People maybe Christian but they’re not putting Jesus or their Christian beliefs first.
Hanael Bianchi
Who is Hanael Bianchi?
Hanael Bianchi is a history professor at a community college in Maryland. He earned his doctorate in modern British history from the Catholic University of America and his master’s degree in modern German history from the University of Connecticut. Hanael is a husband and proud father of four children. He is the head of men’s ministry at St. John Parish in Westminster MD and author of the Catholic Review’s “Fertile Soil” blog and the pamphlet Spiritual Combat Boot Camp: A Two-Week Spiritual Exercise. You can reach him at hanaelb@yahoo.com.
A Call For Christian Unity
In this episode, Hanael Bianchi talks about Christian unity and why we’re so divided. He explains:
-Why are we not united despite the fact that more and more people are coming to Jesus?
-We are more divided than we have ever been politically, economically, racially, philosophically, why are we so divided in church over these matters and not rise above this?
-At the moment, there’s a lot of political disunity, what steps can we take to promote unity among our own churches?
-How do we unite outside of our church with fellow Christians and non-Christians?
Steps Toward Christian Unity
When I contact Hanael, we were well into November. Despite all the scheduling conflicts, he was so gracious to talk about this. I think I wrote him the same night the US elections results came out. And this was dwelling on my mind how Christians were so opposed with regards to the results.
I love how Hanael like a true historian qualifies everything. He says that this division comes mainly because Christians don’t really put Jesus, first our affiliations come before Christ and so they are more important to us. We are only Christian when it is conducive to us.
His steps towards unity are simple.
Unplug: Get away from social media.
Don’t make other people your enemy.
Direct the change within yourself.
Sounds pretty simple but this is hard. Christian unity is about loving other people without looking at them with judgment. That can be difficult especially when they are at their worst behavior. In the end, Hanael says we need to follow the gospel message. There will likely be division, but our job is to love. Direct all the correction within yourself. And those are really sound words.
As you celebrate thanksgiving, I hope you can focus on the bigger picture and be the better person if not the best. Don’t get drawn into the muck of politics and useless chatter. Drown out the noise and focus on what is good and important.
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