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Like you, I have heard of Oliver Wendall Holmes.  In USA history, he was a supreme court judge.  But did you know he was a “junior?”  Yes, Oliver Wendall Holmes Sr. was his father.  He too was a learned man with a varied background that some have described as a polymath.  The term was foreign to me but when I looked it up, it described Sr. to a tee.  A polymath is a person of great and varied learning. His background included medicine, law, poetry, and an inventor to name a few. But the title of this blog refers to his love for poetry. One of his famous works is Old Ironsides published in 1830 that was influential in the preservation of the USS Constitution. But little known is a poem written in the Civil War era entitled “Voyage of the Good Ship Union.”

Holmes wrote several poems against slavery. “The Voyage of the Good Ship Union” details a metaphorical journey of a heroic ship, the Union, traveling south. Its final line, “One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, One Nation, evermore!” indicates Holmes’ desire for a united country free from slavery. It is this phrase that captured my attention years ago and found its way to a notebook of favorite phrases. While small in stature (five foot three in boots), his intellectual stature was gigantic!

Just as Dr. Holmes Sr. was interested in the unity of this country, St. Paul was also very much in tune with unity when he described this unity subject to the church at Ephesus. Paul writes from prison in Rome to his church at Ephesus. The church was made of up of Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul addresses the subject of unity to safeguard their common belief and purpose.  Paul opens Ephesians chapter four with words that capture your attention.  Listen! “(I) urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity.” (Ephesians 4:1-3, paraphrased) This unity is only made possible by the sacrificial death of our LORD and Savior. Halley’s Bible Handbook says it this way, “(One body) is a complex organism, with many parts, each in its own place and with its own function, working together in harmony.”

Then Paul ties this subject of unity with all its parts – “there is one body, and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all…” (4:4ff) I remember times past when I was invited to teach my grandson’s class in their opening devotions for the day.  I went to the blackboard and wrote this equation: “1 + 1 + 1= 1.” I was immediately verbally accosted by the class about my terrible math skills. I listened to them, then I began by reading Paul’s letter to the church as Ephesus in chapter four.  Here’s the rub. After I read one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, I said, “equals eternal life.”  In God’s math, you simply combine the True God (LORD) with baptism and the faith that comes from the Spirit of God, which yields eternal life with the Savior of the world.

I believe that’s the essence of what St. Paul was urging his church at Ephesus (and us today) to maintain our unity as the Church. As a unit with many diverse members, our commonality is one LORD, one faith, and one baptism. The Church cannot fail when we work together for the extension of the Kingdom. Just as Dr. Holmes Sr. wrote in his poem, unity is paramount. The democratic republic still stands today as e pluribus unum which is translated, “out of many, one.”

May God the Most High (el Elyon) continue to keep you unified in the Spirit of Truth so we may stand blameless on the Day of our LORD Jesus Christ.  To God be the Glory.

Peace

Connected in Him, I stand

GHR