Unity in the Church - April 30

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:1-24; PM Psalm 12, 13, 14; Dan. 2:17-30; 1 John 2:12-17; John 17:20-26 

There’s something profoundly moving about this moment in John’s Gospel. Jesus is praying—really praying—for his disciples, and not just the ones gathered around him. He says, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word.” That’s us. Jesus is praying for all of us.

And what does he pray for? Not that we would be powerful or successful or even safe—but that we would be one. As Jesus and the Father are one, so he prays that we might live in that kind of deep, sacred unity.

This passage reminds me that the heart of Christian life isn’t about proving our worth or perfecting our doctrine—it’s about our hearts being transformed so that we become the Body of Christ. It’s about communion. It’s about belonging to one another in love. Jesus wants us to be so connected, so open-hearted, that the world might actually glimpse God’s love through the way we love each other.

This kind of unity isn’t uniformity. It doesn’t mean we all have to think the same way or agree on every issue. It means we live in the kind of love that holds space for difference, that reaches across division, that chooses mercy again and again. But that kind of love requires compassion, deep listening to the pain that each other holds, and a willingness to be in relationship for each other to be held in unity, a most challenging ethic indeed.

Jesus ends this prayer with a request: “I made your name known to them... so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” He’s not just asking for love around us or between us—but for that divine love to live in us. To shape us. To be the foundation of who we are.

That kind of love is what the world needs right now. And it begins not with grand gestures but with everyday faithfulness—showing up, listening well, forgiving freely, and choosing to see Christ in one another. Jesus is still praying for us. May we live as though that prayer is being answered—through us.

John+

Question for Self-Reflection: What does unity in the church look like to you? How can the church be more unified when there are so many opinions of what is right, true, or the Way?