In search of unity

I am working on SUnday, a nice short sermon so we can get on the highway to camp as early as possible (especially as I get to drive an extra hour past camp to the kennel and back).

Working from Ephesians 2:11-22, the working title of the sermon is Walls that Divide -- NO MORE!. One of the things I celebrate about Pauline theology is that it gives us tools to deal with the divisions within the church. Paul reminds us that we don't all have to be the same. In modern terms, we can agree to disagree and then pray or sing together.

The United Church of Canada seems constantly buffeted by threats of splitting. We are so big and cover such a wide spectrum of thought that unity is a challenge. This SUnday I will raise up for prayer the commissioners to General Council 39, which mets a month from now. As I talk abotu Paul's call for unity in Christ I will talk about how we, as a varied denomination, have tried to live out that ideal of unity in diversity. And in the end we always need reminding that it isn't terrifying that we disagree, it isn't a tragedy, it isn't something to avoid talking about. It is who we are but what keeps us together is more important in the end.