| Many teachers have made the central but oft-missed point that unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity, in fact, is the reconciliation of differences, and those differences must be maintained—and yet overcome! You must actually distinguish things and separate them before you can spiritually unite them, usually at cost to yourself (Ephesians 2:14-16). If only we had made that simple clarification, so many problems—and overemphasized, separate identities—could have moved to a much higher level of love and service.
Paul already made this universal principle very clear in several of his letters. For example, “There are a variety of gifts, but it is always the same Spirit. There are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord, working in all sorts of different ways in different people. It is the same God working in all of them” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). In his community at Ephesus, they were taught “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who is Father of all, over all, through all, and within all; and each of us has been given our own share of grace” (Ephesians 4:5-7).
Adapted from Oneing, “The Perennial Tradition,” Vol. 1 No. 1, p. 13
Gateway to Silence: That all may be one
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