One of the shortest Psalms is Psalm 133:1-3. It talks about how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. That, and some of the reading I have been doing lately, has led me to ponder this question: In North America, are our churches truly a family of believers all together, or are we more a collection of individuals who happen to get together once a week?
One hallmark of North American thinking and culture is the focus on the individual and that individual's freedom. Everywhere we are taught to put ourselves and our needs and our cares and our concerns before others. And the sad thing is, this attitude has carried over into our places of worship. We start to look for what we can get out of our gathers. When we don't like the music, or the format, or what the preacher says, we go somewhere else that suits what we think we need.
This kind of thinking is extremely destructive to building unity, in the church as in life. And yet, our God makes it clear that He wants His people to be unified, to be looking for the good of one another. St. Paul even writes that God's people should put others' interests before their own (Philippians 2:3-4). So should we really be surprised that, when we each put our own thoughts and desires above that of our brothers and sisters that we end up with broken, fragmented churches?
God created us as a body together. To borrow another of Paul's images, we are grafted together into one vine, and that vine is Jesus. We are united to Jesus, and in that unity, we also are united to one another.
How can you help to build unity in your house of worship this week? What would be a good first step, and then a second step toward such unity?
No comments:
Post a Comment