Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Universal Importance of Unity
Peace and Blessings,
I'm going to start off this discussion like I do all of my "semi-important" thoughts, with a reflection on one of my favorite cartoons, lol. Even though the X-Men is my favorite contemporary (i.e. mid 1990s) cartoon, my all-time favorite cartoon is the
This is my favorite cartoon because of its concept and its implications. I can talk about favorite cartoons and especially Voltron for days, but I'll give you the abridged version. The premise behind Voltron is the following: One cannot survive on one's own, therefore life is based upon and requires
Voltron Lion Force consisted of 5 people, each of which were responsible for their own lion. As a team, they were responsible for promoting and maintaining peaceful relationships among those of other nations or planets, and defended the Universe ONLY WHEN THEY HAD TO. It seems like the Bush administration could learn a lesson from Voltron's "foreign policy." During those times when they had to defend the planet, it appeared as if the lions could not defeat the enemy own their own. Once the lions came together and formed Voltron, however, the team was unstoppable. Initially, I could not understand why on every episode the individual lions would get "mopped up." The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that the individual lions' defeat is consistent with the cartoon's overall premise that one cannot survive on his or her own accord. It was only when the lions came together to form something greater than themselves that they were able to overcome all obstacles.
During his ministry, the Apostle Paul focused a great deal on the importance of unity. In Galatians 5:13-14 he states,
"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self- indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
I don't think that the word "slaves" as it is used here refers to being literally subserviant to and being treated as inferior by another. Instead, I am more than confident that it was referring to the idea that we must love each other in a way that puts their needs on par with, and sometimes before our own. Further, Paul's emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 on individuals from different backgrounds and walks of life all being part of the Body of Christ suggests that for Christians, we cannot discriminate amongst each other based on gifts, status, or anything else. Because the body of Christ consists of a variety of different people, then it follows that an individual within the body of Christ is connected to and dependent upon everyone else in the body as well.
Before I end, I just wanted to introduce
Some of the services they provide include providing food and housing, job and computer skills training, drug recovery, and other forms of ministry.
Not only does CityTeam Ministries represent unity with respects to its team members, their emphasis on transforming the lives of the marginalized suggests the realization that regardless of our background and position in life, we are all connected.
What do you think? What is your meaning of unity? What would it look like for this meaning of unity to be actualized in America? Throughout the world? Weigh in and speekonit...
Labels: cartoons, Christ, Corinthians, discriminate, foreign policy, Paul, relationships, team, unity, Voltron
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