False ecumenism

Every Christian must be ecumenical. That is, every Christian must devote herself to the unity of Christ’s church–a unity that witnesses in the world to the love of the Father for the Son and to their love for those sealed by the Spirit of adoption. Ecumenism is part and parcel of the church’s mission, and it is no accident that the last century has seen an explosion in efforts toward the visible unity of the church and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scriptorium/2012/11/the-difficulty-of-ecumenism/

 i) Since I’m not a “her,” I guess I’m exempt.

ii) He doesn’t explain why it’s no accident that the 20C saw an explosion of ecumenical activity–much less why that’s supposed to be a good thing.

iii) In any case, I have a better recipe. Instead of insisting that every Christian must devote “herself” to the unity of Christ’s church, I’d insist that every Christian must devote himself (or herself) to Christ. If every Christian is devoted to Christ, if that’s our goal, then church unity will take care of itself. Devotion to Christ will unite like-minded believers. Multiplied individual devotion results in collective devotion. And surely that’s the only kind of unity worth having: unity grounded in common devotion to Christ. So instead of making ecumenism our focus, shouldn’t we center our lives on Jesus? Christian unity will be a side effect of that primary devotion.