Coming Together

Being in Agreement

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”               

                                  Matthew 18:19-20

         Jesus must have known just how difficult it is for us earthlings to agree about anything.  This reading makes me wonder if he’d just sat through a planning meeting of the synagogue council, or perhaps had suffered through a day in the U.S. capital.  The notion of two or three agreeing about anything and thus binding it in heaven and on earth seems impossible these days.

         And yet, this sounds very much like a promise.  If you “come together in my name, there am I with you.”  No maybes about it.  No “if you’re conservative”, no “if you’re liberal” about it.  I think the catch may be “come together in my name.” What exactly does it mean to come together in Jesus’ name?

         It would seem to me that in coming together in Jesus’ name, we must leave our egos at the door.  We cannot ‘come together’ if we come with our own agenda that serves only our own goals.  We have to consider what we ask for and that it not be simply the selfish desires of our own hearts.  We cannot bring our need for personal power and prestige, nor our fears and prejudices into the gathering.  We cannot cloak our hidden desires in eloquent words.  We must come together with open hearts and open minds and seek what is best for the greater good.  We must listen with understanding to our detractors as well as our friends.  We must consider what serves the earth as a whole.  When we can do that, Jesus will stand with us and it will be done.  That’s a promise.

                                  Keeping the faith,

                                  Jane