Affording Division

The Church has suffered two major schisms, and I’m afraid, lots of minor ones.  The major ones were the Great Schism of the 11th century and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.  The latter especially has led to further splintering even to our own day.  We are in the midst of such an event in Anglicanism right now, and of course, we are a product of the major split that occurred with the Reformation and its expression in England.  Breakups, including church ones, have no small connection to issues of power and money.  Power not only corrupts; it divides.  Money is not only the root of much evil; it is the root of much division.  Both are true in the Church. 

But power and money played another role in our divisions, I believe.  Both of the major schisms occurred at the height of the Church’s power, one at the height of the Middle Ages, and one at the end of them.  The Middle Ages were a time when the Church and the State were most closely identified.  In many cases it was difficult to tell them apart.  Church politics and secular politics intermingled freely and naturally but not always righteously.  Though there may have been some cracks beginning to appear by the time of the Reformation, both of the major schisms occurred at the height of the Church’s power, privilege, prestige, and wealth. 

In short, the Church split because it could afford to.  One part of the body could afford, in a quite literal sense, to say to another, “I have no need of you.”  Division was a luxury for solving differences that the Church could afford to buy.

It is no longer so.  And in that we share something with our ancestors who long preceded the schisms.  They were tempted by division, too, but they resisted.  I think the reason is that lacking the privileged position in society that the Church later came to enjoy and take for granted, schism was simply a luxury the Church could not afford.

Paul wrote about it very early on in the Church’s missionary life. 
For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?  For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human?  What then is Apollos? What is Paul?  Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.  For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.  (1 Cor. 3:3b-9)

In the early days of planting and watering and tending, the Church could not afford division if it were to thrive.  Maybe there was a time when it could.  If so, the time has surely passed.  The reality of the Church’s life now is that division is a luxury we can simply no longer afford.  There’s just too much planting and watering to be done.

Peace,