MEDITATION:
Written by Dennis Praeger, a radio talk show host and writer. This is an excerpt from his book “Genesis: God, Creation, and Destruction” from his The Rational Bible series.
It is very tempting to seek a united world—one language and one governing authority, with no divisive national identities. But God declares such a world dangerous [Genesis 11:6]. For one thing, it inevitably concentrates power in the hands of the few who run that united world—and power corrupts. For another, diverse national identities and cultures are a good thing. The united world the Torah seeks is a world of nations united in acknowledging the one God and living by His moral code. Beyond that, diversity in national identity, language, and even religion is welcome. Regarding the latter, the Torah and later Judaism are unique among monotheistic faiths in not seeking a world in which all people are members of their religion. Rather, the Torah wants all people to be ethical monotheists—people who acknowledge the one God of the Torah and live by His moral demands.
Virtually every call for “unity” is disingenuous. People who call for ideological unity do so on the presumption that it will be based on their values. When a Christian calls for Christian unity, he is calling for a unity based on his understanding of Christianity. Protestants who call for Christian unity are hardly willing to accept the Catholic pope or Sacraments, and Catholics who call for Christian unity are hardly willing to give up the papacy or the Sacraments. Likewise, orthodox Jews who call for Jewish unity assume it means all Jews embracing Halacha (Jewish law); and few non-Orthodox Jews who call for Jewish unity are willing to embrace most, let alone all, of Halacha…and the Torah never calls for all the world’s population to unite as Jews – only as followers of Torah’s God.
PRAYER:
Written by Candace Crabtree, a contemporary writer.
God, help our church body to walk in a manner worthy of the calling You have given us. Help us in all our interactions with one another to have humble and gentle hearts. Grant us patience for one another, bearing with one another in love. Grant the Body of Christ unity. May we walk humbly with You, God, allowing You to show us our wrongs. Amen.
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