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One Body, One Spirit – Love Beyond Measure · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verses 4 through 6.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: There is one body and one spirit,
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: even as you also were called in one hope of your calling,
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Who is over all and through all and in us all.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Unity is often confused with sameness.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We feel safer when people think like us,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: worship like us,
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: vote like us, communicate like us, or respond to life the way we do.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: The small ruler says, I belong most securely with people who are like me.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: That ruler can feel reassuring because sameness reduces uncertainty.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: If everyone around us sees the world in familiar ways,
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: we rarely have to examine our assumptions very deeply.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Difference can feel threatening because it reminds us that our way is not
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: the only way a faithful life can take form.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Difference can feel threatening because it reminds us that our way is not
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: the only way a faithful life can take form.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Paul describes something stronger than sameness.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: One body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of all.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then, almost immediately, Paul begins speaking about different gifts.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is not a contradiction.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is the beauty of God's workmanship.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: We are not mass-produced copies of one another.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Each person carries a distinct combination of gifts,
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: experience, personality, perception, history, and story.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit does not erase those differences.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Grace fits them together.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier in Ephesians, Paul said Christ broke down the wall of hostility.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now we learn to live together after that wall comes down.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: That requires an inner security strong enough to let another person be different.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: When I trust that God is forming me, I do not need your sameness to validate me.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I can listen to your experience without fearing that mine is being erased.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can learn from your gift without believing that my gift has become smaller.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can disagree with you without making difference the reason to withdraw love.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Unity does not require agreement about everything.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: It requires a shared center deeper than disagreement.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit gives us confidence to become who God created us to be.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: While remaining connected to the people God has formed differently.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is especially important in communities of faith.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We can become accustomed to thinking that unity means everyone uses
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: the same language,
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: reaches the same conclusions,
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: prefers the same practices, or expresses faith in the same emotional register.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yet the body of Christ has always contained difference.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: The hand is not less faithful because it is not the eye.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: The eye is not more valuable because its function is easier to notice.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Difference becomes contribution when love is secure.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Think of a tapestry.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Each thread carries its own color and position.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: No single thread contains the design.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: The beauty appears as distinct threads are woven into something none could create alone.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: That is closer to Paul's vision of one body.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: You do not become more secure by surrounding yourself only with people who resemble you.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: You become more secure as grace roots you deeply enough to recognize the same spirit
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: at work in lives that do not look like yours.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps there is someone whose difference has made you defensive.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: You do not have to resolve every disagreement today.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can begin with curiosity.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: What might God be forming in this person that I do not carry myself?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: What could I receive without losing who I am?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: One spirit holds us together.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Difference does not have to become distance.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: God and Father of all, You have made us unique and called us into one body.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Free me from needing others to resemble me before I can love them.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Give me confidence in the person you are forming and openness to
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: the grace you are forming in others.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me to remain connected without erasing difference
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: and let curiosity become stronger than defensiveness.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: As you turn again toward your work and responsibilities, carry this prayer with you.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do not need sameness.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: One spirit holds us together.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I do not need sameness.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: One spirit holds us together.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do not need sameness.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.