Unity of Believers

After the Artemis II returned from its trip around the dark side of the moon and was safely back on Earth, one of the four astronauts, Christina Koch, reflected on what it meant to be a “crew”:[1]

A  crew is people, or, you know, a group that is in it all the time, no matter what; that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose; that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other; that gives grace; that holds accountable. A crew has the same cares and the same needs. And a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.

That’s not a bad definition of what Christians should be. Among other things, it means we must be unified. That is what Jesus wanted for his followers. Shortly before he was betrayed and crucified, he prayed what is known as the High Priestly Prayer, and one of the things he prayed for was that his followers “may be one, just as We [the Father and Jesus] are one.”[2]

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he made this same plea for unity among the believers:

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.[3]

Similarly, when Paul wrote to the Ephesians he urged them to be “diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[4]

Paul told the Colossians to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving, but also to “put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”[5]

Nowhere is this spirit of unity better displayed than in the earliest days of the church, when the followers of the resurrected Jesus were eating together, worshiping together, and taking care of each other.[6]

Unity means we love each other, respect each other, help each other, cry with each other, and rejoice with each other. Let us do all of those things, just as Jesus would have wanted.

[1]. Her full comments, excluding a brief introduction, were as follows:

Several years ago I was giving a speech, and I was doing my usual talk about crew and crewmates and teamwork, and someone asked a question, “What makes a crew? What is different about a crew than a team?” And I was like, I got this. Open my mouth confidently to tell them everything I knew about being a crewmate. And everything that came out of my mouth was completely without value. I was like, yeah, crews, you know, they’re in space, and, uh, they work together. But they eat together, too, so , you know, they’re a crew. And, uh, boats have crews, you know, you’re a crew if you’re on a boat. Helps if you have a paddle. That’ll be good. That’ll make you a crew. But the last ten days I’ve gotten a little bit of a better answer on that question. A  crew is people, or, you know, a group that is in it all the time, no matter what; that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose; that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other; that gives grace; that holds accountable. A crew has the same cares and the same needs. And a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked. So when we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. And honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth; it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging, undisturbingly, in the universe. Uh-oh. So I may have not learned—I know I haven’t learned—everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I know. And that is, planet Earth, you are a crew. Thank you.

You can find her comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTj6LOvmUA

[2]. John 17:22; see also John 17:11

[3]. 1 Corinthians 1:10

[4]. Ephesians 4:3

[5]. Colossians 3:14

[6]. See Acts 2:41-47.