Pastor's Pen

Today we come together again, for our unity service of fellowship. The idea behind this one service is to show that around the communion table, and the body and blood of Jesus, we as Christian people are united.

 

There are many forces which divide and denigrate the church’s oneness. All over the world, the Christian family is more under attack than ever before.  In Indonesia, India, Africa and parts of the Muslim world, Christians face hatred and violent recriminations.

 

Missionaries in certain regions of the globe are in graver jeopardy than most have witnessed in recent memory. At times like these God’s people must unite. The church of the living God cannot degenerate into fractiousness and division. Petty squabbles over insignificant matters are intolerable at a time when saving souls for Christ is our first and foremost purpose. Coming together to affirm that we are one in the Spirit is vitally important in these last and evil days.

 

Two thousand years ago, Paul asserted, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, and wickedness in the celestial realm.” The earliest known Christian hymn where we know both text and tune says, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we vow that all unity will one day be restored.” On this Sunday we will restore our unity in the bonds of peace.

 

Paul also told us that nothing "can separate us from the love of God.” On this Sunday, in this service of unity, we will demonstrate to the world that we rebuke Satan, that we will not cooperate with evil, and that we reaffirm that we, the Shiloh Baptist Church family, are resolved to be one in the Spirit of Christ.