "The strong prevail," "Natural selection," have been excuses for murder and plunder since Cain killed righteous Abel. However, if we are truly one, we would see our brothers and sisters as extensions of the whole body of Christ. In this perspective we would find it unthinkable to cut off a hand, or pluck out an eye. We would understand that each plays an indispensable roll, that effects the welfare of each of us. When we reach that state of complete oneness with Christ and the Father, then the fall of the sparrow would not go unnoticed, it being also one in God.
"The Lord Jehovah will return to live with those who have become his people and will find them united, of one heart, unified with Him and with our Heavenly Father. The great peacemaker, the restorer of unity, is the one who finds a way to help people see the truth they share." (Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, November 2008) "And at the creation of man and woman, unity for them in marriage was not given as hope, it was a command! ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."(Gen. 2:24) The ultimate purpose of what they taught, and of what we teach is to unite families: husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, ancestors, and finally all of the family of Adam and Eve who will choose the way of unity."(Henry B Eyring, ensign, September 2008)
The Unity Doctrine teaches us what we need to become. May we all seek to be less selfish and more selfless. May we seek the welfare of each other and with love and sacrifice unite as a family in a way that will open the windows of heaven in our behalf, "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.....And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come together in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:1-13)