This reflection was shared by a Catholic pastor who lives and ministers in rural Mississippi.
My greatest experience of Christian unity happened about 12 years ago.
It was late in the evening after a long Wednesday. I was ready for bed but reading.
There was a knock on the door. I was getting settled in and was not in the mood for visitors.
The person announced that there was a fire! I grabbed my wallet, keys and some clothes and ran out the door, grateful for this intrusion.
Within 14 hours, the church, the rectory (where I lived) and the parish hall were completely consumed in the flames.
It was a hot August day. It never went below 90 degrees all night and was mostly over 100—and that was before adding the extra heat from the fire itself. Seven firefighters went to the hospital due to heat exposure and exhaustion.
Despite the calamity, I was amazed to see blessings everywhere I turned. The wider Christian community responded virtually immediately:
Representatives from the Mennonite community were at the fire and helped organize relief all through the night. They brought ice water and cold towels for exhausted workers.
The next morning, the local Presbyterian Church told me: "Our classrooms and hall are yours. We'll have to work out a schedule and lines of communication, but we can do it."
The Episcopal Church said it has an unused office for the Catholic pastor. It even has a private entrance. In time, they put a beautiful sign up.
The Methodist congregation agreed to take over duties of the local food bank that the Catholic Church had been doing.
The Disciples of Christ offered to host local AA meetings and made sure people who needed this group did not miss even one meeting in the transition.
About a dozen Baptist churches took up a collection and sent money.
A Pentecostal pastor shook my hand. When he walked away, I realized he had put $100 in my hand. I remember a conversation I had with him about a week before when he confided in me that he was hurting financially.
Months later, I found myself in need of heart surgery. This was probably due in no small part to the stress brought on by the fire and all its consequences. When I woke up from heart surgery, sitting beside me was an Assembly of God pastor—literally holding my hand and praying for me.
When we think of Christian unity (sometimes called ecumenism) we often think about it in terms of theological dialogue. We imagine representatives from different Christian groups and denominations coming to terms with our various doctrinal differences. Perhaps some of those differences are mere misunderstandings, perhaps some can be resolved through dialogue and study, and perhaps we just have to learn how to sit with the differences that we just can't figure out how to get past at this point in time.
However, the work of Christian unity is also at least partly about discipleship—living out the call of Jesus to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12).
Just do it! Just get out there and love one another!
Be Christ to one another.
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