WHAT DIPLOMATS TEACH US ABOUT UNITY 

As we enter a new year we can be thankful that things are quieter around the world than they have been in a long time. We have a new word that expresses this, glastnost, which comes out of Russia of all places. The atmosphere between the superpowers is certainly quieter, and we can now talk about disarmament with some real hope of progress. Conditions are improving in war-torn Afghanistan. There is a diplomatic breakthrough in the apparent impasse between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There is real hope for democracy in South Korea, Chile, Pakistan, and Brazil. Economic and political reform are not only a possibility in the Soviet Union but in the Republic of China and Eastern Europe as well.

These may be indicators that the kingdom of God on earth is drawing nearer, though that may be saying too much in a world where there are still 34 wars going on. But surely if we have more peace or even the hope of more peace and if we are moving toward proximate justice among the peoples of the world, then the rule and will of God are closer than before. And is that not what the kingdom of God is all about, doing God's will on earth as it is done in heaven? And is that not how the kingdom comes, like the slow but powerful growth of the mustard seed and the effectual working of leaven - slowly, perhaps indiscernibly, but surely.

The recent development that especially encourages me is what has happened in southwest Africa. A civil war has raged in Angola and Namibia for 13 years. Cuba and South Africa have been involved with such intensity that it looked as if the conflict was beyond solution. But now accords have been signed to the effect that Cuba will withdraw its 50,000 troops from Angola and South Africa its 30,000 from Namibia. There is now hope that the war will run down and that there will be peace. And Namibia will become a free and independent nation.

The American negotiating team, lead by Chester Crocker, deserves a lot of credit for what it has accomplished, and it shows what can be done when people are determined to have peace rather than war. Mr. Crocker and his team of a hundred associates have worked for eight years to bring about this diplomatic miracle in southwest Africa. Surely the "leaven" of God's kingdom is at work when warring nations lay down their arms, quit their fighting, and go home.

As I followed this exciting story I noted some lessons to be learned by those of us who seek a far greater peace, a peace that might well lead to the peace of the entire world — peace and unity among all Christians. In an interview with the media Mr. Crocker told how he was able to walk the road to peace in those war-ravaged countries. The points he made could serve as guidelines in the pursuit of Christian unity. And the victory won in Africa would pale in insignificance in comparison to the blessing it would be to the world if believers everywhere were led to love and accept one another even as Christ loves and accepts them.

First of all, Crocker observed, a peace effort must have a clearly defined policy. Those involved must know where they are headed, and there is to be no ambiguity about the goals in view. How important that is in the pursuit of Christian unity. We need to understand, for instance, that the goal of a united church is not that everyone believe everything alike, or that all the churches are to be melded into one conglomerate denomination. Nor does unity mean that we endorse or approve of all the views and practices of those with whom we are united. If unity does not allow for diversity, then there can be no unity. And yet there is to be a unity of doctrine in the essentials of the Christian faith. Otherwise unity will have no integrity.

Unity, first of all, is among Christians, not denominations. As believers come to love and accept one another more, denominational loyalties will mean less and they will eventually disappear. Unity means that as we accept each other as equals in spite of our differences in nonessentials we will increasingly find ways to do things together. If we cannot do everything together, we can surely do some things together, and that is unity. We can at first set modest goals, such as associating with each other more, and go on from there.

Mr. Crocker pointed to the importance of teamwork in achieving peace between nations. In negotiating with people who had never been able to get along with each other, he and his associates realized that they had to be of one mind and heart and to pursue their goal as a team working together. Those of a divisive spirit make poor unitists. A lost and troubled world will be little influenced by a divided and warring church. Teamwork in Christian unity at least means that we can pray together in behalf of our common goal. Out of sincere prayer and commitment wonderful things will be wrought. Christians must come to realize who the real enemy is - that it is not other Christians, but the forces of evil out there in the world and in the churches.

Crocker found that the enemies that would destroy his efforts for peace in Africa were the pessimists who insisted that he was wasting his time. The differences were so great, they said, that nothing could be done. He noted that it takes a lot of patience to hang in year after year amid all the clamor that the task is hopeless. This is probably the greatest barrier to the progress of Christian unity, the defeatist attitude that it cannot be done. Sectarian loyalties are too deeply entrenched, they tell us. But those who really believe our Lord's prayer for the unity of all believers, to the end that the world will be made whole, can never yield to the defeatist attitude. We must never give up, never!

When Crocker accounted for his success on the grounds "of having something that is clear and logical and sticking with it," I thought of how that applies to our plea for unity. We may say too much and try to do too much. Or we may not be clear enough or logical enough about what we mean by unity. If we concentrated on one or two crucial points, we might be more effective. Thomas Campbell put his finger on one such point in his Declaration and Address when he argued that since there will be no divisions in heaven there need be none on earth. Another point he made is that divisions among Christians is a sin and that we ought to stop sinning. Then there are the facts that Jesus prayed for unity and the apostles mandated it. Those points are clear enough and logical enough. But does the modern church really want clarity and logic when it comes to unity? That is our challenge.

Finally, Crocker told the press that a mediator for peace has to he well informed. I was impressed that he would report that "We invested a lot in learning about the decision making of the other parties, about the ways their leaders think and act." A true diplomat, that Crocker fellow. A poker player may not be able to read the other fellow's hand, but he has an advantage if he knows how he thinks and acts. We can believe that our negotiating team in Africa spent a lot of time during those eight years listening to the other fellows. Do we have any such diplomatic aptness in our dealings with those in other churches? Do we really understand how an Episcopalian thinks about the church or how a Roman Catholic sees tradition? What do we know about third world churches? Can we articulate the other person's faith, as if defending it, to his satisfaction, and with respect and humility? Can we explain Calvinism as well or better than a Calvinist, putting it in its best possible light, apart from any compulsion to lambast it as heresy. Have you ever asked yourself why one becomes a member of the Assemblies of God, a Seventh Day Adventist or a Mormon (the fastest growing denominations and the most missionary), sometimes even leaving us to join them? Do you think understanding would make us less judgmental and censorious?

We cannot be unitists if we do not know what we are talking about. Sectarianism owes much to ignorance, much of it willful. We must become students of unity, and this includes learning what other people believe and why they believe it. We must quit misrepresenting people and making caricature of what they believe. We must overcome the "us" and "them" mentality, and one way to do this is to associate more with other Christians. Assign yourself a project, such as attending your next all-city Easter service, and go with the realization that you will be with people who believe with you the greatest story ever told. See yourself at an Easter service in a Moslem city where you would be almost alone. Do things that will help you to discover that all Christians have far more in common than they have differences. And for a change let's accentuate the common ground, and consider that common ground just may be the answer to all our divisions. —the Editor