“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
—Ephesians 1:8b-10
We would only need to drive down the street to see the disunity of the body of Christ. We have first, second, and third (insert denomination name here) churches that dot the landscape as congregations that could not get along. As the church, we are called to be in unity. John Wesley wrote a great sermon called “A Catholic Spirit.” The catholic Wesley is referring to is not the Roman
Catholic spirit but catholic meaning universal. In this sermon he details how the common ground of our faith should unite us. He is not saying that we have to all believe the same exact thing, or that we have to deny our uniqueness. What he is saying is that Christ’s call to love one another outweighs our differences. We should be united by our call to love and serve our neighbors. Wesley framed this by saying despite our differences give me your hand and let us serve God’s people TOGETHER. It is not just John Wesley who calls for unity among God’s people but Jesus who calls us to be united. This week we will explore the prayer that Jesus prays in John 17. It is a prayer that we may be unified.
