Church: One Body Held Together By God’s Love
Daily Scripture
Ephesians 4:1-6, 15-16
Bishop Will Willimon’s most recent book, The Church We Carry, is a plea for Christian unity. The church Willimon grew up in and always thought of as “home” disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church. Yet, despite the pain and ugliness of that process, he still finds hope. Each day, we’ll share a short excerpt from his book.
1 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
15 Instead, by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ, 16 who is the head. The whole body grows from him, as it is joined and held together by all the supporting ligaments. The body makes itself grow in that it builds itself up with love as each one does its part.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
“Paul’s injunction to forbear (anekhómenoi, tolerate, put up with) one another in love (Colossians 3:13; Ephesians 4:2) should have been done in needlepoint, framed, and put over the front door of [my home church]…. koinonia, worshipping and serving Christ together is the whole point of church in the first place, a good unto itself, a necessary demonstration of what Jesus Christ is up to.” *
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the city of Ephesus, a bustling hub of the Roman Empire filled with commerce and politics, included practical instructions for one of the early missionary centers in Asia Minor (modern day Türkiye). To diminish division and establish unity, Paul described the character necessary of Christians (verse 2). He listed no fewer than seven “ones” that unite God’s people and then ended in verse 6 with three “alls,” emphasizing the theme of togetherness (verses 4-6).
- What are daily reminders for you to “conduct yourself” (Ephesians 4:2) or “put on [like fresh clothing]” (Colossians 3:12) the Christian virtues of humility, gentleness, patience, compassion, and kindness when interacting with someone who challenges you? The passage said one key to keeping the body of Christ “held together” is “speaking the truth in love.” Which do you find harder with others: speaking the truth at all, or doing so in love?
- Verse 4 reminded Christians that we are part of one body, even as that body is comprised of different members (1 Corinthians 12:12-25). But being realistic, verse 3 said, “Make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit.” How do you shift your perspective from the natural human bent to focus on differences (especially the ones that annoy you) to appreciating the unique strengths that others bring to your workplace, neighborhood, Small Group, or Sunday Worship?
Prayer
Lord God, part of the human condition is friction between me and others. Help me pause my negative perceptions, to conduct myself with positive virtues, and see them as my siblings in Christ. Amen.
GPS Insights
Jeff Lady
Jeff Lady, who serves as Resurrection's Recovery Ministry Coordination Director, wrote today's Insights. Jeff works daily in the Recovery Ministry to serve those in our community fighting battles with substance use and the many challenges that go with it. Jeff spends most of his spare time at his farm with his 55-member family… the dog, cats, goats, and chickens.
Humility, gentleness, patience, love, unity of Spirit… Wow, at times, dealing with life as it comes while keeping those ideals at the forefront seems like an impossibly tall order, especially for an addict in recovery whose primary character defect always has been and always will be pride. My pride can really screw things up. My pride can get in the way of everything and when it does, humility becomes control, gentleness becomes anger and patience, well that just flies right out the window. My relationships with those I love dearly and those with whom I share the love and unity of the Spirit always seem to be the ones I hurt the most.
As a person in recovery from addiction, part of my program is to do my best to take a daily inventory of the times I fall short. While pride in some form often manages to find its way onto that daily list, working a recovery program that is not just tied to my faith but truly is my faith helps me best to keep the prideful moments in check. My recovery program mirrors my faith in every respect so when I make the conscious choice to let go of pride, truly put God first, and walk as Jesus asks me to walk, I find it so much easier to be at peace in the Spirit with my brothers and sisters in the faith.
I’ll admit, it’s a daily struggle for this recovering addict. It is so easy to let my prideful self mess things up. It often seems difficult to prioritize humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity of Spirit and it definitely can seem like a tall order at times but by choosing to listen, to serve, to forgive, and to honor others I can keep my pride in check, keep Christ first, and make room for God’s unifying Spirit in my own life.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Willimon, William H., The Church We Carry: Loss, Leadership, and the Future of Our Church (pp. 168-169). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.
