A Burden of Glory
This is not a unity that is scared of speaking out but a unity that knows what it believes and where its loyalties lie and so knows when to be firm and when to be flexible.
So, there you have it. The formula for unity in the church. Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love. Not always so easy to do. In Colossians, he adds compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and thankfulness. These are the fruit of a spirit-filled life.
When my daughter was 12 years old, she was full of curiosity. And she would ask very good questions too. But she didn’t always like the answers.
“Why is God hiding?” she would ask. “Why doesn’t he protect me from hurting myself. Doesn´t he love me?” “If God loves the whole world, why doesn’t he just get rid of hell and let everyone go to heaven?” Those were the good questions.
But she had other questions as well. “Who was Cain’s wife?” “Who created God?” and “What is heaven like?”
Obviously, we had a lot of talks together coming home from school, walking in the park, sitting in my office.
In a couple of weeks on Palm Sunday, we will have a potluck fellowship dinner. Everybody brings a dish and a desert. Drinks are provided. We get together and chat for a while and call it fellowship. Fellowship is supposed to be another word for Spiritual Unity. Doesn’t sound very interesting but it is nice, I suppose.
We have been talking about the Way of the Cross – confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. Fellowship or Spiritual Unity is supposed to be the result of reconciliation.
