he question of homosexuality rises like the con-tinental divide, marking the place where the church now flows in opposite directions. Is it possible for the church to flow in the same direction, even as separate branches? If not, can we create channels so the different branches of the church can flow freely from their common source in the directions they are going?

As I write this, the Anglican Church division over the election of an openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, U.S.A. dominates the religious news. The Presby-terian Church, U.S.A., the United Methodist Church, and the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. are all en-gaged in openly divisive procedures which threaten their future. The American church seems clearly, sometimes caustically, divided between those who are committed to traditional views of scripture and sexuality and those who are equally committed to emerging views of scripture and sexuality.

This question does not exist alone as the quick-sand in which the church is mired. The question of abortion - or more appropriately, what it means to be “pro-life” - has divided the church for at least 30 years. Before that, and in some places to this day, the church has divided over the question of whether women have a place in ordained ministry. Before that, the question was about slavery. Off and on, the question has been about war or nonviolent resistance.

If we continue back through the course of history - all the way back to the first churches whose stories we learn in the New Testament - we find a multitude of questions which leaders of the church allowed, even encouraged, to create serious divisions in the church. When will it end? Or can it?

During the 2004 election in the United States, the phrase “moral values” became a public point of division. The language sounds religious, even Christian, yet there is nothing inherently religious or Christian in the notion of morality. It has to do with what is considered good or bad, right or wrong, by those who judge behavior. It has to do with adhering to standards of what is good, right, and just, or what is bad, wrong, and unjust.

Who decides the standards? Who establishes the values which define morality? Whose voice speaks over the rest to give us any certainty in choosing moral be-havior over immoral conduct?

WHAT DOES EVANGELICAL MEAN?

I consider myself evangelical, in the best sense of that word. People define the term differently, of course. Some define it by a set of beliefs, especially concerning the authority of scripture and the nature of salvation. Some define it as having to do with a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Without disputing the impor-tance of any of those criteria, I believe “evangelical” is about the good news, the evangel, the story of Jesus who revealed God to us and who defined by his life and teach-ings the nature of God’s love and God’s desire for the world.

“Evangelical,” however, has been used to divide the church, which is not good news at all. How can we be evangelical and divide the body of Christ into groups of Christians according to their beliefs and practices? If evan-gelical has any biblical roots at all, surely those roots grow deep into Jesus Christ, the head of the church which is his body, as the New Testament says. Its claim is that Jesus has made us one, creating a unity of the Spirit which is God’s work. If we do anything to harm the body, to divide the church, we are wounding Christ.

WHEN THE BODY HURTS

With that understanding of being evangelical, I participated in a clergy meeting last August which nearly robbed me of any hope for the church. At this national gathering, the question of whether gay and lesbian persons can be accepted as ordained ministers was forced to the top of our agenda. I felt a deep sadness as we considered the issue because the situation felt so much like going through a divorce or the loss of a child, both of which I have experienced. The sadness came out of the grief of losing something precious to me, something very much a part of my life and of who I have been. And I sensed that nothing we could do would keep the group together.

The biblical image of the church as a body, with each one of us a member of the same body, is especially apt for me right now. I’m in pain, one member of the body calling out to the rest of the body for help.

People who know me know I’m a klutz. I don’t fall down the stairs, I fall up them. Just the other day, I was taking the dogs out for a moment with my house slippers on. As I turned to go up the stone steps, one shoe slipped off. In my reaction I lost my grip on one dog’s leash and stumbled, and the other shoe came off. Then I slammed a big toe into the side of a step. The pain was sudden and demanding. My whole body hurt. That one small member of my body was crying out in pain, asking the whole body to help it stop hurting. I am that member of the body today.

At that clergy gathering, I almost lost hope that Christians who hold opposing views on questions such as homosexuality and abortion, to name two highly-divisive issues of 2004, could live together any longer in the same denomination. I had almost lost hope that denominations with strong commitments to “moral values” on one hand and to “justice and peace” on the other could live together in the same church. Some have even begun to speak of how we have two different religions.

Our hope is in God, however, and I will not give up on God or the church. More helpful for us than a review of church history - looking back at questions that have divided the church - would be another reading of scripture, especially in the New Testament, which describes the church with language we need to remember.

The church belongs to Jesus according to the New Testament; through the Spirit we are all one, whether we acknowledge it or not. Our unity is a God-given reality, not something we have created. Our unity is in God, not in doctrine, moral values, principles of faith, interpretation of the scriptures, or anything other than in the Spirit.

Christian unity is a matter of both heart and mind, joined in spirit through the Spirit of God. Our unity rests in mystery, in the reality of God and of Christ which is beyond our understanding. Our experience of spiritual unity flows out of living in God’s love, for love is God’s essential nature.

WHAT IS OUR COMMON GROUND?

Scripture calls us to keep the unity of the Spirit, [Ephesians 4:3], declaring that the church is united through God’s Spirit. How can we experience and strengthen the reality of this unity? Rather than allowing any question to create such a continental divide as we now experience - causing us to flow in opposite directions - can we ask whether we have a common source out of which we all flow? Does the church share common ground upon which we can stand together? In spite of the profound differ-ences of understanding as we read the same scriptures, can we find in them firm ground for our hope and for a united life together?

The earliest confession of Christian faith remains the one place to which we return after all our theological meanderings: Jesus is Lord! The church in all its variations has consistently agreed that Jesus’ life and teachings form the bedrock of our common ground. The church has acknowledged that our theological beliefs and moral values rest securely on who Jesus was, what he said, and all that he did.

Some Christians use the question, “What would Jesus do?” (WWJD) almost as a mantra. Some even make it an accessory to their clothing. For most it is a serious question demanding serious answers. Their faith convic-tions about moral and practical questions of life come out of what they are convinced Jesus would do today.

Other Christians have claimed the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ own example as the point of critical examination for what they do. The gospels are often the lectionary texts from which they preach. Their conviction that Jesus’ teaching and actions form the core values of Christian practice lead to the same question - what would Jesus do in this situation?

Our common ground is found in Jesus, especially in what Jesus said and how he lived and what the Spirit of Christ continues to teach us. The church’s consistent conviction through the centuries remains the same today - that Jesus is Lord. That Jesus’ life and words, and the Spirit of Christ, remain the foundation upon which we build our lives.

As a child growing up in church I learned the story and sang the song about the foolish man who built his house on the sand and the wise man who built his house upon the rock. When the rains came and the winds blew, the house on the sand was destroyed, but the house built on the rock stood firm. [See Matthew 7:24-27]

The wise ones, Jesus said, are those who “hear these words of mine and put them into practice.” The authority for our lives comes out of Jesus’ words, reinforced by Jesus’ attitude and behavior in his own life, and strengthened today by what we hear from the Spirit. Jesus is the one, for the Christian, who decides what behavior is moral or immoral. Jesus is the one who judges what is good or bad, right or wrong, correct or incorrect behavior.

WHAT DID JESUS SAY?

Jesus never spoke directly about abortion and homosexuality. He did say a great deal about life and love. He taught repeatedly about care for the poor, the danger of wealth, the abuse of religion, and the way of com-passion and mercy for the weak, the rejected, and the enemy.

So what does Jesus say and what would Jesus do? This question has always been the heart and soul of the Christian church. What Jesus said and did is our authority, the gospels are our primary source, and the Spirit of Jesus is our continuing guide in life.

Some people will object by saying that all scripture is our authority. I believe that as well. But the scriptures do not speak with a single voice about behavior and attitudes, about what is moral, about what is right and wrong.

Jesus goes beyond what the Hebrew scriptures said, and that was “the Bible” of Jesus’ day. At times Jesus even contradicted them in what we have called the Sermon on the Mount. Quoting from the Hebrew scriptures (the Christian Old Testament), Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said….” And then adds, “But I say to you….” [See Matthew 5]

In every example, Jesus moved beyond the traditional interpretation of the scriptures. He saw that the people had focused on outward forms of behavior and made that focus the most important thing while ignoring inward attitudes of heart and mind which Jesus said were more important.

People knew that murder was wrong, but Jesus said not to be so angry that we would curse someone. He told us to go and be reconciled with someone we have offended before we go to worship God.

Jesus goes beyond outward rules of behavior (do not murder) to deal with relational concerns. What we say and how we say it are also important. God cares whether we have offended someone, and if we need to be reconciled with another person, at least as much as God cares about our worship.

People knew that adultery was wrong, but Jesus said not even to look with lust on another person. [He said a woman because he mostly spoke to men; but it applies to all, even though men commonly wrestle more with it than women.]

Jesus honored the covenant of marriage with strong words for people who commit adultery, but he went beyond what scripture said to emphasize emotional and mental faithfulness as well. When a man looks at women with lust, he wants to dominate and use them for his own satisfaction. That happens within marriage as well. Faithfulness to another person grows out of love for that person and cannot be contained only within legal and physical boundaries of marriage.

People knew that breaking an oath was wrong, but Jesus said not to take an oath, not to swear, at all. Rather, simply be honest in all that we say.

Traditional interpretation of scripture has most often stayed in a narrow valley of understanding, focused on the outward limitations (do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not swear). Jesus takes us by the hand to lead us out onto a broad plain of understanding God’s intentions by turning our attention to what is inside of us, our attitudes, motives, unspoken desires. God desires simple, honest relationships of love for one another.

People had been told to limit their revenge, to take only an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But Jesus said not to take revenge at all. Do not respond in kind to someone who is treating you violently or unjustly.

Scripture allowed limited revenge for injustice and violence done toward us - eye for eye and tooth for tooth. Many Jewish people of Jesus’ day felt justified by the scripture to pray for revenge against their enemies, to seek it on their behalf, even to take it into their own hands. Unfortunately, the same interpretation of scripture leads many Christians today in the same direction.

Jesus said the scriptures were wrong. God’s desire is for peaceful response, although directly confronting the abuser. Nonviolent resistance involves engaging “the enemy,” the unjust or violent perpetrator. Peacebuilders today often call it “the third way.” Rather than running away or passively accepting the abuse or injustice, and rather than fighting back with similar violence and injustice, we find a third way of loving our enemy in open challenge to their dominance and authority.

People had been told to love their neighbor, but were given permission to hate their enemies. Yet Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Follow the example of God, he added, who sends rain on all people, both evil and good at the same time. Go beyond loving only those who love us, for even the most despised of people will do that.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus goes even further. “Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back…. If you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full.” And then the clincher: “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.”

And why would we do this seemingly impossible thing? Because God “is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” [See Luke 6:27-36] God is good to all people, not just those who love God. The kindness, mercy, for-giveness, and love of God go out to everyone regardless of their moral character or level of faith. And we are called to live the same way.

Jesus directly contradicts a major theme of the Hebrew scriptures, saying that God does not seek revenge on “ungrateful and wicked” people. God does not withhold good gifts from people because they are not people of faith. God is kind, loving, and generous to all. The implications of Jesus’ teaching form the foundation of what this book claims as core moral values for Christians.

I grew up in churches and in a home where the Sermon on the Mount and all of Jesus’ teachings were foundational for life. When I began to preach in my early 20s, I read the scripture and interpreted it according to what Jesus said and did. When I read passages, especially in the Hebrew scriptures, which made me wonder about the moral values of the people in the story, I would ask, “What did Jesus teach? What did Jesus do?”

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?

The question of my heart and mind has always been: “What did Jesus say was most important?” That question guides my interpretation of scripture. And in my reading of church history and doctrine, that has been the central question - if not always the only question - of the church. As Christians we take the name of Christ, of Jesus, saying in effect that the way of Jesus is our way, that the words and life of Jesus guide us in all our decisions.

What, then, is most important according to Jesus? Is there one thing, above all else, by which we make moral decisions and value judgments in this life? I am convinced the clear answer is “yes.”

The most important thing is love. Nothing is more important than the love of God and of one another. That’s what I learned growing up in church.

Matthew’s gospel tells the story this way. An expert in the Jewish law, with its more than 600 com-mandments and a multitude of interpretations, came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest com-mandment in the Law?” I can see Jesus answering without hesitation because he lived his whole life this way :

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two command-ments.” [Matthew 22:34-40]

I preached the same message 35 years ago that I preach today. If we love God and each other, we fulfill the other desires of God as well. All other laws and com-mandments of religion, if they come from God’s will, are summed up in this one thing. After extensive reading, study, preaching, teaching, and testing it in life and in the church for three decades, I am convinced more than ever that this is true, that this is the central message of Jesus.

Jesus is not the only one who said it, however. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Rome: [All the commandments] are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. [Romans 13:9-10]

In 1 John, we read these challenging words to the church: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love….If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us….God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him….Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. [See 1 John 4:7-21]

Love as the all-encompassing moral value is the word of Jesus to us, the Word of God. This is the message of the New Testament, and I believe of the whole Bible. All things are determined by our willingness to love God and to love people. Our moral choices, our cultural and religious values, our individual decisions - all are to be formed by this one supreme rule: To love God and one another.

Love: The Ultimate Moral Value