The God of All the Clans

The County Ecumenical Officer finds hope for Christian unity in the prophecy of Jeremiah

Every Wednesday I attend my Parish’s ‘Befriending the Scriptures’ meetings. I normally attend Mass beforehand and over the last week we have been reading from the book of Jeremiah. 

Admittedly, the prophet Jeremiah is not usually the first-place Christians turn when thinking about Christian unity. His ministry was marked by political turmoil, spiritual decline, and the heartbreak of exile. Nonetheless, within his prophecy are words of hope that speak powerfully to our ecumenical journey today.

The opening verse of Jeremiah 31 contains an amazing promise: 

At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.

At first glance, the reference to all the clans may seem an insignificant detail. It is, however, anything but. The clans were the different families and tribes that together formed the people of Israel. Each had its own history, traditions, and identity. 

God’s promise was not to abolish those distinctions but to gather them into one people under His loving care. This unity did not require or lead to uniformity, as the clans remained distinct. Together they were, nevertheless, one People belonging to the one God.

There is a lesson here for the Church today. 

The Christian family is also made up of many clans. Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Free Churches, Salvationists, and many others. Each have their own history, spirituality, and gifts. We have inherited differences of theology, worship, and governance, which continue to require careful dialogue and patient discernment. 

Those differences matter and cannot simply be wished away. Nor should they, diversity matters, as it is our different gifts that enriches Christianity. 

The key point to make, however, is that before we are members of our diverse individual traditions, we are disciples of Jesus Christ. What binds us together is immeasurably greater than what separates us. 

We might disagree sometimes about sex, sexuality, trans rights, liturgy, ordination, ministry, church buildings, and forms of worship – all of which are not unimportant – but these are second order matters to what we can proclaim together.

Together we proclaim that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God - truly God and truly man. Together, we confess the incarnation; His saving death upon the Cross; His glorious resurrection from the dead; His ascension into heaven, and the promise that He will come again in glory. Together we worship the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and recognise the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God.

These shared convictions are not peripheral or second order matters. They are the very heart of the Christian faith. They form the foundation upon which every ecumenical conversation is built. Our divisions may be real, but they exist within a far deeper and meaningful communion set up by Christ himself.

Jeremiah reminds us that God’s gaze is always wider than ours. We are often tempted to see the Church through denominational boundaries, but He simply sees His people – the one people of God. Just as He declared himself to be the God of all the clans of Israel, so He continues to gather all who are in Christ into one family, even while that visible unity is still imperfect. For me, this is such a hopeful and inspiring image, and the prophet goes on to explain why such hope is possible: 

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. (Jeremiah 31:3)

Everything rests upon God’s faithfulness. Israel had failed repeatedly. It had wandered from God, experienced division, and suffered exile. Yet God’s covenant remained intact because it depended not upon human perfection but upon divine love.

There are times when the ecumenical movement can seem painfully slow. Dialogues continue for decades. Some of the old disagreements stay unresolved. Even fresh tensions can sometimes appear just when progress appears to have been made. It can be tempting to become discouraged or to wonder whether Christian unity will ever become more visible – I know, I have been there!

Jeremiah offers a different perspective. The future does not rest primarily upon our efforts but upon God’s steadfast love. The God who remained faithful to Israel has not abandoned His purpose for the Church. This hope reaches its climax later in the chapter with Jeremiah’s promise of a New Covenant when God’s law will be written upon human hearts. 

Applying this perspective to Christian unity means, at least for me, that every shared prayer, every friendship across denominational boundaries, every act of service undertaken together, and every honest theological conversation takes part in the work that God himself is bringing to fulfilment through His faithfulness to us.

Christian unity will never be achieved simply through better organisation or more efficient structures. Those have their place, but lasting reconciliation begins with transformed hearts. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to soften prejudices, deepen understanding, and lead Christians into a fuller participation in the truth of Christ.

For me, one of Jeremiah’s greatest gifts is the reassurance he offers. God’s promises are always larger than our present circumstances. When we become preoccupied by the obstacles that remain, we risk forgetting the God who is patiently gathering his people, the propose of which has never been in doubt. 

God's purpose for creation itself is communion. He made humanity in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) for relationship with Him. The Fall fractured this communion through sin, but God's entire plan of salvation - from the patriarchs through the prophets, culminating in Christ - aims at restoring it. Jesus summarised the whole law and the prophets in two commandments: love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Both these commandments are acts of communion.

Jesus prayed at the Last Supper that His disciples may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you (John 17:20-21). This is the vision of the Church itself - the Mystical Body of Christ, united to Him and to one another.

This is why ecumenism is more than a movement; it is an act of hope. We work for Christian unity not because success is guaranteed by human effort, but because it has already been willed by Christ and promised by God. The God of all the clans is still gathering his people. He has not yet finished his work of communion.

Our calling, then, is simple: to remain faithful. To pray together whenever we can. To learn from one another with humility. To bear witness together to Christ, whose incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension are the shared treasure of every Christian tradition. We must trust that the God who has loved his people with an everlasting love will, in his perfect time, bring to completion the unity for which his Son prayed.

Ecumenism is sustained by faith. There will be disappointments and setbacks but, in the end, God’s purposes are never defeated. The God who gathered the scattered tribes of Israel is still at work among the scattered families of the Church, patiently drawing us towards visible unity. 

Our task is simply to keep walking together, trusting that when God is ready, indeed all will then go well for them and for their children after them (Jeremiah 32:39). In that promise we find both our encouragement and our peace.

Article by Dr Ian Watson. The reflection was prompted by a homily on Jeremiah from Fr Keith Tulloch SM. 

Image produce with the help of OpenAI.
.
 
 

(Author: )

---