Hold Together
Dear brothers and sisters,
I have to be honest. As I sit down to write this I’m a little discouraged and weary. These have not been easy months. I assume if I’m feeling this way, you are too. People are tired, angry, and divided. Violence is erupting in the streets and people rip each other apart online. Our nation is headed into a hostile presidential election, and our church is headed back in to our sanctuary.
I lie awake at night wondering: will we be able to hold together? We have church members who will vote for Vice President Biden and members who will vote for President Trump. We have church members who won’t come to church if they have to wear a mask, and church members who won’t come if everyone doesn’t, and others who won’t attend in any case. To be clear, I’m not worried about offending people. In 2020, you offend people simply by breathing. I worried whether we can hold together. And what will happen if we don’t.
In July of 1863 Joshua Chamberlain commanded a regiment of Union soldiers in the battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain and his men were charged with holding a position called Little Round Top. From this position they defended the left flank of the main force of the Union Army from the Confederate assault. If Little Round Top were lost, the main force would be exposed and the Union would lose many men and the battle. After repeated assaults against them, Chamberlain’s men ran out of ammunition and could not repel another rebel advance. Knowing he must hold his position at all costs, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge, simply calling out the word “Bayonet” and leading the charge headlong down the hill into the enemy lines. This daring action routed the Confederates. Little Round Top was held, and the Union Army was not lost.
The enemy today is not a Confederate Army; the solution is not a literal bayonet charge. The great enemy we face on all sides is dis-integration, everything fracturing and falling apart — families, communities, friendships, churches. We could very easily fall into biting and devouring one another. This is what the enemy wants to see. We must not surrender our position.
To be sure, the Church will survive — that’s not in doubt. But will our church survive? If we are to withstand the assault of the enemy, we must have the same courage and boldness of Chamberlain and his men. Our bayonet is the Gospel of Oneness is Christ and our charge is to put up with one another in love, with all humility, gentleness, and patience (Ephesians 4:1–6).
Are you ready to fix bayonets? Are you ready to advance without turning back? Then take up the Gospel of Peace in Christ our King and hold together in love. We must love the Gospel and each other more than political parties, more than safety, more than fear, more than freedom, more than outrage, more than comfort, more than being right, more than all this world has to offer, even until all this hollow darkness disgorges its reckless hate against everything good, to the last man. When every weight bears down upon us to tear us apart: hold together. When every impulse says we cannot endure one another any longer: hold together.
Hold together in truth. Hold together in Christ.
