This evening was our community Thanksgiving service. The clergy of our area have worked hard to drop the barriers that keep us apart and purposely seek ways that we might be one family, united in our love of Christ. We may differ in our Biblical interpretations. We may not agree on worship style or music, but we believe in the unity of Christ’s body. Even though the politics of our denominations may not allow us to fully share as we would like, we have discovered ways that will let us work and serve Christ together.
This past year, we as an alliance of churches, sponsored a community mission trip to the Corpus Christi area of Texas to a small town that still needed a lot of help in recovering from Hurricane Harvey. We worked to raise funds, put together a team to go and surrounded them with prayer teams at home. Tonight, at the community service, we lifted up this effort and gave thanks for the way God worked. A few of the team members spoke about their experiences and learnings, encouraging others to take part in future efforts. We announced our determination to this again. God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.
I am so grateful that God was able to bring us together to do this work. I am so thankful that so many people have been touched by God’s compassion and goodness. I pray that God continues to tear down the artificial faith barriers that we put between us and truly unites us to be one in and through our Lord. We closed our service this evening singing that very thing – We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. May we profess it. And we pray that all unity may one day be restored. And they’ know we are Christians by our love. May we live it in grateful thanks.