Before we get into this week's devotion, did you see that registration is open for the Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey? You can get all the details in this post or this video.
Devotion for the week...
When we first moved here, the women of the various churches in town would meet a few times a year for prayer breakfasts. It's a small town, so there's only one church per denomination, and women came to the prayer breakfasts from the Catholic, United, Anglican, Pentecostal, and United Pentecostal churches, and we would pray together for our families, our community, our province, and our country. We were from different denominations, but we believed in the same God. Our church services looked different, with different customs and traditions, but we prayed to the same Father who loves us all. Our denominations have different teachings (like one saying alcohol is completely forbidden, while another has no such prohibition), but we all put our trust in the same Jesus.
Historically, people from different denominations haven't always gotten along so well (that's quite an understatement). There are famous, and very bloody, examples from around the world, but there are also smaller and more insidious examples. Things like when we lived in Igloolik, Nunavut where I helped out with a Brownies group and some of the Protestant families wouldn't allow their girls to attend because the meetings took place inside the Catholic church.
Such divisions must grieve God. Paul wrote, "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,one God and Father of all,who is over all, in all, and living through all" (Ephesians 4:3-6).
One body, one Spirit, one glorious hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.
It's human nature to notice our differences and separate ourselves along party, or in this case denominational, lines. We prefer to be with those who think and act like we do, and so we prefer to group ourselves accordingly. Problems come, though, when we allow those preferences to create divisions. After all, denominations are a human invention. God simply sees us all as His children.
He calls us to unity and to peace, telling us through Paul to make every effort towards binding ourselves together. I'm grateful there seem to be fewer deep divisions between denominations today, though I don't think they're gone completely. What efforts could we make to bind ourselves together with the people of other denominations in our communities? It might be as simple as sharing a meal and prayer time together.
We just had a non-denominational meeting to plan for the World Day of Prayer - and we had 8 or 9 churches / denominations represented. The service is usually on the first Friday of March, and is written by women in different countries around the world. (This year it's written by women in Palestine).
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