As playing the doctor at Westfield I have had to learn certain things. For example, I know in principle how to set a simple fractured arm or leg but more confident in an arm. It is true that as I was reading up on this I did feel a little squiffy. Could I actually do it on a real human. Ummm.

What I do know is that when the point of fracture heals that part is stronger. 

The Christian church has known a lot of Fractures.

For one brief moment in time there was one group of people that together in unity remembered and celebrated the life and presence of Jesus the Christ. It was a brief moment.

Peter, did not get along with Paul, who wanted to bring the good news to the gentiles after that well. 

There is the great schism Eastern  (Orthodox Churches which breaks into several sects )vs Western church (Roman|) over the divinity of Christ.

Then the Western the Roman church starts to break.  The Protestant reformation,  Martin Luther, (the Lutherans) objected to the power in Rome and indulgences.  In England that little issue that Henry had and the Church of England. (Anglicans and Episcopalian) comes into being.

Catholic, Protestant issues in England and Ireland. The troubles. Mostly resolved. 

Meanwhile in Scotland John Knox has his ideas leading to the Presbyterian.   The Wesley brothers begin there movements which became known as the Methodist.  Several subsets in there. 

The Baptist, which contains a whole range of sup sets,

 Fractures in the faith so we have Mennonite, Moravians, Amish, Hutterites Quakers Salvation Army, Christian, Christian Reform, Dutch Reform, Pentecostal, the Community churches, The we have it right and you have it wrong and are going to hell, church of the one only and true believers of Jesus. Wait I made that one up.  Seems there a few others that I missed.

What separates them all is not the more or lack of love of Christ, but human doctrine.

The United church of course was the great experiment which of course formed one church. 1925 The great coming together of the  Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist and later the Evangelical United Brethren . We have over the years entered into conversation with the Anglicans and Lutherans Yet despite our view to Unite we as a denomination have split and split again  Now we seem to have more property than people with a wide range of theology and doctrines struggling to be one church. The tent that we call the United church is very big. Maybe too big?

 All of these fractured pieces of Christianity all still fall under what is the One Holy Catholic Church and when you tell people this they bristle. I had someone in Freelton tell me that Saint Ignatius is not a Christian Church.  Umm yes they are. They are part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. No they are not.  I walked away. 

Today is World wide Communion when we celebrate the unity of the Christian faithful.

Jesus uses his own relationship of unity with the Father as a pattern for our understanding of the unity of the Church.

Here Jesus is praying.    I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

  We are the United Church of Canada. 

What does this mean to be the United Church of Canada and What does it mean to be the United Church here in our community?

In a conversation with another clergy we talked about how both on a local level and national level United Church is at a place of seeking partnerships.