City of Grace Mesa

This past week I wrote an article for the East Valley Tribune, at the invitation of the Spiritual Life editor, and it was published in today's edition. For those who do not subscribe to our local newspaper, I thought I would post the article here....

Unity Brings the Walls Down 

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of "unity" lately.

Maybe it's because we're in an election year and the reports of our national divisions are being capitalized upon for political gain.

Maybe it's because I'm in this amazing process of working to unite two distinct congregations, composed of several thousand members, into one church meeting on two campuses.

Maybe it's because my wife and I are acutely aware of the importance of keeping our family connected at a time when our children are old enough to go in separate directions.

But, more than any of those reasons, I'd like to think that it's really because unity is near and dear to the heart of God. And the closer I draw to Him, the more I feel His longing to heal our divisions.

I've carried a deep passion for reconciliation for the past two decades, which stands in striking contrast to my spiritual upbringing. Although I was born into a pastor's home and nurtured by Godly parents, I spent my childhood spiritually segregated from most of the church world. Because of our legalistic views on personal holiness, the denomination we were members of was largely separated from the greater body of Christ. Anything that smacked of "ecumenicalism" was seen as straight out of the latter chapters of the book of Revelation.

Following in the tradition of my spiritual forebears, I spent the first few years of ministry building fences: fences between the church and the world, fences between our church and other churches, fences between the sacred and the secular and fences between clergy and laity. I built my fences rock solid, with Scriptures taken out of context and principles that were no longer culturally relevant. And over time, my fences became walls of division.

And then one day I saw the absurdity of it all.

The year was 1983 and I was sitting in a James Robison meeting in the Tarrant County Convention Center in Ft. Worth Texas.  I was just getting started in ministry and I reluctantly attended the service at the insistence of my new bride. As I listened to James share his experience in moving out from the confines of his own denomination, I saw myself in his story and my world shifted.

Things didn't change overnight. Old habits die hard and the sounds of sacred cows mortally wounded can often be terrifying. But the process had begun and there was no turning back for me. And twenty-five years later I can say without reservation, along with the Psalmist David, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Psalm 133:1