Ephesians 2:19-22 The Church United
“You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God. You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone. Christ is the one who holds the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord. And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God’s own Spirit to live” (CEV).
This may not be the most photographic picture I have ever taken, but it has importance. First of all, it’s easy to see that the church is part of the community it serves. People’s homes are right next door. This church is unique in that it serves as the meeting place for the Catholic Church and the protestant church. They share the facility. There is an altar at each end, a pot belly stove in the middle, and pews whose backs can easily be switched so the congregants can face either the Catholic altar or the protestant altar. Since they share the building, they also share the costs and the upkeep, so cooperation is a must. What a good example this is of the Scripture quoted above. Each church and each congregation is built with “apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone.” We would do well to remember the common foundation and the common cornerstone we all share. The Scripture is a call for unity in the Spirit. I have been reading a book by David Jeremiah, “Belief That Behaves.” I was intrigued with a section that describes an international meeting of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. At one point the attendees gathered in small groups for prayer. The international group included students from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, entities not known for their friendly or even peaceful interaction. But these three groups came together for prayer, breaking the walls that separated them. One of the leaders said, “In Christ we are all one family. And Christ breaks down political boundaries. In Christ, we have the desire to make the first steps to connect.” Unity in Christ was paramount to these students.
Dr. Jeremiah also related the following story. A young American girl on a mission trip to Quito, Ecuador, was seriously injured. While she was swimming in deep water, a boat didn’t see her and rode right over her. The propellor caught her on the lower back. Several young Ecuadorean men swam to her and carried her back to shore where an ambulance took her to the hospital. Over the next few weeks, her Christian friends in the U.S. contacted people they knew in Ecuador, who began to visit her and offer help. A retired missionary doctor took personal responsibility for her care, and she received many cards, letters, emails, flowers, and gifts. She said, “I just can’t believe it . These people loved me for no other reason than that I needed to be loved.” Her father responded, “It’s the church, When the church is functioning at its best, there is simply no community on earth that can rival it.”
God calls us to Christian unity, and it is to our advantage to do what we can to foster unity. If someone says, “Jesus is Lord,” he is my brother.