John H. Armstrong: Unity is Neither a Means Nor an End
... According to John 17:20-23 the esteemed Archbishop of Canterbury is absolutely right about unity. It is neither a “means nor an end.” Unity is “what God has given us in the church.” This is what Jesus says and clearly what he means. We do not work for unity. We work from it to oppose schism and the spirit that opposes our oneness. When we seek to preserve the unity Jesus prayed for then we seek a life in which we cannot live without the other. This is why I call my vision “missional-ecumenism.” Our unity is in the Father’s love for the Son and the love of the Trinity for the whole world. We draw near Christ and by this we draw near to one another in this God-given unity.
And Archbishop Williams is also right when he says that as move forward, in life together, we are compelled to ask, “Who is not yet here?” ...
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