“AMPLE ROOM”
John 17:1-11
The Rev. Ms. Laurie A. McNeill
Montclair, New Jersey
May 8, 2005
May 8, 1945, was the day on which Germany offered its unconditional surrender. Sixty years
ago today, an age of destruction in Europe came to a halt. While clearing away war-ravaged rubble,
new political states took shape. Germany became two nations: the Democratic Republic and the
Federal Republic. We recall the way a divided Germany was made distinct by the Berlin Wall.
The cessation of military fighting in 1945 yielded division, as could be expected. A generation
later, the Wall fell and Germany signed a treaty on unification. No longer is there a Germany of East
and West. Germany is one – at least on paper.
Unity is, in principle, much easier to achieve than in practice. Persons may stand side by side,
presenting a united front, yet the image may be deceptive. Relationships are both public and private.
That which takes place behind the scenes is the greatest challenge to unity.
Consider the dynamics in Germany today. The united nation remains a people divided.
Gunter Grass, the German Nobel Prize winner in Literature (1999), has written that it is “hardly
surprising that people in the former East Germany should regard themselves as second-class Germans.
The jobless rate is twice as high as in the former West Germany. West German arrogance had no
respect for people with East German resumes. The mass migration, feared from the beginning, is
happening now, daily. Whole areas of the country, its cities and its villages, are being emptied. After
the Treuhandanstalt, the entity responsible for privatizing East Germany, had completed its bargain sales,
West German industry and banks withheld the necessary investment and loans and, consequently, no
jobs were created.” (“The Gravest Generation,” by Gunter Grass, The New York Times, 5/7/2005, p.
A15)
Gunter Grass reminds us, through Germany’s example, that unity is easier said than done.
Nevertheless, the difficulty in achieving unity does not negate the need to strive toward that end. Jesus
believed unity is essential. Today’s gospel lesson reminds us that it was Jesus’ desire that we have unity
in our church.
Before he was arrested, Jesus prayed. His prayer included petitions that the disciples would
have unity and joy, and that they would triumph in their struggles over evil. Then they would fully know
the love of God.
Jesus prayed that the disciples would have unity, that they may be one as Christ and God were
one. Jesus knew that the disciples would face divisions. Judas already had begun to make his break
from the Twelve. The disciples would face challenges that would threaten to divide them. Yet Jesus
wanted them to remain bound together through their faith in him. He did not want them to have divisions
within themselves.
Like the disciples, the church will have challenges to its unity. The prayer of Jesus remains
relevant for the church: that we may be one as Jesus the Son and God the Parent were one.
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