Christ-Centered Unity
We are all brothers and sisters, joyfully participating with Christ in gathering and uniting the great family of God.
It is such a joy to be with you today.
Recently, Sister Uchtdorf and I attended the baptisms of two of our great-grandchildren. We rejoiced with them as they chose to follow Jesus Christ and made sacred covenants to take upon themselves the Savior’s name, keep God’s commandments, and serve Him. By entering the waters of baptism, they literally followed not only the Savior’s example but also the examples of siblings, cousins, parents, and many trusted friends.
My heart fills with gratitude when I think back on my own baptism. I was baptized at age eight in an impressive indoor public swimming pool. Back then, as we walked into the water, my mind and heart were preoccupied with this thought: “The pool is getting deeper and deeper, and I can’t swim!”
Spiritual growth is rarely dramatic at the beginning. Like an exponential curve, it often starts gradually—with loving parents, simple prayers, and small acts of faith.
Then, as we progress along the covenant path, our relationship with God deepens, and our capacity for a joyful life expands. The temple endowment, missionary service, celestial marriage in the house of the Lord, ongoing service in God’s kingdom—these experiences do not merely add to our discipleship; they multiply greatly our potential for divine understanding and blessings. The arc of discipleship helps us to grow closer to our role model, Jesus Christ, and it continues eternally.
Baptism is the gate through which we enter this “strait and narrow path.” We must enter that gate one by one. Baptism is an individual ordinance.
However, it is also a unifying one. It joins us to a worldwide community of Saints.
Through baptism, we become not only covenant individuals but also part of a covenant people.
When we are baptized, we declare before God and witnesses that we “are desirous to come into the fold of God.” We show that we do not want to live only for ourselves. We desire to be part of a people who “bear one another’s burdens,” “mourn with those that mourn,” and “comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”
In other words, when we join the Church of Jesus Christ, we say—humbly, gratefully, and with quiet confidence—that we want to follow our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. And we want to walk that path together.
Jesus Christ Unites Us
When I read the scriptures, I’m impressed with how much of the Savior’s work has to do with bringing people peacefully together. For example, think about the world Jesus Christ was born in. At that time and place, Jews and Samaritans avoided each other. Gentiles were considered unclean. Pharisees and Sadducees agreed on little except their dislike of publicans and sinners. The people were divided in a dozen different ways—culturally, politically, religiously.
When you think about it, it wasn’t so different from our world today.
But the Savior of the world, the Son of God, transcended worldly boundaries and divisions. As Paul said, He “[broke] down the middle wall of partition between us.” He consistently reached out to those who would otherwise be shunned as outsiders. He touched lepers. He praised Gentiles for their faith. He used a Samaritan as an example of compassion. He gathered people from different walks of life and asked them to serve together in positions of trust. He ministered to the poor and rich alike. And today He continues to invite all to come unto Him.
However, while Jesus Christ is reaching across worldly boundaries to unite Heavenly Father’s family, Satan is seeking to divide us. He aims to weaken God’s children by isolating us from each other. He emphasizes our differences, making them feel like impassable barriers. We can see the fruits of his efforts in the contention, mistrust, and hatred all around us.
And yet the Savior’s work of gathering continues, undaunted. In fact, it is accelerating. And as covenant followers of Jesus Christ, we recognize that we are all brothers and sisters, joyfully participating with Christ in gathering and uniting the great family of God.
The Unity Jesus Christ Offers
Throughout history, people have united over a variety of purposes. Some have united over social causes or political ideas. Some unite to celebrate their cultural heritage. Some, sadly, have united because of hatred for another group. Others unite around hobbies, professional interests, or even love for a favorite soccer team or brand of soft drink. Often these desires to unify are driven by very strong feelings or opinions.
In the Savior’s Church, it is not our political views, culture, or personal interests that unite us. It is our love for God and neighbor, God’s children. It is our commitment to our covenants with Jesus Christ and to His restored gospel. We are “one in Christ.”
The Book of Mormon tells us of two nations, the Nephites and the Lamanites, who were engaged in one of the longest-running sibling rivalries in the world. Wars and contentions literally defined their history for generations. But all of that changed when Jesus Christ appeared, taught them His gospel, and established His Church. For the next 200 years, the love of God replaced contention, and bitter enemies became “one”—they became “the children of Christ.” They became His covenant people.
The catalyst for this change was Jesus Christ and His doctrine.
It always has been, and it always will be.
Jesus Christ has the power to change us—you and me—purify us, and unite us. The closer we come to Him, the closer we will come to each other—and the closer we will come to the unity He wants for us.
If we are not one, we are not His.
When our attention is riveted on Christ, superficial things are hardly worth noticing. We learn to see as He sees—looking on the heart rather than the outward appearance. When our “eye [is] single to [His] glory,” we are “filled with [His] light.” When we try to be a little more patient, a little kinder, more forgiving, more helpful, more neighborly, there will be less room for pride or judgmental attitudes or contention. Such things can no longer stand in the way of Christ-centered unity with each other and with our beloved Father in Heaven.
Does that sound too lofty? Out of reach? It may seem that way. But then, the Savior is always urging us to reach beyond what seems possible, because “with God all things are possible.”
We may not achieve perfect Christ-centered unity in this life, but the “spiritual momentum” we build here will carry us into eternity. In other words, now is the time to unify. Unity won’t magically happen in the next life if we haven’t earnestly tried to learn it here. Every step we take toward unity matters, however small it may seem.
The Unifying Power of the Sacrament
On this path to more unity, let us not miss the unifying power of the sacrament. Each week we gather as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ to renew our baptismal covenant and to remember all the covenants we’ve personally made with God. My dear brothers and sisters, the sacrament can become a fresh starting point for our personal relationship with God and for a greater Christ-centered unity in our lives.
Have you ever noticed that the sacrament is the only ordinance we receive during which we are not addressed by name? Rather, it is performed for “the souls of all those who partake of it.” The only names that are used are those of God the Father and Jesus Christ. We partake individually but also as a group.
There is something powerful, something empowering, about renewing covenants with God while surrounded by brothers and sisters who have made or are considering making the same covenants. The sacrament is a weekly reminder, a sacred reminder, that we are not alone. We have the Savior, and we have each other.
Blessings of Unity in Christ
Wherever you are, I invite you to join the Christ-centered unity we are trying to build. It would be incomplete without you. Please, come and see, come and help, and come and belong.
Jesus promised, “Where two or three are gathered … in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” I testify that the more united in Christ we are and the more we desire to build bridges instead of walls, the more our individual lives, our families, our communities, and our nations will experience God’s presence and supernal blessings.
May God bless us to unite in the Savior’s name and center our minds, hearts, and lives on Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.