For years I have served on the boards of several such organizations. Nearly every such ecumenical thrust is misrepresented by the fundamentalist press, presented as merging, or as obliterating the unique idiosyncrasies of the participating communions. O, the ignorance of prejudice!

The Michigan Ecumenical Forum (formerly the Michigan Council of Churches) is a "gathering of church organizations who covenant together to be in dialogue and ministry. These covenanting communions and organizations confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior."

The Metropolitan Christian Council (once the Detroit Council of Churches) confesses "Jesus Christ as Divine Lord and Savior, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in order to manifest oneness in Christ," show forth unity and mission in "fellowship, study and cooperative action."

The Joint Ecumenical Relationships Commission seeks to find ways in which the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ can "do nothing separately which can be better done together." For many years, our two denominations have worked together very closely. We support more than 280 missions in 40 countries. Our logo is on the back of our printed sermons.

Finally, the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) has for about 30 years studied ways in which "churches in covenant communion" can "demonstrate both to ourselves and to the world that we are one body in Christ, though varied in our traditions." The COCU symbol is also in the printed sermons. The 9 denominations working together on this project are listed in the printed copy of the sermon.

Did you hear the word "merger"? Did you hear anything resembling a compromise of our unique characteristics? When Jesus and Paul urged unity, neither of them in any way suggested a kind of cookie-cutter dynamic.

Why is ecumenism one of my "six main topics"? Why do I consider it so important? The Gospel lesson today includes the prayer of Jesus just before he went to Gethsemane. (John 17)

Let's put this in context: Jesus and his disciples had just shared the "Last Supper," where Jesus showed the disciples the real heart of his message, which was a plea for unity and servanthood. He did this right after their traveling conversation about who would be greatest in the Kingdom, after his "new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
(John 13:34, 35)

Then comes what many scholars call the real Lord's Prayer — John 17.

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:20, 21)

Commenting on this text, William Barclay wrote, "The gospel cannot truly be preached in any congregation which is not one united band of brothers.

"The world cannot be evangelized by competing churches. Jesus prayed that his disciples might be as fully one as he and the Father are one; and there is no prayer of his which has been so hindered from being answered by individual Christians and by the churches than this."

We believe we are to tell the world about Jesus and his teachings. We call it evangelism. Yet we are hundreds of different denominations and even more groups within the denominations.

Here, in his most passionate prayer, is the secret of evangelism — unity! It's as simple as that. "May they also be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Do we have the authority to go to the world with that message? The answer is, Yes, if we love one another! Listen again to John 13:34, 35: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Can anything be more clear? Those are the words of Jesus himself. Do we or do we not believe him? If we do, then let's get about the work of evangelism, his way! Jesus did not preach doctrines, did not use proof-texting from his "Bible" (the Old Testament). He did no theological disputation. Rather, he "went about doing good."

As long as we ignore his plain dictum for unity, as long as we disdain each other and disclaim responsibility for unity, his Great Commission will remain a mission impossible.

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Does that mean denominations must merge into one? Ecumenism seems to indicate a sort of family relationship. A family shares a name — and some other characteristics. At the same time, each family member has characteristics which are idiosyncratic, which no other member of the family shares.

We are who we are, Christians, members of the United Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, and in my case, Seventh-day Adventist. God does not require that we merge our personalities, our churches, our denominations. But God does require that we love each other, that we care for each other, just as we care for members of our families.

Put bluntly, if we oppose, or even ignore other believers just because they are not of our congregation or of our church or of our denomination, we are denying Christ, hindering the work of the Gospel, prostituting our very confession of faith.

Strong words? Yes, and if I knew how to make the point even stronger, I would do so!

Did you hear about the woman who moved from a small town to the city. Her mother came to visit her. "How are the Lutherans back home doing?" asked the daughter. To which her mother replied, "Not very well, but thank God, neither are the Methodists and Presbyterians."

Years ago, 2 British warships met in the night. Each tho't the other was an enemy ship and began shelling the other. Not until daylight, after many sailors were dead and wounded, did they see the British flags on each other's ships!

Long ago, a woman in Labrador had TB in her bones. Dr. (Sir) Wilfred Grenfell had to amputate her leg. Later, speaking to a Congregational church in America he asked if anyone could donate an artificial leg for the woman. A Methodist woman said that her husband, a Presbyterian, had died and left a wooden leg.

Later, Grenfell said, "When I, an Episcopalian, took the Presbyterian leg donated by a Methodist in a Congregational church, back to Labrador, a Roman Catholic woman was able to walk." Praise God!

I must share a comical story I heard:

A Chinese and a Jew, total strangers, met on the street. The Jew struck the Chinese man and knocked him down. He got up and asked, "Why did you do that?"

"Pearl Harbor" was the answer.

"But I'm not Japanese! I'm Chinese."

"Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, they're all the same to me."

Suddenly the Chinese man hit the Jew, knocking him down. "What was that for?"

"The Titanic."

"The Titanic! That happened before I was born. I had nothing to do with that."

"Yeah? Well, Goldberg, Steinberg, Iceberg, they're all the same to me!"

Behind the humor in that story there is a profound truth. We harbor prejudice based on flimsy rationale, on misunderstanding, on pure emotion.

Mark Twain suggested that to promote peace we should put a dog and a cat in a cage to teach them to get along. Then a lion and a tiger. Finally, a Baptist and a Presbyterian. He said that soon there would be nothing living in the cage!

If I sound "wound up" today, it is because this is so vitally important.

Paul speaks of the church as the "body" of Christ. The plan of God is obviously that the Church should be as one body. That the body is many parts, but one body, is a beautiful metaphor of one church: many members, one Christ; many denominations, one faith.

Please consider another aspect of ecumenism. If you apply a little logic, and juxtapose the plea of Jesus that "they may all be one" and his promise "that they might have life more abundantly" you come up with a fascinating result — unity produces happiness!

I told you about the Roman Catholic priest with whom I have served on an ecumenical board. I have known him for several years, and have found him to be a caring and compassionate friend.

During our board meeting he said, "When I was a kid I lived in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood. I had Protestant friends with whom I could play, but I couldn't have gone to any of their churches."

I laughed, because you see, I grew up thinking Roman Catholics were somehow to be avoided. I "knew" most were insincere, even sinister. I would never have entered a Catholic church! I was even afraid to go near them!

It seems a Protestant missionary and a Catholic priest came to Canada from Europe on the same ship. They disputed with each other all the way over. When they finally got here, they both got Scurvy (or something) and died. The crew of the ship had seen them fighting all the way over, so they buried them together! Maybe they'd get along better in death than in life!

That was centuries ago, I'm glad to say.

Here's one more true story about ecumenism. An Episcopal bishop went to Panama in 1965. He had never had much time for ecumenism. When he got there, he said, he found that the Pentecostals picked folks up from the gutter, the Baptists clothed them from their clothing barrels, the Methodists fed them from their soup kitchens, the Presbyterians taught them to read and write, the Episcopalians introduced them to society . . . and then the Pentecostals picked them up from the gutter again! You'll have to think that one thru! There is a lot of hidden truth in it. That the bishop was willing to tell it is amazing!

Last Sunday afternoon I spent at Temple Beth El with Jewish, Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters. We were in a seminar, Beyond Tolerance: Toward a Theology of Pluralism. What a joy it has been for me to make so many friends, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, Unitarians, Baha'i.

I will likely never agree with them theologically, but I don't even agree on some issues with Lucille, either, and we are happily married!

The other day I had lunch with the pastor of a prominent Missionary Baptist church in Detroit. He is sure Paul's statement, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" applies to only the future life! He says he can't participate in anything ecumenical or interdenominational, surely not any interfaith activities.

There is no way to know just what God has in mind for us in heaven, but I believe his original creation, male and female, will be replicated in glory! I even believe there may be Baptists and Lutherans in heaven!

God established the family. We know that when family values decay, civilization decays. There will be no decay in heaven — "no sects in heaven"!

On the subject of certainty and change, let me again urge you to be open to learn, even to change your mind if necessary. Change can be either good or bad, but openness is always good. My ecumenism is a radical, dramatic change from what I believed three or four decades ago.

A denominational leader was recently in a discussion with a minister who represents a "reform" group. He asked the minister whether he would ever be willing to change his mind on the theological issue they were discussing.

"Let me turn the question around. Would you ever be willing to change?" The denominational leader said, "No."

I guess that takes us back to the "Don't confuse me with the facts" mentality, eh? What a tragedy when we are not willing to alter our convictions, our commitments. If we're not, we are in effect saying we have no further need for the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to "lead us into all truth"!

We must not go to the other extreme. It is most unfortunate when people are so insipid they never make any commitments.

We all know people who say, "I'm a believer, but I don't join any church." "I'm a Christian, but I just don't need to be part of organized religion."

That is a euphemistic cop-out for people who don't want to shoulder responsibility. What would God' people be like if we all took that attitude? Like a country in which nobody bothers to vote.

The critical facets of our discussion today are: (1) Keep an open mind, so that the Holy Spirit can indeed lead you into all truth; (2) realize that others may be just as committed as you are, but may feel the Holy Spirit leading in a different direction; (3) remember that God has not appointed you and me as judges.

Some of you have experienced the pain of family quarrels, misunderstandings. You know what it feels like to be excluded by loved ones. How much more traumatic and tragic is quarreling, misunderstanding and fighting between Christians. We are not at liberty to judge each other. God doesn't ask, nor even permit that.

Discuss differences? Yes! Argue? Surely! Try to convince each other? Absolutely! When my Dad and I used to reach an impasse, he would say, "O well, you have every right to be wrong." That's what I tell some of you when you try to convince me of your conservative "heresies"!

When we study religious history, we find the most disastrous violence perpetrated by the "faithful" who know they represent God's will.

You all know that I have strong convictions. And you know that I was once a right-wing conservative. It took a number of 2x4s to convert me. Praise the Lord he was patient and persistent with me.

Each of us is one of a kind, yet all are created in the image of God! That ought to tell us something about love, unity, brotherhood, fellowship.

Some time ago I met a Muslim imam. Later, a mutual friend told me that the imam had been reared in the faith of Islam. When he became a young man he converted to Christianity. After some years as a Christian he turned again to the faith of Islam. That is hard for you and me to comprehend. How can a Christian ever espouse a non-Christian faith?

Yet, some people do. I have met five highly intelligent, professional people in the past few weeks who left Christianity to become Muslims. They worship God with as much devotion and dedication as I do. And they have every right to be wrong! Seriously, I respect their sincerity. I expect to meet them in the Kingdom.

A couple of weeks ago our psalm was Psalm 133, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil . . ."

Evangelism is implicitly required by the words of Jesus. But it must be his kind of evangelism. Remember that Jesus never talked about prophecy or his Second Coming when he spoke to the multitudes. Those are topics reserved for his chosen few. When he went out to the people, it was to heal, teach and preach Kingdom principles — love, mercy, justice and good works.

Let us do likewise.

Let us pray . . .