THEY ALL MAY BE ONE
by W. Carl Ketcherside

There are limitations to the prayer of Jesus. He does not ask that all men be one. It is here, I think, that some members of what is casually referred to as “the ecumenical movement” are in error. The word, like Catholic, refers to the whole world. It means universal. But Jesus is not a universalist. He, better than anyone else who has walked earth’s trails, knew that Satan existed and that he deceived men. In their eagerness to see everyone who has drawn the breath of life eventually saved a great many of the gentler ecumenists have labored for the inclusion of all who worship gods of their own designs or thought processes.

Man, by nature is a religious being. He will worship something. An object of worship is as essential to him as food and drink. If he does not have it, he ends up being an atheist and worshipping himself. He imposes his puny and feeble mind to blank out the God of the universe. It is sometimes argued that it is not fair to judge those who have had no opportunity to hear about Jesus. But we need not judge them. God will judge them on the basis of absolute justice. This we cannot do. We can only approximate justice based upon the collected experience of the ages. But the prayer of the one who died for men is that all those who believe in Him may be one.

He prayed that they might be one, in the Father and in the Son. That sounds like the opening stanza of a new song, doesn’t it? In reality it is the only hope we have of ever attaining oneness. Outside of Christ we are selfish, petulant, jealous and resentful. That is why political peace is a virtual impossibility. Hours upon hours of talk around the conference table end in futility. Brilliant men come to an impasse in negotiations. Meetings end in utter frustration. But if the world would come to believe we could meet as brothers rather than as antagonists. The burden of guilt lies squarely upon the shoulders of those of us who have pleaded for parties rather than peace. Our testimony has been misguided and has wreaked havoc in the hearts of men.

“As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” Let me tell you how mistaken I once was about the import of those words. I was caught up in the vain fallacy of unity by conformity, an absolutely unattainable goal by thinking persons. The only possible way to attain even a semblance of it is for each person to unscrew his head and deposit it under the rear seat while he listens only to a preacher. Even then, conformity will be only a physical acquiescence, for as soon as one retrieves his rational apparatus and turns it on he will find himself in some doubt. But I was like a wasp when I started preaching — bigger when first hatched out than at any other time. So I reasoned with my relatively passive and sleepy audiences that God and Christ had no differences of opinion. They saw everything exactly alike. And we had to do the same.

I do not know what changed me. Maybe it was marrying Nell, but, all of a sudden it came to me that the reason the Father and Son had no verbal differences was because both of them were infallible. I was not and neither were those to whom I was speaking. Fallible people are subject to errors in their thinking. All of us have been a little fanatical about some things until someone honked at us and guided us into the right lane.

I came to realize that Jesus was pointing out, that, in the final analysis, all oneness is between individuals. It is not organizational. It is not institutional. It is not materialisitic. As the old-time valentine used to have it, “If you love me, like I love you, no knife can cut our love in two.” So I started practicing love for those who desperately need it and I ended up down in the inner city among drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes and run-aways, telling them of the love of Jesus. A lot of churches think I am crazy, but remember I said it was not organizational. Love needs no stamp of approval. It requires no authoritative pronouncement. All it needs is a heart filled to overflowing. “Come to me, and out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.” It took a long time for me to get to him through the jungle-growth of philosophy, theology, churchism, and all the rest of the religious gobble-de-gook, but, sure enough when I arrived the river began to flow.

The amazing thing is that a number of others have been touched by the waters. We all start with the one source but we flow different ways. Still, we are doing it together. We have learned what “oneness” is all about. We do not question whether one is a member of this religious segment or that. We are only concerned that he believe in Christ through the apostolic testimony and that he is obeying Him as far as he understands, and that he wants to help where help is so desperately, frighteningly needed. All kinds of people come for help from Pentecostals to Presbyterians, from Catholics to Congregationalists, from alcoholics to atheists. We help all of them. And all kinds extend help. I mean all kinds. You see, we have not isolated anyone with a registered trademark, a Good Housekeeping seal of approval, or a sectarian title. We merely call the place “The Cornerstone - An Adventure in Christian Fellowship.” They know us by our lives and not by our words. And we are making a difference in the asphalt jungle.

Of course, all of this is peripheral. The central thought, the bull’s eye, the real target is “that the world may believe that thou has sent me.” The world will be won to believe in Christ, when all who believe are one in Christ. Of course, it is nice to write about oneness as I am doing. I get a real bang out of it. And its nice to go to big meetings and listen to sometimes pompous discussions about what we need. But in the final analysis there are just two things that count — faith and love. These cannot be given in a charged atmosphere by fervent speakers, regardless of how loud they yell. Some of them have an axe to grind and bring their own grindstone with them.

Faith and love are fruits of the Spirit. If you go to bed some night and cannot sleep, and find yourself crying because your life is so empty and futile, those tears may be the first drops of the river of life-giving water flowing out of you. They mean you have finally come to Him. After all these years of noise and bombast, you have finally found him in the “still small voice.” When Jesus spoke of the rivers of living water He spoke of the Spirit. And when you arise the following morning with your jaw set in determination and your heart pounding in a strange way it has never throbbed before, you are on your way.

And the world will see it and sense it and begin to be drawn closer toward you because of Him. Oneness is the fruit from seed planted by those who are so irretrievably hooked to, and on, His purpose that they cannot be pried, shaken or beaten loose. While others are gathering to debate how it is brought about, and what each one will have to give up or take on, you will be enjoying it, basking in it, thrilling to it. You see, it does not come by debating things. Your life is His because His life is yours. It is just that simple! — 4420 Jamieson, Apt. IC, St. Louis, MO. 63109