I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)
December 2, 2039
Dear Samuel,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We trust this letter finds you well. We imagine you are now deep into your young adult years, out and about and on your own in God’s world, and, we pray, following God’s word and sharing in God’s work.
Indeed, that is why we write to you now, to beg you, in the words of the ancient apostle, “to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” (Ephesians 4) More about that calling, momentarily.
First, who are we? We are the elders and pastors from 50 churches who, on this date, 25 years ago, gathered in a sanctuary on the west end of Greenville, Pennsylvania, to baptize you with water and to welcome you into the great household of God. Likely you don’t remember that cold and damp Tuesday evening, but with great warmth and gladness we remember it for you. We poured the water. We read the promises of scripture. And we were witnesses to your parents’ profession of their faith in Jesus, as well as their public pledge to raise you in such a way that there would never be a time in your life when you did not know the word and the way of Jesus. We made a pledge that night, too: that we would pray for you and, even if from afar, play whatever part we could in nurturing your discipleship. Indeed, this word to you now, this letter, is an installment on that quarter-century old vow.
It brings us joy and a sense of good hope to imagine who you are and what you are up to, now that you are into your adult years. And just as we gathered for worship and fellowship that night of your baptism, so it is our expectation that you yourself have found a place in some fellowship of believers—however great or small, however formal or informal. You need the unity of the Spirit; you need the bond of peace.
You belong to God the Father through Jesus: this truth about your life is deeply personal. But we also want to insist that it is not a private truth. To enjoy a place at the table of Jesus is likewise to share it with all those whom he has called. If you know not the fellowship of other Christians at this juncture, seek it out. And if you do know it, if you are a part of a communion of saints that bears the name of Jesus, then we, in the spirit of the apostle’s teaching, urge you to “make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
We believe the Lord will use you, Samuel, to build up the body of Jesus in your own time, and this is not just because your dear parents are both preachers and pastors in the church. That work is important; it is an honorable legacy. But more significant than a recognizable religious profession is that basic calling to be what someone once called “a mere Christian.” We entrust to you, Samuel, and to your fellow young believers, the next generation of the body of Christ. We look to you for unity in the Spirit and for bonds of peace, for we believe you will be the first generation of a new era of Christian fellowship and Christian worship and Christian witness.
Yours is a fine Biblical name: Samuel. He was what one might call an in-between character in God’s redemptive story. He finished up one era and likewise saw the birth of a new one. Samuel was the last in a long line of those called the Judges, and he was also the first of the prophets and priests who would watch over the new monarchs of ancient Israel. Likewise, Samuel, we look to you to carry forth the best of our time as church, even as we urge you to be a part of what God will surely do next, and do differently.
This much we know: our time as Protestant Christians is drawing to a close. All of us who gathered for your baptism, we are inheritors of a great and important movement in the universal body of Jesus. We are proud of our deep Reformation roots, but as urgent and important as that movement was, we are aware that it has just about played out. The great themes of scripture and faith alone, an emphasis on the individual believer, the importance of education and escape from religious tyranny, the voice of God’s people to choose their leaders: these were important correctives in their day. But the world has changed. The gospel must be – can be! – reinterpreted and re-announced against the backdrop of different concerns – just as it needed to be in the 15th century.
The great denominations that once loomed so large and promised such structure are now in great decline. Our educational efforts, originally in the name of Jesus, now often ring hollow with secular themes. The unity of Jesus’ body, established by his word, has been marred by constant splitting and fracturing; in some cases, entirely obscuring his love and light for many of our neighbors. The personal, individual nature of salvation that needed to be emphasized then has now been hijacked by the narcissism of our era. Many seem more enamored with their own experience of worship than with the One who is worthy of our worship. Although there are, at times, bursts of familiar energy to rebuild what once was great, and votes and splits and new denominations seem to promise renewed vitality, humility demands that we admit our time is now ending. Like the Judges before Samuel, our lead role in God’s redemptive drama – as Protestants and Americans – is being eclipsed.
But we who are gathered for your baptism, we do not despair. Traditions come and go. Movements rise and fall. Generations grow up and fade away. From one season to the next, from our time to your time, we cling to the apostle’s affirmation: “There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
And so, Samuel, in the name of that God, our God, your God, we beg you to take your place in the body of Christ, to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Just as Samuel was a midwife in the birth a new era in Israel’s long walk with God, so we have hope that you, and many others with you, will help give birth to a new season of faithfulness, unity, and witness for Jesus.
We have no idea what this will look like. Many of us present at the waters with you 25 years ago will not even be alive when at last you read these words. And even those of us who will, our energy and imagination will likely have been spent. We have no idea about the changes brought by time and technology, about political events or planetary realities. We do not know if your Christian witness will be out in the open or far underground. We confess how hard it is for most of us, on the tail end of one movement, to imagine how the Holy Spirit will be moving in the birthing of another.
But this we beg: lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, Samuel. Devote yourself to the communion of the saints – whatever form that fellowship will need to take. Offer the body of Christ the kind of humility, gentleness, and patience it needs in order to stay focused on the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In him, there is a living unity. In his Spirit, there is a bond made of peace.
Don’t make the same mistakes of unity we made.
Many of us tried to forge Christian unity around a building or a place or a piece of land. Space is a great gift, a part of God’s creation, but we have learned the hard way that, over time, buildings alone cannot form a holy people for holy work. Sometimes our places have become bonds of burden rather than sources of strength. Be a steward of what God gives you, but maintain a unity in the Spirit.
Some of us tried to forge Christian unity around certain political postures. On both the left and the right, many in our time have used the church – its words and its people – to galvanize folks into certain philosophical tribes. We have realized too late that unity for a cause, absent Jesus’ word and way, is an expensive unity, and usually short-lived. We have watched as once great Protestant denominations have split and split and split some more. Every time, a vote seems to promise renewal and freedom from evil. But we always find ourselves right back in the same rooms with the same mere Christians. Samuel, don’t make our mistake: learn Jesus’ salvation and his justice, and don’t ever split them for the sake of political unity. Forge bonds made of his peace, which is both just and pure.
A great many of us tried to foster Christian unity by making Sunday morning church-going an expected part of being an American, of following the rules. That worked for a while. When things were socially stable in the church and the country, our churches were full on Sundays. But then those folks had children, and many in that generation saw it as their duty to break the rules. And then those folks had children, and then came a generation that questioned whether there were any rules to begin with – given all the hypocrisy. And so the gospel of Jesus has been bent over the barrel of a three-generation fight about whether to keep or break or disbelieve the “rules.”
But Samuel, you are not saved by rules. You are not bound by place or politics or personality. You are spiritual prisoner to no one, save the Lord who has captured you by his grace and marked you as his own. Believe this. Trust this. Live into this with a spiritual freedom that has been lacking in our own time.
If there is an upside to us old mainliners now being sideliners, it is that by your time, Samuel, the gospel will once again be free from the cultural captivity of our time. You will be in fellowship with believers around the world. You will enjoy a creative mix of justice and purity, evangelism and social witness, personal and public righteousness. You will no longer have to carry the burden of public religious opinion, or to satisfy fickle religious tastes, or to meet every person’s felt need. Our prayer is that you will be free to know the kind of living unity that is born of the Holy Spirit, refined in prayer, matured by scripture, enlivened in worship, disciplined in friendships, perfected in love, and completed in Christian community. We hope for you a kind of human fellowship forged, not in prideful piety or political posture, but in peace—Jesus’ peace.
The Samuel in scripture was dedicated to God before he was born. We do the same for you, at least at the moment of your baptism. We dedicate you to the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Know well the words and way of Jesus. Worship the living God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in every circumstance, location, or dimension. Build up the body of Christ around you so that others, too, will be strong in the Lord and not held captive by the programs or poisons of your time. Wherever life in 2039 may take you: Do Jesus’ justice, love Jesus’ mercy, and walk humbly through your neighborhood in the power of his Holy Spirit.
Our time in God’s redemptive work has ended.
Yours has only just begun.
Go forth now, and lead a life worthy of the calling
to which you have been called.
Godspeed Samuel,
“prisoner of the Lord.”
Sincerely,
the Elders and Pastors
of the Presbytery of Shenango
