Emphasis Preaching Journal

The many divisions in the Christian church today are continuing reminders that only God's Spirit can unite us in one body. Human efforts have so far proven futile, but the Spirit of God is bringing the many scattered parts of the Body of Christ together in our time in a most incredible way.

I once heard a speaker say our many denominations in this country are like an area filled with duck ponds. The Presbyterian ducks swim around in their own pond squawking, "Whatever will be, will be." The Catholic ducks swim around in their big duck pond, bowing to one another. Across the way are the Baptist ducks in their pond, pushing each other under the water! In the Lutheran duck pond are a great many ducks shouting to the others, "My way is better than your way."

But imagine if the whole area was suddenly flooded, so the water in each of those duck ponds began to rise, to overflow the banks of the individual ponds, and all at once, those different ducks found themselves swimming around in the same large pond.

That's what the Spirit of God can do in breaking down the walls that divide Christians, and reminding us we share one baptism and drink of one Spirit.