This week I am at Mennonite USA’s biannual convention, so wanted to say a few words to Christians, of which us Mennonites are only a very small part.  So keep in mind that these words are for Christians, in language Christians understand, within their shared tradition.  

Although you are more than welcome—in fact, you are invited!—to listen in.

Mennonites are a part of what is known as the Anabaptist Christian tradition, a tradition that saw pledging allegiance to Jesus as more important than pledging allegiance to any country or kingdom.  As Protestants were splitting off from Catholics during the Reformation, Anabaptists were splitting off from both.

Since then, some Protestants have split off further…and further…and further from each other.  Catholics actually have done the same, to a lesser extent.  And Anabaptists, including Mennonites, have continued down this path as well, continuing the great tradition of splitting off from one another when disagreements arise.

And they always arise.

From the outside looking in, it would seem splitting off is part of our spiritual practice.  Actually, it would seem like that from the inside looking in.

All of which is surprising…because Jesus.

It is said the great unanswered prayer is Jesus’ own: that we would be one.

Now, this Mennonite USA convention has really been refreshing.  Lots of good teaching, meaningful worship in community, good conversation.  But part of that is because there is still a splitting off happening.  We, like the world, have been gerrymandering the vote: we keep redistricting ourselves to maintain our power and the illusion that everyone who is faithful sees the world just like us.

All this, as an alleged “peace church”.

Dr. Tom Yoder Neufeld has been reminding us Mennonites this week that peace—in the Scriptures—is not the absence of conflict and discomfort, but rather commitment to one another in the midst of conflict and discomfort.

Which is hard when we make statements of faith with long lists of points and sub-points that further boil down who gets to be in and who gets to be in charge.

This is where I deeply appreciate a community like Oasis, located in the UK, that is embodying a different way. 

Notice their commitments as the people of God:

1. They believe that God is love, and so everyone should be included.
2. They believe that everyone is made in God’s image, and so should be treated equally.
3. They believe God is a (Triune) relationship, which requires them to work at forgiveness and listening so that they can reflect this Triune God in their relationships with others.
4. They believe that death is not the end, that Jesus is resurrected, and so live in hope that things can change and be transformed.
5. They believe that perseverance is how it works, and so must stick with it together for the long haul.

That’s it.  The end.  Full stop.

Out of these shared commitments, they are reflecting God’s love in different parts of their country through common worship and community service. They are so good at what they do, in fact, that the state is actually giving them public schools to turn around. All this without the hindrance of giant lists of things they have to agree on in order to do their common work.

What if we—my Christian brothers and sisters, remember—centered our lives, not around a giant list of rules, points, and sub-points, but rather around five or six core shared beliefs about Jesus and the God he shows us?

The pushback I hear from this idea is that it “waters down” our faith, or that it “lowers the bar”.

But I would like to ask, what is “watered down” or “lowering the bar” about elevating Jesus’ resurrection, affirming the reality of Father, Son, and Spirit, treating all people as if they are made in His image?

I think two things can happen if we were to focus our shared—Christian—lives around five or six fundamentals.  One, it would ground us in the most important parts of who we are.  And two, it would allow us to maintain our relationships with one another so that we could continue to talk to and challenge each other in every other matter we care to disagree about.

Otherwise, just like most everybody else, we will simply split ourselves off again, change the cable news channel, “unfriend” a few more people, and fall into the toxic way of things that continue to tear us, and our world, apart.

And that has nothing to do with Jesus, nor the prayer I believe he continues to offer to his Father.