Phil Miller at CRN.Info and Analysis posted some interesting quotes on Christian unity from some of the leaders of the great religious movements of the last 500 years.  As a United Methodist, I found the one by John Wesley to be of more than passing interest to me, but all of the quotes are of the same substance.

“I ask that men make no reference to my name, and call themselves not Lutherans, but Christians.  What is Luther?  My doctrine, I am sure, is not mine, nor have I been crucified for anyone.  St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, would not allow Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian.  How then should I, poor, foul carcass that I am, come to have men give to the children of Christ a name derived from my worthless name?  No, no, my dear friends, let us abolish all party names, and call ourselves Christians after him whose doctrine we have.” – Martin Luther

“I should rejoice (so little ambitious am I to be at the head of any sect or party) if the very name [Methodist] might never be mentioned more, but be buried in eternal oblivion.” -John Wesley

“I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ’s name last for ever.  I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living.” -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

from Some Thoughts on Unity posted by Phil Miller on Sunday, 16 September 2007

Jon Birch of The Ongoing Adventures of ABSO Jesus also recently posted a cartoon with a similar theme.  I highly recommend his blog to you.  Many of his cartoons are both provocative and contain some subtle and not so subtle, jabs at the follies of the Church and Jesus’ followers.

As for me, one of my favorite prayers in the United Methodist Hymnal (1989) is a simple Chinese prayer entitled “For the Unity of Christ’s Body.”  It reads:

Help each of us, gracious God,
to live in such magnanimity and restraint
that the head of the Church may never have cause to say to any one of us,
“This is my body, broken by you.”  Amen.

To live a live of restraint and magnanimity.  Magnanimity, from the adjective magnanimous, which means:

1. Courageously noble in mind and heart.
2. Generous in forgiving; eschewing resentment or revenge; unselfish; tolerant.

That, my friends, is something that we all can pray for.