United by Love Not Doctrine

by Christine Sine,

A couple of days ago, with the help of a couple of friends, I planted the early vegetable garden with cauliflowers, cabbages, broccoli, lettuce, Chinese greens, and carrots. I use the square foot method – lots of diversity close together for maximal yield and minimal pest control. I start with well composted soil and try to balance those crops that need lots of fertilizer and drain the soil with those that need little fertilizer and are a net gain to the soil. Then I throw a row cover over them.

Most prolific in the existing garden however and requiring no care at all, are the dandelions. They are probably the most nutritious plants in the garden. The roots can be used for tea, the leaves for salad and the flowers for jelly. It helps to hold the soil together and to bring nutrients up to the surface from deeper down within the soil.

In the garden variety is the spice of life and weeds are an important part of that variety. I think that it is meant to be the same in the body of Christ. We need variety of belief, doctrine and understanding of the truths of God, to build up the soil and reduce the pests so that we can get the best harvest. We need the death of our old understandings to create the most precious nutrient for our soil – compost. And often some of the most important plants (read people here) are those at the margins, the ones that we want to yank out and get rid of, the ones that disrupt our doctrinal certainty and make us uncomfortable – like the mentally ill, the gay and lesbians, the doubters, people of other religions and even the atheists in our midst.

It is no wonder Christ emphasized the need for love not doctrine to hold the body of Christ together. Part of my journey this Lent has been reconciling myself the rich variety of beliefs, attitudes and values that are acceptable to God without judging or condemning those who think and act differently.

Jesus knew that we were not all meant to think alike or look alike.  Variety of doctrines are not only acceptable to God but necessary for God’s family to be healthy. The more alike we all look, the more we insist that there is only one Christian worldview that is acceptable, the less adaptable, the less health and the less productive the body of Christ becomes. The more alike we look, the more “fertilizer” we need and the more “pests” attack us. As Samir Selmanovic says in his fascinating book It’s Really All About God, we need atheist to ask the questions we are afraid to ask ourselves, and we need people of other Christian world views and of other faiths to broaden our understanding of God. We need those at the margins to pull us our of our self righteousness and remind us that we are all sinners, only acceptable because of the grace of God. Christ came to the unacceptable and those at the margins – the Samaritans, prostitutes and lepers – and did unacceptable things in the spirit of love and asks us to too.

Unbind us Lord that we might live,
Unbind us from our sins,
From our prejudices
And our lack of love.
Unbind us Lord that we might live,
Live in unity,
and in peace,
and in love.