Harmony

This week, 18th to 25th January, is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Since joining a small fellowship in our town 18 months ago (Hope Christian Community), this theme has been on my mind a lot. I am ashamed to say that, for 40 years as a Christian, to some extent I thought that, unless you were in ‘one of our types of churches’ then you were somehow an inferior Christian. These past months, a deep awareness of there only been One Church has been growing in me.

Our next-door neighbour, who has been our neighbour and friend the whole time we have lived in our current home (27 years), is an Anglican Christian. She is part of St John’s church whose building is just round the corner from the chapel where our church meets. Until recently, apart from attending the St John’s jumble sales (which are always well attended by the community) I had very little to do with the church. Anglican traditions and style of worship are different to those I am accustomed to. Nevertheless, after chatting with our friend and learning a little about these traditions, I have come to appreciate them and even join in with some of them.

Furthermore, over these past months, I have kept bumping into a friend who I knew when our children were little. She and her family are Roman Catholic. Although she still lives in the same town, I hadn’t seen her for years. Before Christmas, I bumped into her in Lidl. I said, ‘I don’t know why I keep bumping into you!’ As I walked down the next isle, the Lord whispered in my ear, ‘It’s because I’m showing you that there is only one Church.’ So, I about turned and went back to speak with her. We chatted about how it’s time that Christians across this planet need to put their differences aside because the differences are not important; they’re peripheral. It’s time we focus on our shared hope in the one gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last evening, in our Bible study of the ‘one another’ verses, Mark shared the verse with, ‘Live in harmony with one another’. Those words resonated with me immediately. The word ‘harmony’ is most commonly associated with music. Being part of Pontypridd Community Choir, I am very familiar with harmonies (specifically the soprano parts). Everyone is singing the same song, but the different harmonies make the song even more beautiful.

This week, in our prayers for Christian unity, let’s come together to sing the same song. Let’s appreciate the beautiful harmonies of the different expressions of The Church in every corner of the Earth and let’s sing out loud so that those who listen can enjoy the beauty of the song that we are all singing together.