The Price of Unity

This month we remembered the fall of the Berlin Wall. Back on the 9th November 1989
the wall, a symbol of the great divide that separated, physically and ideologically, the people of East and West Germany, was broken and the people were united as one nation.

Thanks to YouTube we can look back at the wall being broken down, and enjoy(!) David Hasselhoff taking us on a whistle-stop tour of what it meant for the German people. Thanks to the Bible we can look back even further to see another great barrier that was broken down in the name of unity, and the enormous price that was paid to secure it. Our guide, rather than The Hoff, is the Apostle Paul.

In Ephesians 2, Paul asks us remember what we were. The original recipients of this letter were about as divided as they could be. The Jews had a fantastic heritage as God's chosen people with the hope of a glorious inheritance and a visible physical sign that they were part of that special community. The Gentiles had none of that. Half of the Church felt superior, the other half inferior. But Paul is keen to remind them that the barrier, the "dividing wall of hostility", has been destroyed. What's made the change? What's the great leveller in the Church of 2000 years ago with the same power to unite us as one today?

Jesus' death on the cross. There is no other way - we all need it as much as each other - we're powerless to save ourselves.

The cross deals with everything that keeps us apart from God, and apart from each other. Our unity is precious - it cost the blood of Jesus to secure it, and we need to treasure it, promote it, and protect it.

Deep down, Paul needed to write to the Ephesians because they hadn't quite grasped this. The message of unity hadn't quite embedded itself in the Church. Do we grasp this in the Church today, or are we just as guilty of harbouring attitudes of superiority and inferiority?

The Temple in Jerusalem was a glorious place where the best of everything was used and displayed. Paul says this is what we are today, as the Church that's built on the blood of Christ and nothing else. We have everything we need to be the people God wants us to be.

In Christ we have peace with God and each other. Let's not create barriers and division in the way we behave towards one another. Let's unite to be the people of God, where his glory dwells, and shines out to the world.